Week 2 Wrap-up

I have been listening to the audiobook versions of Michael Pollan' Second Nature and Bruce Lipton's Spontaneous Evolution. Lipton tackles what he calles the '4 Myths of the Basal Paradigm,'

1: Only Matter Matters

2: Reductionist thinking (if we break it into small enough bits, we will understand it better)

3: The Law of the Jungle (which ignores the role cooperation has played in evolution)

4: We are victims of our Genes (which modern epigenetic studies are shedding new light upon)

Lipton does a wonderful job of pointing out the fallacies in the above ideas. Unfortunately, these ideas are much of the foundation of our modern way of life, and inform everything from economics to healthcare. Lipton suggests a new way of perceiving, supported by science, that empowers us to take a more active role in the evolution of our selves and our communities. Science no longer needs to be at odds with Spirit, and we can all gain much from this shift.

This epigenetic and self-evolutionary paradigm shift melds nicely with Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, of which I have read the first part, and which argues convincingly that the only way out of oppression is through the work of one's own self-education.

I am reminded of a Weepies lyric, "And in the end the only steps that matter are the ones you take all by yourself."

It took re-reading Zinn for me to accept that certain things in my life were due to power differentials that I willingly, if unknowingly, submit to. Recognition that my uneasy relationship with the economic world is a symptom and result fo the forces of large power hungry organizations has inspired me to take a more active role in my relationship with money, economics, and my own future. My previous thinking had often perceived 'houses' and 'money' as part of the realm of 'what other people have.' This doesn't have to be the case, but it is up to me to make the shift.

In this regard, shopping for a home is my own praxis of economic and community stabilization and investment. I am embarking on a big, legal, paperworkish sort of endeavor, like what corporations do. Through owning the process and making it mine, I am learning how to level the playing field somewhat, and empowering myself to move more effectively into a sustainable future.