How do we and how do societies learn?
The basis of every ecological transformation is a basic trust in creation. We will have to learn to work and live with nature and no longer against nature and thus against ourselves.
Today, it is primarily about peace with creation, which finds its deepest meaning in man’s participation in God’s creation. That is the real reason for my committed work on a new era, the solar age – even at 86.
This endeavour is an enormous enrichment: the solar spectrum has spiritual, political, economic, ecological, cultural, technical, idealistic, scientific and very personal dimensions. I started with the energy in the coal cellar – as the son of a coal merchant – campaigned for nuclear energy, later – things were going well – I switched to solar energy and now – in my old age – I am reaching for the stars – in the transition to the spiritual world.
So I was also part of the problem we have today. For that reason alone, I must now endeavour to become part of the solution. Otherwise I would have learned nothing in my life. Being open to learning until the end: that is the meaning of our being here. I was often a late bloomer in my life. However, I have learned from this that it is never too late to turn back.
Mahatma Gandhi is one of the greatest and most successful personalities in our history. But there is one point on which I would disagree with him when he says: ‘History teaches people that history teaches people nothing’. Sometimes we do learn something. Most of the time, it is minorities that are capable of learning and that ensure progress. And very often, the prerequisite for learning is experiencing suffering. This was also the case with the Franco-German friendship, which was unimaginable 100 years ago and is now the basis of the European Union.
For me as a political journalist and publicist, the big question is: Which political ideas for the future determine the intellectual hegemony in society? In doing so, I am only responsible to myself and my conscience. The aim is to speak and write plain text. However, this does not mean speaking and writing in an undifferentiated way.
What spiritual sources do we want to draw from if the big turnaround is to succeed? Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama both say: it is religious to work together to preserve creation. The necessary energy for change comes from above and from within. The only important religion for the future is a good human heart – full of empathy for our children and grandchildren. Love is an invigorating and life-giving element. Love is energy. Energy is love. And the greatest religion is humanity. The strongest force in the universe is love.
In Mozart’s ‘Magic Flute’ – probably his most significant work on the subject of transformation – this spell is cast as follows: ‘Two hearts burning with love can never be parted by human fainting. Lost is the foe’s toil, the gods themselves protect them.’ This magic of the “Magic Flute” is still effective today – an ideal of love and humanity. Mozart wrote his Magic Flute at the height of the Enlightenment. According to Kant, the Enlightenment wanted to free us from our “self-imposed immaturity”: “immaturity is the inability to use one’s mind without the guidance of another”. Today – almost a century and a half later – our intellectual one-sidedness or soullessness requires a new Enlightenment – so to speak, an Enlightenment of the Enlightenment, a second Enlightenment.
The ‘Magic Flute’ is a therapeutic opera just as the Bible is a therapeutic book – a guide to change and conversion, an opportunity for transformation, for change. The desire to change often appears in our dreams. Dreams can be warning signs and stop signs, signposts in a different, new direction. In the course of our lives and our ‘education’, much of our childhood imagination is lost and our dreams become poorer. Nevertheless, the ‘inner child’ lives on in the dreams of many adults and strengthens the hope that the last chapter of humanity does not have to be nuclear apocalypse or climate destruction. Our spiritual qualities enable us to save the environment and organise peace, to tame power, capital and greed, and to limit suffering. Wars, violence and environmental destruction are no more natural laws than the exploitation of poor countries by rich ones.
Sometimes it is a sustainable dream, sometimes a stimulating book, sometimes a serious conversation, sometimes a meditation or a prayer, sometimes a deep emotional experience that touches us and transforms us and shows the way to a new humanity. Often it is situations of despair or crisis that trigger a spiritual transformation, a change, a new chance, in us. Even the experience of the fear of death can lead to a transformation into a new zest for life and a new lease of life. Many near-death experiencers who have also experienced the fear of death report this.
Transformation requires information. We can think, feel and act differently in many areas. I want to convey a sense of desire for the future by pointing out concrete solutions that have already been put into practice, without ignoring the pressing problems. It is about trust in a ‘humanistic futurism’ (Matthias Horx). There is a growing realisation that humanity is the greatest religion.
The Dalai Lama says: ‘It is good that young people all over the world are demonstrating for a good climate today. By doing so, they are taking a realistic look at their own future. We adults should support young people.’ It is still possible that the 21st century will be a century of peace and environmental policy. This century of ours will bring us great difficulties. ‘Everyone wants peace – even our “enemies”,’ says the Dalai Lama. ‘Peace does not fall from the sky. Destructive actions arise from destructive feelings. Our world therefore needs knowledge about our minds and our feelings. We urgently need to learn to deal with our feelings. Through inner peace, we find a happy life. The true meaning of life is happiness.’
Global digitalisation and growing global responsibility will accelerate the transformations that are necessary today.
The most important political transformations we need now: the energy transition, the transport transition, the building transition, the water transition, the forest transition and the work transition. And above all: a desire for the future!
Source
Franz Alt 2024 | Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
