Dreaming Different Futures

I read too much science fiction as a child - well - to be honest, Sci-Fi is still my staple.

And for the most part, the "type" of science fiction that I gravitate towards is the imaginative dystopian hard science stuff where authors are dreaming of a future state of being and how that affects us.

So, for example, Robert Heinlein was one of my mentors in the field and he talked about everything from religion to race, sex and politics in his groundbreaking work like Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers.

Or think about Orson Scott Card and Ender's Game.

These works were meant to criticise the way we do things, the way we are, and to subtly point to other possibilities.

Like what if the marriage idea was wrong and we should be polyamorous? What if men were, in fact, inferior to women? What if militarism was left unchecked?

But I digress from what I was going to write about - which was just a quick sketch of a dream I just came up with for moving forward with society after the pandemic.

(by the way - this is by far the perfect science fiction story - and in fact, has been written a few times check our Steven King's the Stand or Margaret Atwood's MadAdam series)

So - here is my science fiction suggestion for moving forward.

First and foremost - every household, everywhere, every class and country - needs free high-speed internet, probably from Elon Musk's Starlink Satellites. We also all need free state of the art computer systems and "smart" enabled devices.

These should no longer be for-profit creations - well, in a perfect world nothing should - but I am willing to start there.

This is step one - and you are not going to immediately agree with me on step two - but suspend your disbelief for a second.

Step two is that we sell off every school, every police station, every doctor's office, every church, every psychiatric clinic, every public health clinic, etc. Especially those that are government-funded or require tax breaks.

Step three is that we build campus organizations where all of these professionals work, together, along with high tech infrastructure and broadcasting studios.

NOW

Here is the thing, we start having multidisciplinary teams producing educational and creative resources that educate children, teach holistic health, manage conflict, embrace spirituality, and provide - through the internet - all the resources necessary to create "health" in the population.

Yes, we would still need hospitals, and teams that could be dispatched to deal with crime or emergent situations.

But in reality, we would be approaching the human situation from a whole different perspective while at the same time cutting an incredible amount of cost. Each of these campuses would create content that is regional, that honours every culture and race and sexuality and background - but at the same time does not have to reinvent the wheel as they would all be networked as well.

We would instantly level up humanity worldwide.

The reason we do not do this is that we are stuck in archaic patterns of professional services that are stuck in outdated thought patterns and traditions.

And I would argue that this is because of racism and elitism, classism and sexism - all of those isms.

Otherwise, we would have been working together on all this stuff long ago.

Why do we have two dental clinics in the same small town, one of which offers better care for higher prices and one of which offers to take anyone?

Why do we have food banks, churches, and social workers all doing the work while not communicating with each other?

Because we believe some people deserve better care. It is as plain, as simple, and as horrible as that.

Oh, and it also has to do with turning a profit. That is why I am fed up with capitalism and our current economic lie of trickle-down wealth.

So my solution might not be the best, and it might not be feasible, I am not a city planner or a sociologist.

But here is the thing. Even I in my little corner of the world can come up with a better solution than how we currently do it. I am willing to bet there are hundreds, if not millions of solutions that would make the world a better, and safer place - that would allow us to accomplish more with less, and that would keep us safe.

We do not implement them because they do not make anyone rich.

So here is my idea. Close the schools and make teaching an online resource. But while we are at it. Close the rest and force us to work together. I am 99% certain that it would only make the world worse for the 1%.

Rebellion in Creation

As a progressive Christian writer - I walk the fine line of apologist for a faith that I often find no longer speaks in a way that engages us. The specifically Christian ethos and attitudes that once were seen as the norm are no longer a part of the society we live in - with good reason, and with good riddance. 

But as a spiritual being, one who finds meaning in the deeper things, the thin places between the infinite and the known - I find the stories of our tradition are useful to set us in a context that allows us to recognize the reality of the world in a slightly askew way. Being able to question the "it just is" answer that so likely follows any plaintiff cry of "why."

It is for this precise reason that we created myths of our earliest beginnings. 

We all did. 

The Christian "God created the world in seven days, formed Adam from the ground and Eve from Adam" is just one of a thousand - itself a copy and reworking of older near eastern myths such as the Babylonian Enuma Elis. 

They are just that - cultural, religious, and traditional stories that set the stage and create a narrative for our continuing existence. 

Since I live on the East Coast of Canada, the oldest actual creation story of my "place" is that of the Wabanaki Confederacy peoples. I came to know the story through the Mi'kmaq, who tell of the creative spirit of all, Grandfather, who brought Glooscap into life. Glooscap roamed the entire planet and learned much about it - but was not complete until the Eagle came from the Great Spirit and told him he would be joined by his family. His family turns out to be a grandmother who teaches him the wisdom of the earth - and then various nephews, sisters, and others who teach him the ways of all of creation. 

It is a wonderful story that is meant to show us that alone we are not understanding the larger reality - and it is only when we become harmonious in our relationship with every aspect of creation - when we see everything as brother and sister, from the raven to the martin, to Susie on the corner - that we are fully "born."

I do not speak for the First People and so it is their story and I am only giving you a glimpse of what I heard and read so that you can, perhaps, want to learn more - from the keepers of such a sacred story. 

But more than that, I, as a keeper of my seven-day story of Adam and Eve - want you to see that no matter whether you are looking at a story written by near Asian, European, African, or North American peoples thousands of years ago - our creation stories all say the same thing: 

When "human" came to be - they were lost and alone. And in order to find wholeness they simply needed to recognize that they were part of everything - and only whole when all was in harmony. Every animal is a sister and brother, while every plant is a thing of sacred beauty. 

Of course, many of those stories go on to point out that almost immediately we rebelled against this wisdom - that human nature is, unfortunately, broken. And by broken, we mean that it is self-centred and violent and individualistic. These are not things to be proud of, the legends remind us, but problems to be overcome. 

How did we get so far away from the stories our ancestors told around the fires?

My grandfather once took me and a cousin out to supper - we were teenagers who were visiting Florida "on our own" after a fashion and in order to be the "big man" I kept insisting that I pay for my own supper. 

My grandmother turned to me at one point and said, "Put your wallet away, Your grandfather is trying to do a nice thing, you are better than that." 

It is a meaningless example, but it was powerful to me and in nearly 30 years I have never even forgotten the annoyed tone of her voice and the way it instantly brought me back to realizing how I was insulting him by trying to be important myself. 

It is her voice I hear always ringing in my ears - "you are better than that."

To reclaim the myths of our ancestors is a scary thing. Mostly because it would mean acknowledging how far we are from how we were created to be. 

It was, after all, this lie that we tell ourselves, that I am more important, that I am different, that I am capable of forging my own destiny, and that no one else matters, that is at the heart of the reason we no longer live in the garden of Eden. 

Earth ceased being a paradise when we started thinking the individual mattered more than the whole. 

And I am ashamed to say that it was the church, almost from the very beginning, that has brought us here - to the place where the only way a black woman can have her voice heard is to shout it violently in the streets. It is the church who says God created everything to be "Good" but then relegates Native Wisdom to the mutterings of savages. It is the church that somehow twisted the message of Jesus to love everyone and everything with our whole heart, mind and soul - into some sort of personal salvation mantra that comes on the backs of everyone else. 

We need to rediscover the wisdom of our ancients - but more importantly, we need to realize we are the problem and figure out how to become part of the solution. 

It starts with admitting we were wrong.