What Would This Better World Be Like?

I've been using the book The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible, by Charles Eisenstein, as the jumping off point for much of this blog for a while. I find the book very though-provoking and inspiring.

In the third chapter he lists the principles of this new age, which he calls the "Age of Reunion, the ecological age, the world of the gift." Here are what he believes are some of the principles of that age:

• That my being partakes of your being nd that of all beings. This goes beyond interdependency - our very existence is relational.
• That, therefore, what we do to another, we do to ourselves.
• That each of us has a unique and necessary gift to give the world.
• That the purpose of life is to express our gifts.
• That every act is significant and has an effect on the cosmos.
• That we are fundamentally unseparate from each other, from all beings, from the universe,
• That every person we encounter and every experience we have mirrors something in ourselves.
• That humanity is meant to join fully the tribe of all life on Earth, offering our uniquely human gifts toward the well-being and development of the whole.
• That purpose, consciousness, and intelligence are innate properties of mattr and the universe.

I find many parallels of this with the culture of the Indigenous People. With the "progress" of humankind we seem to have lost our way from the path to the more beautiful world. Perhaps more of us are realizing this and that motivates our interest in Native Culture. We can find our way back through their teachings.

First, we must each look inside ourselves to find that place of longing for "a more beautiful world". And with that longing we can begin to live by those principles, to be compassionate people, to live as connected to all creation.

Where are you in that transition? Are you in touch with that longing? Has compassion become a part of who you are? If so, how do you nurture that part of you until it becomes all of you?

Would you share how compassion grows in your person? Do you nurture compassion in others? How might we spread the ember of compassion to light the gift in everyone? 

Today's Daily Dozen To-Do List:

• Give house plants to teachers, friends, or coworkers to display as air fresheners.
• Help others to create safety kits for their pets. Supply these kits with pet food, medicine pet carriers, ID tags, leashes, and blankets. Donate kits to people who adopt pets from shelters.
• Hold a teddy bear drive, and donate the collected bears for police or firefighters to give to traumatized children.
• Donate arts and crafts supplies to an elementary school teacher who works in a "depressed" area. Remember that most teachers must supply their own classroom supplies.
• Do anonymous acts of kindness for neighbors, acquaintances, or strangers.
• Arrange with a nursing home to visit a resident who has no family nearby. Give the gift of your smile and a bit of your time.
• Put up "Kindness Zone" signs and banners at the engrance to your house, place of work, etc., to remind people to practice kindness.
• Bring fresh produce or flowers to nighbhors, coworkers, or homeless shelters.
• Organize a blood drive dedicated to Random Acts of Kindness. The Red Cross is in desperate need of blood as a result of so many major extreme weather events.
• Create bookmarks with kind saying on them for the library or school to copy and hand out.
• Learn to repair used eyeglasses, toys, clothing, etc., donated by the community, for distribution to homeless or low income people.
• Gather friends together and prepare sandwiches, chips, cookies, and drinks. Fill unch bags and distribute them to the homeless.