Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream

In this dawning age of mindfulness, how often we hear 'be present in the moment'. In my own practice, on the cushion and off (when I remember), that's my aim too. But do I pine over happy days gone by? Yes, sometimes. Do I yearn for better days ahead? Yes, often.

Looking back over the mayhem of our civilization's troubled adolescence and how far we've come, it's hard not to dream about the future our grandchildren might have if we would only embrace our evolution rather than run away from it.

Global Warming Stopped and Reversed

Albedo Yacht pumping sea
water into the atmosphere

With the future of the biosphere looking bleak and the chances of our puny efforts actually creating a stable climate for those grandchildren seeming pretty slim, here's an encouraging development.

Over the past few years research into cloud reflectivity modification has received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It involves seeding clouds with the most benign substance around - seawater - to make them more reflective to infra-red while allowing visible light through.

Around 1,900 floating machines would be enough to stop the rise in temperature. The cost? $7.5 billion, barely one percent of the USA's annual military budget.

The War Machine Re-Tooled for Disaster Relief

The spending of mind-boggling amounts of hard-earned tax dollars on a killing machine will eventually come to an end.  However, the downside of dismantling the armed forces would be roughly two million military and civilian personnel losing their jobs. Assuming bulldozers are cheaper than stealth bombers and hospital ships cheaper than aircraft carriers, re-tooling the military for disaster relief and humanitarian aid looks like a viable workaround.

As Isaiah prophesied an awfully long time ago:

They will beat their swords into plowshares

and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,

nor will they train for war anymore.

Here's a little glimmer of light from Al Gore's website:

The U.S. Department of Defense plans to open up 16 million acres of its land for renewable energy development, which it hopes will create a boom of solar, wind and geothermal projects and provide clean power to military bases, the department announced Monday.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar signed a memorandum of understanding to work together on promoting renewable energy generation projects on public land that has historically been restricted for military uses. About 13 million of those 16 million acres are located in western U.S., where a lot of solar, wind and geothermal power development already has been taking place on private and other types of public land.

People Won't Come Out Any More

Because there is nowhere to come out from. Faded into the mists of history is the almost irresistible compulsion, when describing someone, to include facts that are almost always irrelevant: gender, racial origin, sexual orientation, first language, apparent wealth, height, weight, apparent age, taste in clothing, religion, and on and on.

Much more heart to heart exchange. Much less hiding from each other.

Emancipation

Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream has gone viral. Mahalia Jackson shouted out, "Tell them about your dream, Martin!" And he did. The powerful don't take advantage of the weak. The remnants of male chauvinism are found only in museums. And yes, the animals are finally free.

The sky's the limit to the hurts that can be healed.  Perhaps, once in a while, we need to let go of the present moment, follow John Lennon, and just imagine.

No More Country & Western Music

Unless it's played backwards - then you reconcile with your estranged spouse, get your job back, and your dog comes back to life. KIDDING! I'm sorry. That was a terrible, cruel joke. I actually love country. A lot. Honest!

Here's Pete Seeger's rendition of the song I used for the post title.