We live life in accordance to the stories we learn and tell ourselves. Overall, we European and Middle Eastern descent have lived out a story that is probably more than 6,000 years old. That story has resulted in the destruction of the planet and very few years in which we lived in peace. It is time to write a new story in the face of a dying earth and a civilization that is becoming more and more top-down.

::::::::

(Article changed on December 21, 2012 at 04:38)

Creating a New Story by Enrico Robust-

I think it is time for humankind to do some serious soul-searching. It is no longer serving us well to believe the hierarchical paradigm that places us as masters of all we survey--be it "resources", land, wealth, or even other people lower down the hierarchical ladder than us. In line with that soul-searching, we must begin to confront the stories we tell ourselves. For example, our His-Story books contain a prejudiced look at the story of our planet and instead focuses on the human male (well a little bit about the female) with an emphasis on warfare and politics.

While his story is reported to be an objective way of presenting our lives on this planet, it is not. It is nothing less than a reflection of the dominant philosophy of modern human beings--the story we tell ourselves and teach our children. It is the same with science, and all of our academic disciplines.

As Napoleon once commented, "history is a lie agreed upon."

What is the story we tell ourselves? That we are "King of the Jungle", or that we are the most clever species on this Earth, and in this universe? And, that man rules the cosmos? Can someone whose health and sanity is being eaten away from within by some virus, bacterium, or cancer seriously continue to believe this story? Do we seriously expect the deprived and enslaved laborers in this world to willingly submit to this worldview? Don't we see Earth Herself rising up to reclaim Her own story?

Our old paradigmatic stories no longer feed the hungry, heal the heart, or calm the troubled waters. Too many of us see clearly now that The Emperor Has No Clothes. Not even those "at the top" of the hierarchy can continue to profit for much longer. Destroy your resources, your climate, your oceans, your lands, your workers, and your consumers, and what is left to exploit?

Through our story telling (i.e., our beliefs about who we are, etc) we create our world. It's important for us to be aware of what stories we tell ourselves. We must take authorship away from the "authorities," including the mass media and claim it for ourselves and the wise people in our midst whose vision for where we are headed truly inspires us.

Indeed, this is beautifully illustrated in the movie, "The Never Ending Story." In this story, Bastian, a young boy, has to save a place called Fantasia in order to stop that world from caving in. His task in doing this was to give a young maiden a name. It is by his naming Her that the world is saved. Once Bastian accepts his interactive participation in the story, his own authorship, he transforms both the outcome of the plot and his own role back in the "real" world. He can no longer be bullied by the powers-that-be.

So it is also with Dorothy both in Oz and in Kansas, once she steps proactively into the story. She slays the Wicked Witch of the West and helps the Lion, the Tinman, and the Scarecrow reclaim their true Nature. Recognizing the apparently powerful wizard as a sham, Dorothy returns to Kansas understanding that she had the power to stand up to Miss Almira Gulch within herself all the time.

What are the stories we tell ourselves today? What do you tell yourself? What have you been taught? Can you change your conditioning and be a part of world change? Or, do we all continue in our "shop 'til we drop" scenarios while allowing ourselves to be ruled by the likes of Monsanto, Cargill, and the 1% Elite. Do we co-create our own stories along with people we recognize as wise, like Bastian's Atreyu or Dorothy's Glinda, or do we (literally as employees and consumers) buy into the mass marketed propaganda told us by ever-expanding, corporate-controlled media.

What is the purpose of remaining entranced and entrapped in the corporate story? Once we see that the power and profit all flows to the top as inexorably as it flows to the owners of Broadway and Park Place in the game of Monopoly, we can no longer believe in the old paradigm/story.

The 1% doesn't create the world. We all do. We are all involved in creation. As many Christians, Muslims, Jews and Pagans have known, the Deity of Creation exists in all of us...not the Priests, Preachers and Gurus; not the President, not the Congress.....not humans....all of us. This means all creatures, each stone, all rivers, and, indeed, this entire planet in relationship to the entire universe.

In essence we have told ourselves, and been sold on, a several thousand year old story of division in a uni-verse. Because of this, we are in a mess. As a baby who messes himself needs to be changed, we need to change.

Perhaps it is time to tell a different story? But the change must come from the inside out, from center to periphery and not be dictated by an external Goddess/Mother.

And, where is this center? Wherever you are! You, my friend, are the center of your-story, your universe. (If you doubt that, consider the way the moonlight and sunlight visibly traveling across water always flows directly to your heart--wherever you may be standing!)

How do we create a new story? We begin by beginning. Some of us may join with others in creating a new story. Thus, there are storytelling groups. The important thing to know is that it is only by telling ourselves these stories that the world of "Fantasia" from the Never Ending Story, can be rescued from the horrid "Nothing" that is intent on destroying creation.

As we look upon the desolation in the world created by cars, trucks, cement, ballistic missiles, and minds that are bent on control and domination, can we see the same desolation in ourselves?

What are the stories we tell ourselves that create this? Don't say, "Well the corporations have us believing in this story, or that story." No, they may tell you to believe it, but you don't have to. How do you challenge it? How can you be part of the creation of a story that will re-enliven the Earth?

Can we tell a new story of love in which we embrace each other in the birth of a new world? Not a new world in the sense of Bush's "New World Order". Nor, on the other hand, the magical kingdom where all is sweetness, love, and light of the new-agers. A vibrant, living world with all the challenges and losses that help us to grow spiritually. Not one ruled by the "undead" vampires of the corporate and government worlds.

In line with this vision, Envision This! Radio has begun a campaign for us to be seminal to change. Indeed, the show on 12/19/2012 has four people creating a story set in the year 2062. The story was jointly authored in round-robin fashion, with each participant picking up where the last one left off and weaving his or her own creative threads and insights into the emergent story. It wasn't a story created by one person, or by all the men, but of all the participants. (In Nature we would be creating the story with everything else. Tribal religions were extremely good at this). The storytellers had different voices that related to and shaped the emerging plot, characters, and themes in a distinctive way. However--through the principles and cooperation involved in co-creation--a story emerged that speaks with the Voice of Wisdom.

The radio show is planning on doing more of these kinds of broadcasts in order to entice people to begin envisioning a different way of living on this planet. If we can imagine a future that is vital, utilizes all our talents and insights, sustains us and our Earth, and is resilient to all changes, then we will be energized to work toward such a future. In this fashion, ultimately, history and herstory will make way to ourstory. And, ourstory will be inclusive of all of Nature, including all creatures, planetary, solar, and cosmic processes.

Dare we all join hands and make a change? We don't have to be dependent upon the "powers-that-be" to create our story. (Lisa Vunk, one of the storytellers, calls them the "powers-that-were"; we can call ourselves the "powers-becoming!") If we allow authority to rest in the hands of the masters of the military-industrial complex, we will continue to live in the chains of history and will be denied ourstory. It is only by re-framing ourselves in a different story that we can tap into our own creativity and develop our own cultures while supporting ourselves in relationship to the rest of the peoples, cultures, creatures, and features of this beautiful blue and green planet, Earth.

References

2062 COMMUNITY ADVENTURE -- A CO-CREATED STORY: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/envision-this/2012/12/18/c0-authoring-a-story-set-in-the-2062-we-are-envisioning

Authors Bio:
Burl Hall is a retired counselor who is living in a Senior Citizen Housing apartment. Burl has one book to his credit, titled "Sophia's Web: A Passionate Call to Heal our Wounded Nature." For more information, search the book on Amazon.

Burl's philosophy entails the idea that "everything effects and causes everything thing else." His spirituality of Sophia i.e., Wisdom is universal as well as within each of us. He also sees the idea of Chaos as not being "all over the place" but as infinite relationships.

The question I present in my articles speak not so much towards the politicians, but how WE the people can empower ourselves within a planet that is healthy, wealthy and wise.