Shaping our future

Where are we headed?
Where do we want to go?

Do we have the courage to shape our own future; to create our own salvation?

I have been silent for a long time - consumed by my studies of ethics in any spare time I had and for which I sat my exam this past Monday. So now I feel free again - free to pursue my various (other) trains of thought and action, yet enriched by plunging into the ethical dimensions behind our every day decisions and attitudes. The first thing I took up again was to continue to read the books I had no time for. Here is the first inspiring quote I came across:

 Most of us expect the deterioration of our world to affect our children and future generations but not us. We believe that educational efforts must be focused on young people, because they might somehow solve the problems we created. But [...] who we are today shapes how the future will be. Despite our aspirations or hopes, our children will grow up to be whom they wish to be [...].

It is important that we teach them literacy, responsibility, aesthetics, and morality, and one excellent way to do that is to strive for that knowledge ourselves. We too must change if we want our youth to change. [...]

We concurrently share a moment unprecedented in human history: we have a preview of our own destruction, or our own salvation. The future is shaped only in the present.

This is from the book "The failure of environmental education (and how we can fix it)" by Charles Saylan and Daniel T. Blumstein (2011), London: University of California Press.

Inspiration of the day

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost.

The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work.

You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. [...]"

- Martha Graham

The river

Message from the Hopi Nation

There is a river flowing now very fast.
It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid.
They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel like they are being torn apart, and they will suffer greatly.

Know the river has its destination...
The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off toward the middle of the river,
keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water.
See who is there with you and celebrate.

At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves!
For the moment we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.

The time of the lonely wolf is over.
Gather yourselves!

Banish the word struggle from your attitude and vocabulary.
All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

We are the ones we have been waiting for.

 - The Elders, Oraibi, Arizona, Hopi Nation