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Resolutions from the planet's friendly genius...Have a Bucky New Year!

Buckminster Fuller, one of the most enlightened scientists of our time, was in his early eighties when I stalked him down in Chicago in 1982.  Known then as "the planet's friendly genius" he was in town for a science exhibition at Navy Pier.   I was an apsiring journalist and was able to secure an interview with Mr. Fuller.  We met one Satruday morning met at his suggestion, at the top of the John Hancock Building on Michigan Avenue.  Bucky, as he is known by all who knew and loved him, spent several hours telling me about his life and lecturing me on the future of planet earth.  I took copious notes, which pleased him greatly, and kept him talking.  I felt unworthy of so much of his time, but he said I was an "empty vessel" and that I would be able to spread his ideas throughout the world, later when they would be needed. 

That evening, I had a call from the secretary that Mr. Fuller had forgotten some things he wanted to tell me, and could I come meet with him again.  I went.  I don't remember everythng, but what I do know is that  this "plante's friendly genuis"  hijacked my brain.  He had scared the living daylights out of me at the time about our planet's future.  The responsibility overwhelmed me.  I became depressed, and despite repeated attempts, was never quite up to task of writing about him or his ideas. Nearly twenty years later, on the morning of September 11, 2001, I tore through the attic looking for my notes, because he had predicted that such an attack could be the cataclysmic event that would bring us to the decidiing point.  He predicited it would be the start of the downfall of the United States.  I never found the notes. Ten years later, now nearly finished raising my three daughters, I continue to feel helpless about how to live up to my responsibility to him.  To this day I remain wracked with guilt that I was never able to get his urgent messages to the world. But suddenly this morning there was a new little voice (his?) that says it is not too late. 

So, in the spirit of Buckminster Fuller, here is his ideas for turning us into a "united space planet people":

Choose "livingly" over weaponry.  We have the capability to conquer all of the world's hunger and most of its human suffering in a very short time.  In 1959, Bucky predicted we would accomplish this by 2000.  In 1983 he was much less optimistic, and even frantic that we would miss the opportunity.  All that is required, he said, is that we make the conscious choice to do it.  The resources exist ten-fold and by simply choosing this objective as our primary one, there will be nothing big enough to get in the way of it happening.

Live a life of "conscious evolution". Have faith, always, Bucky said, that you are part of an upwardly evolving species, and that your choices will have an impact on the future of mankind, and you can make that impact a positve one.
Do more with less.  Many of Becky's inventions were about getting maximum use out of minimum materials and resources.  This he applied to his famous car, his "living systems" and of course to his triumphant geodesic dome.  He believed our country was headed for trouble because of our greedy over-use and abuse of the world's limited natural resources. Doing more with less is therefore a resolution for both the individual and for humanity in general.

Understand the power of individual thought and action.  "The future of our planet will be determined by individual choice," Bucky said.  Only the collective will of individuals, and nothing more, will determine the direction of "spaceship earth". There will come a time when we will all "vote" just by thinking about what the direction should be.  So we should start voting with our thoughts and our actions now. 

See America from a global perspective.  Bucky worried that the U.S. would fall.  He compared us to Rome.  America will not be able to integrate with the rest of the world, he said, and will likely disintegrate into small nation states.  This will happen if our fierce national pride and sense of independence interferes with our essential acceptance that we are one "united space planet people".  He predicted that rogue militants from angry oppressed nations would attack us becauif we didn't live up to our job as a good and true leader of the world, a position that would be unofficially conferred upon us when communism fell.  He restated this point a dozen times in a dozen different ways, apparently trying to explode the 23-year old "empty vessel" that was me!

 America under attack?  The disintegration of America?  The very destruction of humanity due to its own squandering and squabbling about the environment?  What was I to do?  When we passed a tattered homeless man holding a sign that read "the world is ending", Bucky called him "a man ahead of his time".  He had a great sense of humor and was ultimately possitive about our future.

Buckminster Fuller said he would never lose faith in a bright future for humanity...I am getting worried.

And finally, this resolution isn't his statement, but mine, upon reflection of how Buckminster Fuller live his life:

Love with all your might.  As his beloved wife lay dying in a coma in July, 1983, Bucky sat at her bedside, holding her hand, awaiting the inevitable end.  His daughter Allegra wrote how a despondent Bucky suddenly exclaimed, "She's squeezing my hand!," and upon speaking those words, had a massive heart attack and passed away soon after, preceding his wife by only hours.

And there was just one more little tip he gave when I asked how he kept up such an amazingly intense schedule at the age of 80 something.  "I can sleep anywhere," he said.  "A fifteen minute nap is a complete restorative once you learn how to do it right."

So here's wishing you some good short naps, a life filled with Bucky style enlightenment, and a hope that at least some of his dreams will be realized soon.


Neighbor Pat