Robert Muller 's Good Morning World

Ending War

My Testament to the UN
-A Contribution to the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations, 1995, Chapter 6

Re: [GMW #738] Moving To Land And Nature From Monstrous Cities

Mr. Muller,

I've been reading your emails for sometime now and from my experience, I think you are on track and quit courageous..

However, this one about cities is totally off base.

I live in New York and when I go to the suburbs I see total, indulgent waste. When I go to rural places, I don't see compassion or a higher state of being. In fact, what I've experienced is the worst things that are in us.

I disagree about your statement about cities. I believe the way it should be looked at is human habitation SHOULD be confined to urban spaces with access, very readily, to nature and the view of the sky.

Our footprint on this earth would be greatly diminished if we developed livable cities. If nature was honored, if the forces within human society were respected in the design of cities and work that they fostered connection to people and the cosmos and not things, it would be a different world.

To assume that cities foster I don't know what, is wrong. Most of my experiences of the wonder of being alive and human have taken place within the cities. This wonder was triggered by access to nature, sunrises and sunsets, and the culture that happens in cities.

Might I remind you that Athens was a city and it gave birth, over 2000 years ago, of the greatest architecture, sculpturel, intellectual persuit and civil life that we have ever known.

To pretend that cities are the root of all evil is false. Cities (and economies) that do not recgonize and nuture the human spirit and the things needed to give birth to it, that do not recognize this amazing earth is the a big part of our problem.

Frankly, most of the people living in urban areas simply cannot move to rural areas for many reasons. Better advice would be to tell people to fight for livable cities with connections to nature, the sky, and honorable work.

running away is not the answer.

I wish you well and peace
rob