The New Civilization Network originated partially in the desire for coming
together and doing something more tangible. Taking action, rather than just
being theoretical about things.
Now, I would like here to call attention to the great variety of definitions
there are to "doing something". We don't have to all have the same
definition of it, or pursue the exact same kind of DOING. For that matter,
we might each have our own unique quality of doing that is a little
different from everybody else's.
I occasionally hear people expressing frustration within one group or
another about things not being done, or the wrong things being done, or the
wrong ideas being presented. It is usually of the format of "Hey, let's
stop all this ____ and start doing something". However, the interesting
part is that the implied meaning of the doing is very variable, as is the
implied meaning of the activity that the person is objecting to.
Personally, I find my own calling to be in the realm of principles, visions,
communication, clarity, organization, and relations between people. Thus, if
I see good communication, developing beneficial relations between people,
and developing mutual values and vision, I think: "Great, we're doing
something". But others amongst you will think "Enough of this meaningless
talk, let's DO something". And with the DOING part you might implicitly be
thinking of any (or none) of:
getting involved in politics and working on passing better laws; collecting
and delivering food for starving people; running a business that employs
people; paying your rent; designing the exact blueprints for a better
society; meeting interesting people in person; stopping crime; stopping the
destruction of the rain forrest; meditating; writing a book; arranging
seminars; buying a piece of land and creating an intentional community;
voting on what we should do; making an action plan we all agree to and then
follow it; solving the over-population problem; inventing better technology;
abandoning technology and going back to the old ways; appealing to the
U.N.; going on national TV; start composting; make money; abandon money; get
off the computer; spend more time at your computer; paint a picture; write a
song; etc., etc.
All of these are fine. However, they might not all be fine at the same time,
and they might not be fine things to do for everybody, everywhere. And we
might have quite different ideas about relevancies, importances and
priorities.
Your own sense of what needs to be done indicates what's important to you,
what your values are. Probably you would be most happy and productive if you
are doing exactly that which you believe ought to be done. Hopefully,
amongst us here you will find something that will support what you want to
do, be it contacts, ideas, co-contributors, tools, motivation, resources,
or assistance.
Mainly what I'm trying to say here is: try to notice how we all have slightly
different perspectives and importances, that what you see as THE thing of
utmost importance to do might not be what everybody else sees, and even
though they don't, we might still amongst us do something very useful. You
will both find supporters who agree wholeheartedly with you, and you'll find
people doing things that might not seem relevant to you at the moment, but
that in the long run will turn out to be complementary to what you do, in
ways
you didn't predict.
Collective or cooperative action does not necessarily mean that everybody's
doing the same thing and everybody's agreeing. It might mean cultivating
synergy between many different types of action and many different
perspectives.
- Flemming
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/ \------------------ Flemming A. Funch ------------------/ \
/ * \ World Transformation/New Civilization/Whole Systems / * \
/ * * \ ffunch@newciv.org / * * \
o-------o------- http://www.newciv.org/worldtrans/ -------o-------o
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