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a Moment for Wisdom… |
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. DAILY WISDOM: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way…”
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1812 – 1870) |
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Personal Wisdom:
What are some examples of the “best of
What are some examples of the “worst of
Are the “best” examples at the same scale or magnitude as the “worst”? Are they scalable?
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Societal Wisdom:
After Chernobyl, after Three Mile Island, the world continued to plan and build more nuclear power plants. Do you think that will happen again, after the Japanese disaster?
If your answer is “yes”, how can regular people avoid such an outcome?
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a Moment with Sharif… |
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Japan has the dubious distinction of being the only country in the world to be nuked – twice. Once by an enemy (us) and once all on its own. (In fairness, the distinction of self-inflicted nuking also belongs to both Russia (Chernobyl) and the United States (Three Mile Island).
It’s hard writing “wisdom” about an event that is literally unfolding as I’m writing. However, one thing is clear: we humans have known the horrors of Breaker-style nuclear energy since Hiroshima, and yet we continue to inflict this long-term plague upon the world. The child in the photo with its hands raised IS being robbed… of its future.
As my friend Carl Anthony says, an earthquake is not a disaster. The disaster is putting your house (or your nuclear power plant) on the fault line.
In the Japan tragedy, what are the “best of times”? In this time of devastation and suffering, the one ray of hope for the future is that I believe it signals the beginning of the end for the Breaker nuclear power industry. The idea of “safe” nuclear power is impossible, if the most safety-minded people in the world cannot build a “safe” nuclear power plant.
I said “Breaker” nuclear power… could there be such a thing as “Mender” nuclear power? Actually, I think so! I believe that our approach to the atom is all wrong. From the beginning, our ideas were to “smash” the atom, to try to dominate and control thermonuclear power, the way Breakers have attempted to dominate and control everything else.
I’m an adherent of nuclear power… as long as we keep the plant 93,000,000 miles away, where its energy can dry your clothes on a sunny day, not burn you to a crisp in nano-seconds. There may even be a way to coax energy out of the atom here on Earth… so long as we approach the atom, like everything else, with humility, with reverence, with moderation, with respect.
Peace,
Sharif
PS: For those who expressed support, concern and interest in my ceremony this weekend: thank you! It was truly amazing, incredible and most surprising… nothing at all like I had thought. I will spend some time on describing this experience – and its implications for my work – during the upcoming Tele-Seminar on 23 March. If you have not yet registered for this, please do so now! Commonway Praxis Tele-Seminar.
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Signing up…
Simply CLICK HERE! to go to the sign-up form. Fill
http://www.commonway.org/signupform
Acknowledgments: Sharif Abdullah photo: Lisa Norton All other photos by Sharif Abdullah, unless otherwise noted.
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Commonway Institute for Societal Transformation PO Box 12541 Portland, OR 97212 mail@commonway.org
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THE COMMONWAY MISSION: To envision and implement a transformation of human societies, one radical enough to match the times, inclusive enough to heal humanity and all other beings, and visionary enough to propel us to the next step of human evolution.
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