By Rosina Newton

(Editor’s Note – Rosina Newton is a regular and valued contributing writer for the Crazy Wisdom Journal. We haven’t typically published futuristic essays, but we have made an exception for this utopian thought piece, and particularly so as we begin to emerge from two years of a worldwide pandemic.)

Dear Ancestors of the 2020’s,

I am a young person studying our history, and I felt inspired to write to you — from your future!

We are learning in our history about your era, and I feel so sad about your plight. We all do, really. How dark and scary those times must have felt for you! I decided to write you a letter (because we can do that now) to let you know how things have turned out.

We know humans have been changing since the beginning of time. In our Learnings, we look at historical moments—the biggest turning points—that helped humans and all of Life to survive to today. One of those turning points in our Land is your era, the 2020’s.

Because of the intense stress of your time, so many changes began to happen. Right where you are right now, things must seem dire, in chaos, and irreversible. But no! The collective evolution actually sped up because of all the hardships humans weathered together then. We call your era the Dark Times, but what happens afterwards we call the New Renaissance! If it hadn't been for all of those extreme stressors converging at the same time, we might not have made it as a society to survive and thrive to today.

In our Thanksgivings many of us include gratitude for our Ancestors. We give thanks for all actions taken throughout history that enabled us to be alive now in our beautiful Earth Home. I hope this helps you have more hope, and understanding of how your actions led to our point in history.

THE NEW RENAISSANCE
The New Renaissance is a really exciting period in history for us to study. We learn that in human history we usually didn’t change unless we experienced drastic suffering that forced us to make changes. That is what you're going through right now. There were several false starts and dead ends in your efforts to resolve all of these simultaneous challenges. The ultimate result was that the most effective solutions won out, helping humanity not only to cope but to heal and eventually thrive, individually and collectively.

Where you are right now is where we mark the very beginning of the burgeoning new culture that grew out of all those emergencies. That’s why, when we got this assignment, I wanted to write to someone in your time. It really was a sea change in human society on so many different levels.

We know the original story of The Hundredth Monkey was fictional, but it’s still a metaphor for what actually happens in our collective consciousness. Simon Sinek’s Law of Diffusion of Innovation explains the idea also: that when a certain number of people in a society adopt a new belief, only then will the belief spread enough so that most people put that belief into practice. People were forced by the extreme circumstances of the Dark Times to create positive changes and new belief systems, and take action based on healthier beliefs.

“There is a tendency to think that what we see in the present moment we will continue to see. We forget how often in this century we have been astonished by the sudden crumbling of institutions, by extraordinary changes in people's thoughts, by unexpected eruptions of rebellion against tyrannies, by the quick collapse of systems of power that seemed invincible.

To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives.

If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory." —Howard Zinn

Between your time and the New Renaissance::

Organic agriculture, permaculture, regenerative agriculture, native habitat restoration, and other Land-healing practices became the mainstream, while toxic, destructive, and extractive Land-use practices fell by the wayside.
Businesses that disrespected their employees – or sold toxic, extractive, or senseless products – either evolved into a more conscious mission and method or simply failed.
An infamous billionaire from your time – I won’t tell you who! – had a spiritual epiphany. For the rest of his life he used his money and power to support solutions that helped reverse the ills. Many people became inspired by this, supporting powerful solutions to our survival.
There was a blossoming of Community Groups, such as Imagination Cafes, citizen groups, book clubs, altruist teams, and more. These communities collaborated, and became forces for positive change.
Education expanded beyond the “school,” including internet classes and what you called podcasts. Wise teachers emerged – from these venues and Community Groups – and became Leaders during The New Renaissance.
Self-care practices became more widespread across all communities. Massage, yoga, Qigong, psychotherapy, nutritional psychiatry, mindfulness meditation, and self-expression through the Arts flourished. Along with other changes, this expansion sparked a health revolution.

There are so many shifts that happened during this time I can only begin to tell you! I’ll just continue by sharing how we live today and some stories of how we got here. Then you can understand how transformative your time really is. I realize that much of what I will describe to you will seem foreign to you, so bear with me.

LEARNING

As I hinted before, the Education Revolution began with a profusion of podcasts, webinars, and community education. Also, learning systems of your time—Montessori, Waldorf, and others—merged with what you called “homeschooling.” This all evolved into what we have today. You could call it our Life School. Our “school”—what we call Learning—is such an ever-present, cyclical experience that it is a little hard to explain to you because it is not really separate from our “work” or “family” or “play” life. It starts when we’re born, at home with our parents. As John Holt says in How Children Learn, “Learning is as natural as breathing.” We are given such freedom to be who we are, that we naturally learn a lot!

Really, Learning starts before we were born! It started with our parents, because they were taught all their lives about what it means to be a parent, and what a young person needs for healthy, strong development into adulthood. All our relationships—as parents, siblings, friends, partners, leaders, and workmates—require skills, of course. We practice these skills throughout life. As we get closer to adulting—what ancestors called “puberty”—we start learning more and more about intimate relationships and childcaring. But all our lives we witness these skills in our adults and practiced childcaring with younger Locals.

In our Life School, people of all ages also learn through hands-on activities directly in their field of interest. Not long after the Pandemic subsided, apprenticeships burgeoned. Young people like me try many different apprenticeships and subjects as our interests evolve. We enter adulthood knowing many life skills we need to succeed.

WORKING

“Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put into every heart.” - Rumi

As you might imagine, the pandemic and The Great Resignation of the early 2020’s had a profound effect on work life. Workplace equity and health became a high priority. Businesses that evolved, survived. For example, restaurants that sold unhealthy food or refused to pay workers a living wage closed their doors. More Local services, entrepreneurs, trades, and material suppliers grew from the ashes. Only enterprises modeled after what you called a “B Corporation” succeeded. The ideals of the original B Corporation continue today in our Work: To have a beneficial impact on workers, community, society, and our environment.

Now days, when we decide we need something, we most often trade or purchase used products. Nothing valuable goes to a “landfill.” You might be surprised to learn—we don’t even have landfills! Our entire “economy” has naturally responded to our need for ethical, ecological products and means of production. Stores don’t look anything like historical stores.

We have entire systems designed to reuse products. We have an intricate but easy marketplace where we find what material products we’re looking for. People enter their Discards or Needs into the system. Most often, another person’s Discard is available to fulfill our Need! Goods are transported to us on the same eco-transport system that carries people.

THE DIVISIONS

We’ve been learning about the systems you lived inside of during your time. In your culture you had distinct differences between school, family, work, and play life. The Divisions, we call them. You see, we’re not confined to a school desk or an office chair for eight hours a day. You were learning and doing work in such difficult environments, not necessarily in areas of your own interest. It is mind-blitzing to me and my learning team to consider so much violence—emotional, spiritual, and even physical—in each Division of your life.

Many of us in our learning group, myself and the instructors included, must take time to process so many feelings when we learn about the brutality throughout our history. There is so much dysfunction in our history that it is hard for us to fathom. That is why we learn deeply about these events in our history, so that we can heal from the collective trauma and so we avoid repeating these painful mistakes.

CONFLICT

Based on many movies we watch from your era and before, you’d probably say our culture is “boring.” It’s funny—we don’t use that word very much at all now days! It’s true we don’t have as much chaos and violence as we learn about from history and see in old movies. But don’t misunderstand me please—we do have conflict. In our time it’s not completely idyllic or utopian. We just handle disagreements so differently than you did. Our goal in conflict is to have a peaceful and healthy, or at least benign, outcome.

First of all, now days seeing a therapist is as common and natural as “going to the gym” was during your time. Mental health is taught throughout our Learnings. It is a comfortable, natural subject—just like dental health. Everybody knows about it and talks about it openly—compared with what we learned about your secrecy, stigma, and suffering around it. We all have a common understanding and a language about our mental health.

Also, we get most of our physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual needs met from birth and throughout our life. Our parents and Locals know us well, and express love and appreciation for us every day. On the flipside, they also catch us when we need a Learning! All of this combined helps us stay balanced and joyful in life, and surely prevents a lot of conflict.

We know from a very young age how to love and care for each other. We learn very early how to appreciate every unique person in our Local and beyond. We know we are all human and we make mistakes. We practice forgiveness. So, when conflicts between people happen, most of us have the skills to resolve them in an amicable way on our own. If we have trouble getting to peace on our own, we know where to go and who to ask for help. It rarely leads to violence in our world.

First, we work on resolution within our family or between families with skills we learned over a lifetime and generations. If the conflict doesn’t resolve completely in our family groups, we have Local counselors and mediators to help us figure out our solutions. If there are conflicts between people in different Locals, then we have Regional counselors, see?

BUILDING

Learning about the practice of Land demolition is another hard one for us. To watch historical videos of trees, soil, habitat, and Life being scraped away to build farmland or new buildings is physically painful to many. Our minds are blitzed to learn about sturdy buildings also being demolished, knowing that more raw materials and Earth resources had to be used to build a new structure.

Now days, whenever an organization, family, or Local needs a building or home, we remodel an existing structure whenever possible. New buildings and remodels are built with recycled materials and energy efficient technology that was developed during the New Renaissance.

You probably wouldn’t recognize the place! We’ve seen old photos of your time, with all the concrete, parking lots, and “shopping malls,” as you called them. Highways and roads everywhere! Once our Ancestors implemented in-town mass transit and inter-regional light rail, many of the roads were no longer used and were abandoned. Whole industries were built around repurposing the pavement materials into new structures, and Locals began planting trees and guilds back then, where the pavement used to be. You may not know what guilds are yet. Rather than just a tree, we plant a whole community of understory plants around the tree too. This becomes the “seed garden” of a new healthy habitat.

IMAGINATION CAFES

“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Albert Einstein

We watch movies and study books our Ancestors created depicting the future. So many are quite dystopian! We often feel confused why so much energy and creativity was channeled into a vision of what you surely don’t want. Some of those visions did happen, unfortunately. We came way too close to other self-destructive visions manifesting. Now days, we understand that our thoughts, words, and imagination have power, and we can put our power towards solutions and beauty.

Imagination Cafes started forming in your lifetime, and we still have them today. This is where Locals get together just for fun, or to brainstorm solutions to our problems. We imagine the most outlandishly beautiful world possible. We picture outcomes that we want. Some of us talk about all of the details. Some of us take these ideas to create art: paintings, sculptures, architectural models; write songs, poems, scripts, diagrams, flow charts, organizational charts - anything! Imagining the best-case scenarios is powerful. This is how we design many efficient and beautiful solutions. We always have great food, drink, and music, and include Thanksgivings for what we have now.

HEALTH

The New Renaissance was really profound in the fields of medicine and agriculture. A great shift happened as our Ancestors learned about the links between soil health, food, and human health. The field of microbiomology emerged around your time, studying the microbiome in our bodies and soil. This was one major breakthrough in healing diseases of both humans and plants.

Starting in your time, research increased logarithmically in many fields: from behavioral medicine, mind-body and herbal medicine to permaculture and regenerative organic agriculture. Scientific, peer-reviewed studies all over the world explored the common materials and methods of folk healers, alternative medicine practitioners, and organic gardeners and farmers. Some natural ways disappeared, while many more were proven beneficial, tripling the remedies available to farmers and patients alike. Our Local farmers and homesteaders have amazingly beneficent, efficient, and productive systems that grow most of our food and herbs. You would be amazed to see our farms today.

The vital precursor to these studies — and to much of the New Renaissance itself — was that university research of all kinds became independent of commercial financial influence. A whole new body of knowledge emerged. In a ripple effect, healing professions became divorced from pharmaceutical industries and agriculture grew away from chemical industries. Medicine shifted its focus to healing core causes, so doctors of all specialties are highly trained in nutrition and microbiomology. The healing team is now a collaboration of doctors with psychotherapists, exercise physiologists, the patients, and their families. Doctors incorporate food, herbs, exercise, mental and environmental health into their prescriptions.

Our hospitals now are oases — serene, artistic centers of healing. Fresh, organic food is served — healing in and of itself. All caregiving staff are trained to provide the highest level of therapeutic communication and environments. The buildings are architecturally inspiring. The interiors, and especially the healing rooms, are full of rich colors, textiles, natural lighting, and custom music for each patient. The grounds are landscaped with the most beautiful natural designs, and every window looks out onto nature. There are walking paths and courtyards. The healing process incorporates body, mind, and soul. It may include the whole family and the Locals. Self-care modalities I mentioned earlier — massage, Tai Chi, etc. — are available to patients, along with reps from every faith. The most advanced healing technologies are available in the hospital to cure and heal.

THE GREAT UNION

“We are strongest when we see the most vulnerable in our society, bear witness to their struggles, and then work to create systems to make it better.” —Stacey Abrams

I’m sure you’re wondering what happened to the Great Divisions. We study this period a lot. First, there were some organizations dedicated to healing. Braver Angels was one and StoryCorp’s One Small Step initiative was another. They taught people how to talk with each other again.

Then there was another ripple effect. Community groups sprang up to continue this work. There were citizen action groups who met to study history and the Constitution together. Groups formed around studying the work of Leaders, past and present: Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Thich Nhat Hanh, Howard Zinn, Grace Lee Boggs, Brené Brown, Ijeoma Oluo, Don Miguel Ruiz, Marshall Rosenberg, Greta Thunberg, Vandana Shiva, Buckminster Fuller.

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” — R. Buckminster Fuller

Eventually the new reality that emerged was so delicious—the new systems and opportunities enabled everyone to prosper so successfully—that the Divisions simply dissolved. New systems of society emerged providing multiple paths to prosperity, and everyone had equitable access to these services. The resulting social evolution was really quite remarkable and rapid.

CLIMATE CRISIS

“When you look at the Earth from the space station, it's absolutely magical. You're not that far away, so you still have a relatively close-up view. But you can see the curvature and you see the atmosphere. It glows in blue. It is absolutely breathtaking the first time you see it. It's the most beautiful scenery you could possibly imagine.

When you're on the Earth, you feel that everything is so vast, everything is endless. You have a hard time understanding how limited we are. Then, when you take a step back and you see the Earth in its entirety, you suddenly understand that we live in an oasis in the cosmos. All around us is nothing, no life, blackness, emptiness, absolutely nothing—apart from this blue ball with everything we need to sustain human life, and life in general, which is absolutely fragile. It makes you want to cherish the Earth and protect it, the more you see it from space.”—Thomas Pesquet, astronaut

You are probably wondering how we managed to get out of the Climate Crisis. Again, the transformation was amazing during your lifetime. Massive action was taken. Leaders worked together, diverting all resources in the wisest, most creative ways to reverse climate change. This was a three-pronged approach called TEL that involved Technology, Education, and Land-use remediation.

First, carbon capture technology was installed in strategic locations around the world. The rollout was planned with magnificent cooperation, employing thousands of people. Phase One was completed within two years! Industries simultaneously reduced carbon emissions; resources and technology were implemented for their success.

Second, climate science education was shared around the world using the most creative teams of scientists, educators, and multimedia artists. Again, thousands were employed, and the resulting actions by Leaders, organizations, and individuals led to the success of the TEL Project.

Third, because of the educational component, Land-use practices were implemented around the world employing the carbon-sequestering power of plants and the soil microbiome. Many governments instituted moratoriums on tree removal and land clearing. Tree planting began in earnest on public and private properties, and all maintenance shifted to organic.

When we first learned about the historical TEL Project—seeing the before-and-after graphs and visual documentation—many of us were overcome with emotion. This is one of the most inspiring points in our history, and many of us refer to this point when we have that feeling of “I can’t.”

COLORS DAY

We celebrate Colors Day every year on the Saturday after the Summer Solstice. Colors Day was originally inspired by the “Humanæ” project of artist Angélica Dass. It’s a festival celebrating the beautiful range of colors among among our peoples and the diversity of our cultures. Every Local group is different, but we all have a variety of modern and cultural music, food, fashion, and other arts.

We have tree-planting events. We have performances of all kinds. Locals and guests of all ages perform multimedia music, dance, comedy, historical drama, and other arts. Some art is created from technology that would be hard to describe to you; I wish you could see it. Some performances celebrate our Ancestors who were the solution-makers: those who used invention, art, philosophy, and all kinds of ways to help us evolve out of the Dark Times, to survive, to be alive today. Individually we often give thanks to the solution-makers every day, but our Colors Day is where we really get together to learn about and celebrate these pioneers in a big way. It is so much fun, and it lasts all day long and into the night!

Thank you for receiving my letter—I hope that you have enjoyed it.

I want share one final message: We are now living in the world our Ancestors imagined, full of such natural beauty that it brings tears to our eyes. We are living in grateful awe of our capacity to be alive together, moving and breathing in this amazing world of abundance. In the words of one of your Leaders: “Live long and prosper!”