Quotation

I have chosen this sculpture titled "Quotation" to illustrate today's blog and, also, to make a direct distinction between the meaning of the word as an "extraction or a passage quoted" from someone's literary work and my own attempt to share a quotation taken directly from Nature at large and interpreted as such.

It is important however, that before we get to the quotation, that we take notice of the fact that we humans have become very good at putting words forward to present suggestions and ideas intended to discuss the issues regarding what we consider to be our most pressing needs. But, other than words, what do we really produce in the final analysis?

If you have been following this blog for the last few months since I have introduced the idea of Planet Earth 2.0, you may have noticed how challenging it is to introduce a new idea of this scope and to find the concise words and the level of verbal brevity that can secure an opportunity for mutual understanding.

I understand that the idea of Planet Earth 2.0 is a large claim to make. However, the purpose of this blog is to share, at least, the aesthetic armature and relevant material that I have gathered to back up the claim.

Therefore, allow me to go back to my original question regarding our tendency for discourse or conversation about critical issues. "But, other than words, what do we really produce in the final analysis?"

The fair answer is, "So far, very little."

Why?

Let me propose a two point answer that hopefully reduces millions of attending answers and potential arguments to their basic substance or, as is often said, to the bare bones.

First we are at the end of a development period in our history as a species that could be called "the age of short-term enlightenment." The priorities of our ascent to this point did not include the incubation of the cultural assets that are now so obvious by their absence. A short list of these missing assets include our respect for life, respect for the environment and their combined effect upon the health of the planet. Clearly, our future generations are severely handicapped by these deficits.

Instead, humanity has been primarily focused on its self-identified need to conquer the world, at all cost. And, we have succeeded in that. But the "all cost" includes climate change, environmental devastation, standing-room-only prisons and the economic collapse of a consumer society.

Secondly, we are finally just beginning to realize that we desperately need this missing asset. (Let's call it a long-term perspective on life and a cultural infrastructure to support it.) Yet, all we seem to be able to do is to take comfort in the words, phrases and slogans that resonate a semblance of how great it will be if this asset was ever to present itself for real and in enough time to make a difference.

It follows that, unable to put these wise words to work for us at this critical junction (because there is no cultural base to support their use) we just talk about about them, we link our contacts to them, we argue about them, we blog about them, we fight about them and we... you know the rest.

In the brief time that I've had this conversation with you, there are already voices that suggest that the idea of Planet Earth 2.0 is all rubbish. I respectfully say, in return, that this work can only be dismissed as rubbish in the presence of a better and more promising idea and, preferably, one that (like our model) is already at work and producing the desired results.

Now that we are on the same page, let's take words to a new level.

When I talk about Planet Earth 2.0, I'm also prepared to show the points of contrast between it and the old model. The first point of contrast is its long term perspective for creating conditions conducive to life. Please note that it is not "total conquest and domination" like the "1.0" model it replaces.

It could be said that a new perspective like that, in and of itself, is enough. But, it is not. The most difficult part of the problem to replace an exhausted survival model like Planet Earth 1.0 with a new one is the transition between them. This is the challenge at hand now.

Fortunately, the answer is quite apparent to us. In Nature "the appearance of the need is just the preview to the appearance of the adaptation needed to overcome the deficit." This means that we know that more of the same will not service. But, we also know that being knowledgeable of that fact is okay since we have the ability to change and embrace a new strategy. What remains for our species to overcome the deficit, then, is to establish the strategy and to layout the foundations.

Planet Earth 2.0 is an aesthetic armature for a model that addresses these problems. It is designed not to be any more complicated than that even if its implications are profound.

We might not be able to embrace fully a new survival strategy in our lifetime. But, we can certainly embrace the groundwork on behalf of our children and do what we can to to secure it. Nature has already mastered that process in more ways that we can imagine. The information is there for the taking. Why shouldn't we?

Therefore today's blog, and the work of art that illustrates it, is an extraction from something that Nature does all the time. We may have not really noticed it because, perhaps, it was not time yet for us to notice.

So this is today's quotation:

"Nature's survival strategy is to create conditions conducive to life."

Our prerogative in Planet Earth 2.0 is to rejoin that process. "How" we rejoin that process and "what" will be our new role in the survival strategy for life on earth is the topic, or point of contrast, for our next blog posting.

If you desire a printable image of "Quotation" click here or on the image above.

Tiité