Ed Dowding

Category: Being Human

Happiness, Health, and Psychology

The value in being together

I’ve got issues. Anyone who knows me will tell you that. Why? The gist of it is that I’m rather disappointed by humanity’s reluctance to improve upon our collective situation. But recently I’ve had a few realisations which are helping me make peace with this which I’d like to share. They’re important, so I’m going ...

“Somebody thought of it, and someone believed it” – a generation steps forward at London Sustainability Jam

The room is dark. About fifty people sit with silent and energetic expectation. The screen shows a sky full of bright stars. A couple walk arm in arm, and as their faces are lit by the projected starlight, a voice comes through the darkness: “Imagine it’s 2015, and you’re taking an evening stroll down a ...

PoW: Philosophy on Second Life

http://pocket.co/sdtCN

The safety of an abusive relationship

“To break a law which conscience tells you is unjust is, in reality, to express the highest respect for the law. Speaking out against injustice is a profoundly political act. The best people in history put themselves on the line.”

15 Powerful Things Happy People Do Differently

1. Love Vs. Fear. 2. Acceptance Vs. Resistance. 3. Forgiveness Vs. Unforgiveness. 4. Trust Vs. Doubt. 5. Meaning Vs. Ambition. 6. Praising Vs. Criticizing. 7. Challenges Vs. Problems. 8. Selflessness Vs. Selfishness. 9. Abundance Vs. Lack/poverty. 10. Dreaming Big Vs. Being Realistic. 11. Kindness Vs. Cruelty. 12. Gratitude Vs. Ingratitude. 13. Presence/ Engagement Vs. Disengagement. ...

It’s ok to do the right thing.

It’s ok to do the right thing, even if it’s not the most profitable thing. Still shocking news for many, alas

Maslow was so right.

1. Get house2. Get wife3. Change world 

Faults

From a memorial plaque in Bath Abbey today: “His faults were but as transient shades of his many and brilliant virtues.” Please put this on my epitaph, please!

Views are my own

Twitter profiles saying “views are my own” disturb me. It implies at least one of these: You’re prone to parroting shit you don’t believe You work for a tyrant who is uncomfortable with you speaking your mind You’re scared of lawyers Which also implies, therefore, that the rest of what you say is likely to ...

I live in fear / anticipation of this conversation.

And for Rock Hard Cop fans: “I don’t get it.. aliens?”

Leaving behind earthly feelings

It was there that in the purity of the air around me I truly began to unravel the real reason for the change in my mood, and the return to that inner peace which I had lost for such a long time. Indeed, it is a general impression…that on high mountains, where the air is ...

The Most Astounding Fact

via Agamemnon Otero, Dude.

21 hour work week

It just makes a lot of sense, k? via Permaculture Magazine

Breathless with love for life.

The world, my friends, is such a beautiful, beautiful thing. It is an honour to be alive on it, and a delight which today made me breathless with admiration and love. If you have the means (Spotify), please play this track, then read on: Noah And The Whale – Instrumental I There was a near ...

Two more quotes from Forty days of Rain

It takes no great skill to decode the world system today. A tiny percentage of the population is immensely wealthy, some are well off, a lot are just getting by, a lot more are suffering. We call it capitalism, but within it lies buried residual patterns of feudalism and older hierarchies, basic injustices framing the ...

A contract with our children.

99% of what follows is from Fifty Degrees Below by Kim Stanley Robinson. It is a great book, much like all his others. I have only edited it in places to make it easier to read out of context. I think it makes a magnificent start.   If the scientific community were to propose a ...

Euro, systems, design..

Design to an ideology and it will fail. Design for people and it will thrive.

Permaculture principles

It seems this list can bring wisdom and insight to pretty much everything we do. Apart from the more specific ones (like ‘keep water high on the land’, but maybe just try to metaphor these as taoist haikus to trigger bewildering insights.) Relative Location Components placed in a system are viewed relatively, not in isolation. ...

A 10% strike by the 99%?

This is a work in progress. I first wrote it after Copenhagen failed to agree anything, and am in the process of updating and amending for the Occupy movement. Please get in touch if interested. Problem Sigh. Where to begin? Broadly speaking, however.. Most of our critical anatomy was never designed for the world we ...

WeFirst Manifesto – Ten Core Beliefs

An inter-dependent, global community requires an expanded definition of self-interest. The future of profit is purpose. Technology is teaching us to be human again. Consumers want a better world, not just better widgets. Brands must become architects of community. Brands must become day traders in social emotion. The evolution of revolution is contribution. We cannot ...