The Circle Complete

It’s hard to believe that we have completed yet another cycle around the sun. Can you imagine, we’ve traveled 940 million km together this past year? Every one of those 365 days traveling at light speed across the universe, we are also spinning on edge- on our 23.5 degree tilted axis, at a rate of 1,000 miles/hour? And, we’re now going to do it again in 2020?

What’s incredible to me is that due to the earth’s invisible gravity we don’t even feel it.

But what would happen if earth sped up, slowed down, or spontaneously spun out of its orbit, it’s natural alignment and rhythm with the sun and the rest of the planets in our solar system; disrupted and derailed? Such a radical divergence from the natural spin of the earth and balanced relationship with the rest of the stars, I can only imagine would be catastrophic.

If there is an innate order and natural harmony in the universe, isn’t it the same here on earth? More than just a metaphor or an analogy, isn’t it true that holding the integrity of the natural cycles of life and elegantly balanced circular ecology of life on earth as important in order to ensure that our biosphere and critical earth systems are not irreversibly disrupted or derailed to affect catastrophic consequences here too?

We may not feel the spin of the earth, but as a global society we are certainly spinning fast in the world we’ve created—speeding up resource-food-water consumption, energy use, urban development, human expansion at unprecedented rates. As well, our connection to digital devices, computer interfaces communicating in zeros and ones, and virtual worlds pivots our visceral experience of life on earth more toward that which is artificial and inanimate than that which is real and natural and alive. Therefore, we might not feel the spin, nor the disruption to the natural cycles and circle of life… until it is too late.  

I am hopeful in 2020 that as in nature- following disasters, destruction, discord there is a natural circular flow back to processes of regeneration, recreation, and peace. I believe, if we can maintain the integrity of the circle and actively give back what we take, regenerate more now than we consume and we make, re-balance our debts to nature, reclaim degraded landscapes, and deploy advanced technologies to do this all at scale… then I believe there is great hope for humanity to thrive in this 2020 to 2030 super decade … and beyond. 

Balance- seeking bold, brave, better ways to compensate for that which we’ve lost…and giving back more where we can, these become the first keys to unlock our true advance as a global society, invested in our brilliant future.