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.
Recently President Obama announced new tough federal regulations to cut automobile greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks in order to reduce Americas dependence on foreign oil and raise fuel-efficiency standards to 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016. Amazingly, auto industry officials, environmentalists, union workers and politicians seem to welcome the new change but for different reasons.
After serious disputes for many years over these issues with the government and the auto industry, environmentalists praised the new emissions control and fuel economy standards. On the opposing side, the auto makers feel they now have a single national efficiency standard to follow and a reasonable timeline to meet production schedules. But how can these two distinctive groups who have been historically antagonistic towards each other come together to meet a new complex set of regulations after years of opposition? Can they form an alliance to produce a profitable, new idea of transportation and maintain a clean atmosphere at the same time?
What type of relationship could produce desirable results when the situation is so important, the conflicts are emotional and the outcome so uncertain? The classic relationship where one group or person delegates authority over the other is not an option. The alternative is a partnering relationship where change is creative and practical. The partnering characteristic of the sustaining spirit is not about team building. It extends beyond all economic, political and social processes to invite people to learn what it means to partner. If the auto industry and the environmental organization can learn to listen to the calling of the sustaining spirit, President Obamas initiative will have hope of succeeding.
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. Intentions must be the same so partnering can happen. Too much human behavior is unintentional. We often act out of our past rather than towards an open future where we can imagine new possibilities. When the auto industry fell apart economically, the framework of their social biography disintegrated, leaving them directionless. The security of a lifelong job disappeared. The auto industry continued to cling to a social biography that no longer worked. Members of the auto industry must start using a partnering relationship, which includes intentioning, if they are going to go forward towards 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 avenue needed is learning itself. Partnering is successful only with a mutual and reciprocal learning environment. Reciprocity between nature, modern technology, Mother Earth, and humanity is essential to the success of partnering. The auto industry and environmentalist must learn from both their own and each others mistakes. This awareness towards learning is essential to the sustaining spirit. Will the auto industry and environmentalists accomplish individual goals while helping the other at the same time? The sustaining spirit says, Yes!
Changes in the automobile industry and in the environmental industry will require careful examination of traditional and cultural beliefs. Letting go of certain habits is essential. This task cannot be forced. Difficult inner work is necessary. Every instance of the sustaining archetype is about partnering. We can all learn to partner with each other and with our earth, environmentalists and auto-industry gurus alike, so that each of us and all of us are sustained. Without that, we are lost.