Over these past few days as I've sporadically found the time I've gone to my computer for the sole purpose of browsing the database of entries submitted to the Buckminster Fuller Challenge.  Concepts such as these ignite my own Passions and fill my Heart with hope for the future!  I just love it when I can walk away from my computer feeling recharged!

For me sustainability means Forethought... Fulfillment of needs (first) and desires (second) with consciousness of that fulfillment's true impact and cost.  In a sustainable system every player and every part must be considered in context of the Whole of which it is part.

It is my belief that the present civilization has everything it needs for ALL to live in sustainable abundance.  The appearance of scarcity and lack are not Actuality but a reality based in horrific mismanagement and parasitic mentalities.  It is accepted practice for an individual to seek out the greatest material gain regardless of larger imbalances; regardless of the risk, expense, and short fall to any other organism.  Yet the economy of any organism/organized system is very much the corner stone to the sort of energetic dignity the organism maintains. (Think - root law of Cause and Effect necessitating Awareness of action and energy exchanged; economy is energy exchange; the quality of the harvest reflects the quality of the cultivation.)  An economy of hording and greed propagates a reality of shortage, depletion, and extinction.  An economy of Awareness and sustainability, based on Wholes instead of parts, creates sufficiency, refinement, and renewal.

Thus I feel that in our quest for sustainability, personal and collective economy will require refinement and redirection.  Sustainability is greatly facilitated by eradicating the consumer mentality which values production and consumption above responsibility and true quality of Life.  As our consciousness of Resources increases, so will our sustainable state.

(Note:  I define Resources as the goods and services of both Nature and Humanity.)

So I'm being rather random with this.  A Digg about an unusal iceberg caught my attention early this morning, prompting an impromptu homeschool adventure, hunting the net for awesome iceberg photos.  Some were just too beautiful not to share...

Iceberg shining in the Sun

Isle of the Dead Iceberg

Iceberg in Jade

Iceberg in Blue at Sunset

The seventh Star, which correlates to Liberation, I call Union.  Its letter is Kaph meaning "a curve" and implying an open hand reaching out to grasp... something.  Anything.  Typically above or beyond; some point ahead or forward of where we are now.  It is to stretch out toward Divinity and to grasp another in Brotherhood.  The letter Kaph corresponds to Jupiter.  The planet Jupiter is the Crown of our Awareness and the center from which we expand our relationship with Actuality.  Thus it is also our grasp of circumstances and the broadening of horizons that affords a greater state of comprehension.  Being at the opposite end of the inner Human spectrum from what we saw in Mars, Jupiter's energy is metabolic; it is called on the Tree of Life, Mercy, and is often depicted as a benevolent King, the continual metamorphosis of Consciousness that forever promises our freedom from the Wheels of birth, death, and rebirth.  Not surprisingly in Tarot's Major Arcana Jupiter is assigned to The Wheel of Fortune card, which portrays Effect as the consequence of Cause and tells us that Consciousness of the Wheel and its cyclic whirling not only renews us with fresh potential, but in its turning there is Enlightenment.