GardenWorld

Our world is going to hell in a hand basket. The rich get richer, the air becomes more foul, soul-less corporations run everything that’s not under the thumb of the banks, resources are scarce, and people are running scared. It was wonderfully refreshing to spend the past 24 hours with a guy who doesn’t just bitch and moan about it. He’s working on an alternative.

Doug Carmichael is a professor, consultant, author, consultant, artist, and psychotherapist who is out to make the world a better viable place. Doug proposes a new world order that is humane and just, a vision he calls GardenWorld. His draft book on the topic is on the web.

The image of the future and the promise of progress have languished, under the pressures to adapt to “modernism”, through a failure of imagination, leadership, and resources. The promise of a better life after WW2 has not been realized. Progress for all turned into privilege for ever fewer in a great game of economic musical chairs.

The economy is making the rich richer and the poor poorer in almost every country (including the Middle East, creating the conditions for chaos there), and that the legal structures of corporations, along with the computer enabled mischief by financial institutions are a major factor;

The fact of global climate change is also now accepted, realizing that its changes are a mixture of natural and man made actions. But the actionable policies we need to make this livable with grace and compassion have not been architected by the politicians;

The idea and practice of democracy have been corrupted and nothing yet replaces them;

Security in a crowded world is better achieved by diplomacy and pinpoint police professionalism than by militarism, but above all by worldwide fairness and compassion;

All these problems affect the local quality of life.

When not on the Stanford campus, Doug works from a delightful house on the Russian River and a railroad passenger car by the side of the road in Duncans Mills, California. Both are lined with books. Running my eyes over the titles brought back memories of philosophers, historians, and humanists long crowded out of my thinking. This was a delight, although I’m sure Doug tired of my broken record response to his query “Are you familiar with the work of [fill-in-the-blank] ?” Most of the time, I was not.

Environment is vital for thinking big thoughts, and it doesn’t get much better than this. Before heading to the railroad car, Doug and I chatted on the deck below his garden as the Russian River flowed by.

Last night we were swapping thoughts about the greed of corporations, the goodness of gardens, the power of connections, and so on. Two scenes from the bookshelf across from us: a book titled You’ve Got to Read This and a binder marked Now!

The lessons of the last day are still sinking in. I learned a lot from our encounter. Over lunch I concluded:

All reality is virtual.