Hey there blind wisdom seekers

After working through the book Active Hope – How to face the mess we are in without going crazy – by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone where they ask us to examine The contribution each of us makes to the healing of our world; I began thinking. As they described the “business as usual” attitude of over consumption by the western world I started to view their observations from the world of the blind. If there were a gift from marginalisation then it would be the way in which blind people currently live their lives. With most being affected by unemployment, financial hardship and being unable to fulfil their potential I am often left in despair. However, when I began reading the “business as usual” section of this book my thoughts began to change. Maybe, just maybe, being shut out of the current economic system has been a good thing for blind people. Maybe, just maybe, blind people are already part of the great turning and are already helping the world to heal by showing how to live sustainably. All we need to do now is to get the sighted world to see how we go about this.

Here’s 13 ways we’re doing that:

1 we don’t drive cars

2 we don’t use electricity for lighting!

3 we don’t see advertisements showing us how we should look or what we should drive!

4 we can never find the 20 feet of skin care solutions in the supermarket!

5 we don’t learn by watching others

6 we aren’t caught up in the overshoot in the economic system because blind people aren’t given the opportunity to overshoot in the current economic system!

7 we don’t have the income to consume more things therefore we don’t produce more waste

8 wealth has not travelled to the blind

9 we can’t gaze at the modern press

10 we are not easily distracted

11 we don’t see little detail

12 We trust others. We have to because being blind is all about partnerships

13 When we go blind we discover the power to change ourselves which means we also have the

Power to change the world!

As a result, I have written the following prayer; a gift from the blind to the rest of the world.

“We, the blind, give thanks to our blind ancestors, for their stories and actions that have taught us not to be afraid of our dark but to live in our light. We give thanks to all blind people who inspire us to be fearless and who show us that doing things in a different way is where we find our true source of power. We give thanks to the creativity this brings into our lives and opens our hearts to diversity. We give thanks to our triumphs and our happiness but most of all we give thanks for the sense of peace blind wisdom brings us.”

Hugs

J