10 UNITY It’s Everybody or Nobody

10  UNITY It’s Everybody or Nobody

2 ‘‘Either war is obsoleteA This simple statement is more true and relevant than when Buckminster Fuller made it in the 1970s. Either we shift our resources from weaponry to livingry, or we will soon be an extinct species. War became obsolete, just as Bucky predicted, in approximately 1976—when we reached a point of doing so much more with so many fewer resources that there was (and still are) enough resources to support all life on Earth. Unfortunately, most people do not know this, and wars continue to dpstrnvh'vps and cultures.

3 x ‘‘Yet we the people’’ continue to follow the dictatesoFT

4 / few greedy, self-serving individuals who have been granted the mantle of power by a system that passes it down from one elite generation to the next and bypasses true democracy or freedom. These few people in power would have us continue to believe that we live in a universe of great scarcity V on a planet of scarcity where we must battle one another for \ limited resources.

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6They want us to believe in the reality that it’s a ‘‘you or me’’ world rather than waking up to the fact that we live in an abundant Universe on a ‘‘you and me’’ planet. They adhere to the ‘‘divide and conquer’’ policy that kept their ancestors in power and continues to keep them dominating human existence at the expense of a successful life for all. And they want to keep ‘‘we the people’’ isolated from one another because they know ‘‘to keep conquered, keep divided.’’

7In other words, they want us to keep thinking that we are ‘‘rugged individuals’’ able to make it on our own and fighting for our piece of the pie when this is exactly what is leading to the end of human existence. Fear, war, and competition will result in the extinction of the human species, and this reality is much closer than any of us realize. We could become extinct before this book is published. If you’re reading this, we still have time.

8 Buckminster Fuller warned of this reality for the majority of his ‘‘56 Year Experiment’’ from 1927 until his death in 1983, and his final book focuses on that issue. In that diminu- tive 1983 book. Grunck nf Clinnt.s, he writes about the ‘‘Gross Universe Cash Heist,’’ which he calls the GRUNCH. He metaphorically describes the Grunch as ‘‘an army of invisible giants, one thousand miles tall, -with their arms interlinked, girding the planet Earth.’’

9 Although this frightening vision is relegated to science fiction movies, the institution Bucky was describing does exist and is strangling humankind to death. The Grunch are the industrial leaders and politicians who gain enormous profit from war and ‘‘exploitation of our beloved Mother Earth while fifty thousand people die every day of starvation.

10 These are the men (yes, they are mostly men) who wear suits or uniforms with lots of medals to impress us when they are recorded telling us their version of the state of our planet and our individual nations. And what they tell us as hard fact is that there isn’t enough. They warn us that we have to be wary of ‘‘foreigners’’ and those who would take our share of thepie. And they continue tn heist all niir resources (often in the form

11 of cash) and hoard their ill-gotten gain because they believe that having a personal storehouse of resources will somehow protect them from a societal collapse

12 in their antiquated thinking, they believe that having lots of money will make a difference when there is no dean air to breathe, fresh water to drink nr imcontaminated food to eat. They think that a few people can survive a global nuclear war or other man-made catastrophe when nothing could be farther from the truth. Whether we like it or not, we’re all in this together. We have no backup planet, and there are no spaceships waiting to take the chosen few to live somewhere other than Earth.

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14The Grunch is real, and it is the scourge of every sentient being on Earth. It can also be eliminated as can its propensity to create more war so that ‘‘we the people’’ can finally have our heaven on Earth, or as Bucky described, our natural state—‘‘a world that works for everyone.’’ We can choose to cooperate and end war, or we humans will go the way of the dinosaurs—yet another failed experiment on this planet. It’s up to each of us to decide our fate as well as the fate of potential future generations and all sentient beings on our tiny, fragile Spaceship Earth.

15 ‘‘I am a passenger on the Spaceship Earth.’’

16 6.2

17 By Kevin J. Todeschi

18 Guest Commentator

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20As a longtime resource for Edgar Cayce information, I would have to say that my favorite Bucky quote is the one-line in which he states, ‘‘I am a passenger on the Spaceship Earth.’’ Although it can certainly be seen by some as a simple statement, for me it embodies a rich array of possibilities and truths about the nature of humankind and the interconnectedness of the entire human family.

21The quote does not state that I am piloting the vessel, nor does it imply that my seat is in First Class whereas someone else may have been relegated to Coach—I am a passenger, no more important (and no less important) than any other passenger. There is also a deep implication about our connectedness on this journey—although we may not always be clear about our ultimate destination or perhaps even how long we will be able to participate in the ride, what is clear is that we are traveling together. There is a oneness to our collective voyage that is too often overlooked when we choose to focus only upon the importance and value of our individual life’s journey.

22It’s clear that Bucky was aware of the importance of the Whole as well as the importance of each individual piece. Unfortunately at the present time in too many places on our Spaceship Earth, it appears as though we are focusing upon the importance of one of these extremes while disregarding (or even attacking) the other. At the very least this has contributed to personal imbalance, selfishness, self-importance, and neglect, on the one hand, while it has squashed freedom, personal democracy, the capacity for change, and individual liberties on the other.

23 In the West, we take pride in our individual freedoms but too often downplay our need_to_work together as a society, as a country, as collective citizens of the planet. Too often the idea ~seemTtT be, ‘‘I am more important than you.’’ In other places on Spaceship Earth, we often champion what collective society has done to improve the human condition or address human needs but we shy away from individuals who are different, unique, or have a voice apart from the group, society, or country to which we belong. Too often, the idea seems to be, ‘‘If you are different, you don’t belong.’’ Neither of these extremes will work to solve the problems we must address as a human family.

24 The world has changed dramatically in the past couple of generations. In all likelihood, our grandparents never imagined a world in which anything occurring on one side of the globe would so quickly affect the other. We are connected because of food, energy, health, weather, catastrophe—the list goes on and on. To solve the issues facing humankind—issues related to food shortages, water problems, energy costs and availability, etc.—will require all of us to work together for the good of the whole. We will need to understand and work with our interconnection perhaps in ways that we have yet dared to imagine. For though we may be separated by religion, or language, or culture, or distance, or politics, we are all passengers on the Spaceship Earth; we are all travelers along the way.

25 KEVIN J. Todeschi is the Executive Director and CEO of Edgar Cavce’s A.R.E. and Atlantic University. As'Eoth~ student and teacher of the Edgar Cayce material for more IharTthirty yearsThe has lectured on five continents to thousands of individuals. A prolific writer, he is the author of hundreds of articles and more than twenty books, including Edgar Cayce on the Akashic Records-, Dreams, Images and Symbols; and several novels, including The Reincarnation of Clara and The Rest of the Noah Story. More information about the Cayce work is available at EdgarCayce.org and AtlanticUniv.edu.

26 A Buckminster Fuller made this seemingly straight- forward unassuming statement often to remind himself and his audiences where we are and what we are doing. We are passengers, guests on a beautifully designed, sustainable Spaceship we call Earth. If we fulfill our function as ‘‘local information gatherers and problem solvers in support of an eternally regenerative Universe,’’ we might also consider ourselves to be crewmembers on board Spaceship Earth.

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28However, we must also recall another seemingly straightforward unassuming statement Bucky also shared with his audiences when he would remind them,‘‘The most important thing about me is that I am an average man."

29We are all average people traveling as guest passengers on Spaceship Earth, and we would do well to recall those facts on a daily basis. Then, we could consider our actions and ask ourselves if:

30 ° we are well-behaved, polite, respectful passengers;

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32° we believe ourselves to be better or more deserving than other passengers;

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34we are maintaining our vessel so that others and future generations can enjoy its bounty and beauty;we can change our behavior and act in ways that honor and respect both our living Spaceship and our fellow passengers;we are modeling appropriate behavior for our children and future generations.These are all questions that Bucky posed to his fellow passengers in his diminutive 1968 book, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, and to audiences throughout his life. They are not complicated or beyond the reach of any person when we recognize our place here on Earth. We are just people doing the best that we can, but we are also capable of much more.

35Buckminster Fuller devoted fifty-six years of his life to a personal experiment determining and documenting what one individual could achieve that could not be accomplished by any government, corporation, religion, or other institution no matter how large or powerful. The result was a life that is generally acknowledged as well lived and models genuine contribution to all passengers on board Spaceship Earth.

36 And being ‘‘an average man,’’ he often reminds us that each of us can accomplish much more than he was able to achieve. All we need to do is consider what type of passenger/guest we want to be and act from that context.

37 We don’t need to make huge efforts to change the world or even change those people we believe are not behaving properly. We don’t need to try reforming the system, especially in light of the fact that the system is broken beyond repair. And we certainly don’t need to be martyrs sacrificing our well-being for the sake of others.

38 In an abundant world that works for everyone, we simply need to realize:

39 Who and where we are—passengers on Spaceship Earth traveling through the galaxy at about 66,660 miles per hour and spinning at approximately 1,037 to 180 miles per hour (depending on where you are located).What we are here to do—to be local information gatherers and problem solvers.Then, all we need to do is look at our daily actions and see if we are in fact gathering information and solving problems in ways that support sustainable abundance while we zoom through the Universe spinning like a top. Welcome to the E Ticket ride you’ve been on since the day you were born.

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416.3\ ‘‘It is now highly feasible to

42 ? wake care of everybody on Earth
at a higher standard of living
than any have ever known. It
I no longer has to be you or me. .
/Selfishness is unnecessary. War/
is obsolete. It is a matter of /
converting the high technology/
from weaponry to livingry.’’ )

43 By Lynne Twist

44 Guest Commentator

45 Bucky was called the Grandfather of the Future. He was one of my teachers in the latter part of his life. He was such a beautiful being, I just wanted to be around him.

46 I was a volunteer usher in 1976 for one of the eighty ‘‘integrity talks’’ he gave around the world upon turning eighty. Bucky always stood behind a table with models that explained his theory about the construction of the Universe. I didn’t understand any of what he said. And I remember everything else about that moment, a moment of absolute clarity.

47 In a talk about the intellectual integrity of the Universe, he stepped out from behind the table and said, ‘‘Now I’m going to say the most important thing I have ever said or ever will say.’’ I thought, ‘‘I am going to understand this!’’ So I tuned my antennae and sat on the edge of mv seat.

48 Bucky said that humanity had recently passed a very critical threshold. When he said ‘‘recently,’’ he meant sometime during the last fifty or 100 years. He then went on to say this/ threshold changes everything. The threshold is this: humanity! is now on a path of doing so much more with so much less, which is at the heart of human innovation and creativity. And

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50we now clearlyhve-rrr a woflcTwhere there is enough for everyone, everywhere, to have a healthy and productive life. We now live in aworldjE-Sufficient resources, a world of ‘‘enough.’’

51 Bucky said this means we have moved from a ‘‘you or me world’’ (because there’s not enough for both of us—the mindset of scarcity), to the possibility of a ‘‘you and me world,’’ where we both can make it at no one’s expense. That new possibility changes everything. He speculated that perhaps it has always been that way, and it’s clearly true now.

52 In that moment I started crying and had an epiphany, a revelation that was almost more than I could handle. I don’t know if I understood the words he said at that time, but I totally ‘‘got it.’’

53 Bucky said it would take fifty years for humanity to come to terms with this new paradigm because all human institutions are rooted in the belief of a ‘‘you-or-me’’ paradigm—for example, education, governance, the economy, and even religion. He predicted it would take fifty years to rethink human institutions in a context of ‘‘you-and-me,’’ a context of ‘‘enough’’ or sufficiency.

54 I started to see the world in a completely different way. There was enough of everything. All needs were being met by the Universe; maybe not all ‘‘wants,’’ but all ‘‘needs.’’ In other words, the Universe had within it an ethic of sufficiency.

55 It was after that that I started working at The Hunger Project, in which Bucky had an important part of founding. What I saw over twenty years in places like India, Bangladesh, Sub-Saharan Africa, Ethiopia, and Senegal—all places of hunger and poverty—was the ‘‘enoughness’’ of human beings, and that people could cope with and meet their needs. I also saw the beauty of who we are as a human family.

56 This revelation changed everything for me. I became a person living in the context of sufficiency, which I call the ‘‘radical, surprising truth.’’ This understanding is waiting for us to see it when we clear away the mindset of scarcity. What we see is that sufficiency or ‘‘enough’’ in a ‘‘you-tmd-me world’’ is consistent with the capacity to love and care for each other, the taproot of true ‘‘security’’ and community.

57 Out of that whole new understanding of the world grew the Principle of Sufficiency: If you let go of trying to get more of what you don’t really need, which is what we’re trained to want more of, it frees up oceans of energy to pay attention to what you already have. When you nurture and nourish what you do have and begin to make a difference with it, it expands before your very eyes. In other words, what you appreciate appreciates. This is true prosperity.

58 Sufficiency is different than ‘‘abundance,’’ which is the flip side of scarcity in our consumer culture. Its not an amount. Rather, it’s a wav of seeing, a way of being. When you lift the veil, you see exactly what you need. When you build from ‘‘enough,’’ true abundance is yours.

59 You can see the power of appreciation and ‘‘enough’’ operating in your own life—for example, when you appreciate people, they flourish. When you can appreciate the darkness of a difficult period of your life, you can see how you were met by the Universe to give you exactly what you needed to find your own way and become self-sufficient.

60 I wrote 77ze Soul of Money: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Life and founded the Soul of Money Institute to support people in finding power, freedom, and peace in their relationships with money, each other, and themselves.

61 I am forever indebted to Buckminster Fuller for illuminating this path.

62 Lynne Twist is Co-Founder and Board Member of The Pachamama Alliance. She is author of the award-winning book, The Soul of Money, and President and Founder of the Soul of Money Institute. Lynne is also a global activist, fundraiser, speaker, and consultant, who has devoted her life to service in support of eradicating hunger and poverty, empowerment of women and girls, global sustainability and security, human rights, economic integrity and spiritual authenticity. She is also principal consultant to the Nobel Women’s (Peace) Initiative. For more information about her work, please visit www.soulofmoney.org and www.pachamama.org.

63 A Buckminster Fuller's philosophy of surviving and thriving on Earth can be boiled down to the fact that shifting from weaponry to livingry is the solution to all humankind’s current physical problems. It’s just that simple. All we need to do is shift approximately 40% of our global military budget from things that take life (weaponry) to things that support life (livingry—food, education, transportation, housing, etc.).

64 x-ln the 1930s Bucky manually made an inventory of all the [ world’s resources and correctly calculated that we were doing so much more with fewer resources that we would reach a ? point when there would be enough to take care of everybody at a higher standard of living than anyone has known. He also determined that the paradigm shift would take place in 1976.

65 It has now been proven that in 1976 we reached the point where there was enough food on Earth to feed everyone. Still, tens of thousands of people continue to die of starvation every day while a huge percentage of our resources remain focused on weaponry rather than livingry. This is true in every area of xfcuman existence. \

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67We live on an abundant planet, and each of us can have all that we want and need without another person going without. In that plentiful environment, war and the politics of competition are obsolete. We simply need to wake up to the reality of cooperation in which we are all rich beyond our wildest dreams. Then, everyone can focus their time and energy on doing the things that they most love and contribute their talents to supporting others.

68This may sound like some pie-in-the-sky vision of a future that will never happen, but it is the context of an abundant world Bucky proved possible and championed most of his life. It’s also the perspective that each of us must embrace if we are to survive and thrive as individuals and as a species.

69As Bucky so often reminded his audiences, we’re six billion billionaires who have yet to recognize our true nature as billionaires. Were the beneficiaries of the suffering, mistakes, and learning of past generations, and we have it all within our grasp if were willing to reach out, take control of our destiny and shift from competition to cooperation, from division to unity, and from weaponry to livingry.

70This is how we ‘‘take care of everybody on Earth at a higher standard of living than any have ever known.’’ For most people, this appears to be something well beyond the possible. Bucky would, however, continually remind his audiences that when he was young the wealthiest king or businessman did not have refrigeration, wireless communication, telephone service, or the ability to fly anywhere in the world. Thus, many people today live at a higher standard of living than that king or corporate magnate.

71Today we only need look in our pocket or purse to notice our much higher standard of living. Only twenty short years ago nobody had a small, inexpensive cell phone, much less a smart phone that was also a camera, news source, texting tool, and music player. That single innovation led to many of us enjoying a higher standard of living than our parents and their peers could even imagine, and the number of other such innovations is huge.

72Bucky was one of the first (if not the first) people to recognize this enormous yet subtle shift in our environment and ability to care for one another. Now, however, it’s time for each of us to recognize this new paradigm and quickly adapt it into our daily lives. This is not a question of ‘‘if,’’ but rather an issue of ‘‘when.’’ We must act quickly to educate ourselves and our fellow crewmembers aboard our tiny, abundant Spaceship Earth if we are to survive and thrive as evolving beings acting as stewards for all life.

4.

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74‘‘There are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’X people, no matter how offensive or eccentric to society they may seem. You and I didn’t design people. God designed people. What I am trying to do is to discover why God included humans in Universe.’’

75 By Jamal Rahman

76 Guest Commentator

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78With these words, Buckminster Fuller opens a whole new vision for the way we see ourselves and each other. Rather than focusing on the conditioned personality, which may indeed be good or bad, we need to realize that all people are manifestations of the Creator, possessed of divine potential at the core of their being. In Islam we say that humans are essentially fitra, or good, but capable of making bad choices that mask our divine essence. A similar teaching is at the heart of every spiritual tradition.

79Thus, in our dealing with others, it is important to distinguish between behavior and being. A person’s behavior may sometimes be evil, but the person cannot be evil. Each person’s essential being is sacred, filled with the spirit of the divine, whether we call that divinity God, Allah, Adonai, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, or simply The Universe.

80This is not to say we should simply accept someone’s bad behavior and let ourselves be run over. In the words of the sixteenth-century Sufi sage Kabir, ‘‘Do what is right. Protect yourself. Don’t allow yourself to be abused. But, please, do not keep the other person’s being out of your heart.’’ Simply remembering the vital distinction between behavior and essence will influence how we speak and act toward others, and this, the sages say, has the power to shift heaven and earth.

81 In our current political climate of Islamophobia, I am acutely aware of the dangers of not making this distinction. Too easily we label others as ‘‘evil’’ simply because of their religion, their color, or their manner of dress. Often we condemn an entire people because of the actions of a few misguided persons. When we lapse into this unconscious mode, it affects our behavior and produces hurtful consequences

82 We claim a higher moral ground and refuse to dialogue. We justify and rely on the use of force. We delude ourselves away from the truth and avoid the real work. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Russian dissident, sums it up succinctly: ‘‘If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?’’

83 The real work, then, is to focus on our own hearts, gradually learning to let go of our conditioned reactions and connecting to our divine nature. Every saint has a past—a life once lived without being conscious of sacred potential. And every sinner has a future—the possibility of joyful connection between personality and essence.

84 The surest way to achieve that connection is to continuously and compassionately witness our speech and actions as we go about our daily lives, trying as often as possible to act from divine essence rather than from ego. The ego is a necessary instrument of the soul and cannot be destroyed, but it can be transformed by continuous efforts to align it with the divine attributes of the soul. ‘‘Marry your soul,’’ said the thirteenth-century Muslim Sufi sage Rumi. ‘‘That wedding is the Way.’’

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86JAMAL Rahman is co-founder and Muslim Sufi Imam at Interfaith Community Church and adjunct faculty at Seattle University. His books include The Fragrance of Faith, Out Of Darkness Into Light, Getting to the Heart Of Inteifaith and Religion Gone Astray. He travels nationally and internationally with a Rabbi and Christian Pastor in a unique emerging ministry—affectionately known as the Interfaith Amigos—spreading a message of inclusive spirituality. Learn more about Jamal and his work at his websites www. jamalrahman.com and www.interfaithamigos.com.

87 A Buckminster Fuller’s ongoing declaration of non- attachment to judgments—especially regarding other people—is the perspective espoused by many spiritual masters over the years. Thus, some consider him to be an enlightened, spiritual being.

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89Rather than judging Bucky for this and other seemingly controversial statements, it might be better to consider adopting his global perspective and his ability to include all beings in his work. He realized that he could not know which person, animal, or sentient being was more important than another, so he treated everyone equally.

90He often reminded his audiences that although people sometimes believe they are all powerful, we humans are not ‘‘running the show" anywhere on Earth. Because of that fact, Bucky (and many wise individuals) took time to discover why we are here and work to further the concept of a world that works for everyone. That’s what Bucky did, and it provided him with both satisfaction and a life well lived.

91When asked why humans are here on Earth, Bucky was quick to recount that the purpose of humans on Earth was as local information gatherers and problem solvers in support of the integrity of a fully regenerative and sustainable Universe. Still, he constantly wondered why God included us in the scheme of things since we don’t seem to be doing a great job of fulfilling our mission as stewards on Earth.

92 Bucky was clear that his individual mission was to work on behalf of as many sentient beings as possible. When writing about that mission, he said,

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94‘‘The challenge is to make the -world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time, with spontaneous cooperation and without ecological damage or disadvantage of anyone."

95 With that statement he reiterated the fact that inclusion was an enormous part of his work, operating strategy, and life disciplines. He did his best not to judge others and to include as many people as possible in all his endeavors. He understood the power of synergy (a chemical term that he popularized), and he worked to have synergy, integrity, and teamwork in all his initiatives.

96 This was not an easy task at a time when most people believed that people whose appearance, lifestyle, or country were different were dangerous ‘‘foreigners’’ to be avoided and defended against. That same culture of fear and exclusion continues today, but there are an increasing number of people who recognized, as Bucky did, that we are a single interconnected and interdependent species.

97 During the period when Bucky was championing this unity and oneness, most people were building larger walls and borders to protect themselves. Now that many of us are aware of the fact that we are one species surviving on a tiny, fragile lifeboat we call Earth, Bucky’s insights become even more significant.

98 We know that we do not control Universe, Earth, or even the places we call home. Natural conditions (often labeled disasters) demonstrate the true power of the environments we humans have attempted to control and exploit. The singular cosmic question that Bucky was always reminding us of is, ‘‘Are humans a worthwhile to Universe invention?’

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100Each of us has to answer this inquiry for ourselves. Are we doing what needs to be done on behalf of all humankind? Are we including as many others as possible in our efforts and solutions? And are we operating with personal integrity in all aspects of our lives?

101These are some of the questions Bucky continually asked of himself. Following the discipline of remaining true to his personal integrity and mission, he was able to make an enormous contribution to humankind and all life on Earth. He did not judge anyone as not worthy of his support, and all sentient beings benefited greatly from his contributions. Hopefully, many of us can continue on the path of contribution, cooperation, equanimity, integrity, and inclusion that he so elegantly mapped out for us.

102 6*5 ‘‘Think about a stadium of
T seventy-five thousand people.

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104It’s really quite a large crowd, isn’t it? Every day seventy-five thousand people die of starvation despite the fact that we have plenty of food for everyone. Our distribution systems, our nations, all the different kind of separateness blocks the whole thing. Just think of it. Simply because we’re badly organized, we’re not taking care of it.’’

105A This was an astonishing statement when Buckminster Fuller first made it in 1976, and is even more staggering today because little has changed. Our human population has increased and so has the number of people who die of starvation every day even though there still is plenty of food to provide for everyone.

106And the blockage to feeding those people and supporting all life on Earth remains exactly what it was decades ago—a system that supports greed, competition, and war. We live in an era that must be focused on abundance for all, cooperation, and the rapid emergence of a peaceful, sustainable environment for all beings.

107This is not some pie-in-the-sky dream of a visionary idealist. It’s not the ideal of a delusional radical. And it’s not the dictum of a man seeking followers.

108It is the vision of Bucky Fuller, a self-described ‘‘comprehensive, anticipatory design scientist’’ who devoted the majority of his life to a disciplined study of humankind and to finding and sharing as many possibilities for our success as possible. He did this primarily by seeking solutions to problems that he believed would emerge fifty to one hundred years in the future. He also realized that the main challenge facing our species would be to recognize the obsolescence of our fear- and scarcity-based systems and to quickly replace them with unique new structures that have integrity and serve the needs of all people.

109In this simple anecdote regarding food distribution and seeming scarcity, Bucky shared a microcosm of the macrocos- mic issue—the often unnoticed paradigm shift from a global culture in which there was not enough to support all life to a culture of abundance. We now know that we have ample resources to sustainably support all life if we remove blockages including sovereign nations, corporations, religions, and other entities that promote separateness rather than interconnectedness and interdependence.

110We are a single species living on a tiny, fragile Spaceship Earth, and we are fortunate that in 1936 Bucky began his research to determine when we would shift from a culture without adequate resources to support everyone to a society in which there is enough to go around. He determined that date to be 1976, and we now know that his prediction was correct when applied to food.

111Modern science and economics has proven that in 1976 humankind did in fact reach a point of having enough food to support everyone. The individuals who did not seem to ‘‘get the memo’’ about this shift were (and still are) those we usually refer to as ‘‘leaders.’’ They are the CEOs of corporations, religious leaders of all faiths, presidents of countries, and others who benefit from controlling masses of people. Almost all of these ‘‘leaders’’ preach the gospel of ‘‘divide and conquer and to keep conquered, keep divided,’’ and it is that divisive strategy that Bucky contended has kept us from bringing ‘‘a ivorld that works for everyone" to fruition.

112This small group of ‘‘leaders’’ use the media and other propaganda tools to convince average citizens that there is not enough to go around and that only ‘‘leaders’’ have the solutions to all our problems. Unfortunately, their solutions focus on their nation, religion, corporation, etc., being better than any other and thus being entitled to a greater share of what they tell us are limited resources.

113The result of the divisiveness that they foist on ‘‘we the people’’ is our current situation in which tens of thousands die needlessly of starvation every day while we spend billions of dollars every day on a worthless military system. In an abundant Universe and global culture, there is no need to fight for a share of the pie. Since there is now plenty to go around, all we need to do is recognize this fact and begin the process of making sure that each and every human and living being on our tiny Spaceship Earth is fed and fully supported.

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114 ‘‘If humanity does not opt t for integrity we are through completely. It is absolutely touch and go. Each one of us could make the difference.’’By Dr. David Gruder

115 Guest Commentator

116 Integrity, happiness, and profits got a divorce during the twentieth century. The installation in the 1950s of the faulty happiness formula known as ‘‘The American Dream’’ sealed the deal on this divorce.

117 The happiness formula for democracy-centered republics was originally described in the United States Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Its highest value was ensuring that society was structured around the right of its people to the pursuit of happiness. The formula for the pursuit of happiness revolved around citizens and their government navigating a seeming paradox between preserving personal freedom and promoting the common good.

118 The English language doesn’t have a word for the equal attention to freedom and responsibility. I therefore coined one in my six-award-winning book, The New IQ: How Integrity Intelligence Serves You, Your Relationships and Our World. That word is ‘‘Freesponsibility.’’ The U.S. Constitution’s framers understood that living a Freesponsible life was a citizen’s and government’s fundamental act of integrity in order to make the pursuit of happiness possible.

119 Prosperity that grew from this version of the pursuit of happiness was the essence of socially responsible profitability. Napoleon Hill, in his classic book Think and Grow Rich succinctly captured the essence of this. The secret to the pursuit of happiness in the world of business is creating one that ‘‘works with and for the public, yet is still profitable.’’

120 Over my decades of experience as a clinical and organizational psychologist, I have found that there is a universal and timeless formula for both integrity and happiness. This formula contains three elements: authenticity, connection, and impact. Authenticity is being who you truly are. Connection is feeling bonded with others. Impact is having a positive influence on the world around you. I have seen over and over that those who experience sustainable happiness experience all three of these dimensions in their daily life, not just one or two of them.

121 Here’s the secret that ties integrity and happiness together: authenticity is impossible without self-integrity, connection is impossible without relationship integrity, and positive impact is impossible without collective/societal integrity. I refer to this as 3D Happiness and Integrity.

122 This is why happiness and integrity are inseparable. Any attempt to separate them results, by definition, in a faulty happiness formula and integrity deficits. Unfortunately, this is precisely what happened during the 1950s, much to Bucky Fuller’s chagrin I am quite sure.

123 The faulty 1950s version of the American Dream was built around a very different formula than the original version of the American Dream. The 1950s version re-defined the pursuit of happiness as excessive consumerism. It replaced preserving individual freedom with the expectation that we conform to the delusional notion that excessive consumerism is the secret to happiness. And it replaced promoting the common good with the requirement that we overwork in order to make the money we need to succeed at excessive consumerism.

124 Family breadwinners were led to believe that if they loved their spouse, children, the business they worked for, and society in general, they should sacrifice their passion and life balance and do whatever they needed to do to bring home ever-increasing amounts of money. What they were expected to conform to instead was working longer and longer hours in less and less fulfilling jobs in which they were sacrificing more and more of their integrity for a company that was sacrificing social responsibility in the name of profitability. In other words, being a loving person came to mean neglecting one’s authenticity (including self-care), one’s most cherished relationships, and societal integrity.

125 Most workers could not meet the requirements of excessive consumerism. The fake solution that would fill the gap between the money workers made and what they needed in order to live the 1950s version of the American Dream came in the form of credit cards. Ever-increasing amounts of consumer debt not only became acceptable but expected. This added even more stress to workers and their relationships with those they loved. The result: deteriorating health, neglected children, and skyrocketing divorce.

126 This is a brief portrait of how our happiness, health and prosperity, personal integrity, and social responsibility got hijacked. I give a keynote address detailing why this occurred, and also am including this discussion in my next book. The point for this article is that the Bucky Fuller quote that began this article makes it clear that he saw the handwriting on the wall. He knew that our society had developed massive integrity deficits and was doing his best to sound the alarm. Alas, too few heeded his call. Until now.

127 The good news is that even as close as we are today to the brink of disaster, any of us can turn all of this around in our own life. All we need to do is wake up from the spell of the 1950s delusional version of the American Dream by seeing its faulty happiness formula for what it is, and then reorganizing our lives around 3D Happiness and Integrity. The more of us who do this the sooner our society will heal the divorce that occurred between integrity, happiness, and prosperity.

128 What Bucky Fuller said decades ago remains as true today as it was then: ‘‘If humanity does not opt for integrity, we are through completely. It is absolutely touch and go. Each one of us could make the difference.’’ I hope you’ll join me in honoring Bucky—and yourself—by helping to create the Integrity Revolution we so dearly need if we are emerge into society’s next stage of evolution in a good way.

129 Dr. David Gruder is perhaps the world's only clinical and business psychologist specializing in Integrity Intelligence and Business Integrity Management. A favorite guest of countless radio talk show hosts, Radio and Television Interview Reports hailed him as ‘‘America’s Integrity Expert.’’ His most recent book, The New IQ: How Integrity Intelligence Serves You, Your Relationships and Our World,’’ has been embraced across the political and faith spectrums.

130 The founder of Integrity Revolution, LLC, a purpose partner and faculty member with CEO Space, and a Mankind Project Elder, Dr. Gruder speaks, trains, and consults worldwide with leaders in business, government, education, and the helping professions on how to create sustainable happiness, business success, and social change without sacrificing personal integrity or social responsibility. For more information, go to www .IntegrityRevolution.com. You can read more about the hijacking of happiness, prosperin', and integrity, and simple steps you can take to reclaim your power, at the website www .TheNewIQ.com.

131 A The last public statement Buckminster Fuller made was in answer to a question about what—after decades of accolades and achievements—he felt was most important. Without hesitating, he replied, ‘‘personal integrity'.’’

132 He went on to urge that audience (and all of us) to hold on to our personal integrity no matter what and to act on behalf of all life within the context of our personal integrity. He did not tell us exactly what to do. He simply reminded us that personal integrity is key to our success as individuals and as a species.

133 This guidance goes hand in hand with his advice that people not believe anything that he (or anyone else) told them, but instead compare the ideas promoted by others to your personal experience. Then, you can either accept the new idea as something beneficial or reject it as the propaganda of someone seeking personal gain at your expense.

134 Fortunately, we now live in an era in which information is plentiful, and we can decide among information from many sources, including friends and associates. Because of our easy access to so much information, we often find that friends have firsthand knowledge of a situation that is not covered by large news sources. Friends and associates also tend to share ideas that they have thought about and researched, so their ideas often have more personal integrity.

135 Comparing your experience to ideas presented by others is the most viable way to decide if an idea is valid, and the thoughts of people you know personally are usually more reliable than anything that comes through mass media. This is also true of friends on the Internet after you have compared their ideas and information against your personal experience and found these friends to be honest and straightforward even when your ideologies differ. So, trusting personal experience over the ideas of others becomes a model for the integrity that is key to our individual and collective success.

136 It is also critical to each of us making a difference with our lives at this critical moment in time when ‘‘it is absolutely touch and go.’’ When Bucky began advocating this warning in the 1950s, most people in the developed nations believed that we could go on living ‘‘the good life’’ forever and he was labeled a crackpot doomsayer. Today, we each have access to information with which we can prove the truth of his predictions, and many more people agree that we humans must create a sustainable culture if we are to survive and thrive.

137 More and more of us are realizing that it really is ‘‘touch and go,’’ for our species and numerous other life forms on Earth, and we often perceive the problem as so large that we as ‘‘little

138 individuals can t make a difference. Fortunately, Bucky used much of his life as a ‘‘56 Year Experiment’’ to determine and document what one individual can accomplish that cannot be achieved by any government, corporation, religion, or other institution no matter how large or powerful. Many of the findings are recounted throughout this book.

139 More can be found in other material about Buck)', but the essence of his findings is that one person can make a huge difference. In fact, he found (and many of us who have followed in his footsteps agree) that the main thing that causes changes is the individual human being, especially when she joins with a few other like-minded people. As Bucky’s colleague Margaret Mead said, ‘‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.’’

140 As we stand on the brink of what Bucky described as ‘‘Utopia or Oblivion,’’ nothing is more important than individual human beings and their personal integrity. Adhering to that one aspect of human existence is key to each of us making a difference and creating the seeming elusive yet very possible ‘world that works for everyone."

141 Making Our Spaceship Work

142 Chapter Conclusion

143 ‘‘We are on a spaceship; a \ beautiful one. It took billions of years to develop. We’re not going to get another. Now, how do we make this spaceship work?’’

144 A The simple question ‘‘how do we make this space-

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146ship work?’’ was central to Buckminster Fuller’s life and the millions of lives he touched. He continually posed it to his audiences long before ecology, peace, being green, or global abundance were fashionable or headlines were being made about global warming, the depletion of fossil fuel, and other ecolosical issues.

147Most people did not believe him when he repeitedly re minded them that we have enough resources on our planet to take care of everybody—at a higher standard of living than anyone currently enjoys. This may still sound like illogical craziness, but Bucky was a very logical, scientific person who sought tangible proof. That is one reason he spent years discovering and documenting the simple yet profound fact that in 1976 we began doing so much more with so much less resources that we reached a point in time where we could successfully support every person on Earth '

148Wellbefore Earth Day was created in 1970 or computers could support his ecological endeavors, Bucky had inventoried all of Earth’s resources and determined that humankind would sj)on bejxi-seiiQusJ we_did not change our behavior- His initial inventory of global resources was done in the 1930s when he first discovered that any one of a diminishing number of resources including oil, water, and even clean air could trigger our eventual extinction. He also discovered that the most .nonproductive use of resources is the military, and he began to champion the idea of shifting the use of resources from weaponry to livingry.

149Zero attention was paid to Bucky’s ideas when he first began to champion them in the 1930s. Although his calculations and predictions were accurate, most people believed that we lived on a planet of infinite resources where everything was replaceable. Still, Bucky continued on, and he did not stop at simply educating his fellow humans about this issue. Instead of giving up or slowing down, Bucky expanded his vision by creating something he called "comprehensive, anticipatory design science.’’ Going well beyond basic research, Bucky employed comprehensive anticipatory design science to create solutions to problems he believed would occur fifty to one hundred years in the future.

150All of his ideas had merit, but the geodesic dome became the most well known. Today, there are more geodesic domes built on Earth than any other manmade structure, and it sits waiting for the next emergency when it will need to be used. It was not, however, designed as a way to create the unique dome houses, stadiumsand the other commercial venues that dot our landscape. IThe geodesic dome is the most efficient structure for enclosing the most amount of space with /the least amount of material. So, when we are confronted by an emergency (such as a nuclear meltdown or annual hurricane damage) that requires protecting large amounts of land or population, the geodesic dome becomes the structure used to \provide a quick affordable solution. C

151Certainly, we have witnessed emergencies where a readily available dome would have provided a practical solution to a major probleml Had someonelike Bucky been~Tn~eparingTor an ‘‘emergence by emergency’’ event such as the Chernobyl or Fujikyu nuclear disasters, they would have been ready with a huge, lightweight geodesic dome ready to contain the radioactive materi.FbftnnafeTy~some visionary officials are considering using geodesic domes to do what they do best—enclose and protect massive amounts of space.

152Having the vision to look into the future, Bucky made calculations to determine the feasibility of the dome. Decades ago, he proposed creating domes large enough to cover entire cities, and the city of Houston, Texas, is now considering doing just that. Such a gigantic geodesic dome would keep the temperature at a constant 72 degrees without using external fuel. It would never rain or snow inside that contained environment, and all rain falling on the dome would be captured and used. Hurricanes and other natural disasters would not cause massive destruction and fossil fuel energy use would be drastically cut by the dome’s passive heating and cooling.

153All too often, those of us who know of such Fuller solutions wonder why they are not being employed. The geodesic dome is only one of Bucky’s ideas that can help make Spaceship Earth work for us all. The main concept he championed for most of his life was the shift of resources from weaponry to livingry (housing, education, food, transportation, and all the things that support life). Bucky continually reminded his audiences that this change was essential because we have enough resources on board our tiny spaceship to support all life if we stop trying to kill one another.

154Remedies such as these have now been proven correct. WejiQwTtQOwthat shifting less than half of our global military budget to livmgrv will be enough to solve all humankind’s physical problems. This would stop theneedless starvation

155death of fifty thousand people every day., Itwould also lead to the end of global warming, and the beginning of ariePa in which every persorThas high-quality housing, toodTwater, medical care, etc. We would also stop destroying the natural habitat of other species so they can again flourish.

156You and 1 would live like kings and queens of the world and so would everyone else. This is not some pie-in-the-sky dream of a crazed idealist. It is the vision of a comprehensive anticipatory design scientist who devoted most of his life to the welfare of all sentient beings. It is also a mandate that ‘‘we the people’’ must demand be instituted by our governments and other dominant institutions so that we can all survive and thrive on our beautiful Spaceship Earth.

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