My Country Is Called Earth (4 page)

I couldn’t wait any longer—I had to find out about the federal debt. I asked, “What was done about all the money the government had borrowed?”

“In the first decade of the twenty-first century the interest payments on the debt surpassed the income tax revenues. The United States was essentially bankrupt and the dollar was no longer considered a hard currency. The situation left us with two choices. The first was for the United States to stop honoring its debt. The second was to print trillions of dollars to make the debt worthless. It was decided the second option was unacceptable: Hyperinflation is a tough monster to slay once it is allowed to breathe.”

“So the U.S. defaulted on its debt?”

“We compromised. A courageous President announced that the federal government would begin balancing its budget immediately, and it would no longer pay interest on the national debt. Over a period of about forty years, all government obligations were paid off at face value. The decision to cut spending forced the federal government to return power to the local level, where it belonged.”

Thursday, July 2, 2076

I found Exellon sitting under an orange tree, waiting for me. I was hoping he would continue his discussion of economics, but instead he wanted to talk about the environment.

“The Second Earth Summit took place in the year 2000. The emphasis was on creating a sustainable society. Some of the decisions made then concerned automobiles and global warming, toxic wastes, nuclear energy, population growth, and protection of forests and species.

“After years of battling pollution, it was finally decided that we must stop the activities that harm the environment. Either substitute methods would have to be developed that did not result in the use, production, or release of hazardous substances, or the activity would have to be abandoned. We have learned there are many things we don’t need and can’t afford—like automobiles with gasoline engines.”

“Surely you don’t mean the internal combustion engine was outlawed in cars, do you?” I asked.

“Why not?” was the reply. “Conditions had worsened since the Summit in 1992: The air around the cities was even more unhealthy, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere had increased, and the level of the oceans was still rising.

“At the Earth Summit 2000 a new strategy was proposed and adopted. The plan called for the scientists of the world to work together to create solar cells that could be put into orbit above the earth. The goal was to use this energy from space, along with the energy from land-based solar cells and other clean, renewable sources such as the wind, to power our cars, homes, businesses, offices, and shops by the year 2050.

“Under the plan, manufacturers were required to be more efficient in terms of the energy and materials they used, and everyone was asked to reduce their impact on the environment.

“We also decided to shut down all nuclear power plants as soon as replacement energy sources became available. The thousands of retired nuclear power stations and radioactive waste dumps in the world today serve as silent monuments to twentieth century man’s selfishness and shortsightedness.

“Human population was our toughest challenge. All of our efforts to protect the environment would be wasted if we could not decrease the earth’s human population, because as the poor improved their standard of living, their consumption of goods and services increased, adding to the pressure on the environment.

“Before we could deal with overpopulation, we had to stop the growth of population. The nations of the world agreed to a target of zero population growth by the year 2012. It was a tremendous effort, but we succeeded. The world’s population peaked at seven billion.”

Friday, July 3, 2076

“Tell me how the world learned to live in peace,” I asked at sunset on what turned out to be the last day of our discussions. We were on the highest hill of the commune, in a forest of mighty oak trees, with a view of First Gandhi below.

Exellon began, “The world is at peace because men have discovered peace benefits everyone. Wars in the past were largely for reasons of fear, greed, or hatred. Men have learned to eliminate those emotions from their national characters. But I suppose you want me to be more specific about how peace was achieved.”

“Yes, if you don’t mind,” I said.

“Well, Mr. Brown, it was a gradual process. It wasn’t accomplished overnight. As nations learned they had to work together to overcome economic and environmental challenges, and as communication and travel turned the world into a—what’s the term?”

“Global village.”

“Yes, as the world became smaller, men began talking with each other to resolve their differences, instead of fighting to solve them. People wanted to get along with each other, and they were electing leaders who were good at settling disagreements by compromises and mutual cooperation.”

I asked, “What do you do when one nation invades another?”

“That hasn’t occurred in many years. But when it did, the nations of the world, acting through the United Nations, quickly sent in an international military force. I should add that international peacekeeping was not successful until all the major powers renounced force as a principle of their own foreign policy and until all nations banned the export of weapons and weapons technology. Those two steps were only taken after much opposition, especially in the United States.”

I asked, “What was done with all the weapons in the world?”

“Good question,” he replied. “The world could not be secure in peace while all those horribly destructive weapons—nuclear, chemical, biological, and conventional—were still around. But none of the leading powers at first was willing to get rid of their stockpiles of weapons. The debate was bitter, especially in the United States. Eventually this compromise was reached: Most weapons would be dismantled, no new weapons would be built anywhere in the world, and all weapons factories would be converted to peaceful production within five years. The remaining weapons eventually wore out and had to be destroyed. That was how we disarmed. It wasn’t spectacular, but it worked. Time is our friend if we are patient.”

After he finished we both fell silent for several minutes.

Exellon began to talk again, but on another subject: “I want to tell you about a friend you can lean on when you need help or advice. I call this friend the inner self or inner voice. I believe it is your direct link to your soul. You can ask it questions and it will provide answers that take into account your own greatest good and the good of others at the same time. It won’t give you stock market tips or tomorrow’s winning lottery numbers. Your inner self will answer such questions as: ‘Should I move to commune X?’ or ‘What did I do to deserve such a headache?’ or ‘Why am I unhappy?’

“You will learn to consult your inner self before making any important decisions. But you must trust your self, ask your question correctly, and silence your own thoughts before you can use your inner voice effectively. Make your question as specific as possible. You will find it hard to consult your inner voice when you are not relaxed. Many have used their imagination to create an inner voice that taught violence. That is not the true voice of the inner self. The inner self never directs you to harm others.”

Exellon paused, then continued: “I am sure you have wondered,” he said, “‘Who am I?’ or ‘Where did I come from?’ The answer is that you are a portion of a spiritual being that cannot be contained in one body. That being lives in many times and places at once. What we see of ourselves, therefore, is only a fraction of our entire identity.

“Life does not need justification—the universe exists because God consciousness desires to express itself. If you are looking for something to do, try to make your world more harmonious and healthy. Begin with your family, your work, and your community.

“You may find it interesting to attempt to awaken to your identity as a multidimensional creature beyond time and space. Awakening to your identity means understanding the power of your thoughts and dreams. Once you do that, you will realize your potential is essentially unlimited.

“One more thing.” Exellon looked directly at me. “It is OK to make mistakes. You are human. If you were perfect, you wouldn’t be here.”

When he finished speaking, I suddenly recalled a dream I had the night before. I was standing on the roof of a house with some friends. My friends walked to the edge of the roof, leaned over with their arms outstretched, and began to fly through the air. I was afraid at first to follow them, but when I lifted my arms I soared into the air too. I took advantage of my new freedom, flying over the land and changing my altitude and direction with only a slight movement of my hands. It was exhilarating to look down on buildings, fields, streets, and cars.

On the walk back Exellon stopped, put his arm on my shoulder, and said, “Relax. Stop worrying about your future. You are doing fine. Trust your inner self to always guide and protect you.”

Exellon’s last words to me that evening were: “Don’t ever forget God is all there is. Treat all things with respect—except for concentrations of power, which are by definition undemocratic. Attack all concentrations of power.”

Earlier in the day Exellon had given me a collection of essays he had written in 1994, but had never published. While lying in bed that night I began to read his manuscript.

Blueprints For Revolution

By Exellon

Who Owns The Earth?

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Jesus

There are, I believe, several possible correct answers to the question, “Who owns the earth?” One answer is that all men and nature, including future generations, own the earth. Another answer is that the earth belongs to the goddess Gaia, our mother, who wants us to share the world with all her children, both human and non-human.

With either answer this conclusion is obvious: Man does not have the right to behave as if he is the only important creature on this planet, and as if there is no tomorrow. This means we must limit our population. We must end experimentation on animals for medical purposes or for any other reason. We must stop cutting down the old growth and rain forests, destroying the wetlands and the wilderness areas, overharvesting the rivers, lakes, and oceans, and depleting the earth’s mineral reserves.

Since the earth cannot be the private possession of anyone, no man has the right to hoard wealth. The rich must share their wealth with others. The Essene Jewish sect, which had communities in Egypt and Israel around the first century A.D., gave us an example of what we can expect in the future when men share the earth. This is what the historian Philo wrote about the Essenes:

Their organization is not based on family kinship...but on zeal for virtue and love of all men. None of them is striving to get possession of any private property...or anything to get rich by, for everything is put into the common pool, which supplies the wants of all alike.

If any man falls sick, whatever medical treatment or resources are available are devoted to his cure, and his care and recovery are the concern of the whole community. Old men, though they may be childless, are thus assured of happiness and tender care in their old age, just as if they were the fathers of children both numerous and affectionate.

The time has come for a new way of thinking, a thinking that sees man as a vital member of Gaia’s beautiful family, but not as lord and master of the earth. In the new age we shall attempt to practice this commandment of Buddha, who told his followers to love all things “as a mother loves her only son.”

Capitalism Was Created By Men, Not By God

And a homeless hungry man, driving the road with his wife beside him and his thin children in the back seat, could look at the fallow fields which might produce food but not profit, and that man could know how a fallow field is a sin and the unused land a crime against the thin children.

John Steinbeck, The Grapes Of Wrath

Capitalism stands for a survival-of-the fittest, exploitation-of-the-weak relationship between men, the wanton destruction of nature, and economic power in the hands of a few. Capitalism is promoted as if the accumulation of wealth is a God-given right, like freedom of speech or religion. I do not believe that God gave the earth to man. And I think there is no such thing as the right of an individual to abuse men and nature. God is not a capitalist: God loves all the world.

America has the premier capitalist economy in the world, but mankind would be doomed if everyone lived like Americans. Why? Because we are only five percent of the world’s population, but we are responsible for a large percentage of the global environmental damage. As China and Third World nations establish capitalist systems, the pollution and destruction of nature will accelerate, putting more pressure on our already stressed planet.

It is no coincidence that modern capitalism was born in Europe, the center of Christianity, for Christianity provided the moral climate necessary for the development of capitalism. Christianity taught Europeans that the world was evil, that man must overcome nature, and that God gave man dominion over the earth. Capitalism could only have arisen in a society with those or similar beliefs because capitalism is based upon the manipulation of men and nature without regard for their rights. Capitalism could not have emerged in native societies or in the East because those cultures understand that God lives on the earth.

Armed with Christian beliefs, Europeans were ready to conquer the world, and when Columbus “discovered” America and trade routes were opened to Africa and the Far East, the perfect opportunities appeared. From the 16th through the 19th centuries, and in many cases well into the 20th century, Christians murdered and enslaved the people and looted the wealth of the American, Asian, and African continents. We can trace many of our troubles today to this unleashing of Christianity on the world.