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The following is a response to Bob Nideffer’s comment below on the blog...

“...I found myself wondering if the focus on 1.0 and sustainability was in part a sham.  Was or is it an excuse for you to try and get the world to go back to a more primitive state not so much because we need too and because you believe we won't be able to solve the problems that would allow continued growth, but because your spirit is aligned with a more primitive world, and that spirit is being threatened. Not an accusation just a question.”

Knowing Bob well, and always enjoying his enlightened and authentic contributions, I have called my response...

Shams and Primitive, Threatened Spirits!

The simple answer to Bob’s ‘Threatened Spirit’ part is:  When I was part of Western Society, its Good Life recipe for Success, and the same Society that has delivered ‘The Facts’, my spirit WAS severely threatened!

Over the past decade and more of going through my ‘Anthropocentric reorientation’ I have been liberated and my spirit has grown from strength to strength to the point I feel I can now take on this most extreme One Point Zero Challenge.  One that needs the strongest of strong spirits, not a spirit cowering under severe threat!  The ability to keep my spirit strong under extremely alone and challenging times is a key asset I see my past twelve year ‘training mission’ has been about.

To be honest like all my extreme adventures, in managing the huge risk I have my ‘back pocket’ plan. This one is a by-product of my transformation and one I know like the back of my hand:

If my spirit does start to seriously falter under ‘the onslaught’ I’ll head back to the life I know, and where I know my spirit can flourish again.  In that ‘place’ I know how to live simply yet very richly outside this Society. The same one that is on a serious collision course with Nature, that surely nobody can dispute?

I don’t need ‘that same Society’ to define me, or ‘it’ to give me power, my power comes from my belonging to the antipathy of that Society. My spirit will be continuously nourished as long as I don’t compromise my relationship with Nature. I have to see that ‘it’ is just there for the ‘Arctic’ role ‘it’ plays in providing my extreme adventure. Otherwise the risk of being consumed is too high, and the mission doomed.

Like this first Trumped by Nature step is proving to be, I’m hopeful that I can have a hybrid Nature / Society life that enables my soul to flourish even with the potentially spirit sapping path ahead: Dealing with Society and its conflict with Me and Nature is not going to be easy, by any stretch of the imagination. Once I see my soul not coping, and have tried my absolute best, I’ll move to my ‘back pocket plan’ to avoid the threatened spirit position you describe. But that will be failure, and a decision that I will not take lightly.

Essentially I’m relying on a positive ‘Adventure Vision’ energy rather than a threatened ‘Survival instinct’ sourced energy.  I have experienced both sources of energy many times in my life, and both types will be around to be ‘exploited’. The moment that motive and source of energy seems to have reversed permanently, I’ll be ever alert on being prepared to bail the adventure.

Although this pursuit is so very different to my past adventures, in some ways it is ‘just the same’ as there will be times when I come under enormous threat an have to temporarily move to deep survival mode and use that source of energy. The trick is going to be to rise to the challenges through strong spirit, the right ‘spirit food’, and being open to modifying strategy but without compromising the Vision and its source of the primary energy.

I do realise that in having a ‘not too shabby’ Plan B I have potentially a ‘too easy to bail’ option, but in recognising that I’ll be trying to use that to drive more risk taking on the challenging road ahead.  Having achieved almost all of my ‘other life goals’, One Point Zero work is now what I HAVE to Do! Not for society, nor because my spirit is under threat, but because I have trained for it and it feels truly life enhancing and connecting to my finely tuned spirit.

I have come in from living ‘in the wilderness’, a place in my soul, where I now truly belong. I have no off spring whose spirit I must help protect from Society’s potentially withering onslaught. No other vested interests in the future that require me to be part of The Crowds lies. I have no need for the systems wealth building machinery. I have ‘Just Enough’ and know how to live with ‘Just Enough’. Essentially I have no need to belong at the expense of my authenticity and integrity for some desperately needed ‘favour’. Also being the unofficial ‘World record holder for Romantic dinner’s for One’, I’m as best prepared as I can be for the rejections, attacks and loneliness ahead! Finally my spirit is in peak condition for the daunting yet exciting adventure ahead! It’s time to get on with it!!!

There we go, not sure if that still passes the Sham test, but at least my spirit and mind are publicly exposed!!

Thanks Bob, for this opportunity to share something that I think is very important: I have taken the time to set this out because I’m hoping it helps ‘you’ look for ‘your’ adventure vision, find ‘your’ sources of energy, and strategy for the ‘spirit management’. I hope you also see how in my approach I’m avoiding the abyss path Bob points to:  “...otherwise the challenge seems hopeless and overwhelming.”  Lethargy, fear of the spirit being broken, and all the reasons for the spirit not being up to it are what we have to avoid.

Western Society’s Spirit

Maybe in questioning MY threatened spirit, the ‘Spirit of Society’ was inferred….?

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