Limits - Intertwingled: Information Changes Everything - page 119

that creates parks instead of dumps, or even monitoring systems that allow nature to thrive in our cities,
neighborhoods, lawns and homes. An industry that is not just “sustainable,” but enhances the world. clx
A decade later, not only are we not there yet, but we may be traveling in the opposite direction.
Are the espoused values of tricksters clouding our vision? What are the real assumptions, be-
liefs, and values of Silicon Valley? What is the theory of the world behind self-driving cars,
wearable devices, ingestible sensors, clones, drones, and the Singularity? Of course, we
shouldn't be too hard on the technologists, since we won't even have a future unless we invent
ourselves out of the box.
The root of our problem is on the opposite coast. Our federal government is corrupt and riddled
with tricksters who are neither wise nor noble. Until we rid ourselves of this pollution, and un-
less we learn to design systems of governance that can't be corrupted by those who score high
on the sociopath scale, we will not find the way. Our daughter surprised us a few years back by
stating as a matter of fact “Of course civilization will collapse soon. I only hope it doesn't hap-
pen while I'm still around.” Is this the legacy we bequeath to our children, or can we imagine
and invent a world of better tomorrows?
Liminality is the quality of ambiguity or disorientation that occurs during periods of transition.
It's the ugly duckling stage of life, the “in between” in a rite of passage, and the barely percept-
ible threshold in a change of mind. At a societal level, the dissolution of order and the loss of tra-
ditions and institutions during liminal times make us vulnerable to the trickster. In the hunt for
a charismatic leader to save us, it's easy to lose ourselves. We must be vigilant. We must nurture
self-awareness while seeking answers outside our model of the system. We shouldn't rush, but
there isn't much time. We can't keep up the pace. Our energy use is unsustainable. Our capacity
for change has limits. This era will end. Our ways of being and believing will shift. Liminality is
not the goal.
It's time to reveal the hero of our story is not the trickster but the tree. A clever mind delivers a
quick fix, but the road to eternity is a garden of branching paths. We've been living in relation-
ship with trees since time immemorial. Trees are invaluable sources of food, shelter, medicine,
tools, fire, and wisdom. In ancient myth, the roots, trunk, and canopy of the World Tree connec-
ted the earth to the heavens and the underworld. In Buddhist legend, the Buddha achieved en-
lightenment under the heart-shaped leaves of the Bodhi Tree. Adam and Eve were banished
from the Tree of Life after being tricked into eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and
Evil. As Thich Nhat Hanh tells us, trees are part of our perception. When we read “I am the Lor-
ax. I speak for the trees,” our minds mingle with the ideas and words of the author in a cloud or
on a sheet of paper. Trees are ancient symbols in our collective unconscious. The tree is the ar-
chetype of interbeing.
All my life, animals have wandered into my world. When we lived in England, we had a tiny
backyard surrounded by a wooden fence. One Sunday, I watched a tortoise walk under the gate
and into our garden. We adopted him. My sister named him Batman. We also discovered a
hedgehog who chose to hibernate in the wardrobe where we kept our tools. My brother named
him King Henry VIII. For a time, we believed our milkman was a thief, until we saw the crows
stealing our milk. And in Michigan, in recent years, a fox family moved in next door. My wife,
our daughters, and I love to watch the mama and her spirited children play in the grass in the