Current Issue of the Earth Vision project - Autumn, 2007: An excursion into the future of the nature-human relationship, by spiritual ecologist, Josef Graf.

Woven within the term “real estate” there lives a hint that the nature of the modern land transaction game has little authentic bearing in the real world (read spiritual realm). The notion to assert that it is “real” arises because, in fact, it has no basis in reality. After all, who ever said one could actually buy land, buy and sell portions of the Earth that, in essence, belong to all humanity, as well as all living beings upon the planet! It only takes a few moments of sitting in stillness with the question of private land ownership to realize not only that the concept is a fabrication, but a dilemma entailing an extensive web of karmic bondage - for both its victims (all living beings on the planet) and its perpetrators. Earth Vision holds that to the degree spiritual evolution proceeds on the planet humanity comes to embrace alternate relationships with the land. Further, any acts of profiteering from land transaction entail a transgression against the whole of the living community on a deeply moral level.

Lucid moments of perception - that is, moments when penetrating beyond the material veil - reveal the social and ecological damage that follows on the heels of land profiteering. When, for example, both parents of a family are required to work full time for endless years to sustain adequate shelter, the children of the world suffer. The more that profiteering entails itself with the essentials of life - food, clothing, shelter - the deeper the karmic condition entwines. As well, land allocation rendered on any other basis than what is best for the whole of a given ecosystem can only become an entanglement in that same karmic web.

Recent financial market discord is a symptom that greed-motivated speculation has led to a disturbing malaise in the relationship between the human community and land. The time is upon us to rescind all premise to private land ownership. The game of real estate is a pretense. Land is actually priceless. It cannot be owned any more that can the starlight that radiates on us with its untaintable force. Neither can a nation own land. The purpose of nations and states and provinces has come and gone. At this juncture in time, true nation-hood must comprise eco-zones - or, rather, the world as one nation and its eco-zones as provinces. The Earth Vision project will elucidate this aspect more deeply in a future Current Issue.

The modern house as existential burden

The typical modern North American dwelling has become excessive and unwieldy, and not only unduly impacts the environment, but requires high initial investment, large cash infusions to sustain and furnish, and endless attention to maintain. Consider for a moment, how the modern “home” of several thousand square feet is actually large enough to house 10-16 people, given that one or two hundred square feet is more than enough for an individual. When the time comes around to renew the roofing, or painting, or any of a roster of maintenance tasks, the bills are high. Imagine the tiny maintenance costs of a minimal 200 square foot home? Further, once one owns a large house, the natural consequence that follows is to fill it with “stuff” - the environmentally irresponsible raison d’etre of modern society. Shop ‘til the Earth drops. Fill your big space with stuff, and spend the rest of your days paying it all off (or else exploiting others to do so for you). And so the real estate game continues, the distraction of the masses from a genuine lifestyle, while feeding the cycle of greed that leads to human downfall.

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