How do you go about creating a better world? I hate our current era and my feelings are so strong partly because I sense there’s a better way within out grasp. How do you change the world?

The things that need to change are so huge—like the global economic system—where do you start? I sense that somewhere there’s a tiny crack, a way in, a way to begin the change. Some infinitesimal act that will expand and expand and eventually cause the whole thing to crumble—to make room for something better. What is that small act? What could one person do? What would be powerful enough, contagious enough?

What are viable occupations in this historical period? Businesses that deal in secondhand goods and salvage-type operations. Organic, biodynamic farms. Environmental restoration projects. Family planning programs, particularly in third world nations. Spiritual mentorship. Green builders who use reclaimed and renewable resources and who don’t overbuild either for family size or the local ecosystem, and only as needed. Healers—true healers. Why is it so hard to think of these? Even some of these don’t work if I require that they “do no harm”. Just how are we to live responsibly in these times?

For me, even writing as an occupation does harm what with paper and ink and printing presses and trucking published materials; and the more successful I am, the more harm I do. Say I become a public speaker instead (not bloody likely!), then the harm would be in transportation impacts from both myself and the audience. Any dispersal of information, no matter what, has a negative impact on earth’s resources. There’s obviously no way around that, but what causes the least harm while doing the greatest good?

First, you would have to make sure you have something truly valuable to share. Telling people what they want to hear, or only what will sell the best, doesn’t cut it. It has to be significant. Then who do you want to reach and how do you reach them? On the fringes of my mind I’ve been trying to work out a way to make a living while circumventing as much of the negatives of the marketplace as possible. There are just some vague ideas floating around that I need to develop.

I’ve been sensing yet again that I’m on the verge of a breakthrough. I feel like there’s a bigger picture that’s about to be revealed to me. Last night while reading a book, something the writer was saying triggered an image to flood my mind. It was of me skiing on top of an avalanche, somehow being able to ride on top of it without being sucked in. I understood the image to represent me riding on top of this historical moment, while the masses are caught up in it. I’m breaking out of our modern paradigm—transcending it. That’s what has me thinking I’m about to see a bigger picture—be able to take in a much broader scope—understand the human condition in a new context.

Think about it: transcending materialism is huge! So many of the agonies of this world are the result of materialism. All of the greed and thieving, by individuals, corporations, nations. The obsessive need to have more, the energy expended simply on acquisition. And the health consequences to people and the planet because of this gluttony. How many wars have been fought for resources? How many lives have been lost on the streets of our cities for a pair of shoes, a gold necklace, a stereo set? How much sickness and death can be attributed to gluttony and addiction? What would the world look like without the sickness and suffering and death that can be attributed to materialism? That world is possible. It is a future we could have. As long as change is possible on the personal level—and it always will be—that world is possible.