COMMUNITY INFORMATION RESOURCE CENTER Global Metamorphosis

Rethink

Reorganize

Restructure

While most of us will readily admit that nothing in the world is as constant as change, the present time seems to be particularly fluid.  Increasing rhetoric about the end of the era, the emergence of new paradigms, and societal transformation point to changes, not only in consciousness, but in the nature of life itself.

Indeed, we can hardly image the eventual outcomes of such monumental developments as genetic engineering, cloning, computers, satellite communications, the Internet, a globalized economy, electronic money, global warming, environmental degradation, and population growth, to name a few.  These signal an intensifying global crisis of unprecedented proportions. But crisis brings with it opportunities as well.

Visionary philosopher Elisabet Sahtouris has found a biological metaphor to help us understand what might be happening, and to describe a vision of how our individual efforts fit into the bigger scheme of things.  According to Sahtouris, each of us is part of an emerging, new humanity which is, despite our deepest fears, already working to catalyze and facilitate the transformation to a better, more sustainable way of living.  How are we doing this?  Elisabet believes that each time we strive, in our communities, workplaces, government, schools, or personal lives, to understand and share the good news of positive transformation, we are acting as vital, living cells of change in an emerging being of great beauty and power.

"I cannot think of anything more important in today's world than networking positive news and projects," Elisabet writes. " ...As a biologist, I see the entire human world as a single living system embedded within the larger living systems of our marvelous planet Earth.  And at present I see our human system through the metaphor of a caterpillar just before its metamorphosis into a butterfly.  The caterpillar is our outmoded but still increasingly predatory economic system, eating many times its own weight in the substance of our planet every day as it focuses us all on consumerism, as though that alone were some kind of raison d'etre for all human existence!  Yet the caterpillar will not go on in this way.  Rather, inside its body, tiny imaginal discs form with the intent of becoming something new.  The caterpillar's immune system fights to destroy them.  But they keep on coming faster and faster, linking together with each other until the immune system fails, the caterpillar's body breaks down into sludge, and the imaginal discs form themselves into new cells - the cells that transform the caterpillar into a butterfly!

"All of us with the vision of a better world, which those attached to preserving the old economic system cannot see, are imaginal cells now, and we need to exchange the news of each other, of our positive projects, to counteract the negativity of a dying system as we begin to replace it with one that will bring humanity out of this phase of terrible economic inequities and environmental destruction into a new sustainable world based on the human values of love and sharing."

- Elisabet Sohtouris, PhD. (from a draft flyer for the Good News Network)

How adept are we at understanding and holding a global vision of emerging healing for ourselves and the planet?  The answer is, unfortunately, not very.  But humanity is on the brink of truly learning this important step.  Widespread and effective media coverage of global suffering and crises, combined with the highest levels of global education the world has ever seen, has created in humanity a potent awareness of the problems that face us, and a more focused and urgent cry for change on personal, spiritual, interpersonal, community, societal, structural, ecological and even biological levels.  We are answering our own cry through the emergence of a shared vision of a saner, cleaner, more just, and peaceful world.

Change Begins with A Vision

If metamorphosis is an apt metaphor for the emergence of the twenty-first century human, then, it seems, we must evolve along the following lines.

Personal Transformation

Each human "cell" must wake up to his/her true nature, tune-in to the "butterfly program," connect with the whole, fulfill its destiny, and lose itself in the unified body of the whole human.  Personal transformation is the first necessity.  Opening one's heart and mind can bring about profound changes in one's values, attitudes, and beliefs.  This is the stuff that spirituality is made of.

When we start to take responsibility for our relationships and communities, seeking to heal and improve them, we build a new base of support for changing our habits.  This amounts to nothing less than redefining self, transcending the petty, egocentric I of personality and harmonizing our behavior to serve the needs of all, not simply all humans, but all life.

Healthy relationships and functional communities provide a stable platform from which to examine the adequacy or inadequacy of established structures and institutions relative to our new values, objectives, and identity.  We are able to abandon those which are flawed, dysfunctional, and beyond repair, creating new ones which are more consistent with humane values and support the greater realization of human potential.

The new world will not emerge from a single "cell," but from a confluence of world citizens and networks each doing their part. (I see networks supplanting, to a large extent, organizations, as we've known them).  Each of us should seek to learn, to educate, and to "share the good news" about the many creative possibilities for more intelligent and just systems of human action and interaction.

A primary interest and task at CIRC is the mapping of this territory, which is in need of restructuring.  I have identified six areas which are in urgent need of attention.  These are:

Money, banking and finance,

Land tenure and property ownership,

Taxation and public revenue,

Government and law, 

Corporations and centralization of power, and

Technology choices.

The dominant institutions have taken form in an era in which greed and self-seeking were esteemed as virtues, and unequal privilege was accepted as legitimate.  The new emerging structures are based on service, fairness, personal freedom, fellowship, and cooperation.  It is our hope and belief that through education about the potential for good, more and more cells in the body of humanity can be awakened and encouraged to action.

Over the past few years, we have become aware of both the serious problems and important new thinking in each of the areas listed above.  As a way of extending the dialog and engaging diverse constituencies in the debate, we present here some basic questions pertinent to each area.

How should the exchange of value (goods and services) be mediated?

How should values be measured?

How should value be stored?

How should economic activity be financed?

How should advances in productivity be shared?

How can money, banking, and finance support quality of life as opposed to quantity of consumption?

Who should own the land and natural resources of the Earth?

What material rights does each living person have by reason of birth?

What rights, privileges, and obligations does land ownership entail?

How can Earth be shared to assure that everyone has what they need?

What is the proper source of public revenue?

At what level of government should revenue be assessed and collected?

How should public revenue be collected and distributed?

Where does sovereignty reside?

Who has the power to govern, and under what circumstances?

What is the proper role of government?

Who has the power to make laws?

What is the basis for law?

What is the difference between criminal and civil law?

Who is bound by which laws, and under what circumstances?

What is the proper purpose and role of a corporation?

Under what circumstances, and to what extent, is it appropriate to centralize power and wealth?

How should corporate power and wealth be limited and controlled?

Technology choices

How, and by whom, shall choices about scientific research and the development and implementation of technologies be made?

What are the criteria by which these technologies shall be evaluated? 

[Here's a point to consider. The Amish are not anti-technology, but they are deliberate in choosing which technologies they will adapt, and how they will be used. The main criterion which they apply is, "How will adoption of this technology affect the integrity, cohesiveness, and health of our communities?" Thus, for example, they allow telephones to be used in the barn (for business) but not in the house (for personal communication). The logic of this choice stems from their desire to maintain the community-building power of face-to-face, in-home visits. The Amish have clear value priorities, and they make sure their technology choices are consistent with their values. Why shouldn't the wider society do the same?]

We have discovered many sources that provide excellent information and deep insights that can be useful to communities in developing answers to these questions. What is needed now is organization, courage, and will to implement the solutions that are at hand. It is our desire to collaborate with the many world-servers who are working as researchers, educators, communicators, entrepreneurs, and activists.  We wish to be a part of a close-knit association in which we share information, establish goals, support one another, and take concerted action toward realizing our shared vision.

It is important to identify processes which are already on-going that seem to be moving us in the right direction, and to support them and participate in them, where possible.   One example we presently have in mind is the Pathfinding process which has emerged over the past few years as a collaborative effort among the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Pathways to Peace, the World Business Academy, and the Fetzer Institute.  The Pathfinding project is a "collaborative inquiry" which seeks to "understand more deeply the state of the world, create positive images of the future that reflect an emerging wholistic worldview, and identify specific pathways by which we might make significant progress toward creating more peaceful, just, and environmentally sustainable cultures."

We have been privileged to be a part of that process and are working to intensify it.   Our website contains numerous links to other sites which are pertinent to this work.  We think that they together contain most of the essential elements required for solving the mega-crisis and building a world of peace and harmony.  We invite everyone to utilize this tool, and to make us aware of other important sources which ought to be linked.  We are eager to join forces with others who share this mission.

-- Thomas H. Greco, Jr.