A very personal Email!
27 May 2017: This email below to a dear friend of mine, that doesn’t compromise him, yet shows the essence of ‘THE Problem’ we face, and then also the Spirit in which I took on the One Point Zero Challenge, and my Walk the Talk, self-appointed ‘Team Humanity’, (junior) Leadership Role! .
Hello ‘Mate’,
I was hoping to have what I believe, is a long overdue ‘heart to heart’ engagement with you, mate! (I do realise that our paths may have move wider apart, maybe even threatening our friendship? I valued your birthday email connection, and I would have hoped in that sign, our respect and value of the other has not faltered? On my side it certainly hasn’t. I know I am on a mission that many don’t like, but I always hope that people can look at my values, intent and where my heart is, and try and understand my ‘walk’ and see how it fits with my ‘talk’. I’m beyond myself and at that stage of life where life’s wisdom gained is to be ploughed back )
I was also hoping to clear up your description of me as an “Eco warrior”….. A bit tongue in cheek, but also a bit serious! I’m not a ‘greenie’, and not about the environment as the “Eco warrior” title implies. I love Nature, the environment, and a Pantheist at heart, but most I’m an Ethical / Moral warrior. I always have been and had the story developing inside me, behind the public adventures. I think you were one of the few that saw me beyond the Mr Adventurer, and as an explorer of Life, Soul and Humanity?
Back in 2010, at the presentation you organised, when I gave that anti-capitalism, and living the simple life,talk it was the same mission. All along my journey since almost 1997 turning my back on business and ‘more and more’, from my exploring I had an ‘instinct’ that the city / system life I had left was not good for Society. My soul felt increasingly liberated being outside The System, and being able to look in with an unconnected, authentic heart and mind. The initially challenging references of being solo, and real remote in the planet’s last wildernesses, brought the other part of my transformation. Like a natural mediation it helped me find my full human-ness connection with Nature, and completed the pictures that are now me.
Back in 2010 I just didn’t have The Facts about how the pursuit of The Good Life, Western model is beyond doubt, destroying Our Home, The Planet. Linking up with The Global Footprint Network and now having ‘The Facts’ that we need 1.6 planets to be ‘sustainable’ and this deficit is increasing every day, and has been every day since we passed 1.0 planets in 1970, was the factual validation of my gut feel from my extensive13 years exploring experiences: That ‘we’ have ‘Got it Wrong’….It’s not about ‘Greenie stuff’, forests, greening, recycling, renewable energy and other sustainable initiatives. These we have to do, as reactive initiatives, because we as western society have lost our way, and the elite are providing the ‘footprint’ to follow this wrong path, away from belonging with Nature and to oblivion…
The problem really is:
‘We’ as the western world system elite don’t know how to BELONG on this planet, and the leaders of Society are the worst ‘non-belongers’…. Misfits, and trying to lead ‘us’ to their Crowd of ‘Untruth belonging’!:
If everyone lived like a ‘1%-er’ we would need some 7 to 10 planets today to sustain life as it is today. If everyone lived like the average $5-10 millionaire we would need around 12 planets, and well, if everyone lived like the average billionaire we would need 20+ planets. Almost all celebrities, many of them who are wannabee Eco warriors, but certainly not Moral / Ethical Warriors, are part of those groups….. And these are the people, who are society’s icons of success, leading the world to ‘Success’….? Often a case of ‘Talk the Truths’, but Walk the Untruths.
Basically the current ‘formula’ for Development and its underpinning Success is fundamentally flawed. It’s a Humanitarian crime of the most serious level, and selfishly motivated. Not just me saying this… Many, many organisations now this and publicly say this, but often in a politically couched way, so they don’t piss off the elite who feed them.
The argument that the elite are the providers of jobs, upgrading society and critical to investment in the economy is flawed in this moral / ethical conflict. Once one sees The Truth that in a development process that is designed to move all up the rungs of the Good Life ladder, and closer towards the consumption footprint of the elite, the demands on The Planet will become even more exponentially downward spiralling in deficit, as ‘Success’ grows. (The Capitalist Development Problem)
The real problem is that we can’t even support a humanity of the average human of today? We need 1.6 planets, so we can’t afford to have anyone even moving up a single rung on the Good Life ladder. The ever widening Wealth Gap is also pointing to the fact that the ‘Multi Planet’ lifestyle people are every year becoming more and more ‘Mega Planet’ lifestyle people…. They don’t seem to care as they hide behind job creation and philanthropic shields.
There is a fundamental flaw in ‘The Good Life’ model, and the aspirational role played by the elite in society. Somewhere along the line, a group (or groups) have to stop climbing the rungs. Maybe those who are ‘Multi-Planet lifestyle’ leaders need to find a new lifestyle of Success, one that is exemplary? To Walk the Talk, and start leading ‘us’ with ‘Footprints of New Success’ that ‘we’ can really aspire. Lifestyle Footprints that lead ‘us’ back to belonging in Our Home, and not stealing the future Home away from future generations?
As you know technology is vital to help slow things down, but given the enormity of the deficit and its daily increase, it will never be enough. ( I have a strategy that forces accountability onto those who are gambling on the ‘technology, bailout’ solution. It would require them to put a moving ‘margin call’, security deposit (against their moving footprint deficit). Securely in the bank, with release pending proof of a solution that compensates their excessive footprint.)
Ten years ago, people could be forgiven for not knowing ‘The Facts’, but today ‘We’ KNOW, mate: It is ‘Beyond Doubt’. I’m 99.9% sure you know that? Trump denies it only because he personally will lose his whole identity and value system in accepting these truths. In all my many talks with people all over the world. I have I never found anyone denying ‘The Facts‘.
We are the generation that has caused the most rapid and severe deficit on Nature’s capacity, and now we are also the first generation who now knows, beyond doubt, that we are doing that…. This makes it a moral / ethical crisis for each of us: We have to individually decide whether we are part of the crime, and if we are, are we going to continuing being an active accomplice or not?
If one, of one’s own accord, decides to Stop, one risks being rejected by The Crowd.
Like I am finding out: If one decides to Stop, and try and ‘help’ The Crowd stop, one needs to be a very brave and committed Moral / Ethical warrior: The resistance from The Crowd is fierce in its, mostly passive, aggression. In all my spreading of the message, and particularly as it has become more focused in the past few years, I have yet to meet a single member of the elite who wants to leave ‘The Crowd’, and join me ‘Walking the Talk’ of The Truths, behind The Facts. There are many of the non-elite, who through force of circumstance and lack of choice, do ‘Walk the Talk’ but are scorned as, ‘no option losers’ by the elite. I talk to many of these people, and I guess much of the issues behind Brexit, Trump’s election etc is related to the despair / disillusionment of these ‘non-elite’.
After discussions / interviews with many of the elite all over the world, they almost all agree the two truths below.:
1. The Wealth Gap is ever increasing at a faster rate each year AND that this Wealth Gap situation is Not Good for Society / Humanity. This The Divide
2. The Planet is being Destroyed by Humans at a faster rate than as ever been seen before, AND Nature does not have sufficient capacity to deal with ‘human taking’ and the conditions have long gone UN-Sustainable. This The Chasm.
Yet to my absolute amazement, they are all (without exception) proudly living lives that are all very actively contributing (even leading) the increase of these ‘Not Good’ Truths:
Some people tell me this hypocrisy is what ‘Being Human’ is about…?
Wow mate, I find that totally depressing to believe, and I WILL NOT accept that that IS what being a Good Human / Person is about. Don’t these people have a soul, I ask, and beyond their soul, what about a conscience? I realise that it takes courage and it’s lonely to step out, but man, surely living with a torn soul is a worse option for these people?
Literally every day as I wonder the world, I apologise to younger people for ‘My Generation’, and my role in creating this ‘Wealth Gap’ and this ever increasing ‘Planet Deficit’ Problem.
I ask them for personal leniency in their judgement: The mitigating evidence being, that once I knew ‘The Facts’, I stopped actively contributing to them. Actually, I tell them, that I suspected ‘The Facts’ 15 years back, and left The System choosing to live simply, with ‘Just Enough’ wealth and not be part of The Crimes. Then only two years back finding ‘The Facts’, the scientific facts, and then making the final, ‘No Flying’ Lifestyle tweek, to slim my footprint down to my Fair Share. I became a true non-contributor to both the ‘No Good’ Truths, laid out above.
Mate, I do know this is very tough stuff.
I also know your quite a bit about your life journey and I think how you may struggle with all this too, yet are ‘sort of caught in the net of the lies’. None of this is judgement or me trying to be holier that though, or me envious / angry or whatever… In fact I’m hugely respectful and in admiration of what you have achieved and how you have approached life and dealt with the curved balls you were presented with. I also understand having offspring’s puts a totally different perspective on priorities and humanity horizon perspectives.
In choosing the embryonic activist path I have chosen I had to go deep and find out my try motives and any insecurities that maybe wrongly fuelling my passion and energy for this cause.
I knew that a wrong, or angry motive would catch ME out later: I needed to be sure beyond doubt that my drive was pure, and only ethically / morally based…
I have searched deep within and found only a deep motive of wanting to do what is right for humanity in what I see (and most in their hearts agree) is a deeply flawed and unjust society. (Of course we have our insecurities, quirks, hang ups etc, but I’m confident that those haven’t got in the way of my current path…. I do know from the many that I do interact with there is never a doubt in their respect for my choice of life path, my moral / ethical stance, my passion for life, and my authenticity.
Mate, if you really do know me like I think you may, you’ll know that I’m authentic and have a deep down moral / ethical motive?
But maybe you have doubts, or have concluded otherwise about me? Maybe I’m not even an item in your interests / thoughts? Maybe you even feel sorry for me? Ha-ha….? Maybe I’m like an irritating bug that you politely interact with once a year….. ? I don’t want to be any of those to you, I’d just value you being true to yourself and open to me. Tell it as it is, mate… Liberate US!
Mostly, I see people choosing to rather live by the untruths, and turn their backs on the Moral / Ethical Warrior, because it’s not the truths they want to see, and the truths will ‘disrupt’ their lives, being and very identity. But I see an opportunity for the ‘enlightened elite’ to start building the new fashion…. I morally and ethically pure one, based on The truths, with them leading with their footprint..
I value you as one of a small group of elite friends I can talk to about these difficult things. I think I know you as a thinker, who has fundamentally good values and a sound morally / ethical anchorage. We have also had very deep and meaningful conversations over the years, and we both know that life is a journey of exploration and discovery: What we thought were The Truths earlier in our lives may not be The Truths as we explore and discover more… With ‘new Truths’ we need to be prepared to transform ourselves, away from the superseded, old truths…
For example: Back in the 90’s I was a devout capitalist in The System as that was what I was been shown as the way to success. In saying that, like I believe you are, I was never an ‘irresponsible capitalist’. I have many stories from both the corporate and entrepreneurial worlds to support that claim. But as I broke free, I discovered that in pursuing capitalism I had developed habits, values and beliefs that precluded me from Belonging on this Planet. I grew from that awakening.
It’s very scary confronting The Truths when they are in conflict with what one thought was The Right Way… Apartheid was a classic in this: How most white SA’s, way back, most of (our parent’s generation, etc) really did believe the system was right, but the truth was it was not, and that it was actually a crime. How does this happen with intelligent people? I find it fascinating exploring how groups work and Crowds form around lies, that are never discussed, but rather un-truths promoted as truths.
In this ‘Today society’ of so many lies and deception, the search for the truths and then being able to live aligned with the truths is what I believe is the path to ultimate liberation and personal inner peace. I say this because that is honestly how I feel this within…. I wouldn’t be able to stand above myself and seemingly sacrifice my life for the path of the activist / warrior, but this all feels right for this part of my life journey. I have ‘Enough’, which I really know ‘Is Enough’, and I have the time, the energy, the passion and no other bigger life priorities. I have done all the lesser life things I wanted to do, and fortunately in doing those things I feel I have found higher truths and purpose.
Over the years, many people with offspring have asked me why I am so passionate about all this, when THEY should be the ones worrying about the future they are creating and handing over to their kids? They suggest that I shouldn’t care a damn and just live ‘selfishly’ not caring about the big flaws of humanity? Some have admitted that they feel embarrassed that they have never thought about all this stuff? Some have even admitted so me that raising kids consumed them and they didn’t get time to think about The World, The Truths etc, beyond their family and business, and getting that all sorted.
These are all wasted effort thoughts for debate, but in them I see as evidence of the start of the awakening process in the other: For me I’m doing what I believe is holistic, spiritual and meaningful for my Life, and presume others are trying the same for theirs, but maybe life in The Crowd is purposely distracting?: Blinding (purposely?) and all consuming (purposely)…?:
In all this it has been quite profound to discover that until ‘we’ find our answers for the big Spiritual questions of Life, it’s almost pointless racing ahead with what The Crowd believes is what Life is all about, getting so caught up in it all that one can’t see beyond all The Crowd espouse, control, and promote. That’s OK when one is in a struggle for survival and identity as a low rung, ‘servant’, ‘beggar’, or ‘pawn’ in The Crowd, but when one ‘Has Enough’ and is way up the ladder, beyond survival, I find it staggering how few question their path: Its higher level meaning, purpose and contribution to humanity within the context of the big picture spiritual context of Nature and The Planet, and beyond just human context. It is almost as if they are on a rail track, one that they follow that maybe at best has a few minor fork options, but either way the destination is set by the ‘rail tracker maker’, and accepted beyond question in it’s ethical, meaning and ultimate human belonging, spiritual cause?
It’s been a long while since we had that sort of chat where we can share the inner learning we have individually experienced over the years since we last met? How our Truths may have changed, and how we may have altered our life courses to align with any new Truths? I’m an explorer so for me the exploring is my life, yet I don’t know where you are as an explorer and where your exploration journey is at…? When we met I sense we both had a good sense of whether the other was at, and could add value (hopefully??!!) to each other’s journey.
Mate, in sharing my story with you, I only want you to understand the huge journey and challenge I have been on, nothing more than to continue to hold a hand out. A journey that I will never regret and one that I know gives me soul peace, and huge personal power to take up an activist role, and to try and help rather than to fight. Mate, this is huge, maybe too big, but for me, and I need help:
As I move into my next phase of One Point Zero, I have realised that I need fellow Moral / Ethical Warriors from the Elite. Real, upper echelon elite, is what is really needed. How do ‘we’ get these people to STOP, Think, and lead the change through their own TRANSFORMATION and be Walk the Talk leaders? This is part of my mission in the UK, and I accept that it is going to be a challenge, but with it will be huge learning, and maybe the breakthrough will come.
You may, or you may not, be able to help? Even if you know you could, you may not want to help?
It’s one of those projects where those who really can help, may find that it goes against their very public persona / identity to be seen to help. People may think one has turned traitor. I do understand all that as I have had to deal with it myself, and so will not be offended if you just push me away saying: “Not for me, Howard” … Maybe you know ‘someone’ from the elite how will align with the cause, or maybe already on the cause?
You may see things differently, but I do believe the fashion is changing very quickly and I have no doubt, that in however many years to come, the goals of this adventure would have become every day way of life, and ‘we’ will look back and say: “How could we have lived in a way that caused all that….?”
Anyway mate, this has been a bit of a marathon one…. I have no expectations on how you will respond, but please only respond from your heart, that’s all I would like to say I ‘expect’ as a real friend….
Best,
Howard
H