Our Living Universe

There was something formless and perfect before the universe was born. It is serene. Empty. Solitary. Unchanging. Infinite. Eternally present. It is the mother of the universe.
    -- Tao Te Ching

I believe that the most far-reaching trend of our times is an emerging shift in our shared view of the universe--from thinking of it as dead to experiencing it as alive. In regarding the universe as alive and ourselves as continuously sustained with that aliveness, we see that we are intimately related to everything that exists. This insight--that we are cousins to everything that exists in a living, continuously regenerated universe--represents a new way of looking at and relating to the world and overcomes the profound separation that has marked our lives. From the combined wisdom of science and spirituality is emerging an understanding that could provide the perceptual foundation for the diverse people of the world to come tog... more

The Last Taboo on Television

Virtually every forbidden topic imaginable has been covered on television, except for one. The last taboo on television is television itself -- and how it is profoundly biased toward high consumption lifestyles that the earth cannot sustain. In the U.S. the average person sees more than 25,000 commercials a year on TV. Commercials represent far more than a pitch for a particular product; they are also advertisements for the attitudes, values and lifestyles that surround the consumption of that product. Mass entertainment is being used to capture a mass audience that is then appealed to by mass advertising to promote mass consumption that, in turn, is devastating the Earth's biosphere. By programming television for commercial success, the television industry is also programming the mindset of civilizations for ecological failure. ... more