A few years back I told a group of people I worked with that I was accountable for Earth. One dear person gave me salt and pepper shakers which consisted of a anthropomorhized globe sitting in a star-covered easy chair. It captured the sense I sometimes have of my relationship with the world -- it's all in my hands.
I don't know why this is. Years ago another colleague mentioned that her daughter has been assessed as having this kind of global perspective. She naturally saw things from a global perspective -- not on terms of this world really -- I think it's a more universal perspective. Seeing from the whole -- as a natural capacity -- is not common -- at least not yet.
So I am dwelling on this capacity to think globally -- from a natural, global perspective. Not in terms of man0defined overlays, in terms of the relations arbitrarily-defined nation-states. What does it take to think this way -- what are the processes? Is it natural to some, while in others in a learned or acquired ability. And my open, rhetorical question is this: is this capacity something that can be rapidly transmitted to the large mass of mankind -- and quickly? I think this is the defining question of the next 25 years.
No comments:
Post a Comment