image by rachaelvoorhees

For several months I’ve been noodling over the idea of holding a “Salon of Possibilities” at my house—a chance for people to get together and talk about some bigger-picture stuff that doesn’t often come up in day-to-day conversation. Last night we had the first one; together we read and discussed this interview with Susan Neiman, author of Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists.

This article appealed to me because I’ve been called an idealist in a semi-disparaging way for many years now, as if being idealistic—holding the belief that things can be better than they are now, and that we can make them that way—is a sign of naivete or simple misunderstanding of “the way things work.” But, Neiman says, when people are “realistic,” even if they present their point of view (“humans are violent and greedy and we just need to deal with it”) as common sense, in actuality, underneath that view of humankind is a metaphysical framework that they are imposing on reality. Neiman argues that a truly realistic point of view, being what she calls a “grown-up idealist,” means holding both visions—of the way things are and of the way they ought to be—at the same time, and operating from an understanding of both.

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image by //amy//

Over the weekend, I attended the Town Hall put on by the folks who run Evolver.net, a site dedicated to conscious collaboration to create the future. Colin Beaven spoke, as did folks from the Transition movement and many other various yogis, authors, and scientists. There was an expansive and kinetic feeling of potential in the room—a hundred people in a church talking about possibility, consciousness, and evolution as colored shards of sunlight filtered in through the stained glass windows.

Within all this energy was also a crackling of tension, a feeling that each of us was here not only to connect, but to evaluate. Was this for real? How much do we agree and disagree? And how much of the each others’ worldviews would we find unacceptable?

This tension is natural and good, I think. This was the first event of its kind, and we were all kind of reading each other, seeing how we and our ideas fit in. Allowing for this natural tension, though, I found myself at odds with the sentiments expressed by some of the speakers, which I perceived as anti-modern, angry, and sometimes even smug.

As I listened to speakers decry corporatism, describe Barack Obama as part of the problem rather than the solution, and speak about the coming transformation in 2012, I started to feel tense in my body. I wanted to stand up for all the good brought about by modernity, to interject some rigorous positivity into the proceedings, and—so much—to share a developmental perspective in which we might be able to lay down our anger at The Man and see the path that’s brought us here with equanimity. For how can we consciously forge a future if we are intent upon ripping down so much of our past?

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Happy Friday! This week on The Sunny Way:

• Tuesday I wrote about a powerful realization—that humans and our activities are not separate from nature.
• Wednesday, Victoria wrote about her garden, and seeing how it’s as much about her efforts as the beauty of nature itself.
• Thursday, we let you know about the NY Loves Mountains festival happening this weekend.

Today I’d like to share with you this incredible video of the Milky Way rising in the sky. Amazing to stop and contemplate the wonders swirling all around us, isn’t it? Enjoy and have a great weekend!

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image by Jeff Kubina

Going through a tunnel not too long ago I had an odd, beautiful experience. I realized that the tunnel I was in, the mountain through which it carved, the dynamite that blasted it, and the person who had the idea to go through the mountain instead of around it, were all flowerings of the same thing. Spirit, the universe, nature, God, pick your term—whatever you call it, the same force that pushed those peaks hundreds of feet up into the sky also led to my being there at that moment, in a car going 60 miles an hour through the mountain’s heart.

In that moment, I felt it in my bones—we are not separate from nature. We were created by its workings, and as we express our desire to grow and evolve and create the new, we express nature’s own desire to do the same.

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image by Neil D.

Continuing from yesterday’s discussion ...

Transition focuses on increasing resilience in communities by creating sustainable, local systems for producing food, generating energy, creating needed products, and transacting business. Life in the “Energy Descent,” as Transition calls it, can be healthier, happier, and more fulfilling than the lives we in the developed world are living now. From the site of founder Rob Hopkins:

“How might our response to peak oil and climate change look more like a party than a protest march?”

When I first heard about Transition at the 350 Conference, I was with Sarah, who was already very familiar with it. She told me that she’d been contemplating moving to a Transition town, but she felt conflicted. How worthwhile is it, she wondered, to work to make one place resilient, when what needs to change in the world is on a global scale?

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image by Jimee, Jackie, Tom & Asha

We’ve talked a lot about Bright Green thinking on The Sunny Way, but I don’t know if we’ve ever really defined what it is. Here’s how Worldchanging founder Alex Steffan explains it:

“In its simplest form, bright green environmentalism is a belief that sustainable innovation is the best path to lasting prosperity, and that any vision of sustainability which does not offer prosperity and well-being will not succeed. In short, it’s the belief that for the future to be green, it must also be bright. Bright green environmentalism is a call to use innovation, design, urban revitalization and entrepreneurial zeal to transform the systems that support our lives.”

As I’ve followed and participated in the Bright Green movement, I’ve noticed that it’s very focused on material changes—designing better, building better, living better. Worldchanging and other Bright Green resources do a great job describing what a Bright Green society might look like, but I wonder, what does it mean for a person—with thoughts and emotions and decisions to make—to be Bright Green? How does a Bright Green person see and operate in the world?

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The other day, Rich and I took advantage of a sunny day in Brooklyn (rare in the last few weeks!) to go see the cherry blossoms at Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. It was breathtaking—dozens of trees in full flower, so pink they practically glowed. The ground was covered with a thick layer of petals, and every time the wind blew, a delicate pink rain came drifting down. I could have stayed there on the ground looking up through the branches all day.

Cherry blossoms are prized in Japanese culture as a symbol of the beautiful transience of life. To me, they are also a reminder of the kind of culture we must build—one in which everything we do as humans, from sleeping to eating to chasing our dreams—contributes positively to the biosphere. Nature’s economy is based on each organism giving fully of itself, freely, without expectation of reciprocation, and this is reflected in the way cherry trees burst into life in the spring. They don’t need to know what the price of cherries are to motivate themselves to produce. Nor do they need to be admired for their beauty. They simply create as much as they can and contribute all of it to all of us, providing homes for birds, delicious fruit, and the incredible gorgeousness you can see in this short video.

How can we change ourselves and change our world so that we operate in the same way? That’s the question we’re tackling here on The Sunny Way, and we’re so grateful that you are part of the inquiry.

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image by The Sly Gentleman

There are lots of great tips on the web and in books about things you can do to save money and reduce your impact on the environment, but today, sitting around in the lovely May sunshine I’ve been thinking about the wonderful side effects of laziness.

There are so many worthwhile things I could do today other than sit around in my pajamas reading a book I borrowed from a friend, napping and working on my writing, things that on other days hold real appeal to me, but not today.

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image by Shaire Productions

Uli’s pieces last week on the Economy of Consciousness and the potential for unlimited growth in that realm inspired me to write on the same topic. Let us know what you think!

Human beings grow. That is what we do—we experiment, learn from our mistakes and successes, and integrate those learnings into how we go about the rest of our lives.

This growth is reflected in both our external world—the material life we create—and our internal world—the culture and values we share. From communal tribal awareness and authoritarian traditional religious awareness through the Age of Reason and the Age of Aquarius, we have grown in morality, in care, and in the depth and breadth with which we are able to engage in the world.

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It was an exciting week on The Sunny Way!

• On Monday, I shared my thoughts and a link to one of my favorite articles on Bright Green thinking, to kick off Earth Week.
• On Tuesday, Sarah updated us on all the exciting developments in the fight against Mountaintop Removal coal mining.
• On Wednesday and Thursday, Uli wrote about how human beings can continue developing without limitation and without destroying the planet more quickly—in the realm of consciousness.

Today I wanted to share with you an amazing video I encountered in my surfing this week. Playing for Change brings together musicians from around the world to collaborate on musical and service projects. This is one of the first videos they produced, and it gave me shivers!

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image by logan.fulcher

This is the second half of Uli’s piece on the Economy of Consciousness. Read Part 1.

Throughout the centuries, our self-awareness has grown increasingly subtle—when we weren’t sipping lattes made by robots but drinking from streams, we most likely experienced ourselves simply as bodies. We were living in hordes, communicating with each other in grunts and gestures without the slightest inclination that one day we would be talking about our feelings, much less discussing psychedelic drugs, philosophy, economic theory, or spiritual experiences. As we have conquered our inner reality, down to the processes in our brains, as well as the planet and space around us, we have also discovered our growing ability to choose— a partner, a profession, a country and our own identity—who we want to be.

There will always be more, not less. Further out and deeper in. The more we keep that more in mind as we look towards the future, the likelier our chance to discover and direct our most desirable destiny. A future, an economy, an environment built on a philosophy of less will never be able to satisfy us. This is where consciousness enters into the equation.

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image by logan.fulcher

This is Part 1 of Uli’s piece on the Economy of Consciousness. Read Part 2.

What would you do? TNK, or as you might call her, Tinka, X9, your housekeeper robot just cooked the eggs and made the coffee for you. Until you have to start work—at home, at 5pm, for three hours, maybe four today—this day is yours.

Not just this day. Every day. It has been like this since the big crisis of 2009 rattled the world and humanity had no option but to rethink its ways: a financial system in ruin, a planet on the verge of becoming uninhabitable, and wars sparked by the grotesque disparities between the have-it-alls and the have-nothings. On its way to material prosperity for all, the world had grown out of unlimited growth. So what would your day look like?

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image by Jimee, Jackie, Tom & Asha

We at The Sunny Way believe that the future can be fairer, cleaner, and more beautiful than anything we can imagine right now. We also believe that it is up to us to create this magnificent future, and therefore we need to grow so that we can think and create in new ways. Of course, nothing changes us on the inside like trying new things on the outside, so we think of this process as a lovely, virtuous, experimental circle, where internal awakenings lead to external efforts lead to more internal awakenings and on and on and on.

In honor of Earth Week, today I’d like to point you to one of the most compelling articles on this way of thinking that I have ever read, “A Brighter Shade of Green: Rebooting Environmentalism for the 21st Century,” by Ross Robertson, a senior editor at EnlightenNext magazine. When I first read this article, I could barely sit still for days—it so perfectly expresses and addresses the dissatisfaction with old models of environmental thinking that I and so many others are experiencing. Laying out his own life as an example, Robertson points to where environmentalism next needs to grow if it truly intends to throw its arms around the entire world and change it for the better.

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Happy Friday! It’s spectacular in Pittsburgh today—blue sky and fresh breezes and tweeting birds as far as the eye can see. What a fun week—last night was my grandma’s 86th birthday celebration and later today I’m off to the woods to celebrate one whole year with my sweet and brilliant boyfriend, who my brother says is now officially my “old man.” Spring is in full gear and all the possibilities I envision and dream of seem perfectly reasonable and doable. Hope you are enjoying yourself wherever you are, too.

Here’s what happened this week on The Sunny Way ...

• Monday I shared some thoughts on a few TV shows I’ve been watching lately—Dollhouse and Six Feet Under—all about conditioning, particularly for women, and why it’s so important for us to get over these old patterns of behavior so we can create something new.
• Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, Victoria wrote about Ahalani, a gorgeous, solar-powered, energy-efficient home in Long Island, designed and built by its owners Campbell Dalglish and Catherine Oberg. I loved reading all about this! Do listen to the mp3s if you get a chance, too—there’s so much great inspiration and information in the interview.

Today I’d like to share with you a very sweet blast from the past: the Muppet-ladies of Sesame Street reminding us of everything we women can be. This is a topic I intend to revisit in the next few weeks, because it’s desperately important to our being able to fully participate in creating a better future. The world needs us to take a bigger view of life!

Enjoy, and have a great weekend.