So much of what we hear today is focused on negative banter about what’s happened, who’s to blame, etc. Maybe we need to spend more time talking and thinking about what is possible.
We are beings driven by our conscious and sub-conscious minds. Our behaviors are directly linked to our thoughts. We control more than we realize.
I’ve been a huge fan of R. Buckminster Fuller for many years. In his first book “Nine Chains to the Moon” Fuller coined the term ephemeralization – which refers to the ability of people to use technology advances to continuously do more with less. His vision was that ephemeralization will result in an ever-increasing standard of living for an ever-growing population despite finite resources.
Here’s a simple illustration of this idea. In 1520 Magellan spent 2 years sailing in a wooden boat around the globe. 350 years later steam ships could navigate the earth in just 2 months time. 75 years later an airplane, made of alloys, took 2 weeks to fly around the world. 35 years later a space capsule, made from exotic alloys, needed one hour to circle the earth. The rate of advancement is increasing at an exponential rate.
How has ephemeralization affected what is possible? Talking and thinking about what is possible starts with you, and it starts with me. We define how and what we can do to make our world different. Maybe it’s simply spending 1 hour a day thinking about what’s possible for your life, dreaming of what will make your life better for you, your family, and your fellow humans without any limitations. I do know that we cannot turn back time and change the place we find ourselves living in today. We’re being carried to the doorstep of “necessity” – as it becomes increasingly clear that our past and current ways of dealing with our crisis won’t yield the desired results. Today we have the opportunity to elevate our culture, our society, and ourselves beyond our primal urges. We can exchange greed and fear for collaboration and acceptance. And, we do this simply by our actions right now. Perhaps a starting place would be to think about one small thing you can do today – now — that will begin to make your dream a reality. Inaction is our only means of failure.
Tags: Collaboration, Innovation, Purpose, Vision
Are we more than the wet, ever-changing, chemical nature of our minds? I don’t think so, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t make progress. From my perspective, the only way improve things is to encourage people to work in small teams, in order to achieve common goals. This way, people can see that, by helping others, they are helping themselves.