HUMAN ADVANCEMENT

for David C. Korten

         What would it mean for humans to advance
         beyond whatever progress we have made
         through history to dispel the trance
         of recklessness we always have displayed?

         So long we’ve striven for preeminence
         through dominance and exploitative greed,
         the wreckage of our history is immense—
         Earth urges us to find another creed:

         a kinder, gentler, true philosophy,
         communitarian in principle,
         designed to serve the whole with charity
         and not exalt the individual.

              An earth community, serene and whole,
              appears to be our evolution’s goal.

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