Dec. 2006/Nov. 2007

The US Needs a National Service Program
Thom Hartman

Health Care for All
Doug Piebel & Sarah van Gelder

Has Canada Got the Cure?
Holly Dressel

The Time is Now for Single-Payer Health Care in the US
Marilyn Clement

Oregon May Invite "Biopharming" of GE Plants
Shreema Mehta

How Mushrooms Can Save the World
John Darling

Helping the Ecosystem through Mushroom Cultivation
Paul Stamets

Coming Together to Find Common Ground
Jim Wallis

The Potential Hazards of Wireless Technology
Victoria Leor

Hypnotherapy Can Change Patterns in the Brain
Rochelle Jaffee

True Meditation
Adyashanti

The Most Important Dimension of Human Existence
Eckhart Tolle

The Body of Our Knowing: Disease and Philosophy
David La Chapelle

Mixed Media Reviews
Debi Weiss

Cosmic Calendar
Salina Rain

BACK TO TOP

By Deborah Mokma

With the election of 2006 behind us, there is a sense of hope that a more conscious group of lawmakers will now be choosing the legislative agenda. There is also hope that policies which reflect the needs of the greater good—addressing changes required to correct global warming, improved health care for all citizens, increasing the minimum wage, improving education—will be implemented.

But we must not assume that the new leadership in Congress and the Senate is going to be able to accomplish these goals without the support and input from we the people. Lobbyists from pharmaceutical and oil companies, agribusiness and military contactors, to name just a few, who were able to influence the previous leaders are now turning their attention and their millions of dollars towards the new Democratic majority. It is up to all of us to communicate with our elected officials on a regular basis to help them focus on the needs of the many and not just the wealthy few.

In considering what it will take to address the myriad of difficulties facing us on the planet at this moment in time I was encouraged by the observations of Fred Kofman, assistant professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and author of the new book Conscious Business. When asked what a conscious business would look like, he explained:

"The most significant observation would be the total absence of abuse, shame, and threat. People would take responsibility for their behavior and deal with each other honestly and respectfully. They would hold themselves and each other accountable for adhering to some set of agreed-upon values and for working toward an agreed-upon vision. Deviations and errors would be an opportunity for learning and growth, rather than an excuse for blame and punishment.

"A conscious business environment is not a Garden of Eden where everything is always blissful. The main difference displayed by a conscious business environment is that in addition to the drive to achieve their goals, people would experience also the commitment to operate according to their values. This commitment is the source of unconditional dignity that would give the organization and its members a core of luminosity from which to extend into the world.

“A conscious business environment would be a challenge, an invitation to develop people’s physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual spheres. The conscious organization is a crucible where people refine themselves through service and partnership. As Khalil Gibran would say, a conscious business is a place where it becomes obvious that work is ‘love made visible.’”

It seems to me that Kofman’s description of a conscious business environment also applies to the business of life. Wouldn’t this be a wonderful goal for all of us to embrace in our day to day activities among family, friends, communities, commerce etc? In fact, I’m unable to think of any instances where these thoughts would not apply. Indeed, a commitment to achieving unconditional dignity for all the world is just what may be needed to find our way to peaceful coexistence on the planet. It is apparent that waging war will never achieve this goal.

When Reverend Jim Wallis gave the Democrat’s weekly radio broadcast last December at the invitation of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (see page 16 for the full text), he concluded that “A culture that promotes healthy families is necessary to raise our children with strong values, and the breakdown of family and community in our society must be addressed. But we need serious solutions, not the scapegoating of others … We need a new politics inspired by our deepest held values. We must summon the best in the American people, and unite to solve some of the moral issues of our time. Americans are much less concerned about what is liberal or conservative, what is Democrat or Republican. Rather, we care about what is right and what works. The path of partisan division is well worn, but the road of compassionate priorities and social justice will lead us to a new America. Building that new America will require greater moral leadership from both Democrats and Republicans, and also from each and every one of us.”

Compassionate priorities, in place of the excessive desires of a few who benefit at the expense of the many, would surely assist us in achieving a better world for all. While the expectation of accomplishing this in the short term may be overly optimistic, surely the possibility of eventually creating communities in which the common good is at the forefront of even the consciousnesses of those in positions of power is something we can all agree is worth striving for.

Part of the foundation for achieving these goals is healthier communities, and healthier communities will only be possible when those with less means are no longer struggling under the burden of limited medical resources, which includes education in the prevention of disease. Please read “Health Care for All” on pages 6-8 and then find out how to take action to assist in the healing of the healthcare system in this country on page 9.

Another way that individuals and communities can bring these concepts to fruition is examined by Heather Flores in her new book Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden and Your Neighborhood into a Community, which is excerpted beginning on page 10. In the description of her personal evolution and arising awareness of community building via community gardens Heather explains:

“Living ecologically means changing our whole way of being with the rest of nature, and gardening provides the setting for this transformation. If each of us grows even a small organic garden and shares the surplus, we will see a distinct cultural shift toward healthier people and stronger communities, not just through a direct increase in available food and information but also, and more importantly, through the way these actions change how people think.”
The time is now, and we are the ones we have been waiting for.

Deborah Mokma