What Seeds Are We Sowing?

There is an Indian proverb that states:

“Blessed is the person who plants trees under whose shade they shall never sit.”

It is a proverb that is highly relevant as we face environmental/social collapse.

The signs of collapse have been with us for some years, and grow more apparent each year. The Earth’s tipping points are imminent, and some of them possibly already tipped.

We are in a predicament. We no longer have problems to solve. Predicaments inherently do not have solutions. Predicaments must be navigated. There are no solutions to the wicked problems that have merged to become this predicament.

It is as though we are at the entrance to a deep, dark, forbidding, cave that we must enter. This cave passes through a mountain and there is an entrance on the other side. We have no idea what we will find in that cave. We have no idea what monsters or gremlins we will face. We have no idea what lies on the other side. We do not even know if there is to be another side for us.

There is no forestalling this journey. We must, and will, face the darkness. We will enter a time of collapse, of uncertainty, of chaos.

Will homo sapiens emerge from the other side of the mountain alive?

No-one knows.

We cannot determine what lies on the other side. No amount of visioning, nor of hoping for, will be of any use.

Certainly, no-one alive today is likely to emerge from beneath the mountain on the other side.

So, rather than fantasize, imagine, or visualise what the future will look like, we might ask ourselves a simple question.

What seeds are we planting today, knowing that we will never sit in the shade of the trees, nor eat of their fruit? What will we plant today that may bear fruit for whoever, or whatever, may emerge from the other side of this mountainous predicament?

Will the seeds we sow be healthy ones? Will they be of benefit in the future world? Will they provide shade in the future?

Over the past two (or more) years we have witnessed a lot of unhealthy seeds being sown. We have seen seeds of: polarisation, hatred, vitriol, dis-information, lies, deceit, distrust, violence, and irresponsibility all being planted.

If humans are to emerge from this collapse, then these are not the seeds of a healthy society on the other side.

Before it is too late, we must begin sowing seeds of: harmony, cooperation, love, beauty, trust, respect, care, and responsibility.

We must primarily sow seeds of sacredness; seeds that recognise our place within nature, rather than a place outside of nature.

If there is any answer to the question, “What do I/we do?” then this is it.

Sow healthy seeds.