As a therapist I live my life in relatedness and dialog. How strange this beast, blogging. Opaque and one sided! Perhaps this is the life of writers and columnists I am glimpsing into. I prefer to shape and share my ideas in relationship.
On this note, an interesting proposition today ‘what if post ww2 reconstruction was based on nuclear power, not fossil fuels. We would have other problems, but not climate change on the scale we have it’. This seems accurate. But I’m very inclined towards the view that although climate change is an existential threat, it is symptomatic of a worldview that is a way more fundamental problem. Naomi Klein speaks of ‘sacrificial zones’ required for industrial growth society. The colonialist mindset (we built on the backs of slaves). The patriarchal nonsense. Racism/ white supremacy (as Klein provocatively says “let them climate refugees drown”). And the natural/ living world as ‘resource’. Extractavism. The natural/ living world as sewer – plastics, nitrates, air pollution etc.
I imagine I’m stating something obvious but that’s alright with me. In my view, we are embedded in a highly artificial construct. Monbiot would say we are living in a myth of omnipotence; captured by a narrative that assumes our primary drive is competitive and not cooperative. In my work I get to experience a thousand times how cooperative; how relationship seeking we are. Our very life blood and safety lies in cooperative, responsive relationship. How did that truth get snared by individualism?
Anyway, I begin to feel self conscious. This isn’t my website. These views are mine, not necessarily E Tū’s. But I would encourage anyone to invest 55 minutes watching the YouTube doco ‘living in the time of dying’ https://youtu.be/TvzmPyY08ck Bendell, Ingram, Jamail and a stunning, pointed and eloquent narrative from a Cherokee elder.
I’m a bit overwhelmed by the number of friends and whānau that awhi me. I feel loved and very supported. One week to go (and thinning down a little).
