Change the World

What a marvellous idea! The tree Of Life so to speak. This kind of image I feel would really get through to people, using a very mathematical method to demonstrate ultimately the two paths of life, I think its a really good way to demonstrate AR. Like the road to freedom and the road to Active Resistance. Also I do love the drawing regardless!

James

Comment by James Emmett on 05/09/2011 at 5:47 pm

Dear Vivienne,
Absolutely fantastic post. You’re living your manifesto by making your message into art itself, a very wise idea i feel.
While reading the tree, I felt with each word i read on the left side of the tree, I felt like there are too many people living within the right hand side, and that are actually quite proud of it.
We need to make these people wake up and realise that the world they are living in isn’t real. It’s all statistics, consumption and (as you put it within the tree) competition.

There’s this metaphysical strive almost within people to compete to be the best at consuming. I personally do not understand that, and that’s exactly why I feel so passionate about cultivating those who are ignorant to the world of Art.

Art changes lives, Art is therapeutic, Art is the retreat when we’re weary of a world that can often lack colour.

Comment by Sam Varnham on 05/09/2011 at 5:58 pm

As I’ve said earlier on the blog, it’s so important to be Active with the Resistance and I truly feel that the consumer train is demonstrated beautifully in your drawing. Unfortunately due to the nature of consumption for many people once they start the increase is exponential and continues to increase at a massive rate, directly proportional to Climate Change. What people essentially need to do now, is kick into reverse gear, get back to the roots of society, kill the roots of the problem and grow into the ‘Gaia’ way of life. Because just as your drawing and the manifesto show, it is vital that as a race we search and strive for

“a possible sustainable and exciting world”.

Brilliant post as always Vivienne, I really enjoyed it!

James

Comment by James Emmett on 06/09/2011 at 7:03 am

‘Today, for the first time in my life, I have had a distinct sympathy with nature. I was lying on the top of a rock to leeward; the wind was high, and everything in motion; the branches of an oak tree were waving and murmuring to the breeze; yellow clouds, deepened by grey at the base, were rapidly floating over the western hills; the whole sky was in motion; the yellow stream below was agitated by the breeze; everything was alive, and myself part of the series of visible impressions; I should have felt pain in tearing a leaf from one of the trees.’ the chemist Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829)

Comment by lynn yaw boling on 17/09/2011 at 1:17 pm

I didn’t really begin to look at the Active Resistance until my son became involved and began to take me through what Vivienne is trying to get across. The family tree, where she portrays the dual roles of Gaia and Science particularly struck a chord with me – it has helped me develop some thoughts and ideas that have been running around in my head for some years now.

Where Vivienne externalises the struggle as Science vs Gaia, I believe that we also have a similar internal struggle. At first, I thought it was Head vs Heart, but it is clear that intellect and emotion has a part to play in both Gaia and Science. I then thought that it might be spirituality vs commerce, and I think there are valid arguments for this distinction. However, it suddenly struck me that the true internal struggle that mirrors Gaia vs Science as depicted in the family tree is Animal vs Human. As Vivienne describes the Science side of the tree, it represents our behaviour as inherited from primitive ancestors – compete for food, mates, shelter etc. In the modern world, this behaviour manifests in the world of commerce: hunting packs and tribes have been replaced by businesses. This is the Animal side of our nature. The Human side of our nature is where art, charity, love, family and community reside.

Since the 1980’s, I believe that we have been veering more and more towards the animal side of our nature –i.e commerce. There are a few examples that can be cited to support this. Consider the student population of the UK. In the 1980’s, they regularly protested about issues and causes that had no direct effect on themselves: Apartheid and the treatment of dockworkers and miners are a couple of instances that come to mind. In recent times, this passion to “right the wrongs” of the world seems to have diminished as our society has become more inwardly focussed on commercial realities – what were the last student protests about? Commercial issues that directly affect the student. There are just as many human rights violations committed in the world today – the treatment of women under the Taliban was in many ways similar to the treatment of black South Africans under apartheid – where were the student protests when this was occurring. This is not a criticism of modern students – student behaviour is determined by the society that produces them and our society is producing young people that are concerned mainly with their personal commercial well being.

If you consider popular music from the early ‘80s alot of it was very similar in theme to that of today. However, there were many bands producing politically motivated music – even songs about figures such as Nelson Mandela, Steven Beko, Martin Luther King. There were many tracks produced about the state of the country, political systems etc. Who can remember the last protest song in the charts?

One final example, I was walking around London a few years ago and passed the Royal Albert Hall, the British Museum and the Albert Memorial. That started me thinking about the legacy left by each generation in terms of architecture. The Royal Albert Hall would not be designed today – the round shape is an inefficient use of the site in terms of maximising the seating capacity of the venue. (and therefore revenue) The British Museum – a free institution so that the Great British Public would have access to great antiquities and historical items – would we build this today? What do we build? Westfield, the Trafford Centre……

What is wrong with increasing focus on commercial realities? In fact, shouldn’t we all be dedicated to increasing our own contribution to society; providing for family and future; increasing our own standard of living? Well, the problem with animal behaviour is that it is always a zero sum game. A zero sum game is one where the rewards are fixed and therefore the total movement is always zero. Football is not a zero sum game, if one team scores four goals, so can the other. Poker is a zero sum game –for one player to win 100 chips, at least one other player must lose 100 chips (net result zero). Commerce is like this – for my “pack” to win business, another “pack” must lose it. For me to win promotion within my “pack”, someone else must lose the promotion. Rewards are fixed and we compete with each other for them. The net result – a small group of highly successful individuals whilst the rest of us make do with what we have been able to achieve – Nietzche’s “ botched and bungled”. The commercial world raises dreams but can only fulfil those of a few.

Why not change the system? It has been tried in the past, but the free market economy, where products are distributed according to the ability to pay, has been the most enduring system simply because it closely mirrors the animalistic competitive behaviour that we have inherited from our primitive ancestors. Other systems have failed either because the majority become bored at the lack of an “increased effort/ increased reward” equation to satisfy their animal or because a small few have managed to exploit their animal and find loopholes to bend the system to their own advantage. I believe it will take a massive technical advancement to facilitate an alternative commercial system.

So, we are increasingly becoming focussed on behaviour that ultimately cannot satisfy the majority of humanity. Worse still, the ability to change that behaviour is limited. What can we do? Well, as Vivienne says, we must look to Gaia. Or, in my internal example, we must develop our human behaviour. Success in the human side of our natures is not a zero sum game – quite the reverse. If I am taken by the beauty of the Mona Lisa I don’t prevent anybody else from also enjoying that beauty. In fact, I will probably encourage everyone I know to go and see it and thereby increase their own human experience. If you consider charity a function of our human side, by definition for me to enjoy success someone else has to directly benefit. (By charity, I mean the wider concept of helping human beings, not putting 10p in the charity box) So, we can all enjoy success on the human side of our natures.

Also, on the commercial side, there is only one measure of success – money. On the human side, I can be an art lover or an art creator. I can be a philanthropist or simply a great father and family man. I can live, love and party in whatever means and manner satisfies my own personal success measures. There are no botched and bungled in this side of our natures – we can all find our own way and our own success.

I think it is naive to think that we can completely ignore either aspect of our inner nature – we have to satisfy the animal and the human. What worries me is that in recent times we seem to be focussing on the animal almost to the exclusion of the human. While many think Vivienne is on a “Save the planet” crusade, I think she is also on a “save yourself” campaign and that many are not seeing this aspect. The question she is asking is “Do you want to be botched and bungled or do you want to join the Active Resistance?” I know which I have chosen.

Comment by Andrew Baker on 16/10/2011 at 6:58 pm

Dear Andrew
It was so interesting to read your thoughts and appreciate your experiences. It seems you understand much of what I’ve been talking about. You mention the human and animal sides of our nature; let me re-write your first paragraph to better express what I mean:
‘I didn’t really begin to look at the Active Resistance until my son became involved and began to take me through what Vivienne is trying to get across. The family tree, where she portrays the possibilities of the union of Gaia and Science particularly struck a chord. Science is neutral but humans have put it to the wrong use. We have used it to satisfy the animal side of our nature instead of the human side’.
Another good entry for the ‘Connections’ competition.

Comment by Vivienne on 26/10/2011 at 2:31 pm

Dear Vivienne

I am very new to much of this and have recently had my eyes opened by someone really quite brilliant. I do understand where you’re coming from, that in the early stages of development civilization a few crucial mistakes were made. Man as a species as it became more intelligent realized that it had power over many other species and instead of using that power responsibly they abused it and greed began to take hold over the masses. Man in this modern age have been conditioned to believe that greed and consumption are the only way to push civilization forward. The only difference it is now every man for himself . The tree of life really does put into perspective where man has fallen shy of its responsibility’s to the world but towards its fellow men. I also feels it shows that their is another way and that we must teach the children now before it is too late so it can become a social norm before it is too late and what we have is lost

This has really opened my eyes

Benjamin

Comment by Benjamin on 22/10/2011 at 11:43 pm

Dear Benjamin
Thank you very much for your response – I think it was really lovely. It is gratifying to receive thoughts from someone that are so sincerely expressed. We’ve decided to include it in our ‘Connections’ competition!

Comment by Vivienne on 26/10/2011 at 2:32 pm

Vivienne,
Thanks for your response – that’s exactly the point I was wrestling with – you may have noticed I skirted around the human value of science because I couldn’t get it straight in my head – your comment has helped me clarify that confusion.

All the ebst,

Andrew

Comment by Andrew Baker on 31/10/2011 at 10:25 am

Dear Ms Westwood

I love this drawing, it is absolutely brilliant and makes total sense to me! I am only 13, but I am really interested in this and would love to live in that better world on the left branch, or at least be able to do something towards making it happen! I wonder if you would let me print out this drawing and take it into school as it ties in with some things that I have been working on in my lessons. This has given me an image to work from and I think it would help me explain what I mean to other people. I do appreciate that it is your work and I do understand if you would not be happy for me to do that. It also gives a whole new meaning to me for quality is better than quantity!! People have become obsessed with material goods and personal wealth at great cost to our world, its all bigger, better, faster, more and I am concerned about how much longer our lives can be lived in the way we are living them (please don’t think that I am wearing sacks, or anything, I have a very nice, comfortable life on a farm), but I am worried about the future, something will have to give and it makes me feel helpless sometimes. My dad talks about the long emergency, when the world starts to run out of oil etc and things go back full circle, not in a depressing way, but he says that he does believe it will happen unless we start to do something now. All the things on the right branch of your tree point in that direction too! I have only just found your blog, but I now try to read it as often as I can.

Thank you

Have a happy week.

George x

Comment by George Jibson on 01/11/2011 at 9:43 pm

Dear George
I was delighted by your letter and how well you understand the situation in the world today. And, of course, the Tree is there to be useful – anybody can do whatever they like with it.
We think that, War and Peace, are crucial opposites on the Tree. Science which exploits Gaia in a bad way produces War and in a good way produces Peace.

Comment by Vivienne on 22/11/2011 at 9:47 pm

Dear Vivienne,

I’m freelance graphic designer in Japan.
I’m a huge fan of you for long years.
Can I paste your drawing on my website to introduce your idea?
Also, I’m making postcards to send people in Tohoku where the huge earthquake hit, and I’d like to make a card using your image to cheer people up in Tohoku if it’s possible. I trust that some Japanese people can’t read English, they can FEEL something from power of art.

Thank you.

Comment by Aya on 16/11/2011 at 10:06 am

Dear Aya
I would be very happy for you to use the image of the Family Tree on your website and for the postcards. It’s a really lovely thought!

Comment by Vivienne on 18/11/2011 at 4:39 pm

Demasiado interesante lo que nos comentas Vivi. Yo soy una combatiente mas de un mundo mejor para todos, me alegra tambien saber que siempre somos mas los que lo deseamos de corazón, menos consumismo menos codicia por parte de algunos sectores que no se concientizan aun.

te envio muchos colores desde mi corazón.

COMPASSION WITH GAIA.

THANKS FOR ALL

Comment by DANIZA on 06/12/2011 at 1:51 am

I love this drawing and feel very strongly about these issues. I wanted to do something practical to make a change, however small, I wanted to actually do something so I started a blog about my everyday struggles with living a green life – re-filling my printer toner cartridge instead of buying a new one, cooking with beans and nuts and other under-used foodstuffs. I really want others to see that they are not alone, and I want to elevate a everyday eco culture. My blog is http://www.aogreen.co.uk if you wanted to have a look that would be great. luv Nadia xxx

Comment by Nadia on 06/07/2013 at 7:19 am