August/September 2007

Building Social Capital
Craig Comstock

The Benefits of Relocalizing
Jan Spencer

The World's First Truly Global Empire Interview with John Perkins
Amy Goodman

An Idea That Can Bring Us Together Interview with Howard Zinn
Jason Francis

Red Earth Descendents to Host Upcoming Native EcoSymposium
Jane Ayers

Sunscreen Scrutiny
Jody Woodruff

The Best Health Care is Reserved for Congress
Don Sloan, MD

Traveling to Kabul with Nonviolent Communication
Selene Aitken

Exploring the Gifts and Opportunities of Mid-Life: A Jungian Perspective
Marla Estes

Living in Sad Times: The Depression Epicemic, and Some Green Notes
Gaea Yudron

Lift Yourself Into A Brand New World
Guy Finley

Cosmic Calendar
Salina Rain

BACK TO TOP

Editor’s Note

By Deborah Mokma

The choices we make in how we care for each other and the planet are some of the most important decisions facing us today. Although there is ample anecdotal and historical evidence which suggests the human species tends to be self-centered and greedy, recent research says otherwise. Neuroscientists Jorge Moll and Jordan Grafman of the National Institutes of Health say their experiments have led them to conclude that altruism is something that makes people feel good—in fact it even lights up a primitive part of the human brain that usually responds to food or sex. Moll and Grafman conclude that, rather than being about the suppression of basic selfish urges, evolutionarily speaking, altruism is “basic to the brain, hard-wired and pleasurable.”

When asking ourselves “What would Jesus (Buddha, Mohammed, Gandhi or Moses) do?” I think it is fair to say that all of these great beings shared the same basic teachings, which may be summed up by what we know as the Golden Rule (also known as Ethics of Reciprocity): “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” According to the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance (www.religioustolerance.org): “There is near unanimity of opinion among almost all religions, ethical systems and philosophies that each person should treat others in a decent manner. Almost all of these groups have passages in their holy texts, or writings of their leaders, which promote this Ethic of Reciprocity. One result of this Ethic is the concept that every person shares certain inherent human rights, simply because of their membership in the human race. People are individually very different ... they follow many religious and economic systems, speak many languages, and follow many different cultures. But there is a growing consensus that all humans are equal in importance. All should enjoy basic human rights.”

Throughout the ages this otherwise inherent sense of wanting to care for each other has been culturally twisted to maintain a certain status quo. But this does not mean that it is the way it always was, or the way it always will be. As many of us are now learning, it is up to each of us to be the change we wish to see. Our individual actions, while perhaps feeling like a small ripple in the pond, will eventually become a tidal wave of change which will cover the planet.

There are many who agree the time has come for this world-wide shift. As historian Howard Zinn says (see page 12): “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights … adopted in 1948 by the United Nations … says that every human being has a right to food, shelter, healthcare, and education, and to be free from war. Every person on Earth should have a certain basic standard of living that is guaranteed, which is possible because it is a wealthy world. It’s just that the wealth has been wasted, maldistributed … the idea that can bring us together is the common recognition that violence, war, militarism cannot solve any of the problems in the world. That we must turn away from violence and war, and use the wealth of the world to help people, to give people healthcare, education and cure sickness and give people places to live. That idea of a common interest, that idea of renouncing war and instead using the enormous wealth that’s been wasted on war to work with one another in the world and save the lives of millions and millions of people who now die of sickness and malnutrition—that fundamental idea can bring us together.”

I believe it is indeed possible to create a world where all are provided with the basics of food, healthcare, housing, education etc. While it will take a great many of us to make it happen, together, we surely can!