…There is a joke—I can’t remember who I heard it from now—but it goes something like this: a man asks his friend how his marriage is going. When the man answers that it’s “sustainable,” his friend replies: “I’m so sorry to hear that! That’s really too bad!” Being in a perpetual state of transition—both as individuals and societies—keeps us awake. It keeps us alive and continually growing—not necessarily physically and materially, but spiritually and culturally. As both ecology and Permaculture teach, the edges are where the most life is. In this liminal space of great challenge and possibility is where we may discover that our life is most worth living and that there are many things about this world that are actually worth preserving.

The Tao of Democracy begins with seemingly innocuous question: “What would intelligence look like if we took wholeness, interconnectedness and co-creativity seriously?” While many of us probably believe in wholeness, interconnectedness, and co-creativity, how good are we at actually practicing them? And how easily do we discard them when they become inconvenient for us?