My Country Is Called Earth (11 page)

When men understood these truths, they lived in harmony with the world. They identified with a storm, a tree, or an animal they had killed. They believed the earth was sacred and abuse of nature was a violation. And they accepted death when their time came, because they knew death was necessary to make room for new life.

At the beginning of your Judeo-Christian civilization you attempted to separate man from nature. You said the world was evil, and man must overcome it. You chose to believe that God made you the lord of the earth. And you decided the earth could be the possession of whomever could capture it and hold it by force. You named this idea “might makes right.” It was incorporated into your property laws, and grew into a heartless economics you call capitalism.

You think you have found justification in nature for capitalism, for your scientists tell you that the species alive today are alive because they are the best competitors. Your scientists call this idea survival of the fittest, and use it to explain their theory of evolution.

The theory of evolution is wrong. The law of the jungle is not survival of the fittest, nor competition between species or individuals. The law of the jungle is cooperation within the web of life. The mouse in the cat’s paw does not begrudge the cat its meal, for the mouse understands it will live through the cat. The cat knows it must die someday too, and that it will become food for others.

It is only man who does not understand the purpose of death. It is only man who kills for sport. It is only man who has hunted animals to extinction. Survival of the fittest is your rule, not mine.

The final outcome of your experiment—to see the result of pretending you are not my children—should now be quite clear to you. You are on the road that leads to the end of life as you know it. It is not too late to get off this path, but time is running out.

You are not the first men I have known. Civilizations more advanced than yours I have cared for and watched die. Others have prospered here and moved onto new planetary systems where I am now the legendary home. If you should destroy your world, I will survive, and mutant species will arise whom I shall love as much as I loved you.

Visions Of A Renewed America

I had a dream in which two heroes from our past spoke about their fears and hopes for the future of America. First I heard the man who led America through its darkest hour.

Abraham Lincoln scratched his beard, cleared his throat, and began: “In my Gettysburg Address I asked whether a nation ‘conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal’ could endure. With God’s help, we survived the challenge of slavery. Today America faces many challenges undreamt of when this nation was formed. Their solutions will require original, courageous thinking.”

George Washington, looking splendid with his new white teeth, smiled and cut in: “The politicians are the problem, Abe—they have no principles. They’ve sold their souls for votes and campaign contributions. And, like Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carroll’s Through The Looking-Glass, they use words to deceive.”

He picked up a book and began to read:

“
When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, “It means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”

“
The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”

“
The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”

President Lincoln interrupted President Washington: “Excuse me, General. Didn’t we agree that I could talk first? Now where was I? Many people feel politics is corrupt and there is nothing they can do about it. In a democracy that is not true. The American people must understand that they only get the government they demand.”

Washington said, “It is a crime for politicians to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars every year. They are stealing from today’s children and from future generations. Balanced budget amendments and term limits are like putting locks on the cookie jar: Congressmen and Presidents should be responsible enough to just say no to deficits.”

Lincoln said, “The people must first be responsible themselves and stop asking their government to give them what it cannot pay for out of annual revenues.”

A grinning Washington said, “I know how to force Congress and the President to balance the budget. Citizens should demand that their state legislators ask Congress to call a national convention, per Article V of the Constitution. Once the convention is gathered, it should write a constitutional amendment that says if Congress and the President fail to pass a balanced budget by the beginning of the fiscal year, they will have to run for reelection the following November.”

Lincoln, laughing: “That’ll work for sure, George.”

Washington said, “I’m going to change the topic. I have watched America prop up one dictatorship after another in the twentieth century. An America true to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence would recognize there are many people in the world still denied the rights we won over two hundred years ago. An America true to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence would use its vast powers to aid those seeking social justice, instead of, horror of horrors, encouraging their repression.”

Lincoln added, as if aware that his words had a wider audience: “Friends, America has been blessed by God as no other nation has. Will you accept your destiny as the nation chosen to lead the earth to a new age of peace, justice, and prosperity? The whole world awaits your decision.”

Washington got in the final word: “In their relations with other people, they have to realize that imperialism is not the American way. Imperialism is what our patriots fought against. Was the American revolution only for us, or was it meant to be a beacon of light for all the world to see?”

The Proper Functions Of Government

Me: I will fix your bicycle tomorrow, grandma.

Sophia: Words are cheap. It’s actions that count.

Me: I’m not a politician. I’ll do it.

Sophia: I didn’t say you were a politician. I think politics could be a noble profession, because it provides a great opportunity to do good. The problem is the men who enter politics. Most of them are liars and crooks.

Me: Ronald Reagan and George Bush are the biggest crooks of all time. Their legacy for future generations will be three trillion dollars of debt. And that doesn’t count the money they borrowed from Social Security. Next to the word “irresponsible” in the dictionary should be a picture of those two clowns.

Sophia: I saw a bumper sticker on a motor home that describes the way we’ve been living. It said, “We’re spending our children’s inheritance.” Our culture is literally borrowing from the future—not only money, but natural resources and clean air, water, and soil. Someone must warn the people about the coming crisis. I think we need another Paul Revere. Why don’t you get on your horse?

Me: I don’t have a horse and I would not make a good politician. Tell me if you like Jefferson’s ideal government:

...which shall restrain men from injuring one another, and leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement.

Sophia: OK, man-without-a horse. I like Jefferson’s ideal government. People should be left alone.

Me: How else could we follow the advice of Emerson when he said, “Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist.”

Sophia: Government has no business regulating the lives of men except when men violate the rights of others. Government has stepped far beyond its proper function when it decides which private acts are to be allowed and which are not.

Me: What should we do about government infringing on our sovereign right to live the way we want so long as we don’t hurt anybody?

Sophia: We need a constitutional amendment to ensure the right of individuals to act in private. It could be worded like this: “All acts performed between consenting adults which only affect the actors shall have the full protection of the United States.”

Me: Can you define the proper functions of government?

Sophia: Protecting the rights of man and nature, but not protecting man from himself. Everyone has the right to go to hell or ruin his health any way he wants. Government should also provide services when monopolies are the most practical way of getting things done, and it should promote cooperation within communities, and between regions, states, and nations.

Why don’t you read your favorite passage from the Declaration of Independence? I think the Declaration is the most revolutionary political document ever conceived. Jefferson was writing more about a future world than the world of 1776, for he himself kept slaves.

Me:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.

Sophia: It is time for government to fulfill the ideals of the Declaration of Independence: to guarantee all men and women equal treatment under the law and the opportunity to pursue a decent life for themselves and their children.

Me: Today there are millions of people in America who feel useless. Meaningful work is what they need to restore their dignity. Flipping hamburgers at McDonald’s won’t do it.

Sophia: Speech! Speech!

Me: Sit down. There won’t be any speeches here.

Sophia: Okay, then what is the major question facing the world today, Mr. Brown?

Me: Can we survive technology? And our most urgent challenge is feeding hungry children, especially in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Sophia: Read me that little piece you’ve written.

Me: “Friends, Romans, countrymen...” Just kidding. “Michael was not enjoying the view...”

Turning Point

Michael was not enjoying the view as he stood on the veranda of his mountain home overlooking the city. His thoughts were on his brother Daniel, who would soon be flying to the East.

In their last conversation Daniel said, “Man is standing on the brink of disaster: before us lies the abyss. The only sane act is to turn around and find a new path. This can only be done by free men working together. It is my intention to make the people of enslaved lands aware of their power.”

As the lights of the city were coming on, Michael remembered the words of a poem from Lao Tzu’s
Way of Life
that Daniel was fond of:

Nothing is weaker than water,

But when it attacks something hard

Or resistant, then nothing withstands it,

And nothing will alter its way.

Everyone knows this, that weakness prevails

Over strength and that gentleness conquers

The adamant hindrance of men, but

Nobody demonstrates it is so.

Through his telescope Michael could see the airport in the valley below and the plane that would take Daniel away. “There he goes,” Michael said to himself, as Daniel’s plane took off. “Darkness has settled on my world.”

And in the air, Daniel closed his eyes and saw himself in the future, speaking before a large group of people:

I am here today because I believe we can overcome the challenges that face us—of war and injustice, poverty and pollution. I am optimistic that we will succeed, and not suffer the fate of the dinosaurs.

It is time for the development of a world consciousness, a community of men and nature. For the next stage in the growth of mankind lies in the unity that only can be achieved when men rise above the barriers that separate them from each other.

We are like the single drops of a river, with our individual ways flowing over pebbles and rocks, under bushes and trees, but with the common destination to reach the ocean. And as the drops depend on each other, and as they together form the river, all men create the consciousness which leads every individual to his fulfillment.

He lifted his head and looked out to the people, who had become very quiet.

Your challenge is to take charge of your lives. Talk among yourselves. Build up each other’s faith that you can influence your world. If your government does not act with humanity, then get rid of it. Remember, I’m not talking about violence. Violence is a reaction against feelings of powerlessness. The power you seek is within you.

The world is at a turning point. Old, tired institutions will be replaced by ones that have meaning for our time. Men and women with love and understanding for all life will lead nations. We are at the gate to a higher level of being; in our hands is the power to make this step a smooth crossing or an abrupt one.

Opening his eyes, Daniel noticed the plane and the people in it. For now the dream was a reality only in the dream world; his point of power lay in the present. The task before him was to organize a system of beliefs for the coming age.

The Aquarian Manifesto

We have been told stories of a cruel, angry God, of original sin, disease, and the need to be saved. Science has taught us that life is meaningless: an accident in a universe that doesn’t care whether we live or die.

We reject both mythologies. These are our truths:

Men and nature have never been separated from God. Jesus was not, therefore, God’s Only Son. It was through purity of soul that Jesus was fit to be a temple of the Christ, Universal Love. Jesus lived, according to the Aquarian Gospel, “to show the possibilities of man. What I have done all men can do, and what I am all men shall be.”

Because you have a personal relationship with God, you don’t need to belong to a church to know or serve God. Churches should help men to know and love themselves and others.