Preparing the Ground for a Life-Centered Society to Sprout

During the COVID pandemic, America went through a phase where fear was the unifying factor — fear of illness and fear of death.

Now the pending fear of many is that of not having enough money. This is a fear that will not be so unifying. It will further separate the haves from the have nots. And it will cross over political lines. Many liberals and MAGA conservatives will face the same problems of no work and little money for food and housing.

The ineptness of the federal government to operate in a rational way in the face of economic crisis will cause greater suffering and greater anger. Then there are those on the ultra-right who are already armed. Often anger is its own justification for violence. We may see pickup trucks with armed men flying flags and taking what they want. It could get ugly.

When earthquakes strike, when tsunamis arrive on the shores, it forces big changes in people’s lives and the political, social, and economic differences melt away. All are miserable, and all must pool their skills to survive.

When the economic earthquake strikes, facing adversity together will be the crucible, and in that time there must be a new social vision to light the way forward.

In establishing a garden the ground must be properly turned for the new crop to grow. Turning the soil is violent to the weeds and to the old plants that must be removed so that the new growth can flourish. But in the wake of tilling the soil, there is fresh ground in which the new seeds can be planted.

In the garden of human society, if we try to plant the seeds of new ways now, among the choking weeds, they cannot take root and the new ways cannot come to dominate. But when the ground gets turned, from the ashes of what was, a new and harmonious world society can be grown.

At this stage, we cannot use reason alone to bring in a new society. It will not take hold. This new thinking will need freshly turned soil to take root and thrive. The seeds from the old weeds will still be there, but the new ideas will now be the dominant crops and the weeds will be relegated to the sidelines and easily weeded out.

Our task now is to build up the seed bank. We must develop the ideas required for practical application in the future — a future that is not far off. We already can feel the rumblings of the plow coming.

We should not be discouraged that there is not full scope for these ideas to take hold now. But the new ideas need to be built up and small social models need to be established to demonstrate them. Because of the potential speed that now exists for the transmission of ideas, these seeds will spread very fast at the proper time.

Those of us with progressive vision must not get overly caught up in the day-to-day dramas of politics, wars, and fights between religions. We must of course support the struggle to save democracy, but we must withdraw enough from the craziness of the times to make our plans for tomorrow.

New ideas and new approaches do not come from the fighters on the front lines. They come from those who are quietly working behind the frontlines, developing the seeds and methods of implementation to grow after the dust has settled from the tilling of the soil.

As we witness the tilling of the soil of humanity, we may think: “This is all a great disaster. Where can I go to hide?” But it is not a time to hide.

The scientists who raced to find a vaccine for COVID started late and worked in an uncoordinated manner.

This should not be our approach. We should build our seed bank of ideas and create local models to try out these ideas. We need both visionaries and practitioners to engage in this work.

We may wonder why most people in the older generations are not now coming forward, despite society’s deep problems? It is because of their years of living amongst the weeds. They are satisfied with tiny amounts of progress and are willing to live out their lives amongst the weeds.

They have much potential to help grow a new society. But they are not waking up; they are not activating. So, they will have to go through the tilling process. The soil of their lives will have to be turned over. They must have freshly exposed soil in which to sprout the new ideas that they will carry.

When we engage in the creation of schools, medical clinics, cooperatives, housing, and feeding programs we gain some first-hand experience in how to heal society. So not only do the service projects serve people’s needs, but they can also become opportunities to create seed banks of ideas.

Young minds need to be impregnated with fresh ideas, with the seeds for the new society. We need not worry so much yet about the methods and ways of actual implementation on a large scale. When there is a great vacuum that draws forth new approaches, these visionary ideas will be released from the seed banks and sown around the world.

At this point our number one enemy is fear. Fear is the weapon that is far more effective than guns for controlling the minds of the populations of the world. Fear is the weapon utilized by the most cynical of people who understand the immediate capacity of fear to control the citizenry. They warn of chaos and threats from the “others” and then claim that only they can bring order and safety to the society.

But there is no real safety in responding to fear with more anger, more police, more guns. What is it that is more powerful than fear? It is love.

Love is powerful because it is planted in and arises from the hearts of every human being. All people are born into the world with this core of love alive in their hearts. And all have an innate thirst for unlimited love, though for so many this thirst has become too clouded over to be easily recognized.

The root cause of fear and anger is the experience of losing the connection. Yet, the desire to gain it back remains alive. This is the greatest weapon in the arsenal of the neohumanists. They are able to hold out the promise and practical path to a life suffused with love — love for the humans and for the animals and plants.

This love gets its strength not from thinking as its wellspring. It doesn’t come from intellect. It is best accessed through the personal connection with the indwelling spirit within every human being.

The great service of the neohumanists is to provide to all the practical path back to the wellspring of love — irrespective of skin color or belief system.

So, in the transition to a life-centered society, phase one of the unfolding is the tilling of the soil, the turning over of the weeds. The old ways must be sufficiently disrupted to open new ground for new ideas to sprout and take form.

When we put the shovel in the ground, and turn over the perfectly healthy grasses so we can plant the food crops, do we mourn for the grass and weeds that are turned upside down and die? No, this is not how we see the process of tilling. What we see is the soil being prepared for the new plants that will bear vegetables and fruits to nourish us for years to come.

This is what we should visualize as the weedy soil of the present society gets turned upside down. Those that live among the grasses and weeds will be greatly disturbed; their lives may be turned upside down. But we should see the future of the wonderful society that now has the potential to grow.

When the soil has been properly prepared, we will hopefully be there to plant the seeds that we have been nurturing. In this way we will participate in building a healthy, vibrant human society, and we will become guardians of the planet for all its forms of life.