The Same Old? - No More

That is the “promise” of President-elect Obama. From his searing address to America about race to his convincing election win on November 4, 2008 - Barack Obama has liberated the consciousness of not only Americans, but worldwide, so people no longer feel that they have to stay with the “same old.” I take it further in my new book “Failsafe.”

The melt down of financial institutions and the threat of Global Warming are indeed oppressive burdens – but they are not the problem. The problem is the underlying mindset that establishes the conditions for both of these crises to manifest. If we continue to focus only on Global Warming and financial meltdown, we remain caught by symptoms. They are the end result of a life-threatening malady – our individualistic, turbo-capitalist, consumerist, unsustainable and mindless patterns of living. The planet cannot sustain these patterns and its ecology is paramount, as economic systems are simply sub-systems of a much bigger entity – the environment. We have replaced the ecosphere with our own mental formations – making of it an egosphere. That which was Reverential has been turned into Referential. The mind that drives the pathology is the investigation of Failsafe. The book is blunt about the crises but optimistic!

Such optimism rests on our moving swiftly from a culture of greed to a culture of sustainability. Our greed is pathological. Our desires are not for items – just for more “desire.” The greed virus wrecks families, relationships and society. The notion that greed is good for the economy – inherent in many political and economic philosophies - is a gross fallacy, as greed demolishes equity and erodes freedom. Unfettered greed undermines all considerations of ethics, morality and social responsibility. The monster created – the culture of greed – has to be stopped in its tracks so we can reverse our direction. I draw on wise teachings about ecology and the mind. From the Buddha we have a science of mind and how to change it. From the Wisdom of the Elders we have clear guidelines for ecosystem balance that is hard wired into our brains due to the fact that 98% of our evolution was based on ecosystem balance as foragers. We have to learn how to re-access what we already know. It is a matter of organic gardening in the mind – to create a new consciousness by taming the mindset that propels us into mindless greed and its knock-on consequences. Barack Obama as President of the United States of America now opens the door for a new consciousness to express itself.

We must change our mindsets, have astute awareness about the consequences of our actions, all of which ripples through to future generations, enabling a sustainable earth culture to emerge. There is internal work to do. We come to a stop with the tools of meditation from different traditions, look deeply into our maladaptive patterns and throw them away. Being totally present, heart wide open is all that is required. I encourage everyone to take that leap into the realm of a Spiritual Warrior, as that is what our world now requires. No more small pictures of ourselves, no more egomaniacs posing as political and spiritual leaders – just spiritual warriors crossing racial, political and class boundaries, choosing to walk hand in hand through the early part of this century: to serve the planet; to be of benefit to all sentient beings.

This is my meditation for Gaia, a good reason for being on the planet at this time. I remain confident and optimistic about making the world a better place environmentally and socially, but I need your help. Take the steps to change your mind. Be bold and confident. Take care of the environment you inhabit and the environment you create. Begin it now.

Dr. Ian Prattis is Professor Emeritus at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada – peace and environmental activist, Zen teacher. He is the author of “Failsafe” http://www.failsafebook.com/

The Passion

The Passion

Failsafe is now available. Go to www.failsafebook.com to check it out and place your order. Please bring this book to the attention of your friends, favourite bookstores and book clubs.

Failsafe is about hope and faith and the clear knowledge that we have the capacity to get things done. There is hope for future generations to occupy a healthy planet and faith in the human consciousness to change. There is faith that we beings can awaken to the miracle and beauty of all of life. Failsafe provides examples and guidance for transformation and change.

"Science and rationality can serve a changed consciousness, but they cannot create the structure and organizations needed for a new world order. They can only produce the same old formulas, fight the same old wars, now with newer and more destructive technologies. Changing the collective human consciousness is the key. Once consciousness changes to a foundation of clarity and compassion, then structure and organization will quickly be redefined, as intelligent responses to our social and environmental crises emerge from a different foundation of understanding." From Part Two: Failsafe in Consciousness

Failsafe is a critical response to Lovelock’s 2006 book “Revenge of Gaia” where he argues that the present self-regulating mechanisms of Gaia cannot be controlled by human agency. In the context of Global Warming and dire predictions for a habitable econiche for homo sapiens I present a Failsafe in Consciousness.

Can we fix the planet? This is the wrong question. Our present values and patterns of consumption are the architects of the present global ecological emergency. The right question is can we fix ourselves? I describe how consciousness expansion will be held in abeyance by wilful human ignorance until the global ecological situation deteriorates to a breaking point. This breaking point will then act as a catalyst, penetrating such ignorance and activating consciousness so it is propelled into expansion, deliberation and change.

I believe passionately in this book – as do David Suzuki, Grandfather William Commanda and many others. I request your help to get the word out about this important contribution for the survival of our selves and other species on this planet. Help me get it into bookstores and into the hands and minds of the general public.

Thank you so very much,

Ian

Creating Failsafe

Many of the ideas expressed in Failsafe were presented to students – both at the university and in the meditation hall. Their feedback, helpful suggestions and sometimes boredom prompted me to refine the basic ideas. I first talked about a Failsafe in Consciousness in my 2002 book The Essential Spiral: Ecology and Consciousness After 9/11, drawing on the post Enron crash where financial analysts actually talked about responsibility and ethics. I also drew on the writings of E.O. Wilson - that despite all that was happening around us there was still an unmistakable link with nature’s systems in the human psyche.

So I endeavoured to improve on the ideas floated in 2002 and tried it out on my ecology class at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. I had the privilege of meeting two outstanding students – Eric Smith and Paul Schlissel. They took up the challenge of mapping my ideas into diagrams and re-arranged how I addressed the components of the emerging concepts. Failsafe, due to their promptings, became more than a set of ideas. It had substance and a design based on three interconnected components. These were Innate Earth Wisdom; Counter Culture; Tipping Points in Consciousness - all of which intertwined with consciousness transformation. Can we fix the planet? This is the wrong question. Our present values and patterns of consumption are the architects of the present global ecological emergency. The right question is can we transform ourselves? My point in addressing Climate Change and Global Warming was that they were not the problem. The real problem was the mind-set that created the ecological conditions for Global Warming to explode dramatically into the lives of every human being on earth. I needed a set of interconnecting variables to link into the really crucial aspect of changing human consciousness. I suppose it is an act of faith on my part, but I feel that once consciousness changes then different questions will be asked and different solutions found. Out of the transformation will emerge the structures and institutions that can regulate global affairs without endangering all species – including our own.

Failsafe provides understanding of global eco-crises and issues a call to change the existing world order by arriving at a deep spiritual understanding of what needs to be done. Step by step methods to transform our existing mindset are laid out to usher in a new era of planetary care, social justice and peace. Failsafe is about hope and faith and the clear knowledge that we have the capacity to get things done. There is hope for future generations to occupy a healthy planet and faith in the human consciousness to change. There is faith that we beings can awaken to the miracle and beauty of all of life. Failsafe provides examples and guidance for transformation and change. Failsafe is a critical response to Lovelock’s 2006 book “Revenge of Gaia” where he argues that the present self-regulating mechanisms of Gaia cannot be controlled by human agency. In the context of Global Warming and dire predictions for a habitable econiche for homo sapiens I present a Failsafe in Consciousness. I describe how consciousness expansion will be held in abeyance by wilful human ignorance until the global ecological situation deteriorates to a breaking point. This breaking point will then act as a catalyst, penetrating such ignorance and activating consciousness so it is propelled into expansion, deliberation and change.

I drew a lot on the new discipline of Neuroscience, the Wisdom of Aboriginal Elders and the teachings of the Buddha about changing the human mind. Taming the human mind was a major issue, because to change external circumstances with technological fixes still leaves a damaging mind-set intact. If our minds are not clear and at peace, we simply pass on our disturbance and selfishness to everything we create. In the final chapter – Taming The Wild Mind – I felt it necessary to include highly personal accounts to show that Taming the Wild Mind was not easy for me. My particular journey is not for everyone – yet some form of journey is absolutely necessary for all of us – one that takes us beyond the superficial into the deep reality of our true nature. This is nothing other than old fashioned goodness, caring and wisdom coming out to play instead of the greed and negativity that stalks the mind of humanity.

I started to give talks to the most unlikely audiences about all of this stuff, and found to my surprise that most of the folks listening got the drift of where I was going. Their questions and requests for clarification enabled me to sculpt the Failsafe in Consciousness concept into a more understandable form. I want to reach every man and woman in the street, as the sheer necessity of a bottom up revolution in patterns of consumption and behaviour is necessary for the Failsafe notion to kick in. Failsafe is taken from engineering, where the term is used to describe a stop lever or valve that comes into action whenever the machinery is in danger of exploding or breaking down. As such, it is a useful metaphor for what is happening globally with Climate Change. I add to the Failsafe notion – particularly the idea of tipping points in consciousness. This is akin to the Hundredth Monkey syndrome, where once a critical mass is reached then behaviour changes across the board. In other words once a tipping point is reached there is a quantum leap of energy across the population. For humanity I set this threshold at 2% of the human population. If 2% can truly commit to changing their minds and altering their patterns in the direction of voluntary simplicity, planetary care and compassion – then this is the tip of the spear that lances through the problem of Climate Change. Let’s face it – Climate Change is very dangerous to us continuing to inhabit the earth, and still we do all kinds of senseless things to not face this reality.

Failsafe is by no means finished. There will be bright minds who will take it further, find loopholes in it and re-fashion it. All this I gladly welcome. I look forward to the dialogue as it helps us move on. My hope is that you enjoy the book and share it with friends.

What They Are Saying About Failsafe

If we no longer perceive the planet as our sacred home, then we will continue to degrade the biosphere. In Failsafe, Ian Prattis offers a way to a perceptual transformation that is absolutely critical if we are to find a truly sustainable future.
David Suzuki

It’s brilliant, so thoroughly researched, eloquently written and, most of all, so needed. It’s a wonderful book. Frightening to read while observing the band-aids and half measures being proposed in the US.
Peter Cutler

I am deeply impressed by this holistic treatise. His conclusions are encouraging, to see mother earth and ourselves with the healing hands of a Bodhisattva. A Lotus to him a Buddha to be!
Axel Traexler

Ian’s book respects and reflects on Aboriginal Prophesies about the Eighth Fire and care of the Earth Mother. He investigates the spiritual lack in the modern world and proposes sound means to guide the course of humanity. For this he draws on the Wisdom of the Elders. This is a book for our times. It has his experience of Taming the Wild Mind, serving the Earth and the cause of Peace.
Grandfather William Commanda, Algonquin Elder

In Failsafe, Ian Prattis once again clearly, passionately and sagely lays out the environmental crisis coursing through the earth, how it is directly linked to actions and inactions of humans, and more importantly, what we can do to set about changing course. Drawing from an immense range of knowledge, concepts, and experiences, he gives us a route for dramatic and far-reaching change.
Professor Blair Rutherford