How I Try to Live My Life

This may or may not be inspirational to you. Anyway, it raises issues for which you can draw your own conclusions. If nothing else, it’s good to live an examined life.

I don’t know if wisdom comes with age, but I find that I do make conscious decisions about key things. In fact, I’ve tried to pay attention to important things for most of my life. But my perspective, over time, has changed.

Triage

I try to decide what’s really important and make conscious decisions about those things. Lesser stuff I try not to stress about. I accept that much in life cannot be controlled, but I don’t want to regret NOT making important decisions. I’m okay even making BAD decisions, as long as I make them.

I’ve decided that how I spend my time is very, very important because time IS life. So, I find it to be a moral obligation to enjoy life, because it’s a gift and it’s limited. Also, it is very important to try to make the lives of people I interact with just a bit better as the opportunity arises.

A good day is when I’m happy AND I make other people happy.

Creative

I don’t think of creative endeavors has unimportant, as mere hobbies. In fact, I think they are more important than work. Usually, work is for making money, and at work you are doing things that you wouldn’t do UNLESS you were getting paid for it. It is a means to an end, not something that has intrinsic value.

“Hobbies” and creative projects that you engage in voluntarily are core parts of the human experience. Satisfying curiosity and generating works of self-expression are fundamental parts of life. They are, largely, what gives life its meaning.

Because of this, I make sure I give a high priority to my creative impulses. So, I play music, and write and do some projects with visual arts.

The World

I did the same kind of triage for the world as a whole, as I did thinking about my own life. In the big picture, it’s obvious that the climate crisis IS the issue of our time. If we don’t solve it, life as we know it will come to an end. The planet is becoming less and less habitable.

I understand that I am one person, but I feel a moral obligation to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Because incoming generations, through no fault of their own, will inherit an inhospitable hellish Earth IF we fail to stem the climate collapse.

It’s clear that leaders in business and government are helping facilitate the collapse. They are not fighting it in any meaningful way. This is clear because C02 emissions are at record levels and still increasing.

Waiting for the people who are destroying the Earth to reverse course would be futile. Sane and caring people must stop them. So, I started a movement called The Saners to mobilize the currently frustrated, anxious and despairing people of the world who are watching in horror as leaders everywhere continue to reign over the decimation of our environment.

I know that nothing is guaranteed, but I am doing my best. And my assessment is that we have a real chance at success. Because there’s a very large number of people who love their children and are willing to fight for them, even if it means sticking their necks out and challenging authorities through disobedience, and dismantling the deadly systems currently in place through non-cooperation.

I take inspiration from Gandhi and King and others who used active non-violence successfully in the service of moral causes.

Not Doomed

It’s easy to conclude we are doomed and to give up. But those who make that conclusion are often propagandists for the fossil fuel industry. The vast majority of actual climate scientists DO NOT BELIEVE we are doomed — yet. Even Dr. James Hansen, the scientist who did more than any to bring attention to the crisis back in 1988, who seems to believe the crisis is even worse than most of his colleagues believe, does not believe we are doomed. He’s pushing urgently for action NOW.

Still, I fully understand the pessimism. After all, the people in positions of authority, the actual decision-makers are committed to their folly. And IF the current leaders, systems, rules, culture and policies continue, we WILL BE doomed.

I feel the urgency of Hansen and the despair of those who recognize the severity of our crisis. But I feel a moral obligation to act, to NOT give up. How can we even face young people today and tell them that we won’t even try to protect them from this insanity?

I know I cannot do that.

Prospects for Success

The evidence of history says that success is not easy, but it is achievable. History even provides a rough blueprint for effective activism — a blueprint that will serve as a guide for The Saners.

I’ve studied how the most effective leaders applied moral force to defeat powerful authorities in noble causes. In particular, I’ve studied Gandhi, King and Caesar Chavez. Each situation is different and calls for different actions. The specifics are always unique. But the blueprint is the same.

So, even though we may lack the genius and ability of our predecessors (I know I don’t have that kind of genius!), we can mount a powerful and credible campaign. We CAN succeed — which is different from saying we will succeed.

This is difficult. Much depends on how well we execute our actions. Luck will play a role. But nonetheless, we can and must carry out our best effort. We must fight for our species, for our planet, for all the species that share this Earth with us. We are even fighting for our opponents who don’t realize that they are their own worst enemies — and deadly enemies to their own children and grandchildren.

We are not fighting against villains. We are fighting against insanity, against stupidity. We are mostly fighting FOR, not against. We are fighting for life, for Nature, for the goodness in the world.

Meaning

Many look to religion for meaning, and maybe it can be found there. But it can be found in life itself, in fully embracing and experiencing life. That is what I seek to do.

So, I am not merely carrying out a joyless campaign of obligation. I am not solely doing what I see as my duty to work for the Earth, for the children, for humanity, for Nature. I also carry out another obligation: to feel and spread joy. To put a spotlight on the fact that we are here NOW, we are alive NOW, we are experiencing the magical possibilities of existence NOW.

I want to embrace the beauty and goodness in the world. I want others to do the same. Our species is making such a hash of our existence right now, that to improve on what we are doing now is relatively easy.

Let’s go all out. Let’s make life, at least compared to the foolish insane ways we are living now, a bracing and brilliant shared adventure.

I invite you to join me. See the website at WeAreSaners.org. And sign up for our email list at WeAreSaners.org/join.

Please follow me on Medium. If you are not a member, you can read many of my essay at the blog WeAreSaners.org/blog.