I like this anti-ideology rant by Paul Hawken at the end of his lecture, “The Long Green,” for the Long Now Foundation. He bemoans how humans have such a hard time seeing and taking into account new, unfamiliar information, especially when older, more familiar things, such as ideologies, are in view.

“During the span of the 20th century, big ideologies were worshipped. They dominated our beliefs of who we were, what was true, what was possible. Ideologies prey on our inner sensibilities. They stalk this earth, clad in a kind of existential armor: capitalism, communism, socialism fought all during the 20th century for control of our minds and it wasn’t pretty. And we were told, we were educated, that salvation would be found in a single system. But of course as psychologists and biologists that’s just complete poppycock. We know that stability and health can only be gained through diversity and not domination.”

Paul Hawken founded an organization called WiserEarth that is worth checking out. Here’s the blurb from their website: “WiserEarth helps the global movement of people and organizations working toward social justice, indigenous rights, and environmental stewardship to connect, collaborate, share knowledge, and build alliances.”