Better World

Seeking Wisdom to Build a Better World

Here. Now. With What We Have.

A vision quest to help you find meaning and purpose in a rapidly changing world.

If we were logical, the future would be bleak indeed. But we are more than logical. We are human beings, and we have faith, and we have hope, and we can work. -- Jacques Cousteau

Steven Charleston, Choctaw Elder and former Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Alaska, wrote:

Would you believe me if I told you we were the forerunners of a great spiritual renewal? What if I said this renewal would change our global culture at the end of this century? That it will see the emergence of a new mysticism in contrast to technology and a strong social conscience of sustainability and justice. We are at the very beginning of this movement. We will not all live to see its first moments of birth, but we will have the joy of knowing that we were the shoulders on which others stood to make it a reality. History will show that what we did today to lift up an open-minded spirituality, welcoming to all people, made a difference. Our choice to stand together, to advocate for justice, and to heal this planet will be recognized as the breakthrough. Because we did not give up, they excelled. Would you believe me if I told you that?

Bishop Charleston's vision is imagination. Vision is "wisdom in real time." Imagination is the spark of motivation that moves us forward.

"Socio-environmental system" is the daunting term that describes human life on Earth. Socio-environmental systems include the full range of social and environmental sciences, arts and humanities, plus complex interactions among them all. Human well-being requires wise navigation within this complexity, but wisdom is not a standard academic subject. We hope this program can put you on a path to find your wisdom.

Seeking Wisdom to Build a Better World is an online, self-paced, self-directed vision quest. Its purpose is to help you find your wisdom, passion, and creativity to build a wiser, more resilient world. It is intended for seekers who think we should and can work to build a better world, including progressives of many faiths and the spiritual but not religious.

This program is a life-long, life-wide, life-deep practice, not a "do it and done" course. We've designed Seeking Wisdom to Build a Better World so you can do it on your own. It will also work in small groups of individuals sharing their experiences, with or without a leader. However you do it, please do not rush. Learning to live with wisdom on Earth is not easy. We do ourselves an injustice if we aren't willing to work to understand and live it fully.

"Earth" refers to the planet whose unique characteristics make life possible. We use "world" to mean the ways of human life on Earth. We can't build a better Earth, but we can build a better way for us to live here.

Your vision quest should help you:

Clarify personal and community values
Identify the work that excites and motivates you
Participate in community
Increase personal and community resilience
Develop a vision and plan for your work

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Working to build a better world isn't utopian. It is a continual, conscious effort toward a hopeful vision as expressed in the four pillars of the Earth Charter:

I. Respect and Care for the Community of Life

II. Ecological Integrity

III. Social and Economic Justice

IV. Democracy, Nonviolence, and Peace

Bishop Charleston's vision above and the Honor Earth video add an essential spiritual aspect that we believe is fundamental to building a better world.

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The thoughts of Meister Eckhart (1260-1328) set the tone for this vision quest:

Setting Forth Together

Let's be clear about one thing, you are

your own best teacher. I can only tell

you what I know, but you'll need to

discover it for yourself, so don't expect

me to tell you what to think or how to live.

I'll share with you the truth I've found:

that life is full of a darkness that can

enlighten you in its own way, there's

a thread there to guide you, but to find

it you'll need to look within yourself.

When you do, seek the light that shines

out of the darkness, and be radiant for

those who long for hope to brighten

their journey, setting forth together on

what you'll discover is a wayless way.

From Meister Eckhart's Book of Darkness & Light by Jon M. Sweeney and Mark S. Burrows.

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How this works:

This program begins with thoughts about practical wisdom and core values. The main part of the program is a vision quest consisting of four tasks, described below. Finally, an extensive resource section can be used while you do your vision quest and for your subsequent work to build a better world.

The tasks of the vision quest were adapted with his permission and blessing from Bishop Steven Charleston's book The Four Vision Quests of Jesus.

Task 1 Prepare Yourself asks you to choose either to seek your work or to improve your capability to do the work you are called to.

Task 2 Build Community helps you recognize the central importance of community as the context of living in wisdom and suggestions on how to build and strengthen communities.

Task 3 Find Your Resilience considers how to build and strengthen both personal and community resilience, which is the basis of sustainability.

Task 4 Seek Your Vision is where you listen to Spirit in your personal ways and practice discernment to determine your actions.

Throughout the program you will be prompted to reflect on the process and to record your thoughts, decisions, and actions in a journal. Your journal will be the tangible product of your vision quest and can become a continuing record of your experiences in helping build a better world.

How to Navigate Your Vision Quest is an interactive roadmap to the process, as is the navigation bar on the left side of the screen.

Jim's comment: I'm Jim Kimmel. I developed this program in the hope that it will help us all make the necessary transformations to live a sustainable and resilient life on Earth.

I've worked in environmental education since the early 1960s, but the mess we are in now makes it obvious that I (and the entire profession) didn't do a good job. We worked on the assumption that if we help people learn about their environment they will love it and if they love it they will take care of it. Didn't work very well!

This program is different. It focuses on how we live on Earth because environmental degradation is a sociocultural problem. Are we wise enough to live within our environmental budget? I believe we are if we find and use the wisdom that is within us.

Keep a Journal

Throughout the process of this vision quest you will be prompted in bold green type to write in your journal. Your skills to build a better world will continually evolve. Keeping a journal for documentation and reflection will help transform those experiences into wisdom.

Think of your journal as a life-long tool that helps you understand the track of your wisdom, including the times when you were not wise – possibly the most valuable learning experiences!

You can keep your journal in a notebook or on a computer or digital device.

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The first prompt to write in your journal is to consider these thoughts from Meister Eckhart's poem

"Let's be clear about one thing, you are

your own best teacher"

"...what you'll discover is a wayless way."

and Barbara Brown Taylor

"I think we’d like life to be a train, ... and it turns out to be a sailboat."

Think back over your lifetime of learning. How did you learn? Write your reflections in your journal on what you think is your best learning experience.

The "wayless way" is a paradoxical meditative statement like a Buddhist koan. Taylor relates the paradox to a journey. On a train we follow the predetermined track, but on a sailboat the winds, currents, and tides require constant changes in our direction (heading). But those changes in heading must always be made to maintain the course to our desired destination (vision).

The sailboat analog of spiritual life that Taylor describes implies that we have a vision in mind of how we want to be, and we set a course to take us there. But the winds and tides of life push and pull us away from our course. So we continually trim our sails and adjust our rudder to head as close as possible to our own becoming. This is a wayless way.

In your journal, describe a wayless way you have experienced -- how it made you feel and its result. Then reflect on what you think is the relationship between being your own best teacher and a wayless way.

Jim's comment: In high school I formed a vision of my life -- to have a good family and be a good teacher. That vision has continued to motivate and guide me for more than 60 years. It was the umbrella under which I could discern my path in a wayless way. It took me from Africa as a young Peace Corps teacher to being a professor emeritus and an elderly facilitator in a wisdom school -- with a wonderful family as the constant. I am extremely grateful for that vision.

How to Navigate Your Vision Quest