A preview of the unpublished book A CIVILIZATION WITHOUT A VISION WILL PERISH: AN INDEPENDENT SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH by David Willis
LESSONS LEARNED BY THE AUTHOR (Part 15)
Key requirements
Ian Chambers and John Humble in Developing A Plan for the Planet: A Business Plan for Sustainable Living, published in 2011, continue with: “To build this plan, there are a number of key requirements:
An understanding of the global challenges and solutions
An understanding of the interconnectivity of the challenges – and both the threats and the opportunities that these interconnectivities provide
An understanding of the key global management practices which can be used to develop and successfully implement a plan of this scope and scale
And finally the involvement, cooperation, commitment and sense of urgency and drive from all stakeholders – international and national governments, business and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), communities and every individual in the community – to drive forward the necessary changes required to deliver our Plan for the Planet and build a sustainable world.”
The five key themes that run through this book
“We are greatly assisted by an understanding of the five key themes that run through this book: Interconnectivity; The stakes are high; A focus on business; Urgency; ‘Together we can’. You are invited to visit the Plan-for-the-Planet.com website where you can download the Plan for the Planet Templates to adapt to your own organization, business community and household, keep up to date with developments and access the management effectiveness checklists. These are all located at: www.plan-for-the-planet.com.” The chapter A Sustainable Civilization summarizes this book and other plans for reaching our goal of creating a sustainable civilization.
My reason for writing this book
Dr Bronowski was a mathematician who was asked to measure the brain size of of the skull of early man. This led to his interest in how man has progressed and created today’s civilization as recorded in The Ascent of Man. There can be valuable cross pollination between disciplines in our over-specialized world. My life transforming experiences led me to review how I have been living my life. This in turn led me to educate myself in new areas, leading me to the same conclusion as reached by Albert Schweitzer before the first world war – that our civilization was in decline and had only a limited life unless it changes its ways. This led to my independent search for the truth and the preparation of a strategic plan for the rest of my life. I offer this manuscript as a starting point for others who may wish to conduct their own independent search for the truth.
My resolutions
Each chapter of the book contributes details of how I arrived at my resolutions about how I will live the rest of my life to fulfill my goal of leaving the world a better place.
My first four resolutions
To no longer be a passive bystander indifferent to the sufferings of others. Indifference is indeed one of the greatest evils that one human can bestow on another. Jesus warned us about the dangers of indifference in his parable of the Good Samaritan.
To judge people, corporations and nations by their deeds and not by their words. For too long I have been fobbed off by people who say one thing but whose hidden agenda is entirely different.
To conduct my own independent search for the truth. Our leaders have become masters of the half-truth or not giving voice to alternative views. The only way to counter this problem is to seek out the real truth that is readily available from a variety of sources.
To be very cautious about those in whom I place my trust. I can manage my life perfectly well dealing only with those who have built up a good, trustworthy reputation over many years.