Earthling 2024 Dreams & Deeds

As you read, and as we anticipate the coming year, I hope that you might find inspiration, challenge, and empowerment.

We humans and all earthlings share the same present moment, 13.7 billion years in the making, on the same planet Earth, in the same Sun-star system, in the same Milky Way galaxy, but with a variety of mindsets, behaviors, cultures, and systems. The past is no longer, yet its influences continue. The future is not yet, but is ever emerging from our pregnant present.

As you and I prepare to articulate our hopes and actions for the coming year, we can acknowledge some of the past and present forces and challenges pushing toward the future: climate chaos is increasing with its floods, fires, and mega-storms due to global warming from burning fossil fuels, cutting down forests, raising cattle, and more; ecocide is occurring with extinction of plants and animals and damage to soil, water, and air; artificial general intelligence (AGI) remains unregulated; disorienting political campaigning and propaganda, confusing media narratives, and uncertain electoral processes and results are expanding; corporatocracy and authoritarianism are on the rise; warfare and the killing of innocent people continue; wealth hoarding and systemic poverty are ever present; misogyny and patriarchy cause great harm; systemic racism is still with us; and pandemics continue to mutate and spread.

The good news is that there is discontinuity as well as continuity. A new idea, story, vision, philosophy, selfcare practice, scientific breakthrough, legal framework, compassionate leader, social movement, agricultural practice, or technological innovation can change the direction of history and evolution. Humanity reinvents itself again and again. Now, our challenge is to invent an ecologically sound, compassionate civilization, moment by moment, to care for the living earth and all earthlings.

I invite you first to ask yourself three questions: What is the purpose of a human earthling as an organic part of the living Earth? What is the greatest potential of each earthling of every kind? How might human society look if it were structured to cultivate and release the full potential of each earthling, both human earthlings and all others? Please share any of your thoughts in comments below.

Now, let’s focus on the coming year.

What are your hopes and dreams for 2024? What are plans and actions that you are intending to carry out? Please feel free to share any of them in comments below.

For me, as I turn eighty in 2024, I have many hopes, dreams, plans, and actions. I like the way Simone de Beauvoir writes about this in her book The Coming of Age:

Growing, ripening, aging, dying — the passing of time is predestined, inevitable.

There is only one solution if old age is not to be an absurd parody of our former life, and that is to go on pursuing ends that give our existence a meaning — devotion to individuals, to groups or to causes, social, political, intellectual or creative work. In old age we should wish still to have passions strong enough to prevent us turning in on ourselves.

One’s life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation, compassion.

In 2024, some of my hopes and dreams include catalyzing and embodying an ecological, compassionate civilization, moment by moment; stopping and adapting to climate chaos and ecocide; spreading practices of ecological regeneration; achieving full gender equality; strengthening structures of socio-economic justice; renewing institutions of participatory, democratic governance; fostering tolerance and understanding of religious and racial differences; putting an end to warfare and cultivating a culture of nonviolence; and increasing the health and happiness of family members, friends, neighbors, and self.

What are some of your hopes and dreams for 2024? You may share below.

In 2024, some of my plans and actions include getting out the vote (GOTV) for Democratic candidates in local, state, and national elections; supporting nonprofits who are helping people with housing and food; giving the opening talk at an OSU Global career workshop; recording seven interviews with podcasts on the chapters of A Compassionate Civilization for Global Heart 2 Heart radio; speaking at the Sunday service of a local Unitarian Universalist congregation; reading excerpts at a local authors’ annual event; assisting Lifelong, Catalyst 2030, and 50plus Chapter with events in the US on reinventing retirement to help achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs;) writing and publishing monthly Compassionate Conversations on Substack; speaking on Zoom in a seminar on the SDGs; giving feedback to two colleagues on their book manuscripts; writing my next book; creating videos and podcasts for the Compassionate Civilization Collaborative (C3); and caring in mindfulness for friends, neighbors, family members - especially my wife, and this old body-mind.

What about you? What are some of your plans and actions for 2024? You are welcome to share below in comments.

What could it look like in 2024 if you and I acted as though the future is indeed open to be created, the past in all of it happiness and suffering is received by history and evolution, all is indeed good and perfect, and the self - yours, mine, and everyone’s - is accepted just as it is?

Let us go forth to create the possible future, moment by moment.