Dreaming of a new earth
Today is a new day—the first day of a new year.
What if in the same way that we could flip a calendar page we could birth a new earth? What dream would we dream?
We stand here on the precipice of a shifting global order shaken by the tremors of multiple wars, climate change, economic instability and systemic injustice.
Previously our world was controlled by nations whose flags be seen waved on city streets. With the confidence in our governments and social systems in rapid decay, we’re witnessing the emergence of entirely new vectors of change enabled by radical innovation across AI, bioengineering, blockchain and other emerging technologies.
With billions of smartphones in the pockets of a majority of people on earth, the human race is at the same time more connected and more divided than ever before. We have access to nearly infinite knowledge and yet we choose to spend our days swiping through feeds of attention harvesting machines for the temporary thrill of dopamine.
Like a cable in the back of the brain, we’ve plugged our entire nervous system into an economic machine whose stability relies on infinite growth while relying on a finite planet. The explosion of artificial intelligence has amplified the wealth creation ability of a small number of corporations, but it has also given the tools to everyday citizens to take the problems they face into their own hands and to forge a better world for generations to come.
We now have more tools than ever before, more knowledge, more opportunities, more possibilities. This is probably the most exciting time to be alive in all of human history. And there are several billion of us deeply contemplating our life in the year ahead.
On this first day of the year, I invite each and every one of us to inquire: “What world will my hands contribute to building in this year ahead?”
Will I contribute to the world of extraction that harvests human attention and physical resources for the accumulation of abstract value in the form of money?
Or will I contribute to the world of life that honors all living beings and cultivates diversity, balance and harmony as the highest expression of beauty?
If we pause to look at the world around us we will recognize that the ascent of humanity since the Industrial Age has created a steep separation between the human species and the rest of life. We’ve leveraged the scientific method to cultivate tools that increase our ability to extract resources and insulate ourselves from the world around us, creating a kingdom of comfort and leisure for the individual—motivated by their rational freewill, inspired by a story of randomness and driven by an evolutionary theory of ‘survival of the fittest’.
We applaud ourselves for all our achievements, for all the wonders of modern medicine and science—but have we ever stopped to ask “What is this all for?”
As the epicenter of the story of meaning, religion has been burrowed out of society in most places as a virulent substrate contributing only to division and control. But in the process, we’ve lost a cultural ability to reflect upon our actions to investigate the essential question of Why?
We’ve also become divorced from the notion of the sacred and have consecrated ourselves in the concerns of matter as the highest order of reality. Yet as we stop to consider what it really means to be human, what brings our utmost aliveness and joy—we’ll find that it is not the hard stuff of matter, but something else entirely.
All throughout the ages we can witness a central theme in human cultures. There are many words, many textures, and so many different ways to describe this essence.
In the English language, we call it “love”, but seeing as this word is used to describe many things it becomes hard to distinguish the “I love my job” from the “I love my wife” and therefore loses its meaning.
In Greek there are many more words used to describe this concept of love, each with its own unique expression on this fundamental human emotion. The word “agape” defines an unconditional love and is associated with a deep sense of care and compassion.
The unconditional part is key as it is the essence of agape. It means no matter what, under all circumstances, regardless of outcome, no matter who you are—you are worthy and deserving of love. It means even if you fail, even if you can’t get out of bed, even if you hurt someone you love—even still, you are worthy and deserving of love.
Turning this concept of agape outward toward all other people, toward all living beings, we discover an incredibly powerful catalyst for creation and human expression—the very spark that we need to realize our role as a keystone species on earth.
This radical, unconditional love is exactly what we need to overcome the challenges we face as a human race. If we do not plant our feet firmly in the root of this core human emotion and aspiration, it doesn’t matter the tools that we hold in our hands, or what money we hold in our bank account, whatever we create is likely to contribute to the destructive world of extraction in which we live.
And this world… is a ticking time bomb.
No matter how much we tell ourselves about the potential of these new tools and technologies, if we do not anchor our consciousness in the expansive embrace of love that knows no boundaries, we will find ourselves trapped in the endless loop of ‘us and them’, promising ‘prosperity for all’ but serving ‘wealth for the few’.
Imagine if every executive and entrepreneur cultivated a daily practice to connect with this deepest human expression of radical, unconditional love? Imagine if every artist, every musician and every storyteller fueled their creations with the inspiration of this transformative human experience?
This for me is the dream of a new earth. I don’t particularly mind which tools are used or who takes center stage along the way.
Today I’m dreaming of agape: In every grain of sand, in every microbe of soil, in every droplet of water, in every cell, in every breath.
Imagine the world we’d be able to create if we dreamt of this together?
Today is a new day—the first day of a new year.
What if in the same way that we could flip a calendar page we could birth a new earth? What dream would we dream?
We stand here on the precipice of a shifting global order shaken by the tremors of multiple wars, climate change, economic instability and systemic injustice.
Previously our world was controlled by nations whose flags be seen waved on city streets. With the confidence in our governments and social systems in rapid decay, we’re witnessing the emergence of entirely new vectors of change enabled by radical innovation across AI, bioengineering, blockchain and other emerging technologies.
With billions of smartphones in the pockets of a majority of people on earth, the human race is at the same time more connected and more divided than ever before. We have access to nearly infinite knowledge and yet we choose to spend our days swiping through feeds of attention harvesting machines for the temporary thrill of dopamine.
Like a cable in the back of the brain, we’ve plugged our entire nervous system into an economic machine whose stability relies on infinite growth while relying on a finite planet. The explosion of artificial intelligence has amplified the wealth creation ability of a small number of corporations, but it has also given the tools to everyday citizens to take the problems they face into their own hands and to forge a better world for generations to come.
We now have more tools than ever before, more knowledge, more opportunities, more possibilities. This is probably the most exciting time to be alive in all of human history. And there are several billion of us deeply contemplating our life in the year ahead.
On this first day of the year, I invite each and every one of us to inquire: “What world will my hands contribute to building in this year ahead?”
Will I contribute to the world of extraction that harvests human attention and physical resources for the accumulation of abstract value in the form of money?
Or will I contribute to the world of life that honors all living beings and cultivates diversity, balance and harmony as the highest expression of beauty?
If we pause to look at the world around us we will recognize that the ascent of humanity since the Industrial Age has created a steep separation between the human species and the rest of life. We’ve leveraged the scientific method to cultivate tools that increase our ability to extract resources and insulate ourselves from the world around us, creating a kingdom of comfort and leisure for the individual—motivated by their rational freewill, inspired by a story of randomness and driven by an evolutionary theory of ‘survival of the fittest’.
We applaud ourselves for all our achievements, for all the wonders of modern medicine and science—but have we ever stopped to ask “What is this all for?”
As the epicenter of the story of meaning, religion has been burrowed out of society in most places as a virulent substrate contributing only to division and control. But in the process, we’ve lost a cultural ability to reflect upon our actions to investigate the essential question of Why?
We’ve also become divorced from the notion of the sacred and have consecrated ourselves in the concerns of matter as the highest order of reality. Yet as we stop to consider what it really means to be human, what brings our utmost aliveness and joy—we’ll find that it is not the hard stuff of matter, but something else entirely.
All throughout the ages we can witness a central theme in human cultures. There are many words, many textures, and so many different ways to describe this essence.
In the English language, we call it “love”, but seeing as this word is used to describe many things it becomes hard to distinguish the “I love my job” from the “I love my wife” and therefore loses its meaning.
In Greek there are many more words used to describe this concept of love, each with its own unique expression on this fundamental human emotion. The word “agape” defines an unconditional love and is associated with a deep sense of care and compassion.
The unconditional part is key as it is the essence of agape. It means no matter what, under all circumstances, regardless of outcome, no matter who you are—you are worthy and deserving of love. It means even if you fail, even if you can’t get out of bed, even if you hurt someone you love—even still, you are worthy and deserving of love.
Turning this concept of agape outward toward all other people, toward all living beings, we discover an incredibly powerful catalyst for creation and human expression—the very spark that we need to realize our role as a keystone species on earth.
This radical, unconditional love is exactly what we need to overcome the challenges we face as a human race. If we do not plant our feet firmly in the root of this core human emotion and aspiration, it doesn’t matter the tools that we hold in our hands, or what money we hold in our bank account, whatever we create is likely to contribute to the destructive world of extraction in which we live.
And this world… is a ticking time bomb.
No matter how much we tell ourselves about the potential of these new tools and technologies, if we do not anchor our consciousness in the expansive embrace of love that knows no boundaries, we will find ourselves trapped in the endless loop of ‘us and them’, promising ‘prosperity for all’ but serving ‘wealth for the few’.
Imagine if every executive and entrepreneur cultivated a daily practice to connect with this deepest human expression of radical, unconditional love? Imagine if every artist, every musician and every storyteller fueled their creations with the inspiration of this transformative human experience?
This for me is the dream of a new earth. I don’t particularly mind which tools are used or who takes center stage along the way.
Today I’m dreaming of agape: In every grain of sand, in every microbe of soil, in every droplet of water, in every cell, in every breath.
Imagine the world we’d be able to create if we dreamt of this together?
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Dreaming of a new earth
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