Blain Snipstal, HEART Road Trip alumnus, is currently in Cancun during the UN COP-16 Climate Talks on a Rural Coalition delegation and sponsored by the Presbyterian Hunger Program. Along with thousands of people from civil society, many coming by caravan through Mexico, he is participating in the Alternative Global Forum on Climate Change and Social Justice (see news report about small farmer participation). This is his first post from Cancun with thoughts prior to his departure on Dec. 3rd.
I write this to you as I am experiencing the final days of my academic experiment (well, at least for now). Academia, for me, was a microcosm for experiencing the dualities, tri-alities, and quasi-alities that our collective amalgamation of life, which we call the world, can offer. In my final days; the world is shrinking; its once enormity is now no more than an infinitesimal dot or splash in a sea of consciousness. Perhaps, nothing is what it seems. Each day, the limitless of life is shown above the codifiers of our human experience. Another binary is broken; forever shattered and swept beneath the curtains of the past. For me, individual thoughts, apart from physiological needs, have become focused in their originality.
Prosperous progress for the evolution of progeny; devout service to, and unflinching faith in, the eternal.
Several years ago, I came across a quote by Gandhi;
“The world depends for its existence on the act of generation, and as the world is the playground, of god and a reflection of his glory, the act of generation should be controlled for the ordered growth of the world. he who realizes this will control his lust at any cost, equip himself with the knowledge necessary for the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of his progeny, and give the benefit of that knowledge to posterity.”
Profound words. It begets the questions: What are you doing in this world, if it’s not for the betterment of humankind?