Thoughts: Headed in the right direction…
Writings: Paul Hawken, with “You are brilliant, and the earth is hiring.”
I know it’s graduation season, so it feel like a good time as we look over the lengthening light the Winter Solstice brings to offer the light of Paul Hawken’s words, here.
One of the best I’ve read in past few seasons of speeches was the one Paul Hawken presented here below, as this incredible man with an incredible mind & no formal schooling received an honorary degree.
See what you think… it’s a good read & an inspiring way to start the day.
“You are brilliant, and the earth is hiring.”
The Unforgettable Commencement Address to the Class
of 2009, University of Portland, May 3rd, 2009
By Paul Hawken
When I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple short talk that was “direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling, and graceful.” Boy, no pressure there.
But let’s begin with the startling part. Hey, Class of 2009: you are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Kind of a mind-boggling situation – but not one peer- reviewed paper published in the last thirty years can refute that statement. Basically, the earth needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.
This planet came with a set of operating instructions, but we seem to have misplaced them. Important rules like don’t poison the water, soil, or air, and don’t let the earth get overcrowded, and don’t touch the thermostat have been broken. Buckminster Fuller said that spaceship earth was so ingeniously designed that no one has a clue that we are on one, flying through the universe at a million miles per hour, with no need for seatbelts, lots of room in coach, and really good food – but all that is changing.
There is invisible writing on the back of the diploma you will receive, and in case you didn’t bring lemon juice to decode it, I can tell you what it says: YOU ARE BRILLIANT, AND THE EARTH IS HIRING. The earth couldn’t afford to send any recruiters or limos to your school. It sent you rain, sunsets, ripe cherries, night blooming jasmine, and that unbelievably cute person you are dating. Take the hint. And here’s the deal: Forget that this task of planet-saving is not possible in the time required. Don’t be put off by people who know what is not possible. Do what needs to be done, and check to see if it was impossible only after you are done.
When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse. What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world.
Click here for the rest of Paul’s remarks….
Read more “Writings: Paul Hawken, with “You are brilliant, and the earth is hiring.””
Thoughts: How about we share? And heal?
I’ve been carrying this simple phrase around lately: share and heal.
Not “share to get ahead.”
Not “share once you’re totally safe.”
Just: share and heal — because I don’t think we’re going to survive (or thrive) without moving in that direction.
A lot of the world runs on the opposite philosophy. Even when it’s dressed up nicely, the underlying rule can be: protect what you have, compete for more, and don’t let anyone see you’re hurting. And honestly, I get where that comes from. People are tired. People have been burned. Trust can feel expensive.
But here’s what I keep noticing: a society built on mistrust becomes unlivable — not all at once, but slowly. In a thousand small ways. People withdraw, walls go up, and everything starts costing more: emotionally, socially, spiritually. Even simple things feel heavy.
When I say “share and heal,” I’m not talking about having no boundaries or giving until you’re empty. I’m talking about a healthier kind of sharing:
sharing what you can (without pretending)
listening without trying to win
offering help without making it a transaction
telling the truth gently, instead of performing perfection
making room for repair
Because healing isn’t only personal. It’s collective. If your neighbors are struggling, the community is struggling. And if the community is struggling, none of us is as “safe” as we think.
Here’s the paradox: when people share in healthy ways, they get stronger. Trust builds.
Connection builds. And trust is the invisible infrastructure that makes a life — and a culture — work.
So that’s my offering today: share and heal.
If it resonates, tell me what it looks like in real life (not theory). And if you think it’s unrealistic, I’d genuinely like to hear why — what would need to change for it to be possible?
Because I don’t think we get to a better world by pretending we’re all fine.
We get there by sharing what’s true… and healing what we can.
Thoughts: Be a friend….
From Edgar Cayce’s writings:
When we hear prophesies of earth changes, right away, we want to know if it will happen where we are.
What difference does it make if we are living right?
To be overanxious about ourselves because we are living in the wrong place is to be like the people who came to the old lady living on the frontier.
A man came to her and said he wanted to make a place for his family of boys and girls growing up, but he certainly hated to leave all his friends at home.
She said, “Well, you’ll find it just the same way out here. If you had friends at home, you’ll have friends here.”
The next man who came said that he was glad to get away from the place where he had lived for so many years; the people there were all selfish, stingy, and hard to get along with.
The old lady said, “Brother, you’ll find it the same way out here. If you couldn’t get along with the folks at home, you won’t be able to get along with the folks out here. If you didn’t have friends at home, you won’t find them here.”
Art: “Together We Rise” by the Mexican-American artist Rafael López.
Thoughts: At the threshold…
At any time you can ask yourself: At which threshold am I now standing? At this time in my life, what am I leaving? Where am I about to enter? What is preventing me from crossing my next threshold? What gift would enable me to do it?
A threshold is not a simple boundary; it is a frontier that divides two different territories, rhythms, and atmospheres. Indeed, it is a lovely testimony to the fullness and integrity of an experience or a stage of life that it intensifies toward the end into a real frontier that cannot be crossed without the heart being passionately engaged and woken up.
At this threshold a great complexity of emotion comes alive: confusion, fear, excitement, sadness, hope. This is one of the reasons such vital crossings were always clothed in ritual.
It is wise in your own life to be able to recognize and acknowledge the key thresholds: to take your time; to feel all the varieties of presence that accrue there; to listen inward with complete attention until you hear the inner voice calling you forward. The time has come to cross.
JOHN O’DONOHUE
Excerpt from his books: To Bless the Space Between Us (US) / Benedictus (Europe)
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store
Clonmacnoise, County Offaly, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill
Thoughts: In the woods, with you
How I Go Into the Woods
Ordinarily I go to the woods alone,
with not a single friend,
for they are all smilers and talkers
and therefore unsuitable.
I don’t really want to be witnessed talking to the catbirds
or hugging the old black oak tree.
I have my ways of praying,
as you no doubt have yours.
Besides, when I am alone
I can become invisible.
I can sit on the top of a dune
as motionless as an uprise of weeds,
until the foxes run by unconcerned.
I can hear the almost unhearable sound of the roses singing.
If you have ever gone to the woods with me,
I must love you very much.
~ Mary Oliver
Thoughts: A blessing
May the light of your soul guide you.
May the light of your soul bless the work you do with the secret love and warmth of your heart.
May you see in what you do the beauty of your own soul.
May the sacredness of your work bring healing, light and renewal to those who work with you and to those who see and receive your work.
May your work never weary you.
May it release within you wellsprings of refreshment, inspiration and excitement.
May you be present in what you do.
May you never become lost in the bland absences.
May the day never burden.
May dawn find you awake and alert, approaching your new day with dreams, possibilities and promises.
May evening find you gracious and fulfilled.
May you go into the night blessed, sheltered and protected.
May your soul calm, console and renew you.
Anam Cara, a blessing written by John O’Donohue
Art by Javier Pardina
Thoughts: How you see it
This photo is amazing!
At first glance, it seems like someone’s reading in the water, but when you zoom in, you realize there’s no person, no book, no study—just an illusion.
Life is much the same; it appears one way, but beneath the surface, it’s entirely different.
Photo: Christina Willis
ENC: When they talk about THIS, it keeps you from hearing about THAT
In this section of The World According to Brother Ian, called the Emperor’s New Clothes, we take a peek at the things around the world that people don’t seem to know about, but should.
Just a few years ago on the CBC, someone was asking Gore Vidal in Montreal if he thought the divisive politics in the States would lead to a revolution. He said people have to be truly angry to have a revolution, and that he felt that Americans are, in his words, “Merely grumpy.”
I would tend to agree…and a big player in what you & I see in the chart below.
I’m pretty sure if folks knew, with certainty, what GMO food is doing to their guts, what pesticides are doing to the plants & bugs we need to have a sustainable shot at a planet that can continue to feed our kids & their kids, that we’re running out of drinkable water, that continued population growth is crowding out our chances to make enough food, that we have more than a few very-fixable problems….I’m pretty sure people would work hard to make it change, make good things happen.
You can only be grumpy if you don’t really know. Grumpy won’t get the job done. The social will, the political will, the community will to change this will come from yelling, at the top of your voice – “This IS important!” and to tune out the silliness on the right hand side of the chart.
But you can’t make it happen if you don’t know there’s a problem.
It starts here. Now.
Poetry: Open me, close me
your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully, mysteriously)her first rose
or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands
~e. e. cummings
What you see is what you get….sometimes.
I hope you find new people & new ideas & new ways to see the way it all works….good place to start (if you don’t know him already) is Randall’s xkcd webcomic….he gets it, and has fun getting there.
Here’s the link to the one above, and his site….be careful, you’ll get lost in the archives, or just hitting the ‘random” button, which is poetry in & of itself.
Thoughts: An open door to clarity….
“Being vulnerable doesn’t have to be threatening. Just have the courage to be sincere, open and honest. This opens the door to deeper communication all around. It creates self-empowerment and the kind of connections with others we all want in life.
“Speaking from the heart frees us from the secrets that burden us. These secrets are what make us sick or fearful. Speaking truth helps you get clarity on your real heart directives.” ~ Sara Paddison
Art by Denise Daffara
www.denisedaffara.com.au
Wordplay: Back in the day, when words were words….
It was fun to run into this list of 20 words that are rarely (mostly never) used any more.
Most of them sound like the idea they convey, I think – see what you think & feel when you hear these (click on the picture, to start):
Thoughts: A silence in which another voice may speak
It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak….
~ Mary Oliver
About Brother Ian
Over the centuries, Brother Ian has been collecting stories & information & discourses for the purpose of elevating the human condition as needed, dissecting it when necessary, and building the case for hope.
In the spirit of noting that organized crime, organized baseball, organized labour, and organized religion tend to engender controversy & occasional discord, I promise to be neither organized or critical of those who are.