The operating system is the
thing that controls. It is the hierarchy in the clouds, the invisible tribe,
the pantheon of gods and goddesses. The father of humilities like “mine is not
to reason why, mine is just to do or die” or blind obedience to whatever is “trending”.
It has many devices at its finger tips to persuade us that events are governed
by public opinion, and that we are to blame for the state of the world even if
we are powerless to change it.
Through the ages there have
been recognizable power elites, such as kings, emperors and empires who came,
who saw, who conquered. But they are not the operating system – merely the interests
that learned how to use the system to their
advantage.
The operating system is invisible,
nameless and exploitative. It has no reflective capacity, no feeling or
sentiment. It is not interested in culture or science, because it has no
interest in life.
The operating system is not
to blame for the violence of the ages, it
simply enabled it. Humanity is not to
blame for the violence either – it simply fears the system and creates devices (such
as the bank, the church, the corporation) in an attempt to control it.
In the end, when all life has
been devoured by the insatiable appetite of the operating system, it will die
unconscious of its life and its death. The operating system is the universal will to
power, from volcanic eruptions to social revolutions. If our species continues
to glorify power above life itself we shall ultimately be silenced by it. As long as we worship tools of power such as
money, weapons, and technology, we become one of the system’s devices.
But if we can collectively
use our power to nurture a community that nurtures the health of life within nature we create a beloved community.
The term “Beloved Community”
was one that guided Martin Luther King Jr., in the struggle for civil rights. According
to Religion Online, he wrote that the purpose of the Montgomery bus boycott “is
reconciliation, . . . redemption, the creation of the beloved community.”
Beloved community to me means
being conscious of and working towards the greater good of all by paying
attention to the quality of our relationships. Relationship between ferry workers
and passengers, teachers and students, voters and politicians, homeowners and
the homeless, corporations and consumers.
Beloved community uses power
to support life by welcoming a new neighbour or by heroic rescue missions when
a hiker gets lost on a snowy mountain.
Beloved community is the parental care and guidance of children, care
for aging parents or troubled siblings. Many
of us have experienced the give and take of beloved community and know of its
power. If we want this beautiful
world to survive we must do what we can to re-program the operating system to
nurture a healthy planet.
May the coming year be filled with beloved community.
