This Little Goldfish
Do you see how small this little goldfish really is?
It swims all day in this glass bowl and knows it can’t grow any bigger.
But see, beyond the front door, the pond where her relatives live.
They swim all day in their pool and they too have reached their maximum size.
What kind of goldfish are we, the human species?
In ancient times, we lived in small, solo villages.
We grew to our capacity, spent most of our energy just staying alive.
Then came an industrial revolution.
We grew in so many ways, spent less time working and more time in leisure.
We humans have reached a capacity enabled by the size of our globe, our pool.
In future times, how shall we live?
As we ask questions of meaning within the context of an ever expanding universe,
What kind of revolution is needed?
One that recognises our maximum size within a one planet system.
Can we humans stop living as if growth is the only ultimate criterion?
We humans need to stop growing,
Stop finding reasons for development based on the old economy.
Stop, stop, stop!
Get back into the fish bowl or garden pond and learn contentment.
Who then will take care of what is beyond us?
Ancient Egyptians had their way of viewing the stars as former pharaohs.
Indigenous peoples have their way of describing the constellations.
We misunderstood their stories as ‘primitive’.
We need to re-learn deep time, healthy mythologies, balanced cultures.
Learning an inward wisdom that both limits and expands according to context.