Dear Michael

Letter Three

Michael, our conversations over the past months have been exploring what creates sustainable design for us individually, for Western Engineering, and for the common good.

At your prompting, this letter addresses the challenge of creating sustainable design globally.

AWAKENING THE WORLD TO WHAT TRULY WORKS AND MATTERS

Worldwide, the pain and suffering of hundreds of millions of children, women and men is an ongoing tragedy of incomprehensible scale.

We can excuse ourselves for considering that humankind, other sentient beings and ‘Mother Nature’ could be on, or in many cases already beyond, the brink of survival.

For numerous reasons, in mounting numbers, many are.

This situation is a direct or indirect consequence of the disconnection between what many call our ‘head and heart’, ‘ego and soul’, or the ‘material and inner worlds’ of each of us.

Or, in the words we are using, it’s living and working influenced either by impossibility or Possibility.

Humanity, you and I, have created our situation by practising one of the multitudes of ‘doing what works’ or ‘doing what matters’ ideologies independent of one another.

While ideologies vary from person to person, community to community, culture to culture, and nation to nation, the poor results appear universal.

The efforts by us, our institutions and our governments, at present, do not, in the main, deliver sustainability.

Too much is going to the few. Insufficient is going to the many.

By their negative impact on the common good, we can identify the various problems.

We will identify the universal solution.

Despite enhanced global communications, for most of us, the sheer scale and horror of what is unfolding in our world is:

• Too remote and far removed to be delivered – and when it is – is in diminished and fragmented pieces,
• shown in sanitised ways,
• or if presented accurately, we turn away as it is too horrific and painful to witness.

The tsunami of 2004 was an example. We saw the personal nightmares, family horrors and devastation on TV as mere ghosts of the human reality.

Today, the devastation, pain and suffering to human life and other sentient beings in the Ukraine is beyond our comprehension from the images on TV.

The wreckage and destruction from the increasing wildfires, floods, landslides, hurricanes and earthquakes are beyond our capacity to comprehend unless we have first-hand experience.

And of those intimately connected with specific world problems, few, if any, are putting forward sustainable solutions.

This third message continues my attempt to explain the value of:

• The convergence of the ‘conservative view’, i.e. ‘doing what works’, with a so-called ‘progressive view’, i.e. ‘doing what matters’;
• and creating a unified whole, being held within a deeper context of Possibility – kindness, understanding, wisdom and common sense – the context for what will actually work and matter;
• and you, me, and our fellow humans seeing a collective way forward rather than continuing to divide within our separate realms of belief, opinion and judgment in a downward global spiral of mutual self-destruction.

The essence of this note says:

Doing what works and what matters from a state of mind that sees, understands and feels what will work and matter is the answer to humanity’s every conceivable problem

IN SEEING POSSIBILITY, WE SEE WHAT WORKS AND MATTERS

Seeing what really works and matters is what will enable our survival.

1. Doing ‘what we think works’ and or ‘what we think matters’ without understanding and accessing our inner world of Possibility causes what we think will work and or matter to fail … sooner or later.
2. Doing ‘what works’ and ‘what matters’ from the living and breathing of what enables what we create to work and matter is the answer humanity seeks.
3. Embracing what will work and matter – kindness, understanding, wisdom and common sense enables humankind to sort the ‘what works or matters’ wheat from the ‘what doesn’t work or matter’ chaff, thus finding and embracing sustainable solutions.
4. Only by point 3 being the basis of our planning and execution can we be in service to each other, our organisations, the common good, nature and the planet.
5. Seeing what works and matters ends the worship of our ideological or religious beliefs in what works and in what matters.
6. Seeing our unquestioning belief in these religious and ideological concepts is the fundamental cause of each problem facing you and me. I’m referring to the beliefs expressed with certainty each day by the commentariat from the religious or ideological right or progressive or idealistic left about solving the problems facing humanity and the natural world.

Humankind and, as a consequence, life on Earth, it is not an exaggeration to say, are at an intersection:

• With flashing lights, one sign points toward ‘what works’ – the road many on the right are speeding along, in the unquestioning belief that this is THE road to be on.
• A second large sign with flashing lights points toward ‘what matters’ – the road many on the left are speeding along in the unquestioning belief that this is THE road to be on.

And some try one road, then the other.

• A third, barely visible sign, without flashing lights, points to a hardly ever-used road. It takes the traveller to the convergence of what works with what matters. It is a road taken with equal measures of caution and confidence from the understanding gained in seeing into The Realm of Possibility. Answers appear that encompass the elements that address the common good offered by the advocates of ‘what works’ and ‘what matters’.

This road is the high road of Possibility and sustainability, the road to having ‘what works’ working and ‘what matters’ mattering and providing a healthy, happy, sustainable future for all humanity and the natural world.

As things stand today, on each side of the ‘doing what works’ or ‘doing what matters’ divide, the causes and solutions to each world’s problems are strenuously debated and increasingly violently reacted to.

With that in mind, Michael, I am again saying there is a single cause and sustainable solution – if seen – a true panacea!

A primary cause and a direct solution!

One answer to every problem the human mind creates, however small or monumental.

A solution that has repeatedly been proffered throughout human history and has, in the main, fallen on deaf ears, blinded eyes and closed minds.

Those who have heard the message have mostly turned it into their version of ‘what works’ or ‘what matters’; with that, the good news has, without exception, been corrupted.

Few, it seems, continue to look within to the unknown, to Possibility, renewal and sustainability.

These few who have seen or heard the message from within the realm of Possibility (called by whatever other name) are touched deeply, speak about it from their cultural perspective and remain faithful to its calling.

Although discovered, rediscovered and expressed in voluminous forms countless times, in diverse cultures, in every age, by the wise of the time and place, the profundity and power of seeing and addressing what really works and matters have never been broadly or deeply understood. Therefore, the understanding has not been embraced by more than a few.

What works and matters has been debased at best or destroyed by the weight of numbers in the pursuit of humankind’s habit of turning everything into ‘what we think works’ and ‘what we think matters’.

Following are definitions of what I mean by the two concepts.

I describe two distinct ways of seeing or seeing, experiencing or experiencing, contributing to our daily work, whatever that is, and our personal lives, irrespective of age, cultural heritage or other affiliations.

DEFINING ‘WHAT WORKS’ AND ‘WHAT MATTERS’

Humankind is driven and blindsided by what they believe works best and matters most.

Most of us are raised and encouraged to do ‘what works’ and ‘what matters’. Some of the countless examples follow:

• Being good, polite, competitive, on time, tidy, financially responsible, following the rules.
• Winning at sports, in business and in life generally.
• Being saved, attending church, or, if not that, learning religious values.
• Being schooled in reading, writing, arithmetic, etc. etc.
• Becoming an accountant, engineer, psychologist, social worker, businessman, carpet cleaner or garbage collector.

We strive to learn, become better at, and gain more proficiency and a more profound knowledge of ‘what works’ and ‘what matters’.

We become conditioned to believe that if something is going right, it is because we are doing ‘what works’ and or ‘what matters’; if not, it is because we fail to do one or both. It is as straightforward and as ingrained as that.

Our educational, political, economic, social, religious, humanitarian, family and community strategies are born out of and driven by our conditioned ideology – our beliefs in ‘what works’ or ‘what matters’.

If we create something from the state of mind of what really works and matters, it soon morphs into the unsustainable straitjacket of ‘what works’ or ‘what matters’.

An example known to most is Christianity. From a wise sage and mystic ‘seeing’ and teaching about what really works and matters, we have ended up with today’s multiple versions: people dedicating their lives to studying and teaching their version of ‘what works’ and or ‘what matters’, that is, how to be saved, be righteous, lead a good life and get to heaven.

Instead of Christianity, read Islam or Buddhism – you name the religion or philosophy.

Doing ‘what works’ and or ‘what matters’ is universal. An excellent example of a ‘what works and or what matters’ society is the USA.

Doing ‘what works’ and or ‘what matters’ has made the USA what it is today – the most advanced society, in many ways, on the one hand, and the unsustainable mess it is on the other.

Although few countries admit to it, other countries aspire to emulate the USA in their ways. Australia might be described as the ‘sorcerer’s apprentice’ in following the USA into the mire.

‘What works’ or ‘what matters’ comes from a specific state of mind. It is a mechanical, intellectual, materialistic, fearful, conditioned state of mind. It is an approach to life and living born out of accumulating knowledge that forms our beliefs, opinions, judgements, and dogma – knowing the correct answer. The right way! (Unfortunately, Michael, like this letter might be coming across.)

‘What works’ or ‘what matters’ is taught in every school and university. Most books and other materials these institutions create dedicate themselves to explaining how to do ‘what works’ and or ‘what matters’ better.

The growing political correctness – (some might say madness) is a worldwide phenomenon that has taken the world by storm and created great unrest.

Few point to what really works and matters as the moment-to-moment context for living with authenticity, clarity and human decency.

Icons of ‘what works’ and or ‘what matters’ are religions, governments, businesses, corporations, organisations, the United Nations, aid agencies, parliaments, educational institutions, many marriages and families.

The Bible, Koran, Kaballah and most so-called spiritual, psychological, self-help, and other ‘how to’ books and materials specialise in ‘what works’ or ‘what matters’.

Unfortunately, this guide will suffer the same fate. Too bad!

We can’t help ourselves from falling into the trap of the story we create unless we awaken. And we can’t awaken unless we stop looking without and look within to The Realm of Possibility.

DEFINING WHAT REALLY WORKS AND MATTERS

Humankind hungers deep within for what really works and matters. We desire transformation from being controlled by our conditioned mind to being a free spirit and living a life of kindness, understanding, wisdom and common sense.

What determines what really works and matters is the quality of feeling we have within our hearts and minds, how we feel in our relationship with ourselves, with all others, with nature, and with Life.

Having a beautiful feeling, a loving, compassionate, warm and unconditionally respectful feeling towards all others, the creatures we share this planet with, mother and nature and the gift of Life. That beautiful feeling reflects our state of mind, and the awareness that accompanies that state ensures that what we think, feel and do ‘will really work’ and ‘will really matter’.

What really works and matters reflects the level of consciousness and quality of Thought we are accessing and the thinking we are utilising in our family, daily work, community and recreational lives.

What really works and matters is how we treat each other, how we feel towards each other – how we feel towards and the respect we give to nature and other sentient beings.

Seeing what really works and matters occurs within The Realm of Possibility, our innate spiritual state of mind and manifesting in our daily living.

Seeing what really works and matters comes from not knowing and being willing to live in the unknown – the antithesis of the ‘God’ of knowledge, dogma, belief, opinion and judgement.

What really works and matters cannot be written or taught, is ineffable yet inherent and available within the mind and heart, and is the soul of every human being.

You will find what really works and matters if you surrender your faith in what you know and believe, clear your mind and look within. You will discover what really works and matters there and only there.

Signs to look for are a loving feeling, experiencing a clear mind, wisdom, common sense, understanding, compassion, gratitude, appreciation, peace and contentment, creativity, spontaneity and light-heartedness. Making a positive contribution without fear, favour or expectation of reward or recognition and taking fearless action are signs.

Remnants of the ideas around what really works and matters endure (having escaped the shackles of doctrine) within people of every religion, government, business, corporation, and organisation.

This letter is like the signs of that intersection on the road of life.

It points to those of us living on the fashionable street of ‘what works’.

It also points to those of us who live on the fashionable street of ‘what matters’.

Both streets are dead ends.

It also points to the unfashionable street named What Really Works and Matters – the street of endless Possibility – of love, understanding, wisdom and common sense – the street of ‘sustainable design’.

IN SUMMARY

The world of ‘what works’ and or ‘what matters’ is about finding out what is right, getting it right, doing it right, making it right and being right. The drivers are fear and pleasure.

What really works and matters is being at peace and experiencing wisdom, common sense and creativity. The forces are love and understanding.

Love … John