Introduction

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Twenty-five years ago, I read a novel that began with the narrator reading a newspaper ad.

Teacher Seeking Pupil
Must have an earnest desire to
save the world.

The novel was Ishmael, An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit, by Daniel Quinn. I read it, and then I read it again. And then I read it again. For me, the message conveyed through the story in the novel was fantastic news. It appeared to me that all that was necessary in order to save the world was for enough people to read Ishmael!

Over the next six or eight months, I gave away probably forty copies of Ishmael. I gave them to all of my friends, and to anyone I met who showed the slightest interest in what I was so excited about.

Then, the results started coming in… “Sorry, Don. I just couldn’t get into it.”

And, “Here is your book back, Don. I tried to read it several times, but the telepathic gorilla just didn’t interest me.”

Of the forty or more people I gave books to, few even read it, and of those who did read it, only a handful understood its message as I did.

I couldn’t believe it. The explanation for how things came to be this way, even if told by a telepathic gorilla, was clear and succinct. The book had won awards, including the $500,000 Turner Tomorrow award, given by Ted Turner for the work of fiction judged to be the most influential in helping to save the planet. Of course, there were thousands of people who understood and appreciated it… Apparently, though, there were not very many from my particular group of friends.

It was a terrible blow…. I was forced to admit that saving the world was not going to be as easy as I had naively thought it would be. Upon reflection, I realized that many of my friends were in the oil and gas exploration business as I was… a fact that was certainly a big factor with the lack of success in people “getting it”. Most of my friends, even those who were not in the oil business, were relatively affluent. They were completely invested in our culture, and totally unwilling to question whether or not our culture might be doomed to failure. Most of them had gone to college, graduated, and were in the process of carving out their little piece of the pie. They had worked hard. They had done what they were supposed to in order to be successful. And now, they were ready to reap their financial rewards and enjoy the security that came with their success. According to their reaction to Ishmael, they were most certainly NOT willing to consider that our culture was fatally flawed at its most basic level. Apparently, they had invested way too heavily in making this culture work for them, and they were not willing to just give up on it. And especially, they were not willing to help to bring an end to it.

Eventually, I came to realize that another reason many people did not understand Ishmael, was that they were not accustomed to thinking for themselves… at least not about the big questions. For those, they preferred to depend upon the “experts”, being the recognized governmental and religious leaders.

This unwillingness on the part of many of us to think for ourselves about the big questions is a huge problem. The result is that the rich and powerful get to answer those questions on our behalf…. Which is really not a good idea. Hopefully, Soft Landing will help many of us begin to fix this terrible situation. Many of those big questions that each of us, as individuals, need to start tackling instead of abdicating, are going to be addressed herein. If you are one who, up to this point, has been abdicating instead of thinking, I encourage you to be brave and read on…. Your bravery may ultimately provide a big contribution to helping save our world from devastation. At the very least, you will find your own life to have been enriched by the process of beginning to think a little bit more for yourself.

Despite my frustrations with having shared Ishmael with so many people who didn’t appreciate it, I remain extremely grateful for the truths I learned within those pages. In my own case, the result of my finding out the truth about our culture was that it set me free. It turned out that the truths I learned from reading Ishmael were the exact truths I had been searching for my entire life, without even realizing that I was searching for them. I have thanked the powers of the Universe each and every day since first reading Ishmael for allowing me to have this fantastic knowledge. Now I know why I have had a lifelong problem accepting authority. Now I understand what bothered me about religion. Now I can visualize a world free of war, hunger and strife… a world I can proudly pass along to my son and to the generations that follow him. Now I can spend the rest of my life working towards a goal that really matters to me… helping to save our planet from destruction.  

Well… here I am again. Twenty-five years later… giving the creation of that world I can proudly pass along to my son another shot. But instead of giving away copies of Ishmael… which I have continued doing all along…  this time, I’m putting out my own work… the book you are holding in your hands. Unlike Ishmael, this is a non-fiction work, which will allow me to delve a little deeper than Daniel Quinn was able to do in his fictional format.

For twenty-five years now, I’ve lived with the following truths, most of which I learned directly from reading Ishmael, and the others from reasoning forward from what Ishmael taught me. And, I can report to you that after twenty-five years of examination and re-examination, they remain as firm and solid as they did when I first came to understand them. Here they are:

• Our worldwide culture, which includes every person on this planet who is not a member of an indigenous tribe not yet assimilated, is flawed at its most basic level. For this reason, it is doomed. In fact, it is failing.

• The reason our culture is flawed is because it is based on the false premise that everything is separate. This fosters a false sense of separation. Separation between man and nature… Separation between man and the rest of the Community of Life… Separation between the weak and the powerful… Separation between the rich and the poor… Separation between you and me.

• The reality is that man is just another species that evolved on this planet as one of millions of life forms.

• This means that man is a part of the Community of Life… not separate from it.

• Our flawed and doomed culture must be replaced with a new culture that is based upon the truth that everything is connected.

• Humans must resume their role as Responsible Members of the Community of Life.

• If we continue down this road, riding on our flawed and doomed culture, then one day, perhaps one day very soon, we will arrive at our destination… a terrible crash.

• The only way the monumental task of replacing our flawed and doomed culture can be achieved is through the establishment of a Critical Mass of people who understand the problem and want to fix it.

• Helping people to understand how things came to be this way will be a main key to the successful creation of the Critical Mass.

• Not everyone is conscientious enough, or conscious enough, or emotionally stable enough to be capable of making the saving of the planet a personal goal. Many of us are just not ready to take on that task. As people grow and mature, many become capable of taking on these truths and joining the Critical Mass.

• The majority of the rich and powerful people currently living on this planet like things the way they are. They love their comfort. They love their luxurious lifestyle. They love their conveniences. And they love their security. Many of these comfortable, rich, and powerful people will ultimately become a part of the Critical Mass, but because it works so well for them, many will be slow to recognize the need for change.

• The rich and powerful will very likely some day realize that they also should have loved their polar icecaps.

• The quality and strength of the Critical Mass is very important. The more people it includes, the stronger it will be…. And the stronger it is, the more capable it will be of effecting change in the face of adversity. Also, the more people the Critical Mass has in it who are rich and powerful, the better.

• Without question, there are some very twisted and sick people in this world who wield a lot of wealth and power. Also, without question, many of these people will be extremely opposed to the cultural shift. For this reason, there is a chance that things might get very messy.

I will choose messy over insane every time. We can work through messy. There is no cure for the type of insanity represented by our present, insane culture. And besides… things are already pretty messy.

Here is a final truth that is crucial for us to understand if we are ever going to succeed in transforming our flawed and doomed culture to a responsible, sane one…

• The Critical Mass may only be added to one person at a time. This is because nobody can think for another person.

As the Critical Mass grows from where it is today, it will get easier and easier to add more people to it. This is because as time goes along, and more and more people come out in favor of the ideas set out herein, people like me will not be considered so crazy and radical as we are today.

I recently read Naomi Klein’s recent book, This Changes Everything. Given that when I read it, I was in the process of finishing the writing of this book wherein I am advocating for replacing our flawed and doomed culture, I was very glad to find that the title to Naomi Klein’s book, This Changes Everything, refers to the fact that the only way the looming disaster represented by global warming may be averted, or even its consequences mitigated, is through the achievement of a cultural shift. And she is correct. Global warming may not be dealt with by winning the argument that global warming is real. The only reason we are having that argument in the first place is because the huge corporations that are responsible for continuing to add to the accumulation of greenhouse gasses have hired their own pseudo-scientists to dispute the findings of the real scientists.

In This Changes Everything, Klein tells us the battle over global warming and climate change may only be won by taking the power back from the corporations, and forcing them to either operate in a manner that benefits our connected world, or terminating their right to exist. Klein correctly points out that the right-wing conservatives understand very well how deeply their way of life and their ideologies are threatened by global warming. That is why they are fighting so hard and also so unfairly. It is the liberal progressives who do not understand this very important point. The liberal progressives are still wasting their time arguing the facts. They do not realize that global warming is orchestrating a battle to the death between the two ideologies.

Of course, I agree with Naomi Klein. Twenty-five years ago, after first reading Ishmael, I realized what a waste of time most of the activists’ causes are. It is not that their causes are not important or worthy…. They are very important and very worthy of our attention…. But the problem is, using our finite energy to fight battle after battle involving the complete spectrum of the activists’ issues divides and dilutes the power of the progressive forces. In general, the progressives have truth and justice on their side, along with a finite amount of people with limited resources who understand those truths and are willing to fight for justice. The rich and the powerful have wealth and power, along with a relatively equal amount of people, but much greater economic resources and also much greater governmental clout. Wealth and power cannot defeat a divided force represented by truth and justice every time. But money and power does enable the other side to prevail in way too many of the clashes. The point is… these battles are never going to end until the progressives learn they need to concentrate their resources and join together to fight the only battle that will ever make any difference: The battle over whether our culture should be based upon a false myth that our world is separate, or the truth that everything that exists is connected.

When we win this main battle over whether our culture should be based upon a world that is separate or a world that is connected, we will never have to fight any of those lesser battles ever again. 

Consider this a call to all activists everywhere. Whether you are an environmental activist, a civil rights activist, a peace activist, a human rights activist, a gay rights activist, an indigenous rights activist, a women’s rights activist, a labor rights activist, an immigrant’s rights activist, a right-to-privacy activist, an activist for veteran’s causes, or an activist for any other progressive issue… let’s get together and work on growing this all-important Critical Mass of people who understand how things came to be this way. Let’s discard this flawed, doomed, and insane culture for a new culture based upon the reality that everything is connected, and we are all one. If we join forces and win this one, then we will also win all of those other activist’s battles at the same time. All we have to do is grow our numbers until we achieve the Critical Mass of people necessary to effect changes, even when opposed by those who remain satisfied with the status quo. Then, when that Critical Mass is achieved, by definition, we will have won.

After reading Ishmael, another epiphany occurred when I realized the truths set out above are not only logical, rational truths, but spiritual ones as well. The spiritual masters have told us for thousands of years that “We are One,” and “Everything is connected.”

The spiritual masters who have told us these truths beginning thousands of years ago, and the spiritual masters who are still telling us these things today did not just pull “Everything is Connected”, and “We are all One” out of thin air. They learned these truths through their own, direct experience… by going within.

There is a scale of consciousness that progresses from highly unconscious people, who are almost constantly consumed by shame, guilt, anger, grief and fear, to higher and higher levels of consciousness wherein people become more and more present, aware, accepting, loving, joyous, and peaceful, until finally they achieve a level of consciousness where the truth of “Everything is Connected”, and “We are One”, is a certainty for them. They have achieved enlightenment.

Of the many thousands of spiritual masters who have achieved these very high states of consciousness, certainly the most famous is Gautama Buddha. Not only did Buddha achieve enlightenment while still a young man, he lived to be 80 years old. Before he died, he taught hundreds of disciples how to achieve enlightenment for themselves, and he also taught them how to teach others.

Today, there are somewhere between half a billion and 1.5 billion practicing Buddhists. Most Buddhists would not consider themselves to be religious. Instead, they consider themselves to be practitioners of a proven and much utilized method of raising consciousness. The same would be true for most Hindus.

There are many paths to spiritual enlightenment. Also, there are many degrees of enlightenment as well. A person who has achieved an egoless state of consciousness and who lives totally in the present moment, without the need to label and judge those present-moments, could certainly be considered enlightened, especially in relation to the rest of us who have not yet achieved that level of consciousness. Next, a person who has achieved a state of Samadhi where he or she feels a connection to and a love for everything that exists, would be even further down the path towards true enlightenment. A third, even deeper stage of enlightenment involves achieving a state of consciousness wherein that person merges into the Oneness and the individual is no longer distinguishable from All That Is. According to what I have read, once a person achieves one of these higher states of consciousness, a certain vigilance or dedication is required for that person to maintain that state. Apparently, many people get glimpses, but then fall back into normal, everyday reality. In the many accounts I have read by those who have achieved this state, all agree there are no words that could possibly describe it. I imagine that almost every person who achieves any of these states of enlightenment has that experience locked into their memory and is forever transformed by the experience. Probably, there has never been a person who has regretted attaining one of these higher states of consciousness.

Buddha left a detailed map for his students and practitioners, based upon self-reflection and a dedication to the practice of meditation. Hinduism also has a rich tradition of raising consciousness with the goal of achieving enlightenment through meditation, yoga, and even through tantric sexual practices. Taoism tells us that enlightenment is the natural state of a human. The process of enlightenment for Taoism appears to be about awareness of the Tao, (all that is) and achieving a functioning, Tao mind through living the teachings. I believe that many tribal people who have not had their consciousness corrupted by our culture live naturally in a “present moment” state of awareness. Many Native American traditions, as well as other ancient cultures around the world, have traditions aimed at furthering the spiritual enlightenment of their tribal members that involve fasting, sleep deprivation, intentional pain, sweat lodges, and ingestion of natural psychedelics. Many of my own contemporaries who grew up in the sixties and seventies, got their first glimpse of higher states of consciousness through psychedelic drugs like LSD, mescaline, peyote, and psilocybin mushrooms. Millions of people throughout history, as well as millions of people living now, have been awakened to the existence of higher states of consciousness by a near death experience or a spontaneous out of body experience. When a person finds oneself out of his or her body, but still thinking and functioning, they come back with the certainty that life will continue after death. Other people have had spontaneous awakening experiences brought on by depression or feelings of deep despair… otherwise known as the “dark night of the soul”. Two famous examples of this from present time are Eckhart Tolle and Byron Katie. Michael Singer, the renowned author of The Untethered Soul, and The Surrender Experiment, spontaneously “woke up” to the reality of the unwanted dialogue going on in his own head while sitting on his couch.

Many scholars think that Jesus of Nazareth may have traveled to India and spent a few years practicing Buddhism. Unfortunately, there are no historical records to support this theory. Historical records do seem to support that Jesus actually traveled in Galilee performing miracles and healings, and preaching to throngs of people. The fact that Jesus could perform these miracles and healings, along with the fact that written accounts of his sermons indicate an extremely high level of attained wisdom, would support the hypothesis that Jesus was a spiritual master.

I spent a few years in my early adulthood being fairly pissed off at Jesus. My thinking was… If Jesus was such an enlightened Master who was so devoted to transforming our world, then why would he have allowed himself to be crucified by the Romans when he was such a young man? Couldn’t he have at least got his followers a little more organized before allowing himself to be martyred? In my way of thinking, he had really messed up. And the result of this too early martyrdom was the terrible religion called Christianity our world is saddled with today.

Eventually, I got over blaming Jesus for Christianity. After all, there are very few enlightened masters who choose to address the masses. Most don’t even attempt it. I ended up giving Jesus a lot of credit for at least trying. I do think, however, that Jesus was much more of a revolutionary than people understand. He was undoubtedly very devoted to kicking the Romans out of his homeland. And I believe that is the main reason he was crucified.

As stated earlier… Christianity is a terrible religion. Rather than providing a proven method of raising consciousness, Christianity tells its flock that all that is necessary is a belief in God and an acceptance of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. The Protestant concept of salvation by faith is probably one of the worst contrivances I have ever heard of. The result is a world full of millions of judgmental Christians who are too lazy to think for themselves.

When compared to the higher consciousness and spiritual mastery achieved by participants of the Eastern mystical traditions, very few spiritual masters come out of Christianity, Islam, or Judaism. All three of these religions promote a make-believe story about a Creator-God who is separate from us and will judge us when we die. And that is why organized religion is such a problem. I do not think it will be possible to achieve the necessary Critical Mass of people who understand the truth about how things came to be this way without first stripping Christianity and also Islam of a very significant portion of their adherents.

The reason for this is because the truth that “Everything is connected” simply does not jive with the Creator-God story of Christianity and Islam. The creation stories of these religions are basically about a fairy-tale God who created the world especially for man, so He could utilize our material world as a test to see whether or not each of us who are born into this world is worthy of joining Him in Heaven. The billions of people who buy into these fairytales end up believing there is no need for them to worry if things appear screwed up here on earth. After all, they are only going to be here in the physical realm for a few short years. Never mind if those years entail a lot of suffering. The important thing… according to these religions…  is that each of us needs to jump through the necessary hoops in our time here on Earth, so that when we die, God will grant us the privilege of spending eternity with Him in Heaven. And if the positive incentive of being able to spend eternity with the Father in blissful pleasantness is not sufficient motivation, then there is the negative motivation provided by these religions… eternal damnation in Hell for failing to recognize and acknowledge the supremacy of God and to do as He requires of us. 

It is the existence of these religions that are based upon their creation stories involving a God who is separate from us… who will judge us when we die… that foster and reinforce the same false sense of separation as the one on which our culture is based. Roughly half of the world’s population considers themselves to be a member of one of these three religions.

Most people, including most people who belong to these religions, don’t realize it, but Christians, Jews, and Muslims, all pray to the same God. As you can imagine, I am extremely dubious about this, but ancient scriptures say that the God who supposedly first revealed himself to the patriarch Abraham was the same God who was responsible for creating this little planet as a gift, just for man to conquer and rule. Of course, at the time that little fairy tale was first told, people didn’t realize what an insignificant rock we are all standing on. Today, we have a much different understanding of the cosmos, and of our place in it.

Also, considering the foundational myth of our culture is based upon this off-planet God who is separate from us, I find it extremely significant that this God chose to reveal himself to a patriarch, and patriarchy is such a continuing problem for us today. This God of Abraham first became the Almighty God worshiped in Judaism. Then, one thousand years later, Christianity took a slightly different tack, keeping the God of Abraham, and adding God’s only begotten Son to the story. Seven hundred years after that, the Prophet Muhammad prescribed another way to worship the same God, who he preferred to call Allah. 

So… From the standpoint of helping to transform our flawed and doomed culture by fostering and promoting the reality of the connectedness of all things…

Reason and logic… Good!

Spirituality… Good!

Abrahamic Religions… Bad!

But, in addition to reason, logic, and spiritual truths, there is also modern physics. Most people’s understanding of the three pillars of modern physics – relativity, special relativity, and quantum mechanics, do not go very deep. I can say this because in preparation of writing this little piece about modern physics, I have been studying like crazy for the past month, and I am still struggling to wrap my head around the concepts. My contention is, that science, especially modern physics, provides a third route for people to arrive at the truth of the connectedness of all things. And apparently, the only way to achieve this intellectual knowing as a physicist is through many years of study and hard work. If you have a doctorate in physics, then you have been through a rigorous academic program, one that probably took you at least seven years to complete. And that is after you received your undergraduate degree. Obviously then, if you are a PhD physicist, then you have looked very deeply into what is known about your particular field of study. My contention is that this deep understanding of modern physics will lead people who attain that knowledge towards a deep understanding, and a deep knowing, of the connectedness of all things.

This is because our modern physicists have come to understand that the sub-atomic particles, which are the building blocks of matter, are composed of pure energy. If everything is composed of energy, then everything in the universe including you, me, the earth, and everything on it and in it, the sun, the stars, the galaxies, and even all of the vast space in between all of these things, is made of energy. And, all of it is connected.

To re-cap… According to our present, insane culture… Everything is separate and the world was made for man to conquer, rule, and to exploit as he sees fit. And, that is why it is okay for a tiny minority of us to accumulate most of the wealth and resources, while billions of us struggle to provide ourselves with our most basic of needs pertaining to our very survival. And, that is also why it is okay for countries to wage war against each other over things like territorial disputes, racial, religious, or ideological differences, economic considerations, or a need to exploit resources. And, that is also why it is okay for corporations to reap insane profits from the exploitation of desperate and poor workers, and from the destruction of our precious forests and our other natural resources. And, that is also why it is okay to make the providing of health care all about profit, and to withhold it from those unable to pay the exorbitant prices. And, that is also why it is okay for huge multi-national corporations to make all of the most important decisions about how our world is to be ordered, utilizing profit as their main decision-making criteria.

Yet, according to reason and logic… And according to universally recognized spiritual truths… And now, according to modern physics… Everything is connected. What would a culture look like if it were based upon this reasonable, logical, spiritual, and scientific truth that everything is connected? Well, for one thing, it wouldn’t have the problems set out in the preceding paragraph. Nor would we be on the verge of planetary devastation through global warming and climate change. Our atmosphere, and our oceans, rivers and streams, would not be so terribly polluted. Our people would not have to worry about their basic needs being met. Our prisons would not be crowded to overflowing. And, our population would not be robbing and killing and sexually assaulting each other and anesthetizing itself with drugs and alcohol.  Most of our problems would magically go away.

Why can I say this? Because, if our culture was based upon the truth that everything is connected, then each of our actions as individuals would arise from that basic reality.  Our world would be re-ordered so that it mirrored our basic understanding of the connectedness of all things. All of a sudden, we would all become Responsible Members of the Community of Life on this planet.

The measuring stick I have devised which can be utilized to ascertain whether or not we have achieved our cultural shift is that we need to measure our progress in the following three areas… 

FIRST… If we have succeeded in providing basic needs to all of the people on this planet.

SECOND… If we have stopped cutting down our last remaining forests.

And

THIRD… If we have at least made a serious effort to begin the process of ceasing to pollute.

Then, we will have successfully transformed out culture from an insane one to a rational, sane culture where humans have become Responsible Members of the Community of Life. 

Please understand, I am not advocating that we give up our technological advances, or that we return to a primitive, hunter-gatherer lifestyle. On the contrary, I see plenty of potential for technology and innovation in a new, post-soft-landing connected culture where everyone understands the reality of the connectedness of all things.

The achievement of the providing of basic needs to all people everywhere, and the stopping of the cutting down of our precious forests could be achieved very easily. After we have achieved that all-important Critical Mass of people who understand, then all we would have to do is commit to doing these things. Pollution is the hard one. But, with a Critical Mass behind us, we could make real progress on the effort to stop pollution very quickly. It just might take a little while to succeed completely.

Think about it… Would it be possible for us to achieve these things within the framework of our present, insane culture that is based upon the premise that everything is separate? Absolutely not. The only way that any of these things is ever going to happen is as a result of a cultural revolution.

Don’t you feel a deep sense of responsibility to this beautiful little planet and to all of its diverse life forms, including our own?

Let’s make it happen! Let’s save the world!

This is a call to intelligent people everywhere to examine the facts and choose to see the truth. This is a call to reasonable people everywhere to embrace the truth and replace our flawed and doomed culture before it crashes on its own. This is a call to responsible people everywhere to step up and do what we have to do to save this planet. Other than greed and selfishness, there is no reason for us to continue down this path that leads to our destruction.  

I believe that achieving this Critical Mass through helping people understand how things came to be this way represents our best hope for saving the planet and the rest of the Community of Life from destruction by our insane culture. The other possibilities are achieving the Critical Mass through either spiritual enlightenment or an understanding of modern physics. The key is for people to understand the truth about the connectedness of everything that exists. By whatever means he or she achieves that understanding, whenever a person comes to know the truth that everything is connected, then that person will also see the need to transform our culture, which is based upon the false premise that everything is separate.

It is totally within our power to change this situation. First, we must assemble a Critical Mass of people who understand that everything is connected, and our present, insane culture does not recognize this reality. Then we make changes.

After achieving the Critical Mass, the easiest way to effect a worldwide change would be for the people here in the United States to wake up and take their government back from the huge corporations that have stolen it from us. All that is required is for us to replace our current, mostly corrupt batch of legislators with new Senators and Congressmen who understand the truths I am advocating herein and stand ready to implement the necessary changes via our legislative process and our U. S. Constitution. In this case, the Critical Mass would be achieved when there are enough voters available to win elections for enough of our candidates, so that changes may be implemented via Congress. Of course, we would also need to elect a President who is on our side.

Then, once the United States has been rescued from the huge corporations and their bought and paid for politicians, the rest of the world should fall in line rather easily. Why? Because the United States is the richest and most powerful nation on the planet. If the United States began acting responsibly, then I believe the other developed nations would fall in line rather easily. The developing nations wouldn’t be a problem either. I imagine that these countries would very much appreciate receiving “true” aid, rather than the “pseudo” aid we have been doling out to them since the end of World War II.

That is my blueprint for change. However, please know that I am totally willing to deviate from the script as warranted by new developments. (Forgive the mixed metaphor, but you know what I mean.) And again… nothing can be accomplished until the Critical Mass is assembled. That is a given.

As I see it… The key to my being able to contribute to the effort to attain a Critical Mass is for this book to be successful. Therefore, I am trying to do the best job I possibly can of organizing, and researching, and writing, and explaining, and persuading, and convincing. If this book is successful, then, as I see it, there will be a place for my company, Save the World, Inc., to have an impact as well. My plan for Save the World, Inc. is for it to utilize video and the Internet, and any other means available to continue the effort of growing the Critical Mass. Another task I would like for Save the World, Inc. to take on would involve helping to coordinate efforts with the electing of our own representatives to Congress. If we are to succeed in replacing this flawed and doomed culture with a viable sane one, then we are going to need not only a sufficient amount of people, but a sufficient amount of money and resources as well. The rich and the powerful who will oppose us will not go quietly.

As stated previously, a huge key to convincing people that our culture is insane and must be replaced is for people to understand how things came to be this way. Part One of this book is called “How Things Came to Be This Way”, and it describes the journey of humanity from its evolutionary beginning millions of years ago to the present time and shows us the time and place where our culture of today was born. You will find out in Part One what the basis for our present worldwide culture is and why it is fatally flawed. And you may be surprised to find out that the grandest lie of all, which is the cause of so much destruction, misery, pain, and suffering, can be set out in a simple, innocent looking, declaratory sentence… a sentence that is the very basis for our culture. The rest of Part One lays the groundwork, which will prepare you to be able to understand the terrible significance of this simple declaratory statement.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive! Part Two will explore the myriad ways in which our culture must deceive us in order to cover up the fact that it is based on a fallacy. All of the biggest problems that plague our world of today will be addressed. By the time you finish reading Part Two, you will have all the information you need in order to become fully awakened and totally free!

In Part Three, I will present a workable plan under which this flawed and doomed culture could be discarded and replaced with one that actually works. The good news is that the Critical Mass we need to begin implementing the plan is not even close to fifty percent.  The bad news is that many of the richest and most powerful among us, and the huge corporations and governments that are managed and run by them, will not want to see any changes. And, all that wealth and power gives these individuals and their organizations the ability to assert some control. But those few young souls will not be able to stop progress forever. When we are contemplating the implementation of these changes, you and I must keep in mind that these rich and powerful individuals represent only a teeny, tiny minority of us. With the right effort, we will be able to bring this flawed and doomed culture in for a soft landing before it crashes on its own. Then, once we get it safely on the ground, we can rebuild it.

We can save the world!