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Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

Sam Keen on Global Justice
Thursday April 19, 2007

Preface
Two years ago, Sam Keen introduced what some consider a groundbreaking concept for measuring global justice. Maybe your first response to that is something like this: "Measuring global justice?Tht's impossible! We'll see peace and harmony in the Middle East before world leaders come together to agree upon, let alone plan for and achieve even a semblance of global justice!"

If that is your response, well, you have good reasons for being skeptical. I'm not sure there has ever been global justice, or any state of affairs worldwide even remotely like it. Furthermore, if it has not existed before and does not exist now, which we know is the case, what leads Mr. Keen to think it can be brought to pass now, at this not-so-sanguine time in human history?

Let this be your introduction to Sam Keen's ideas, or rather the segue into my summary of key aspects of his ground-breaking ideas about global justice.

A bit of a warning: The following essay is not easy to follow, despite the liberties I took to simplify it. The topic does seem of immense importance. Yes, global justice at first sounds like pie in the sky, but without it humans may be in for a dismal future, given the onset of conditions that exist today that have not prevailed in the history of civilization. These include the advance of potentially catastrophic man-made global warming, international religious terrorism and the proliferation of nuclear weaponry. or these reasons, you may want to make a special effort to comprehend as much as possible of what Sam Keen describes. Doing so might give you the motivation to pursue a further understanding of global justice, what it would entail and how we might pursue more of it.

Finally, let me note that my summary is based on Sam Keen's lecture notes that were at least ten times longer than my condensed summary. Sam Keen kindly sent along an advance copy of the message he planned to deliver at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg, Florida on the evening of April 21, 2007. I will have the good fortune to attend this program, which also includes musician Stephen Longfellow Fiske and wellness entertainer Lori Michaels, all part of a wonderful event called "Speak St. Pete - A Celebration of UN International Days." This particular day in the series is "Earth Day."

Sam Keen is a writer, philosopher and lecturer, among other things. He has taught philosophy and religion and was a contributing editor of Psychology Today for 20 years. Author of a dozen books and co-producer of an award winning PBS documentary, Faces of the Enemy, he was the subject of a 60-minute PBS special hosted by Bill Moyers entitled, "Your Mythic Journey." Sam is visiting St. Petersburg, FL to discuss global healing and global justice in connection with the City's UN Earth Day celebrations. The following is a partial summary of Sam's ideas on this topic. For more, visit http://www.samkeen.com Sam's website.

Introduction
There is little global justice in our increasingly globalized world. Nor is there so much as a theory of global justice. Ideally, nations would understand and act on an obligation to protect the innocent and powerless, punish the guilty, secure basic civil rights for all and work for a fair distribution of wealth. Few if any do so. Quite the contrary. What we see is a chaotic situation marked by orgies of violence, massacres of civilians, ethnic cleansing, genocide and displacement of millions. The international community has largely been a guilty bystander to the slaughter in Bosnia, Rwanda, Chechnya, Iraq, etc., ad nauseum. No institutions have a mandate from the world community or the power to further the cause of justice, which could help to prevent nations from repressing their own citizens and doing violence to their neighbors.

A counter trend, occurring at the same time, is seen in the fact that international commerce and communication technology are forging a single interconnected world -- a global, corporate economic order governed by amoral imperatives of the market. In the quest for ever-greater efficiency and profit, global corporations have become the central organizing force in the post-modern world. They, of course, are structurally incapable of creating justice in the sovereign countries in which they operate.

That is the dilemma -- the moral koan for the 21st century. Like it our not, we are becoming a single world community -- and it's not a pretty community, though it is profitable for some.

We all face an unprecedented challenge -- to create global institutions to deal with political chaos, a tyrannical economic order and ecological degradation. Is there any hope for "liberty and justice for all?"

Reasons for Thinking Global Justice is Possible

The theoretical beginnings of what could grow into a global sense of justice are seen in the Geneva Convention and the recently created International Criminal court.
Theory is a prelude to practice.
The 9/11 attacks and other terrorist actions show we are joined to one another in sickness and in health, and in poverty and abundance. Can we afford not to pursue it?
An understanding of a "new metaphysic," the quantum view of reality, could promote a global justice system.
Information technology and transnational corporations are slowly turning the world into a collection of global villages. These developments might also contribute to a system of global justice, if these power centers get behind it.

A new credo can be formulated toward needed reforms: "We hold these truths to be increasingly obvious that we are all bound together in a global ecological, political and economic commonwealth, and that we will either prosper or decline together." Only by shifting the paradigm through which we view economics, politics and ecology can we hope to achieve greater justice.

It might be helpful to construct a global justice index. With such an index, the advance or decline of justice could be monitored in three interlocking domains -- ecological, political and economic. Varied categories and statistics would be used for a Global Justice Index, which would have to be refined and changed constantly. A logical starting point would be ecological justice. Alas, there are no lobbyists or PACs representing polar bears or monarch butterflies.

Four principles would serve as a foundation for a theory of ecological justice to track the ecological footprint of all nations.

Each living person has the right to an equal share of the natural endowment of the land, water and air that is necessary to sustain life. You shall not steal from your neighbors.
Future persons have the same right as the living to an equal share of the natural endowment. You shall not steal from your children or from the unborn.
Non-human beings have a right to an environment necessary to sustain life. You shall not steal from other sentient inhabitants of the commonwealth.
No persons, nations or species has a right to exceed the carrying capacity of earth. You shall not steal from the future.

As you can imagine, there is much more to this. For more on Sam Keen's mission, visit Sam Keen's homepage (link above).

This summary only hints at the complexity of Sam Keen's comprehensive vision. He acknowledges that the task is mind-boggling and not something that lends itself to early implementation, let alone resolution. Political freedom, economic justice and environmental justice are intertwined and must be addressed as a whole. To quote Keen:

At this moment in American history we face a decision as crucial for our future as was the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The repressed peoples of the world long for the United State to aid them in practicing what we preach - liberty and justice for all. Since 9/11, we have asked, 'Who is this new enemy? How should we respond?' Whether or not Osama and company continue to plague us, the single long range hope for ending the specter of a future ruled by anarchy, terrorism and environmental destruction is the old remedy: Do justice, love mercy and walk humbly on the earth. To those who would object that this is an unrealistic vision, I would reply that the proper name for global justice is not utopia but democracy.

There you have it. A lot to think about while pursuing a healthy lifestyle, aware that not everyone in other parts of the world as well as here has as much opportunity to do so. Count your good fortune and do what seems right for the planet.

Be well and look on the bright side of life, despite everything.

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the MEANING DOMAIN under the skill area of applied wellness. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

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