|
Common Bond & Joining Procedures
A Live Earth GAS Club is for people who feel that
- they are part of the Earth / Nature / Planet
- all things and all beings are interconnected
- all things and beings are worthy of respect
- they would like human society to develop in a sustainable and harmonious manner.
A person can apply to join or be invited.
When a person wants to join, they are asked or are given a copy of the Live Earth Common Bond.
If they feel that way for each part they answer Yes to each.
If they answer Yes to all parts they are welcomed into Live Earth and their local GAS Club.
They are reminded that they can be asked to reflect on or explain any action or attitude in regard to how it express’s their declared basis.
They can be asked this, by any other member(s), just as they are free to ask this of any other member(s).
Common Bond
The common bond is what lies at the heart of community. It is that which joins people together. It is the core principal of the Credit Union movement that Live Earth has borrowed and improved on.
Typically this can be, we all live in the same village or area, we are all an ethnic minority, we are all of the same faith, we all work in the same factory etc. Whilst these are good, their limitation is that they have insides and outsides. Some people are in and others are out. They are ‘minor common bonds’.
The basis of Live Earth is the use of the ‘major’ common bond. This is the planetary common bond. This recognises that all things, plants, animals and people are part of the whole and are interconnected. In other words that we are all commonly bonded with everything else whether we are aware of it or not.
The major common bond contains all the minor common bonds.
By using the major or planetary common bond as a social bond, no inside or outside are created because implicit in the bond is the acceptance of all things and all people.
The beauty of this is that it creates social groupings that as well as honouring all other people also honours all the other animal, vegetable and mineral parts of life. This is profound indeed and opens the way to society based upon harmony and respect.
By recognising that we are part of the whole, each Area Co-op is naturally fully formatted for connectivity and fitting together with other Area Co-ops opening the possibility of an interactive raft of Area Co-ops based in connectedness and sustainability.
The image of the ‘common bond’ is of the axle on which the wheel turns. The wheel needs the axle in order to turn and stay centred.
The Working Function of the Common Bond
The common bond is the thing that attracts a group of people together. It does this simply because the people feel that way for their own reasons and so this resonance is in common, which is why it becomes their common bond. It is simply the expression of natural affinity. Once people come together in this manner the common bond acts to hold them together in a free-standing way.
In the case of the Live Earth Common Bond where the Major or Planetary Common Bond is being used something completely new happens. Instead of defining yourself through what you are not as in the use of geographical, religious, racial or occupational minor common bonds, you define yourself through acknowledging the reality that you are part of the biological and physical whole. This in contrast is inclusive, not simply in human terms but also in terms of all fellow species animal, vegetable and down into the mineral kingdom. This is the fundamental biological and physical reality of life.
The interesting thing about biological and physical reality is that because they are non conceptual or intellectual they have no opposite they simply are, they generate no reaction.
So the Live Earth Common Bond is the biologically honest ground for socially gathering on. When you step onto this ground you are publicly announcing your acceptance that you are part of the whole. You are stepping onto the grounds of social honesty.
When you do this you are stepping out of separation and into connection. Of course we are all connected to everything all the time whether we like it or not. So doing this is simply being honest. When life is based upon honesty rather than delusion it stands every chance of working naturally.
This is why Live Earth is socially transformational. By identifying the real grounds and inviting people onto them it creates an unshakeable foundation upon which genuine, natural and sustainable human life can freely occur.
If we look at our society and its underlying patterns we can see that it is based in separation, separation from each other, separation from nature and indeed separation from ourselves. This is so chronic that we see the rest of nature as a resource for our species.
This obvious delusion is of course why we are in the process of destroying the rest of nature and ourselves in the process. It is simple. If our basis is separation we will destroy without caring, if our basis is connection we will respect and nurture and coexist with our fellow species as what our DNA tells us we are ……. members of the same family, inter related and interdependent.
This then is the wonderful service and function of the Live Earth Common Bond. It simply identifies the real grounds and makes a place and a welcome for all those who instinctively feel like this, to come together and co create new harmonious social patterns that will assist our society and species to move towards a sustainable future.
|
