A New Kind Of Blowin' In The Wind

Last month I found myself driving up the heady ascent of Topanga Canyon Blvd. I'd been invited to a Thanksgiving Party by a musician friend who has played with icons like Jim Morrison, Ry Cooder, Janis Joplin and Crosby, Stills & Nash in a time when making yourself heard meant just that.

I moved to Southern California three years ago, having lived most of my life in London. Although we speak the same language (almost) the cultural differences sometimes seem wider than the Atlantic between. In my career as a Corporate Communications Producer, I have traveled the globe to help my Fortune 100 masters communicate better with their customers and workforce. Yet no city is quite like LA, where everyone seems to be searching for something - a better life, stardom, wealth, spiritual awareness, a younger physique... Maybe it's because many took so much trouble to uproot and head West that once they reached the ocean, they started questioning whether the journey was worth it.

And so I found myself, a Brit, alongside my American friends giving thanks to 'being alive' in the New World and toasting the night away with spirits and vegan good cheer. My musician pal has an eclectic collection of friends from all walks of life drifting through the many rooms that a Tibetan monk would look natural in. A band is jamming in the living room while in the kitchen I am challenged across the hanging pots and pans about the non-profit Foundation that I work for.

It started with an innocent question regarding the Presidential race: should one vote for a senior or a freshman, old hand or novice? At a party (especially a rock and roll one), a golden rule has always been to avoid talking about politics (argumentative), children (dull) and personal problems (embarrassing). I broke the first rule because politics can chip away some of the veneer that people have spent their lives polishing. For the next two hours, between dancing and much libation, we argued the duty of a citizen to vote and the power of playing the system from within.

What I didn't know was I was in the midst of organic radicals who believed in the collective unconscious to change the course of history (yes that's how they talk). These people weren't going to vote in the upcoming elections because they felt that the protests of the '60s and '70s hadn't worked and the core of the system had stayed the same, despite the many changes in "coating". And yet I've seen first hand evidence to the contrary, although from a business angle rather than a political one.

In the late '80s and early '90s, a group of environmental protestors trying to change corporations realized that the only way to 'play the system' was to change it from within. So they became shareholders. Before long, the term CSR was a buzzword, and today every Fortune 100 has a Corporate Social Responsibility policy. I worked for Shell International for four years as their video communications consultant, even though my affirmative action novelist sister said they were the devil and should be shunned. Like all juggernaut corporations trying to create wealth for shareholders, changes were afoot as pressure mounted from the very people who benefited from a profitable balance sheet. And that's what I realized... Rather than turn your back on the system, why not work from within to affect a change?

I just wasn't sure how to do it until I found Peter Diamandis and the X PRIZE Foundation. There I was in sunny California making documentaries on aliens (Roswell) and samba schools (Rio Carnaval), and wondering how to make a difference from within when I landed the role of Production Director at the X PRIZE Foundation. And what a radical change it has been for me.

Rather than play the system, why not use it to buck the trend? Rather than predicting the future, why not create it?

And this is where I return to the heated but friendly discourse in that Topanga kitchen rising above the rhythm of tribal drums. The accusation was that the Foundation uses 'the system' to create prizes that ultimately benefits 'the system' - a kind of rarified, new boys' network of billionaires creating new frontiers for their businesses. My defense was that entrepreneurs will do this anyway because entrepreneurs always chart new territory. But as part of the X PRIZE Foundation, they create opportunities to benefit humanity because X PRIZES are independent, international and open-sourced.

The X PRIZE is a new twist on an old idea of prize philanthropy and works because both sides win - the sponsors meet their CSR objectives and gain public respect while helping share prices; and humanity sees the grand challenges of our time like oil dependence and healthcare resolved in the very near future. Most of all, we advocate 'Revolution rather than Evolution,' and that's what finally engaged the organic radicals. I was asked by a man, who used to hang out with Dylan, "How many times can a man turn his head, pretending he just doesn't see? The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind." And with a chuckle, he said to me, "It seems the younger generation protests differently. Maybe they'll be more effective by manipulating the system rather than fighting it."

I still failed to change their minds about voting. In a city of sequels, I hope for another opportunity.

Comments

[doesitexplode]

mmm, when you try to change the system from within you'll find that it is much more powerful than you realized, and you will be the one that ends up changed. if you're ok with that, then that's fine, but if you like the way you are without the system (and i mean without as in the opposite of within), i wonder if it's worth the risk.

[realitytrumpsbull]

I suggest that instead of revolution or evolution, the focus be on change. All things change, given enough time, 150 years ago there was almost no electricity, today there are satellites and the Internet. 150 years from now, there will be something different. We may not be here to see it, but change will come.

[charon]

I agree the choices are limited. We get a choice between a more limited Corporatocracy (the liberals) or a less limited Corporatocracy (the conservatives). I feel we have to fight for what we can realistically get at this point and work for further change next.

I admit there is danger in accepting limited change, that too many will feel "Well, we've won now, we can rest." and cease to keep pushing. But I feel that with the righties in power, their influence on the media and government is a greater problem.

Obama or Clinton or any of the Dems are more likely to listen to other points of view than are any of the Repubs. Dreaming of a sudden change of consciousness won't get it done; moving the agenda incrementally is more likely to achieve the goal, as it can educate at each moment.

[Snakeback]

I used to be one of the very "organic radicals" you talk about. I did all that stuff- total vegetarianism, alternative spirituality, seeking the guru, I'm a musician who has done my share of drum circles, etc.

Politics was beneath me, I claimed for exactly the same reasons they do: can't change the system from within, and it's stooping to "their" level to even do so.

However, if you meditate deeply enough, there is no "them." If you are spiritually enlightened, corrupt dictators of Africa the greedy pols of DC, are not "them".

Example: I have a brother I am very close to. He went the other way - business and computer degrees, manager and lead programmer for B2B teams in huge corporations. Voted Bush twice. Believes in tax cuts.

But he ain't heavy - he's my brother - who cares if he votes Republican - he's still my brother. You can't be all about "one love" and have a planet full of "them" that you refuse to recognize.

The other thing is that system will not change by itself, due to the collective unconscious.

And that touches into the spiritual enlightenment again. The "collective unconscious" is bullshit, people, all due respect to Carl Jung.

Either YOU are conscious or YOU are not. There's no "collective" about it. Contrary to the so called "New Thought" paradigm, there is no non-material brain stuff floating around in the ethers waiting to become "conscious".

The minds exist within individuals, and either the individuals are working to enlighten themselves, or they are not. "The crowd" changes only after a few individuals change direction. Big change has always been brought about by single individuals or small groups, not by the masses suddenly having the "collective" unconscious stimulated (however the hell you would even do that).

You want revolutionary? I give you the words of Fidel Castro when asked if he could do the Cuban Revolution over again would he do it different. His answer: yes, he would use fewer people because a smaller group can work more tightly and cause change more effectively.

[Norge]

Change the system from within as you suggest is not of course new. An old friend who worked for shell as a phd research chemist told me the same years ago and he died of lung cancer 3 years ago.

He began smoking about the age of 18 and continued throughout his until 4 years before his death at age 62.

He soul he gave to shell also years ago. Shell gave him a gold watch after 30 years and kept his soul. Perhaps they have since blended it in with the gas.

[rini]

Not voting? After seven years of W?

What is wrong with them?

[geobushono]

...and Leonard Cohen summed it up with;
You sentenced me to twenty years of boredom,
to try to change the system from within.....

[geobushono]

it's like this; you're either part of the solution or part of the problem.
Eldridge Cleaver said *this* before he turned,followed the money, and became part of the problem.
He was correct.