Inspiring Your Authentic Week

Posted: 04 Nov 2007 02:07 AM CST

There is much talk of the need to save the planet.

But is this what we mean?

Is this the job that needs to be done?

The planet will in fact survive. It is highly unlikely that we could destroy it - although it is not beyond us to try.

Also the implication of the word "save" is that somehow the planet got into this mess on it's own and we now need to intervene. It is a bit like the old joke "I saved a guys life - I let go of his throat". If we could just stop what we are doing that would save the planet.

What we really mean is that we humans want to save ourselves AND our lifestyle. On the whole we don't actually want to return to a new stone age where we live hand to mouth off the land.

We have made huge progress in many ways and it would be a shame to let it all go and regress. However it would not be the first time it has happened. All previous civilisations have regressed, largely through environmental mismanagement and the population demanding more from the land than it could give.

Which is, of course, precisely what we are doing right now.

The lifestyle we have created, with relative affluence, widespread travel and awareness of other cultures gives us both the means of our own destruction AND the means to transcend to the next level.

This is our choice. We can choose to continue to rip the plugs out of our life support system or we can choose to use the wisdom we have gained and the wealth that we have accumulated to invest in a peaceful and sustainable future for all.

We were not born to destroy, we were born to learn and very often we learn by trial and error. We can choose to learn from the 'errors' of previous societies or we can choose to become the next one.

What we were born to learn was precisely how to live sustainably and peacefully, it is not a trivial challenge and yet we are tantalisingly close. I believe that the key is for us to let go of dogma, to let go of being ruled by the thoughts and ideas of others, whether they are religious, capitalist or environmentalist and learn to listen to and be guided by our authentic selves.

We are all born good, we are all born powerful and we are all born to contribute. Along the way most of us get confused by the conditioning and dogma of our society. The conditioning we are brought up with is always and inevitably based in the past, and yet as children we are the future.

We need to let go of dogma and conditioning and focus on the future, focus on solutions that work for everyone. That is the minimum threshold for any decision - does it work for everyone? Does it contribute to those with an environmental conscience? Does it contribute to the commercial bottom line? Does it honour religious practice? Does it work for those rooted in authoritarian structures? Does it work for those seeing the world through a mystical lens? Does it work for those with an exclusively survivalist world view?

In short we all need to evolve as individuals to the extent that we can and, in doing so, contribute all that we can to the rest of society.

For more thoughts and ideas about how you can evolve or help others to evolve see www.authentictransformation.co.uk

If you want to inspire others to evolve then introduce them to this newsletter and encourage them to subscribe.

For an easy to read and practice self coaching manual take a look at Seven Stages of Authenticity.

Let me know if I can help.

with love

nx

neil crofts - coach, consultant, facilitator
Authentic Transformation - join the evolution
talk - 07775 658534
write - neil@authentictransformation.co.uk
act - www.authentictransformation.co.uk

Past is memory. Future is imagination. Reality lies in the now.