conscious of evolution as it evolves. ???

[Douglas D. Germann, Sr.]

Jeff--

You are absolutely right that people have used the word evolution to mean
inevitability, and hence might makes right. What was done to American first
peoples is the shame of the descendants of those who did it to them--and to
those of us who are descendants of others of european origin. That is an
example of how and where that kind of thinking goes wrong.

Still, I see a desire to come together. Not to blend and homogenize, but to
release each culture and each individual to be themselves. So the unity is
an unleashing of diversity, an explosion of diversity, all celebrated, all
put to use, all honored, all loved.

The other kind of coming together that is characterized by storm troopers
trying to make everything vanilla is not the main shoot, but a dying one,
using its fingernails to hang on to what is slipping away from them.

This coming together forms a kind of living koosh ball (have you seen
them?): many colors, many shapes, many levels of energy, all energized from
a common center, reaching out to the future--in all directions! Which
direction looks good to you? Go there. Which path? Go that way. Which ones
are your friends? Go with them. Will there be conflict? Yes. I am
uncomfortable with conflict, but inexorably I am being drawn to see that it
is necessary. It corrects us when we go wrong (notice how a group can rein
in someone going off the deep end?). It gives us opportunities to learn how
to love--it expands our ideas of love from sugar-coated to hardest thing in
the world to do.

Evolution proceeds not along a pre-planned path, but by throwing out very
many experiments to see what might work--and clapping with glee, saying "I
knew one of you would do it!"

Will we make mistakes as we consciously seek to converse with others?
Undoubtedly. A small example: in the 1950s, shoe stores had X-ray machines
so kids could see their bones inside their shoes, and shoe salesman could
check for good fit. How could that harm anyone? Today, we use ultra-sound
to get pictures of unborn children so we can determine their gender and
health. Could there be a danger? Sure. Should we stop using what our
science and technology is discovering, simply because we do not know all
the ramifications? Generally I would say no--but I would like to see more
people in the room conversing to arrive at a decision.

So we ought to be inviting more conversations. Those will develop us along
the lines of what is good. If we make up our minds to seek good. That's
where the conscious part comes to serve life.

                              :-Doug.

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist