The Hierarchy of Importance suggests an idea which comes very close to an illumination of the concept of God. It is of universal application: it is always invoked, in addition to anything else going on. When one searches philosophy for an answer to the questions of life, the function of the reply is to indicate that it is really the answer to the question, “What should I do, now?” That is really the answer behind every question; so what should I do, now?
Like everything else, the answer will unfold along the lines of that hierarchy of importance. What is of the most fundamental importance? I start with an understanding of our world as a single integrated field of life energy existing within the edges of chaos. What is important to understand is that it is a single organism, and that it is alive, and conscious. Perhaps it is linked with other patches of life energy in the universe, but, in any case, it is most useful to focus our attention upon the life we know of, here: Gaia, a personification of the living aspect of all of life on our planet Earth (God, to us).
Our hierarchy of importance starts with the survival and growth of this organism, which is us, after all. The major observation is that this field of life energy is under enormous, seemingly insurmountable, levels of stress; the planet has been visibly dying for several hundred years, and the pace of disintegration of the life force has picked up lately as the earth falls further and further behind, biologically.
Next in importance comes the consciousness that the biological condition of the earth needs to be turned around immediately, “at war-time speed,” as Lester Brown says in his important book, World on the Edge. In fact, that book is an excellent place to begin learning about all of the problems facing the survival of life on earth, and some of the suggested ways of addressing those issues.
That book doesn’t really consider the political issues, but there are very definitely political obstacles to the rapid and efficient management of the earth’s resources back to a sustainable, and regenerative, level. So this next idea is the One World Government, as the political evolution most immediately essential for the regeneration of the earth to be undertaken. This is always the most politically charged proposal, but the only alternative to some form of One World Government, is a Jungle of Sovereign States, which is the political format which we are currently enjoying. At least, I suppose we are enjoying it. In the interests of a tight edit, I here omit a whole tirade upon the abuses borne by our Mother Earth by some of her Sovereign Masters, lately.
Moving right along, once we have a One World Government and a Single Currency, we will also want a standard and universal land tax, collected and administered by the State, but no other taxation, other than some sort of “resource depletion tax” which will be used to modify inappropriate activity for the earth.
Next in importance is to establish free farms for the indigent, world-wide. Everywhere in the world there should be places where anyone can go to live for free, with food to eat. This is by far the easiest way to deal with the problem of hungry people: just feed them!
At this point in the argument, it is time to address major issues in land use management in order to evolve ways of living on the earth which will tend to increase the life energy, order, and efficiency of life, rather than continuing the parade of its decline and death. It will come as a surprise to no one that I put the restoration of the Trees as first in importance under this heading!
But, not only do we need to plant more trees, we need to manage all of the biological cycles in the most efficient way, following the course recommended by nature. We will want to create healthy soil for restoring the earth to fertility, and an important example of what needs to be done is for all of the collection of residential organic waste (the toilet, plus kitchen scraps and yard waste) to be processed and returned to the soil in as short a loop as possible (whenever possible, all recycling should be done on the spot, in situ). All organic waste, from all sources, must be returned to the soil, or otherwise recycled into use. I have never believed that the entire whirlwind of waste processing is simply to throw it away. As Above, So Below: as it is in my garden, so it is on the Earth: if I constantly recycle all organic waste back to my compost piles, active with worms, then I very quickly accumulate an abundance of rich soil which may be used to increase the coverage of my cultivation. But if the soil be depleted and dry, with flooding and soil erosion in other seasons, then the land will rapidly decline back to the desert.
The next in importance would be to establish a Seat of Authority behind the One World Government. My own idea is a Seminary of Candidates, a School of International Studies, which would collectively hold the Seat of Authority (Throne, or Cathedra), and which would endow one of their number as their Spokesperson, who would personally sign their decisions as their agent and advocate.
From here I see a great many lesser matters of process which seem to be flawed, and in need of correction of error. One of the most important ideas is the understanding of personal health in the same light as the health of Mother Earth, or Gaia. In order to ensure the survival of life on earth, we want to encourage all of the natural life processes to continue, and minimize interference from the forces of chaos. In the case of the soil of our earth, it is essential to cultivate her as an organic, living being, rich with life, and not clouded with chemical interference whose long term consequences are generally the opposite of the early experience (just exactly the same pattern as any other drug).
And we should treat our own body with the same reverence and respect, trying to understand how to maximize the integration of our life forces in accordance with the natural process, avoiding the use of synthetic chemicals. As our lands will become fertile again, our bodies will likewise become healthy and fertile again, and life can go on.
