Stuff & Spirituality

Hello Everyone

Let’s consider the word ‘away’. Where is away?  This question was posed to me when we throw rubbish away.  ‘Where is away?’  I would like to share with you some comments about where ‘away’ is and how stuff and rubbish might be considered spiritual issues.  

In David Mackay’s book; Sustainable Energy – without the hot air he writes; “One of the main sinks of energy in the ‘developed’ world is the creation of stuff. In its natural life cycle, stuff passes through three stages. First a new born stuff is displayed in shiny packaging on a shelf in a shop. At this stage, stuff is called ‘goods’.

As soon as the stuff is taken home and sheds its packaging, it undergoes a transformation from ‘goods’ to its second form, ‘clutter’.

The clutter lives with its owner for a period of months or years.  During this period, the clutter is largely ignored by its owner, who is off at the shops buying more goods. Eventually by a miracle of modern alchemy, the clutter is transformed into its final form, rubbish. To the untrained eye it can be difficult to distinguish this rubbish from the highly desirable ‘goods’ that it used to be. Nevertheless, at this stage the discerning owner pays the garbage collector to transport the stuff away.

So could it be that ‘stuff’ is a spirituality issue?

Dave Bookless in his book Planetwise commented: “Perhaps the single most effective step I have taken in terms of avoiding waste is to try to pray every time I put something in the bin. As I do so, I give thanks for the natural resources that have created the item and reflect on whether I have been a good steward.

Often my prayers end up as guilty confessions, as I ask myself did I really need this? Did I need the item with all this packaging? Sometimes my anguish is not personal so much as frustration with a culture that dictates I can’t buy things that aren’t covered in polystyrene and plastic, and I simple say sorry for what we as the human race have done in taking this world for granted.“
Perhaps if we see waste as a spiritual issue it might cause us to go back to the start of the process; buying things in the first place. Now, before buying something, consider asking ‘do I really need this?’

So dear reader, do you really need all the ‘stuff’ in your life? And if you throw it away – where is away?

Live! Love! Laugh!

Roz Townsend

The Possibility of Artificial Photosynthesis

Hello Everyone
 
Normally things that are artificial do not attract me. But one is making a big exception!

I am talking about artificial photosynthesis. Scientists are at work on capturing Global Artificial Photosynthesis.  The plan is to capture, convert and store energy from the sun, as plants do.  It is one of the most important technical challenges of the 21^st century.

According to the scientists more solar energy strikes the Earth in one hour than the energy used by all human activity in a year!

Scientists can already use solar energy to split water into oxygen and hydrogen but it is very expensive.

It will be very difficult to mimic the second stage of photosynthesis, where plants draw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to produce carbohydrates.

Artificial photosynthesis would provide a clean source of hydrogen fuel.  It would also provide basic carbohydrates for food.  By removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere it would tackle climate change and reduce the use of fossil fuels.

Less water and fertiliser would be needed for growing crops and this would help save the environment.

Just imagine if this artificial photosynthesis took off!

Until next time,

Roz

www.roztownsend.com
Source Health & Science Section The Sydney Morning Herald August 4 2011

Conscious Choices a differences of 280 milliseconds

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Hello Everyone

I often wondered why I can be so well trained in conflict resolution and communication skills and yet get triggered.

The answer seems to be a part of our 'old' brain called the amygdala. The amygdala reacts to negative events with 20 milliseconds whereas it takes our conscious mind 300 milliseconds to react.

The amygdala is desigend to protect us by interpreting subconscious hints of danger with exceptionally fast responses. It bypasses all of our training and mature wisdom and reacts at lightening speed.

So what does this mean? It takes exceptonal skill and will-power to become aware of the response and then to delay or mediate our reaction. Taking a deep breath, a glass of water a walk - do what you can to stall for time so that the more mature you can dominate your primeval instincts.


Cheers
Roz
www.roztownsend.com

PS The amygadala has an incredible memory especially to pain and it never forgets a slight!!

 

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WHat do schools value?

Hello Everyone


Al Gore likes to share this quote and I thought you might like to read it too. It comes from eminent environmentalist Dr. James "Gus" Speth :

I used to think that if we threw enough good science at the environmental problems, we could solve them. I was wrong. The main threats to the environment are not biodiversity loss, pollution, and climate change as I once thought. They are selfishness and greed and pride. And for that we need a spiritual and cultural transformation, something we scientists don't know much about.
I must admit to being a bit disheartened by that even though I felt it was true. I wondered how on earth we can get people to change their values. And then, not long after I came across some interesting information about North Sydney Girls High School. This school no longer awards prizes for first in English or maths. The girls from years 7-10 are rewarded for demonstrating perseverance, resilience, organisation and problem solving skills.
The move away from recognising academic achievement until the senior years is aimed at combating the stress of competition. The award categories are designed to promote a healthy balance in the emotional life of students: resilience, connectedness and innovation. It is no surprise that these categories are also indicators of a long happy life.
An educational transformation is on the way. The values that are required for sustainability , social justice and spiritual fulfilment are being acknowledged in schools. Young people are starting to make informed decisions about how their actions and beliefs can influence the planet.

What do you think about this?

Roz

Are we Owners or Caretakers?

Hello Everyone

Imagine if our local councils granted rights to nature. Imagine them saying ‘no’ that development cannot go ahead because we value the trees, we value the natural beauty of the landscape and scarring the landscape with industrial monoliths disturbs the rights of other living things.

But, in fact a group of people, indeed a whole country can take a stand for sustainability and balance with nature.

Bolivia is set to pass the laws granting nature equal rights to humans. It is called the Law of Mother Earth.

This is one of the most significant laws in the history of human kind and its relationship to the Earth. And yet it has received almost no attention in the media.

According to the journalist John Vidal and the Guardian, the law will establish 11 new rights for nature.

They include: the right to life and to exist; the right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration; the right to pure water and clean air; the right to balance; the right not to be polluted; and the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically modified.

The controversial part of this is that it will enshrine the right of nature “to not be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects that affect the balance of ecosystems and the local inhabitant communities”.

This is a major mind shift. The challenge for sustainability on the planet is for us to fully take on that we are no longer the owners and dominators of our environment. The shift will be to see ourselves as caretakers in harmony and balance with living entities around us.

I have often heard the owners of beautiful properties and houses in our community state that the property is not really theirs rather they are looking after it for other generations to enjoy. Imagine if that was the mind shift for all – we are caretakers not owners. This is the underlying philosophy of many indigenous people. Imagine that!!

Roz Townsend- Author Meta Coach Corporate Trainer

Roz Townsend- Author Meta Coach Corporate Trainer:
Hello Everyone


I met a very interesting lady at one of our courses at Rahamim. We were talking about animals and she said that when her dog died she received more than 100 condolence cards.


I must admit that I found it incredible that someone should get 100 card over the death of a dog!


How could a dog’s life create so much I asked? She went on to share some of her stories. The lady was an epileptic and the dog would warn her a minute or two before she was to have a seizure. If she was out and about when the seizure occurred the dog would stand guard over her and not allow anyone near her unless they could assist. No matter where she was she was always safe and her handbag or whatever was not at risk.


The dog also had an uncanny knack of creating peace between other dogs. A an alpha dog , he would often step in the middle of fighting dogs to separate them and send them off to mind their own business. Even as an old dog he continued to do this until he a week or so until he died.


Yes, I think if I had known that dog I would want to have sent a condolence card to his poor owner too.


And recently many Japanese rescuers and the public were brought to tears when a dog had survived three weeks in the water after the tsunami. His rescue brightened everyone and brought emotions of hope and gratitude to so many.

Why am I sharing these stories with you? Because we are increasingly aware that we have a strong connection with all beings on the planet. We also believe that we need to bring forth a human presence that respects all life forms. We celebrate life in all its rich variety.

Hello Everyone




I was interested to hear a number of my friends commenting on how healthy I looked after returning from India. This really intrigued me, as the extremes of air conditioning and summer heat gave me a mild asthma attack. The lack of mosquito netting had me covered in mozzie bites, some of which became quite irritated – thank goodness for those malaria tablets! What on earth could I have been doing to make me appear so healthy?
Chennai in India is a strongly vegetarian area where rice and other flours are used in preference to wheat. Also, women, do not usually drink alcohol, men sometimes drink spirits and beer. My diet was therefore heavily based on curried rice, curried lentils and curried vegetables – for breakfast, lunch and dinner! One of the most memorable meals presented to me after a workshop at one of the universities was of very spicy, green, spinach rice dish, accompanied by less spicy yellow, saffron rice with a side dish of rice porridge!
Even the odd omelette I ordered was curried! I was not too fussed on Indian coffee or tea as they were made with condensed milk and very sweet, so my main drink was water. Who would have thought that all of this wheat-free, alcohol-free, caffeine-free diet would have had such an impact in such a short time?

Then in Malaysia we saw the Muslim attitude to food. Although we did not observe Ramadan I enjoyed eating the Halal meat. And like the fact that the animal was blessed before it was slaughtered.

But it did get me thinking...what if we became more vegetarian? What would it do for our own individual health and that of the planet? Certainly all the research suggests that a more vegetarian diet would be one of the easiest ways to have a more sustainable planet.

The movies on the plane got me thinking too. There is a scene in Avatar where meat is blessed before it is eaten and the animal acknowledged for giving up its life to feed us.
How many of us really consider the origin of the food we eat? And the life that has been sacrificed to sate our hunger? As a farmer’s daughter I remember well the number of animals my Dad killed to feed our family in fact I was quite adept at preparing chicken and turkeys from his training. But I never once stopped to acknowledge that animal and thank it for giving up its life to feed us. If you have ever seen the film “The Gods Must Be Crazy” you will recall that the tribesman always thanked his prey for the food that it would give his family.
It seems that we are very disconnected from our food supply. Once upon a time every family had their own vegetable garden usually accompanied with a chook yard too. Children got to plant vegetables, in my case the first experience was radish as it was foolproof.  Community gardens are a way that we can contribute to reconnecting to the land. In using permaculture principles conserving our resources and applying sustainability techniques we can all share our knowledge and produce with the community.

Live! Love! Laugh! ...and Share!
Till next time
Roz Townsend  http://www.roztownsend.com/