Planet Qualia

Book excerpt: Animals participate directly with what they are interested in: on a scale of zero out of ten, both interest and participation levels are usually matched in the middle, both at five out of ten. This is in stark contrast to people, who desire their interest and participation levels to match at a high level. High interest and participation levels have made the human landscape an addictive landscape -- we pay attention only to Big Dopamine. Little Dopamine, on the other hand, is the path to recovery, for ourselves and our planet. We can regain our taste for Little Dopamine by refocusing ourselves upon qualia, instead of matter, and rebalancing our interest and participation levels in the middle. Rebalancing ourselves, through the simple practice of conscious ritualing, will not only free us from our addictions, but it will give us a greater purpose as well: saving our ecosystems. While landscapes are violent and competitive, ecosystems hold all landscapes together, harmoniously, and cooperatively. With ecosystems in mind, rather than landscapes, and qualia in our sights, rather than matter, we can break the Big Dopamine habit and change the human economy. Keeping up with the Joneses will have a different kind of status: not who has the most material goods, but who has the most qualiadelic gifts. Ecosystems are like God, and qualia is like the Holy Spirit which flows into all life.