Women's Earth Alliance

[This is Part B of Section 13 in the original 161 page document “1000Communities2” (see p. 73-77)]

 

 

B.  An Overview of Problems That May Arise

 

 

1.  Honesty is the best policy

 

“Oh!  What a tangled web we weave

when first we practice to deceive.”¹

 

 

2.  … linked to the land around us, and to the earth as a whole.

 

Those people who spend much of their lives amidst concrete, metal, plastic, and glass can easily forget how fundamentally our well being is linked to the land around us, and to the earth as a whole.

 

 

3.  The need to proactively encourage constructive thinking

 

There will be people who are inclined to focus their attention, regardless of the difficulties and urgencies of trying to resolve multiple crises, on trying to make money by preying on people’s fears and misunderstandings, or on trying to encourage people to set aside their higher aspirations, and indulge in destructive behavior.  Such behavior is clearly counterproductive to the building of caring communities; it can be very dangerous for community morale, and it can become a crippling obstacle in times of crises.  Responsible people will take sufficient preventative measures to encourage a high percentage of constructive thinking and constructive action in their community.   [Note:  This particular “problem that may arise” is formulated into a question (see question 7) which is included in Section 9 “15 Suggestions for Preliminary Survey Questions”]

  

 

4.  “Youth always imitates the elders….”

 

Little pitchers have big ears.

 

 

5.  “The tendency of untrained minds….”

 

“The tendency of untrained minds is to adapt to their environment at the expense of their spiritual aspirations.”²

 

 

6.  “The Great Way is very level…”

 

“Were I to have the least bit of knowledge, in walking on a Great Road

it’s only going astray I would fear.

The Great Way is very level

But people greatly delight in tortuous paths.”³

 

 

7.  Can we make the difficult decisions?

 

“At present, educated people are wanting in the grit necessary to act according to their convictions; they know a thing is right, but lack the will to carry it through.”⁴

 

 

8.  Reform begins at home….

 

“Don’t worry about bringing people ‘in line’, but rather concern yourself with making sure your own practices are becoming a means for attaining inner peace….  If your practice brings you inner peace and wisdom others will emulate those practices voluntarily.”⁵

 

 

9.  How do we define responsible, and do we encourage responsible behavior by what we do?

 

The responsible person respects authority, and is conscientious and consistent in observing the laws and customs that represent appropriate and moral behavior.

 

 

10.  Communities are not facing the challenges….

 

People cannot serve their communities as well as they would like when their communities are not facing the challenges of our times as much as they need to be.  In such circumstances, people can easily get distracted from the pathways that lead to wisdom and solutions.

 

 

 

Note:  Here is a quotation which presents this “problem” from a slightly different perspective:

 

“The mariner uses his compass to guide him aright amidst the dark storm clouds and raging waves.  When Man is overwhelmed by the dark clouds of despair and the raging confusion of irrepressible desires, he too, has a compass which will point to him the direction he has to take….  That compass is a Society that is dedicated to the propagation of Spiritual Discipline.”⁶                                                       

 

 

11.  How will we know if we’re on the right track?

 

On many occasions it will be clear that there are conflicting opinions being expressed by participants in workshops and in meetings.  It is also very likely that some of the solutions identified and some of the action plans created will include elements which may work against elements of other solutions or action plans.  If there is any overriding principle (and this may certainly differ from community to community), it may be this:

 

If the Community Visioning Initiative is on the right track, there will be more and more participants/community residents who believe that everyone has some potential for good inside of them.  In other words, as the process moves forward, the capacity of each resident to contribute something to the greater good of the whole should become more appreciated, more easily recognized, and more visible in the everyday circumstances of community life.

 

 

12.  Everyone’s opinion matters

 

Some people may believe that their opinion does not matter, but organizers of this kind of Community Visioning Initiative will encourage everyone to respectfully and courteously contribute their thoughts, suggestions, comments, recommendations, etc. to meetings, workshop discussions—and as formal responses to steps in the process.  Encouraging a wide range of contributions will help the best ideas “bubble up to the surface”.  At any time during the process, an idea or comment may be brought forward, and many others may immediately recognize its validity.  By this process, challenges, solutions, and action plans can be raised to a high priority, and get resolved much sooner than they would have—because now there is an ongoing system for actively seeking, and actively doing something with, all possible constructive ideas.

 

 

13.  We must help each other.

 

Some residents may feel uneasy concerning the problem of residents who are less educated and less informed having as much of a say in the process as those who have spent years working on these issues.  This is a fundamental problem, which is not confined to Community Visioning Initiative processes like this; as people who are not sufficiently informed about critical issues are everywhere, and they are investing their time, energy, and money—voting—all the time.  If we are honest with ourselves about this issue, we must admit that there are very few people who have successfully aligned all of their investments of time, energy, and money with all of the values of the religious, spiritual, or moral tradition they feel closest to.  This writer believes that there are many serious challenges before us now, and that we will need to invest our time, energy, and money very wisely to overcome these challenges.  How can we do it?  We must help each other.  The Community Visioning Initiative outlined in this proposal is time-intensive so that we will have time to learn much more than we know now about how to help each other.

 

 

14.  Peacebuilding is not a competitive field of activity

 

Peacebuilding in its most compassionate form is not a competitive field of activity.  Viewed in this light, the most valuable forms of peacebuilding will nurture, support, and sustain the development of an infinite variety of other forms of peacebuilding, community revitalization, and ecologically sustainability initiatives.

 

 

15.  Practice will be necessary….

 

It may take 3-5 years and 2 or 3 Community Visioning Initiatives before residents can understand how many ways they can contribute to the process, and how many ways they can benefit from it.  But once they know, they will never forget.

 

 

 

C.  Concluding Comments

 

1.  While there may be many people—some of whom are authorities in their fields of activity—who may already have clear ideas about what the challenges ahead are, and what solutions will be most effective 

 

and

 

while there may also be many people who feel that they do not—because of lack of experience or education, or for other reasons—have the “appropriate skills” to fit into this kind of community activity….

 

it is critical, and cannot be emphasized enough, that this kind of Community Visioning Initiative process gives as much importance to developing a close-knit community (and thus to increasing compassion for our fellow human beings, and helping each other) as it does to

 

                a)  contributing to accumulating and integrating the knowledge and skill sets

necessary for the highest percentage of people to act wisely in response to challenges identified as priority challenges

 

b)  helping people to deliberately channel their time, energy, and money into the creation of “ways of earning a living” which are directly related to resolving high priority challenges

 

c)  assisting with outreach, partnership formation, and development of service capacity for a significant number of already existing (or forming) organizations and businesses

 

d)  helping to build a high level of consensus for specific action plans, which will help inspire additional support from people, businesses, and organizations with significant resources

 

 

2.  Therefore, residents are encouraged to participate in as many ways, and in as many steps as possible.

 

 

_________________________________

 

 

 

Notes and Source References  (Section 13)

 

1.  Sir Walter Scott    Marmion, Canto vi. Stanza 17.  Scottish author & novelist (1771 - 1832)

[Note:  Information from  www.quotationspage.com  (see http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/27150.html) 

 

2.  Jonathan Roof  in “Pathways to God:  A Study Guide to the Teachings of Sathya Sai Baba”  Leela Press  December 2002  (page number not retained)

 

3.  From Chapter 53 of “Te-Tao Ching” (by Lao Tzu) (possibly written in 6^th Century B.C.E.,

sufficient evidence unavailable) (translation by Robert G. Hendricks)  Ballantine Books  New York  1989

 

4.  Sri Sathya Sai Baba from  Sathya Sai Speaks  Vol. 12, Chpt. 44, p. 241  Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust  Prasanthi Nilayam   India  (Note:  Vol. 12 contains discourses delivered by Sri Sathya Sai Baba during 1973-74)

 

5.  Shaykh Nazim Adil Al Haqqani in “In the Mystic Footsteps of Saints” Vol. 1  (Sufi Wisdom Series)  Naqshbandi-Haqqani Sufi Order (2002)  p. 5-6

 

6.  Sri Sathya Sai Baba from  Sathya Sai Speaks  Vol. 8, Chpt. 21, p. 108  Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust  Prasanthi Nilayam   India  (Note:  Vol. 8 contains discourses delivered by Sri Sathya Sai Baba during 1968)