Keeping pace on the path to progress | Ron Colone – Santa Ynez Valley News

In the aftermath of the atom bomb, having proved that we are already adept at knowing how to destroy ourselves, the question became can we figure out a way to not destroy ourselves?

Maybe it was a result of my early exposure to 60s protest songs, or because I tend to resonate more with the old wisdom than I do the new innovations, but it always seemed to me that despite all the progress and economic development, all the medical and technological advances, the comforts and conveniences of modern living, the improvements and upgrades and enhancements and even taking into account the steady increase in our average life expectancy that we were progressing in the direction of self-destruction, not self-preservation.

We may have gained certain capacities along the way, such as the ability to travel and communicate across greater distances in shorter amounts of time, or to mass produce products, or increase the yields of our hunts and harvests, or shield ourselves against visible and immediate threats to hearth and health and home, but in the process, we introduced new and even more treacherous hazards, in the form of toxic chemicals, harmful radiation and damaging stress which all whittle away at our physical, mental, and emotional well-being, thus raising questions about quantity versus quality of life.

But in light of recent scientific advances such as the portable, inexpensive desalination units which render ocean water drinkable within a matter of minutes, thus making the threat of water scarcity appear just a little less dire, or the recent findings that coral reefs can, with our help or maybe without our hindrance, recover from and adapt to climate change, which is good news for marine life and all the creatures, industries, food chains and beaches that depend on it I find myself feeling a lot more hopeful lately about our progress, and the direction were heading.

Im thinking, maybe we havent been losing ground but instead have been just barely outrunning our problems.

Maybe thats what progress is: get rid of one problem and in the process create another.

Sure, were the ones who built the factories and burned the fossil fuels and blew the soot and noxious fumes out through the smokestacks and into the sky; and were the ones who dumped the waste into the river, and spilled the oil into the sea; the ones who sprayed poison on our fields and food and flowers, and buried batteries and tires and old radios and TVs in our landfills.

And yeah, maybe it did cause cancer, and maybe it did endanger a species or two, but widespread as it may be, the fact is: cancer is no longer the death sentence it once was; and the eagles and falcons and gators and bears and wolves and whales and woodpeckers are back again, so maybe we are making progress.

Of course, progress is a relative term, relative to given points in time. Such as the 1960s were better than the 1930s, the Renaissance period was better than the Medieval period, or the Tang Dynasty was better than the Sui Dynasty. And also relative to different parameters and indices, such as the economy or the environment, or the amount of pain or pleasure we experience.

But in my book, theres no progress if we are not moving toward greater understanding, greater fulfillment, and a richer experience of life and living.

They say that the first step in recovery is admitting you have a problem.

But part of the problem, with all the politics and economics and religion and social dynamics that get in the way, is that we cant seem to agree or get consensus on whats a problem and whats not.

As for whether were outrunning or being overtaken by our problems, remember that:try as you might, you cant run away from yourself.

So, the enlightened persons way of dealing with a problem is to first look in the mirror and realize that the solution and the path to progress may begin with oneself.

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Keeping pace on the path to progress | Ron Colone - Santa Ynez Valley News