Path to a Better World

The idea of a better world, one that casts off the flawed methods and ideas of the past in favor of more sustainable and efficient alternatives, is appealing to most people to one degree or another. For a certain segment of the populace though it can become almost an obsession.

For those people there are two things that you can count on them being aware of. The Ishmael books by Daniel Quinn and the Zeitgeist series of films.

The Ishmael books examine the evolution of Western Civilization and confront certain missteps we've taken along the way. You might call them design flaws. Things that, once realized should be corrected.

The Zeitgeist films cover a variety of topics but the main thrust seems to deal with the Monetary system and explaining how it is fundamentally unsustainable.

Generally speaking, I agree with alot of the ideas present in both of these. The obvious flaw in both is that while they make a compelling case for the need to bring about change, they fall short of mapping out a clear path from where we are to where we need to be. Quinn even comments on this in his Non Fiction book "Beyond Civilization", saying that it was a response to readers having commented on the lack of a clear path to a more sustainable way of life.


In the Zeitgeist films there is a reference made to "The Venus Project" which is a separate organization that works in cooperation with the producers of the Zeitgeist films. The Venus Project has a design for a sustainable city. The films dedicate a portion of time to detailing how the city would function in broad strokes, which sound very sensible and doable. They describe the approach as a resource based economy.

The ideas are very interesting. It's fires the imagination to think of the kind of world that could exist if they were undertaken like the space race was a generation ago.

I could be wrong but I'm just not feeling the urgency to take this from an idea to a working functioning model. And there has to be follow through. Because books and films like these that suggest a need for change speak to that segment of the populace that is hungry for it.

Mention is made in the latter 2 of the Zeitgeist films that this culture of money can't be replaced until it finally crashes and burns. That seems like an excuse for not taking on the very hard work of setting aside these old ways and carving out new ones. I'm reminded of a quote from John Kerry (I believe) where he said "How do you ask someone to be the last soldier to die for a mistake". If you believe this way of life is so wrong, how do you ask people to waste one more moment of their lives in support of it? The progress that can be made at the beginning might be small but it will most definitely get us further than waiting five years or ten and starting then.

What is essential is that those true believers are able to see regular measurable progress. There is energy here that is looking for a direction. If it doesn't find it here, it will find it in something comfortable and mundane and profoundly unremarkable.

(To be continued)