A Gaian Future is Calling Us
This is a moment of great possibility, if we dare to move beyond old divisions and envision a politics rooted in our profound interconnection with all humans and all life on Earth.
In the wake of the US election, I’ve been scanning the media, looking for explanations: how could a sleazy convicted felon and his insulting, scammy party win so decisively over an intelligent, upright person like Kamala Harris and her so-called progressive party?
That’s the problem right there: the Democrats are progressive in their self-designation only. Practically speaking, they ran as the party of the status quo, in a time when people are desperate for change and willing to follow anyone who offers to shake up the establishment.
The people who voted for Trump appreciated his gift for thumbing his nose at all authority (other than his own, of course). They enjoyed the mighty “Fuck-you!” he gave to the US Congress on January 6; to powerful women like Nancy Pelosi, Liz Cheney and Kamala Harris; to the judicial system; and to anyone, anything that might stand in his way.
For those who are entertained by competitive sports like wrestling or boxing, or enjoy bruising stand-up comedy and machine-gun talk show take-downs, Trump provided so much more entertainment that Harris. It says it all that Trump went on Joe Rogan, while Kamala went on PBS.
As a PBS-watching, NPR-listening, well-educated, well-indoctrinated Democrat, of course I voted for Harris.
In hindsight I recognize that I was rooting for Harris—not for the Democratic Party.
I was eager to see the first woman President of the United States, and excited that she would be a Black/South Asian woman. I was willing to ignore her lackluster policy agenda, hoping that when she got to the Oval Office, she’d be open to shifting to the left, particularly on environmental matters and war.
In hindsight, I see that Harris was shackled by the Democratic Party. She did the best she could under the circumstances, and did very well indeed. Her loss was the Party’s loss; the votes against her were votes against the failure of the Democratic Party to stand up to their corporate donors and take a principled stand for the people.
Evidence for this comes in the wins of real progressives like Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Talib, as well as the continued popularity of Bernie Sanders.
There was a big chunk of the electorate who simply refused to vote for Harris, as the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer, because she was unable to say anything substantive about their key issues: US-funded wars and climate.
Even on the issues she did address, like the housing crisis and poverty, she could only repeat the party line and offer small, party-approved crumbs. There was no bold vision for how to turn things around and give good quality of life to a majority of Americans.
Here’s the thing: America is a rich country. How is it possible that America is a nation of poor people?
How is it possible that Americans do not have universal health care; free public pre-K through university education; government-supported child care; generous family, sick and vacation time; and all the other perks enjoyed by people in other so-called “developed” nations?
Of course, the GOP does not promise any of this, either. But those who voted for Trump appreciated his willingness to be the wrecking ball of the establishment, feeling at the end of their tether in terms of how much more they could bear of the status quo.
Pundit Chris Hedges attributes Trump’s win to the epidemic of “despair” among the majority of Americans. This rings true to me, which is why the response of the Democratic Party, calling for hope and renewed engagement, is landing so dismally.
Hope in what? That the Democrats will come back and keep doing nothing about the issues that matter most?
My hope is that this disastrous election will finally open the eyes of many in my own class of the so-called “liberal intelligentsia” to the abject failure of the American two-party political system and the urgent, existential need for deep, radical, systemic change.
Not the superficial change of electing a Black woman as the figurehead of the same old system that profits from the wars of others, in a country that has by far the biggest military budget in the world while its own children go hungry.
Not the hollow calls to “defend democracy” while the slave-era Electoral College system goes unchallenged, and politicians can be bought by billionaires with unlimited spending power.
Not the shell game strategy of supporting electric vehicles and solar panels while at the same time upping American oil and gas production to the highest levels yet.
Not the meager mop-ups after climate-change-induced hurricanes, floods and wildfires, where FEMA essentially throws paper towels to people who have lost everything.
Add in a severe mental health crisis leading to substance abuse, a toxic social media environment, and a pervasive sense of nihilism, and you get the picture. It’s a very dark time in America. It’s no wonder that people are fed up and willing to follow Pied Piper Trump and his merry band of billionaires over the cliff.
So, my friends—we know what we don’t want. Now it is time to get busy envisioning what we do want.
That’s where “writing to right the world” comes in.
Now is the time to come together in communities of care and practice, where we can share our dreams of a better world, making them stronger, clearer, and hence more attainable.
I see no point in wasting any more breath or pixels in negativity and finger-pointing. Yes, the Democrats let us down, but that’s nothing new. Yes, Trump and his enablers are slimy and dangerous—we already knew that.
What we have to do now is find our own center of gravity, tap into our own integrity and a sense of right and wrong that will not be swayed by the next media troll barrage or the tinselly patter of party rhetoric.
Our task is to find that center, anchor our heartfelt hopes there, and let our dreams take root in that fertile soil.
It is time to recognize that we live on a planet of great abundance, fueled by free power streaming down on us from the sun. The old lines drawn by colonial powers do not serve us in the 21st century. Allegiances to nation and party cannot be more important than our primary allegiance to Gaia, to the grand system of Life that sustains us physically and through the psychic field on which we all play together in our dreams.
It is time to extend to the entire Gaiasphere Valarie Kaur’s theory and practice of “revolutionary love,” in which we are enjoined to “see no stranger,” to welcome everyone as “a part of me I do not yet know.”
My dream is that out of the abysmal chaos of this moment will come a new movement, a Gaian movement, that will recognize all humans as Earthlings, and all Earthlings, from the tiniest microbe to the mightiest tree or animal, as having an equal right to prosper and enjoy the radical abundance of our planet.
Robin Wall Kimmerer has offered us the Anishinaabe pronoun “ki,” to designate “living being,” irrespective of current distinctions based on gender (he/she/they) or human/non-human (it). The plural of “ki” is “kin.”
In a profound way, we are all kin on this planet. As so many spiritual ecologists have elaborated, what ails us humans more than anything else right now is our sense of separation—from each other, and from other life forms on Earth.
The politics of separation has brought about the human mental health crisis, the climate crisis, the environmental crisis, the human-induced sixth great extinction of species.
Is it possible that we have finally hit bottom, and can now begin to come back up, in time to repair the gaping tears in the Gaian web of life and set a new course for a regenerative and ultimately sustainable future?
Time will tell, but one thing is for sure: the future is calling us.
Gaia is calling us to set our intention to create a better world, and dare to dream a different, better future.
We are in another of those world-changing moments, when “all that is solid melts into air,” and suddenly major change becomes possible.
As Rumi says, let’s meet each other in that field “out beyond right-doing and wrong-doing,” where we are all kin.
I’ll see you there.
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January 4 - 11, 2025
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June 2 - 8, 2025
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Preach! Brought tears to my eyes...
This is so on point and so thoroughly and thoughfully expressed. I have managed through this past week with A LOT of writing. My thoughts are reflected in your piece in many ways. It has been cleansing and healing and enabled me to step into my own being to recognize my own way forward, which naturally is all any of us can do to support the collective way forward. Thank you for sharing this... I (and I imagine we) needed it.