On putting one's beliefs to the test.

I have read about half way through CriticalPath and the number of challenges I have been faced with has grown in direct proportion to the number of new ways of thinking Buckminster Fuller has presented to me.

One of the greatest realisations has been in relation to the habitual nature of up to this moment human history. The notion that history repeats itself is oft quoted, by me, but I now realise that the repetition is due to our animalistic tendency to follow the well trodden paths of our ancestors. This strategy has, of course, many benefits. One of which is that we assume the course to be safe, by virtue of its' long use and the fact that our ancestors survived long enough through its' use to produce us.

What Fuller has allowed me to understand is the repetition of history, both humanity's and my own, occurs because we fail to modify the path in response to our current situation. That the path served our ancestors well is not to be accepted at face value. Who can say what personal and species wide insights and achievements have been bypassed through walking the safe route?

So the question is asked : Which is the best path for me to serve humanity and thus myself?

Critical Path

A dear friend has lent me a book which has so many lightbulb moments you could see me from space, obviously only when my side of the earth was non-solar facing....

Anyways, this book is R. Buckminster Fuller's wonderful 1980 classic, Critical Path.
Every chapter is an intellectual banquet of ideas, and if you love stuffing your metaphysical face then come feast on this!

http://amzn.to/11h84

I'll be discussing my reactions and thoughts to the book over the next few posts. Right now I'm too agog!

What does it mean?

The blog's name comes from a little fantasy scenario I've often considered....
Non-Earth lifeforms meet us (humans) and ask  how we power our civilizations......
Yep, we burn stuff.
Embarrassing isn't it! It's so low tech but lacking in ingenuity.

Unlike the following:

http://bit.ly/nb0iZM

http://bit.ly/o6P8te

http://bit.ly/aqdvfM

http://bit.ly/cZsjo5