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Greetings,
That prayer of hope is fully reviewed below, but first a few words about the many religious faiths on planet Earth.
As you know, there are hundreds - if not thousands - of religions in the world, and most of them believe that all the others are wrong - about nearly everything.
It is important to note that some of the topics, on which many religions disagree, are crucial when it comes to our ability to live in complete harmony with nature. Here are two of them:
- Birth Control. Many religions believe that any kind of family planning is sinful and they teach their followers to avoid practicing any form of it - oblivious to the fact that over-population is quite likely the single largest threat to our future as a species.
- Eating Meat. The second largest threat to our future is also rooted in religious dogma. It is our fondness for eating the flesh, eggs and/or milk of many of God's creatures - oblivious to the fact that consuming those kinds of foods is not only harmful to our health, it is also a primary driver of climate change and a host of other environmental disasters.
Without a doubt, we will never come close to living in harmony with nature without getting deadly serious about addressing both of the above critical threats to our future.
This is why Dr. Wilson doubts that we'll ever "get it done" on a global scale. In the book shown below, he states:
We have enough intelligence, goodwill, generosity and enterprise to turn Earth into a paradise for ourselves and for the biosphere that gave us birth...The problem is that we are an innately dysfunctional species.
Sooner or later, we must accept the fact that no one person or God is going to save us from Mother Earth's wrath that is fueled by the way we are trashing her planet.
To that end, I offer this prayer of hope by
Rabbi Jack Riemer.
In it, he covers five problems created by humans: war, starvation, prejudice, despair and disease. Yet the good rabbi is not asking God to magically undo the gigantic messes that have resulted from our own actions.
His prayer is all about us humans accepting responsibility for our actions - then using our "intelligence, goodwill, generosity and enterprise" to resolve the host of issues that we have brought upon ourselves.
A Sabbath Prayer
We cannot merely pray to you, O God,
to end war.
For we know that
You have made the world in a way
That man must find his own path to peace,
Within himself and with his neighbor.
We cannot merely pray to You, O God,
to end starvation.
For You have already given us the
resources
With which to feed the entire world,
If we would only use them wisely.
We cannot merely pray to You, O God,
to root out prejudice.
For You have already given us eyes
With which to see the good in all men,
If we would only use them rightly.
We cannot merely pray to You, O God,
to end despair.
For You have already given us the power
To clear away slums and to give hope,
If we would only use our power justly.
We cannot merely pray to You, O God,
to end disease.
For You have already given us great minds
With which to search out cures and healing,
If we would only use them constructively.
Therefore, We pray to You instead, O God.
F
or
strength, determination
&
willpower
To
do,
instead of just pray,
To
become,
instead of merely to wish.
Thanks to Craig for sharing this prayer with me
The Bottom Line. We have identified the enemy and it is us! The above prayer eloquently reminds us that we have been given the wherewithal to solve any problems we may have created for ourselves on this planet.
As such, it's high time we start thinking, collaborating, organizing and using our God-given brains, talents and "enterprise" to devise and execute a sustainable plan for our future on Earth - one that thrives in harmony with nature.
We can do this!
What can you do to help?
Three things:
1. Live as
greenly as possible while doing all that you can to raise the awareness of the
"big picture" solutions that are ultimately necessary to save our civilization.
2. Help me find audiences who might want to hear a refreshing message of action, hope and sustainability. I am happy to deliver that message. Anytime. Anyplace.
Until next time, just remember...
Humanity is on a collision course with Nature.
A damaged Nature will survive. We may not.
We must change course to avert an ecological disaster.
Finally, for
your convenience, here are links to a few related BSBs from the past few weeks:
Be well,
J. Morris (Jim) Hicks
CEO, 4Leaf Global, LLC
Looking for Opportunities to Speak.
Since 2016, my research, writing and speaking has been focused on the sustainability of our ecosystem and our future as a species. With a primary emphasis on food choices, I call it the "most important topic in the history of humanity."
After all, what could possibly be more important to humans than the survival of our species?
(now contains 5-minute video of me speaking in Tucson)
Promoting health, hope and harmony on planet Earth
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