From oil dependence to local resilience

The Language of Limits...is there a middle way to appeal to our hearts?

The following quotes were sent to me by a colleague

“The language of limits is not the language of the human heart.
We do not aspire to be limited – we want to (and should) take flights of fancy.”
Prof Tim Jackson, PCE 20th, Mar07

Another sustainability educator I know takes the approach that humans believed the Vatican telling them that the sun moved around the earth, but when Coppernicus proved it was the other way around, they quickly got over it and adapted to the new mental model (unlike the Vatican which apparently didn’t concede until 1993!), so just works on helping people ‘get over’ the idea that there are limits we need to work within.

Is there some middle way – to appeal to the human hearts desire to take flight, while at the same time acknowledging the reality of physical limits?

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Permalink Reply by Hirini R on April 1, 2009 at 0:20

Linda,
I see the middle place as the unity of opposites. The heart rising up into the head. The head descending into the heart. The orbit of life. The heart knows the levity. Like a child at play. The head is more serious. The gravity of the adult at pray. Each person must find their own space on the dance floor. When we are still in the flesh we are still subject to gravity and physical laws. Bones break. Egos bruise. Yet our spirits still can soar with the eagle. Sing with the wind. We may need to go outside our neurotic need to be safe. To be right. To be sane. Not easy to do. Yet such is life.

Hirini