One Apple A Day #1067
These days I'm listening to this inspiring conversation between Rich Roll and Paul Hawken. I'm only halfway because I often need to pause and let the powerful words shared by Hawken sink in.
The conversation is about climate change that, in Hawken' words, "it is not a science problem. It's a human problem."
And being a human problem, it touches on things that go beyond climate change. One of the sentences that made me shiver is when Hawken says that "capitalism transforms life into money."
He says that most of our institutions, private and public, are extractors. Their main goal is to take more than they give.
I would say that most of humanity has an extractive mindset. We are born and bred into it.
With such a mindset, we approach any relationship with other human beings or Earth as a transaction in which what matters is how much profit we get. I mean profit in the broader sense as the difference between what we get and what we give. Sometimes it is money, others it is power, knowledge, status. Sometimes it can even be pleasure, happiness or love.
Is there a different way? One in which we enter into a relationship to nurture the connection, moving beyond giving and taking?
Can we create partnerships with others and with nature in which the goal is prosperity for all?
I'm doing some small experiments in my life. It's not easy because the primary resistances are within me. But once I got over those inner blocks, I began to experience freedom, joy, creativity and a powerful sense of possibilities.