If ever there was a time for considered, clear thinking, it is now. With a number of short and long term emergencies in our midst, the human race and the planet are in need of people who can step up and lead. There are a groundswell of folks now doing a lot, but not enough of them in key positions of political power to change the dynamic. As long as huge economies like the United States, China and India remain outside the fold (for whatever reason) and nations like Australia act like simpering lapdogs, then too little will get done to ensure a reasonable future for generations to come.

This is compounded by the fact that we live in an era of confusion about authority and truth. I have written before that the internet has spawned a culture in which everyone is an expert with opinions that are of equal value. This sounds democratic and inclusive but really it's not. People become experts through hard work and years of study and practice, not by merely switching on their computer and typing in an opinion. I can't see how this will change anytime soon, because there seems to be a sufficient mass of the ignorant and the cynical to cause mayhem on a wide scale.

In his sonnet, To a Friend, Matthew Arnold wrote about the playwright Sophocles, "Who saw life steadily and saw it whole". This is my wish for the planet, for the dominant species who have it in their power to soar, or blow the place up. It is a call to be present now, and to be open to the wider picture, a deeper view of life, of what matters most.