God, Biomimicry and Wishful Thinking

Sometimes you find that when your mind focuses on a particular issue, all manner of material is just then simply presented to you out of the blue, helping the argument going on in your busy brain.
 
I started the past week by wondering how people around the world are coping with the so-called "Crisis". Not just those that have been there and lived through one before, but particularly those that have not. The younger generation, the new starters. I remember my first recession - you really do think the world is going under, that things will never be the same again...but then, without any further hiccups or issues, life simply continues to trundle along and things are once again fine.

 I think this time is a little different - whilst I very much believe that we are in a recession roughly every 7 years or so, and that this is a good thing, rather then something to fear, this time a system which we all rely on heavily has proven faulty and in need of a major overhaul - our banking system. and that might take a little more, and in particular, will need a very different approach, to get "fixed".

I followed with great interest a series on "Biomimicry" - a term invented by Janine Benyus in 1997. Biomimicry basically looks at the way that nature builds certain systems, and models and copies those to work in our own human world. For instance, the ability not to poison bacteria (which ultimately makes them resistant to the poison you use) but to break down the communication amongst them so they don't all "attack" at the same time. Or  the way a seedpod from a plant sticks to other things...becoming our wellknown Velcro. I would wonder if there is not a way that banks, and the way they interact, could benefit from looking at something that is already existing in nature today - something that allows us to take the core product - money - and basically break it down in other pieces which ultimately creates something that is useful instead of toxic. Anyway - that might be wishful thinking although I strongly believe it is the way that our modern world will continue to survive under modern pressures - nature was there quite a bit before we ever entered the picture and we would do well to realise that more!

Then in apparent contrast, I also found some interest in two other articles - one about a piece of "art" which - as part of its exhibition - set up a phone line to God. It was meant to be a stunt, something to create an understanding in the viewer of the art work about the changes in religion over the past 50 years in the Netherlands...but the line, which was a mobile number since God is always available, was dialled over 8000 times. We seem to have a need for some guidance from above - a simple conversation would probably do - anything that would help us through these times is what people seem to crave. Another clear example of this is the fact that a Wishing Well in a famous themepark, actually turned in a record amount this year - well-wishers simply poured coins into the well in the hope of something good happening to them...

I say - use whatever works for you. It seems to me that whether you use your religion, wishful thinking or more complex methods to give yourself hope that we will get through this and be better off, once on the other side -  it all helps. Every person that is a little more optimistic then before that call or coin, is like a brand new brick in a new structure and will help us get through this crisis a little faster. It is Optimism and Hope that lay the foundation of a better world.

Personally though, I think I will continue to look for those similarities between Nature and our world's systems... I strongly believe that that is where we will find the long-term answers.
 
for more information on Biomimicry see: www.biomimicryguild.com
 

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  china int

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  Janet Clark

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  Erik Alvarado