We cannot choose the experiences that life throws at us.
But we can choose how to respond.
And our responses practically define who and what we are.
So how do you choose to respond to the COVID19 crisis?
Your decision will not only define who and what you are, but will also set the course for the future of the world we will live in tomorrow.
If we choose to respond in fear, anger and blame, then there is every reason to expect widespread chaos and potential economic and market collapse.
However, if we choose to see this as an opportunity to re-think our values and priorities and use these to build a better world than we had before – then there is every reason to believe that this is exactly what we can create.
I choose the latter. I aspire to build what I call an Eco-Logical society and environment. By Eco-Logical, I mean healthy, happy, life-enhancing, economically flourishing and sustainable.
But what do we need to do to achieve these desirable outcomes?
I believe that we can achieve these by applying what I call the V.I.R.T.U.E.S of Eco-Logic.
Let me unpack that.
Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, I was primarily concerned about the increasing damage we are causing to both our environment (air, water, plants, animals and all other life forms and systems) and our human communities (recognising that we humans are totally dependent on our environment to survive and thrive). In response, I focused my time and energy on educating people about these threats through The Enviropaedia. But after 20 years of doing this, I can now see that simply providing information about these threats, is not generating a response at the scale that is actually needed. This led to a further recognition that these threats to our environment (including climate change, pollution and mass extinction of species) are the logical outcome of our human behaviours and our behaviours are driven by our thinking and values. So if we want to achieve different and better outcomes (like clean air, water and healthy human and non-human communities) we need to start by changing our thinking and values. To paraphrase Albert Einstein ‘The world has problems – that cannot be solved using the same logic that created those problems’.
SO WHAT ARE THE THINKING PATTERNS AND VALUES THAT WILL PRODUCE A BETTER (CLEANER, HEALTHIER AND HAPPIER) WORLD TO LIVE IN?
To answer that question, I applied reverse analysis to our current situation. In other words, I looked for the thinking patterns and values that are causing the most damaging and harmful effects on ‘people and planet’ and from these I could then identify their logical opposite thinking patterns and values that can help us to heal and regenerate ‘people and planet’.
The harmful thinking patterns and values include: fear, extreme selfishness, greed, excessive material consumption, short term thinking, lack of compassion (especially in business and science), narrow-minded thinking (not seeing the interconnected big-picture) and seeing ourselves as being separate from nature and therefore not caring much about the eco-systems, plants, animals and other life-forms that we depend on.
The positive opposites of these negative thinking and values were then arranged in a sequence that produced the anagram -V.I.R.T.U.E.S because the word virtue is actually a very good description of each of these positive thinking patterns and values.
I would like to share these V.I.R.T.U.E.S with you as I believe that right now in response to the COVID-19 crisis is the perfect time and opportunity for us all to re-evaluate our thinking and values in order to create a new frame of reference and pathway towards building a healthy, happy, thriving society and environment.
In my next blog I will therefore begin with ‘V- is for Vision’.
And please note, Vision is not the same as aims, ambitions or goal setting. It is a very different process that is critically important and effective in creating a better tomorrow for ourselves and our children.