In the first part of the book the author discussed all of the issues that earth and the world's population are facing such as the oil crisis, lack of clean accessible water, famine, war, deforestation, global warming etc. In the second part of book the author describes how we got to this critical point on the verge of destruction. Finally, in the third part of the book the main topic was what we can do about it.
This third section of the book is probably my favorite. It's much more upbeat than the other two for obvious reasons. Instead of talking about the downside of our situation, it talked about what can be done to try and reverse what's happening. It addressed more spiritual and cultural things we need to address verses tangible things. One thing I learned is that we are all connected by something called a "morphic field". It's hard to explain, but as I understood it it's kind of like this huge collective unconscious. This means if individually we start to change our way of thinking it can echo out in the larger world. When enough people learn to think differently there will be a snap or shift and our culture will change. The interconnectedness of all things is something I find somewhat difficult to grasp, but I love the idea of it and I want to believe that it's true. The author also talked about practicing "small acts of anonymous mercy". These have a synergistic effect. The more random acts of kindness performed, the more people will be inclined to act in a kind manner.
The idea of the interconnectedness of all things gives me a feeling of equality to all living things. Some humans believe that we are superior to all other living things and that it is our right to dominate over all of nature, but what does that mean? That we have a right to use everything, in any amount, and however we would like with no thought or question as to how it effects other living things or future generations? I believe that we are the earth's stewards, not the earth's tyrants. I recently read a chapter out of a book called "What Color is Your Parachute" in which the author describes life as individual moments in which you have the power by the decisions you make whether or not to bring more gratitude, more kindness, more forgiveness, more honesty, and more love into this world. Everyday we live these moments whether we are conscious that these decisions are being made or not. I feel that if everyone believed that with each decision they made they had the chance to bring more or less love into the world we would all try a little harder. I feel like this is sort of the point that the author of my book was trying to get across as well.
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