The Automobile Industry And Environmentalists Must Use Their Sustaining Spirit In The Future
Some of us are called by our spirit to be sustaining spiritual archetypes. The primary purpose of a sustaining spirit is to create partnerships with other human beings, our environment, our society and our world. Partnering is the mode of action for this spiritual archetype. First, let me describe a spiritual archetype. It is a concept. It is an idea expressing your spiritual voice. It identifies, describes and helps you to better understand who and what you truly are.
President Obama signed off on new tough federal regulations for the automobile industry. They will be required to cut greenhouse gas emissions in cars and light trucks to raise fuel-efficiency standards to 35.5 miles per gallon of gas by 2016. This regulation will also reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Interestingly, environmental enthusiasts, auto industry executives, the auto workers and politicians all appear to accept the new regulations.but for different reasons.
The tightening of emissions and the standards of fuel economy is a healthy change for environmentalists after decades of inaction. The policy will also provide the auto-industry with a national standard on efficiency and the workable timeline needed to meet production schedules. The question remains: Can these different, historically opposing special interests work to reach both national and individual goals within these new guidelines after decades of discord? Maybe more importantly, is there any possibility of a production line creating a new and exciting product that appeases both the appetite of big business and the cleanliness of Mother Nature?
What kind of relationship would be most effective to face these concerns when the stakes are so high, the conflicts are serious and the outcome is uncertain? The traditional relationship where one group or person has the power over the other is not an option. The alternative is a partnering relationship where responses to changes are creative and practical. The partnering quality of the sustaining spirit is not about team building. It reaches beneath every economic, political, and social process to call people to learn what it means to be a partner. If the auto industry and environmental sector can learn to listen to the calling of their sustaining spirit, President Obamas initiative will have hope.
There are three characteristics of the sustaining spirit that make partnering possible. The first is intentioning. Intentioning is mindful actions as opposed to unthoughtful behavior. Partnering happens when intentions are the same. Oftentimes, human behavior is unintentional. We look to our past to solve problems rather than towards a creative future where new possibilities can be imagined. When the auto industry fell apart economically, the structure of their social biography shattered, leaving them without direction. Their job security vanished while the auto industry continued to cling to a social biography that no longer made sense. Members of the auto organization should consider using a partnering relationship that includes intentioning if they are going to move forward to create a prosperous future.
Parity is the second quality of partnering expressed by the sustaining spirit. Parity is where partners recognize that each offers to the other something of value which is crucial to the relationship. The auto workers and environmentalists both must recognize that the other has something of value needed to achieve a solution. This is not sameness. The sustaining spirit calls for equivalency but difference.
The third characteristic is learning. Partnering happens in a mutual and reciprocal learning environment. Reciprocal learning between nature, the human mind, modern technology, and all living things is necessary for partnering to succeed. Both groups must commit to learning from each other. Reciprocity is demanded by the sustaining spirit. Will each group be able to create new ideas and go about their daily lives giving strength to each other while receiving it back? The sustaining spirit says, Yes!
Changes in the automobile industry and in the environmental industry depend upon a thorough analysis of conventional and cultural beliefs. It will be essential to give up certain habits to reach goals. This task cannot be forced. Difficult inner work is necessary. The sustaining archetype is all about partnering. All of us can learn to partner with each other and with our earth, environmental and automobile enthusiasts alike, so that each of us and all of us are sustained. Without that, we are lost.
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