Page 37 - A warning, or multiple warnings precede expulsion. There are warning signs all over the globe, and they have been obvious for the last 100 years. What signs do you see, hear, touch, taste, smell?
A quote on page 46f from THE REVENGE OF GAIA by James Lovelock is especially relevant right here. Growing old is not as bad as is sometimes imagined. (Lovelock, who is 101 in 2020, wrote this book at the age of 87) When I was in my teenage years it seemed then that by now I would be feeble, depressed and barely even half-witted. Some, but not all, of these premonitions have come true, and although I can walk and climb a moderate slope at four miles an hour, walking at that speed over mountains is no longer an option. But somehow I learnt that life begins anew at each decade; it certainly, for me, began afresh at each decade from the age of 20 onwards. As with a butterfly, the long years as a grub and then a pup are over, and as the poet Edna St Vincent Millay said:
My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But, ah, my foes, and oh, my friends - It gives a lovely light.
So it is with Gaia. The first aeons of her life were bacterial, and only in her equivalent of late middle age did the first meta-fauna and meta-zoa appear. Not until her eighties did the first intelligent animal appear on the planet. Whatever our faults, we surely have enlightened Gaia's seniority by letter her see herself from space as a whole planet while she was still beautiful. Unfortunately, we are a species with schizoid tendencies, and like an old lady who has to share her house with a growing and destructive group of teenagers, Gaia grows angry, and if they do not mend their ways she will evict them.
A powerful quote from the founder of the Gaia Theory, which is not universally embraced.
Page 38 - The Dirty Dozen Deadly Disasters. I grabbed the name from the 1967 movie, The Dirty Dozen. It was a tale of twelve misfits who were banded together for a heroic purpose. Here we have my list of twelve disasters that are familiar to us all. There are more, of course. This list is a good starting point. How aware are you of each of these twelve, and what would you add to the list?
Page 39 - We live in a post-truth world. Facts and truths have been jumbled up and thrown out the window by large numbers of people whose world view is at the CHILD, REBEL or even the ADULT levels. See Chapter 7 for more on these developmental model. Many out there, and maybe you or some you love are among the many, don't believe in the facts and truth produced by the scientific method. Instead, they look for confirmation of their existing worldview as it is portrayed on social media. Facebook's influence cannot be underestimated. It is the church of our day, and the gospel that is preached there among far right conspiracy theorists is ubiquitous. Climate Change is a hoax, etc. Science doesn't agree, but the church of Facebook is perpetuating this message among those whose worldview is already aligned with such mythology. Mature ADULTS and LOVERS seek verifiable facts and truths. Those lower on the developmental scale prefer to have their biases confirmed. Yes, its called "confirmation bias."
Page 41 - The Keeling Chart. From National Geographic. "The Keeling Curve is a graph that represents the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in Earth’s atmosphere since 1958. The Keeling Curve is named after its creator, Dr. Charles David Keeling. Keeling began studying atmospheric carbon dioxide in 1956 by taking air samples and measuring the amount of CO2 they contained. Over time he noticed a pattern. The air samples taken at night contained a higher concentration of CO2 compared to samples taken during the day. He drew on his understanding of photosynthesis and plant respiration to explain this observation: plants take in CO2 during the day to photosynthesize—or make food for themselves—but at night, they release CO2. By studying his measurements over the course of a few years, Keeling also noticed a larger seasonal pattern. He discovered CO2 levels are highest in the spring, when decomposing plant matter releases CO2 into the air, and are lowest in autumn when plants stop taking in CO2 for photosynthesis. Keeling was able to establish a permanent residence at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii to continue his research. At Mauna Loa, he discovered global atmospheric CO2 levels were rising nearly every year. By analyzing the CO2 in his samples, Keeling was able to attribute this rise to the use of fossil fuels. Since its creation, the Keeling Curve has served as a visual representation of Keeling’s data, which scientists have continued to collect since his death in 2005."
Page 42 - WAKE UP, GROW UP, OPEN UP, CLEAN UP and SHOW UP. A great debt is owed to those who have founded and developed Integral Theory. In 1995 I was introduced to Ken Wilber's "big book" - Sex, Ecology, Spirituality. Ken's brilliance, as revealed in his framework, saved my life. I had a framework for understanding and organizing life itself. www.integrallife.com is the hub for all things Integral. I encourage you to visit the site, the framework, and see if you can wrap your head around it all. Most people in my world find Integral Theory to be dense, but those who grasp it, find it to be essential. These five action-steps are a significant component of Integral Theory - WAKE UP, GROW UP, OPEN UP, CLEAN UP, and SHOW UP.