Did the 2016 Election Open an Opportunity for OneEarth Jubilee?
With the expectation that president-elect Donald Trump will show continu-ity with his 70 years of life and his presidential campaign, we can expect Earth's ecological crises to accelerate and apocalyptic trends in MultiEarth civilization will become stronger. Current projections that global temperatures will pass 1.5°C in 2024, and 2°C by 2036, may come sooner.
But apocalyptic experiences not only bring to light the monstrous powers unleashed when we disregard Creation’s limits, they also unveil Earth’s wisdom, the presence of the Spirit in all the intricacies and grandeur’s of the planet. What I'm thinking is that this is the best opportunity in my lifetime to tell a OneEarth Jubilee story! Everyone who can tell a OneEarth story provides hope and a practical remedy for all disregard shown threatened species, soils, waters, and air; the OneEarth story is not about dominating, but about loving—loving our bioregions and all their inhabitants.
I don't want to miss this moment. So many of us are aware that the story we’re being told to live—a MultiEarth, growth story—isn't connecting to our true self. It drains our spirit. We live it anyway, to the extent that we do, because it does have its benefits. Going along with that story, despite its disconnections from the deeper truth of who we are, has gotten us to this unprecedented display of totalitarian power in the U.S.
But the strong message of the moment is that we want to go in a different direction than the destructive road we’re on. The desire for a new creation has passion and logic in it. Notice that the popular vote was lost by Trump. Bernie Sander’s post-election book, Our Revolution, is a bestseller; the First Peoples continue to protect water in the face of the militarized corporate Dakota Access Pipeline; and innumerable Millennials are deter-mined to go a different direction than the MultiEarth story has taken us.
More than at any time in my life, people are ready to hear and tell the OneEarth Jubilee story. We don't want a story of disregard for the planet and animosity toward others. We want the OneEarth story that loves. Please engage with us. We can help one another get better and better at telling that story and living it.
The JEM Team is cohesive and binational. Add in the Friends of JEM and we are hundreds—plenty to make a difference when we act. The dollars among us are sufficient if applied. The projects in place and possible are to scale with needs and locally led. In 2017, join our delegations and intercultural conversations on living OneEarth Jubilee in response to life’s struggles. We have a great opportunity to be the kind of alternative to the culture that people of the Spirit have always been. We urge you to host some 20-80 Conversations as outlined below.
A 20-80 Conversation: Here’s How to Host One
We must seize the opportunity that the Trump Presidency has triggered.
The feelings of the 2016 U.S. election have lots of fuel. For many people, the energies aroused in and among them tells them clearly: I’m going to make changes that bring more strong love and healing. I’m going to give more priority to lifestyle and activities that express my truest self. And I’m looking to work with those whom I most trust.
So, invite a few people into a 20-80 conversation? 20% on how the Trump presidency matters to them; 80% on particular actions and practices they want to take to address those matters. It's a opportunity to talk about reshaping our lives and world in the urgent work of OneEarth living.
Resources:
[if !supportLists]• [endif]The JEM website, casajubileo.org.
[if !supportLists]• [endif]The six-page table contrasting MultiEarth and OneEarth Living in Blinded by Progress: Breaking Out of the Illusion That Holds Us (2013), Lee Van Ham.
