The Aware Community

Redefining the Systems of Community ... The Social System ... The Economic System ... The Political System ... The Educational System

The Ecological Community

Plant and Animal Community Characteristics ... A Model for Successful Law ... A Model for Successful Economics ... A Model for Successful Politics

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      There are many problems in the world, but an awareness of the way the world works can help us understand that the world is approaching a holistic awareness which means that it can adequately get rid of its ignorance and head towards success in living. At this stage it is appropriate to get some awareness and let our imaginations go. Einstein once said that imagination is more important than knowledge. Without knowledge though, our imaginings are ignorant and impractical. This first essay imagines the idea of the aware community. Not impractical, but possible, achievable, and probable.

      The second essay draws from the first the idea that of mirroring our lives on ecology. Current Permaculture philosophy using ecology as a model is generally based on the environment, the individual and family, and the basics of living, such as water, food and house etc. But community guidelines are lacking. We can find that in ecology we have a textbook on ecological community development that gives success, stability and harmony.

      I remember a decade ago at university, and I was learning about the world, and it seemed to me that there were so many huge problems. 10,000 major problems. And I thought " this is too much. Surely there must be a better way. I'm going back to the beginning".

      So I did. I went right back to the beginning.

      Imagine that you just appeared in the world. In the natural world. And the first thing that you notice is that you are standing there alive, and breathing. The fact that you are alive is a fundamental reality. That you are alive and about to go through your life.

      As we go through our life we will have effects on the world. If we have positive effects on the world the world will get better for us being here. If we have negative effects then the world will get worse for us being here. We can have neutral effects as well.

      But in life in general, many of the effects that we have are masked. We would like to have positive effects and the world get better for us being here. But too often we think that we are having a positive effect on the world, but we are actually having negative effects. The way to ensure that we are having positive effects on the world is to be aware. Aware of what we have an effect on and how it works. Then with this awareness, we can be sure that we will not have negative effects, and the world can get better.

     So here we are, we have just appeared in the world. What should we be aware of? Firstly, that we are standing there breathing. There are processes keeping us alive. This is the ecological living system. We need to understand what we live in: the environmental system. This is the first thing that we need to be aware of. To become aware of how the environmental system works, and how important it is to live so as not to have negative effects on it.

      The plants capture solar energy and nutrients from the air and soil and use them in life building processes. The animals consume this life to support their own life. The way the energy and materials flow and cycle through the ecosystem is important so as not to disrupt the life maintenance processes. And we can learn how to fit into these processes appropriately.

Contact: Ian Mason
       Email:  mailto:futurecom99@hotmail.com
       Postal: PO Box 370 Aldinga Beach, SA 5173, Australia