Mission Statement - Mountain Sentinel

Mission Statement

It is our mission to help people understand that we create our own reality within the context of our mass reality upon this finite planet. We have the ability to make our lives a heaven or a hell; but in so doing, we must address the issues of our day. We live in a world where the individual has been given supremacy over the collective, where subjective personal desires have been given free rein to use and misuse an objectified world, where we generate material gain through the exploitation of our environment, other living creatures and our fellow man (or woman). This egocentric outlook brought us to our current condition: we inhabit an atomized world of depleted resources, pollution, impoverishment and overpopulation. If we follow this perspective to its logical conclusion, then we will follow numerous other species into extinction as a result of entropy, environmental overshoot and subsequent die-off. However, as our fundamental problem is one of perception, it could be quickly resolved if we would simply change our perspective. That is not to say that we should ignore what is happening in the world around us and escape into some fantasy. We need to understand the problems bred by our egotistical ignorance. We need to be aware of the environmental and social problems bred by our greed and over-consumption, or we will fail to learn the very lessons that will lead us to a more healthy perspective. In the coming years, every one of us will be confronted by these problems at a personal level that will lead us either into dissolution or a growing awareness of our true interrelationship with the world around us. To this end, our mission on this website and in our newsletter is three-fold. 1st, we will try to help people understand the complex problems that are now approaching the crisis point. We need to understand that our various problems, such as energy depletion, global warming, overpopulation and impoverishment, are merely symptoms of our perverted perspective. As such, we cannot solve these problems with technofixes. Furthermore, we will not find a solution to our interwoven crises so long as we cling to a system of material profit based on exploitation. Before we can hope to overcome these trials, we have to change our perspective of insular individuality, competition and exploitation. In other words, we must change our entire way of life and perception of reality. 2nd, we will try to provide examples of people and communities who are attempting to make these changes. We will seek out positive advice on how each of us can make a difference in our own lives, in our families and in our communities. While doing this, we will not gloss over the shortcomings of various efforts nor the forces working against them, but we will not throw up our hands and pronounce the problems as insurmountable. 3rd, we will draw from the latest discoveries of biology, physics and elsewhere to explain how we do create our own reality. We will show that we are not at the mercy of our instincts, genetic determinism, Newtonian mechanics, neo-Darwinian behavior, or any other causal excuses for failing to take responsibility. We are conscious co-creators of our own reality, and it is time for us to become responsible adults or doom ourselves as dysfunctional adolescents. While it is time to recognize that our childhood is over, that does not mean that life is at an end. If we can make a successful transition, then we will begin to embrace the full creativity of being. It is time to begin composing our masterworks, in a community of compassion, quality and commitment.
About the Author

Dale Allen Pfeiffer is a science journalist, a geologist, a novelist, and a noted authority on energy and related geopolitical issues. His 2003 article, Eating Fossil Fuels, has been read by hundreds of thousands throughout the world, and has been proclaimed as one of the most important journalistic pieces of the decade. His follow-up articles, Learning from Experience; North Korea and Cuba, have also been widely read. Recently, information provided by Mr. Pfeiffer has been used in presentation before the US Congress, and the French and Australian Parliaments. His epic novel, Giants in Their Steps, has been praised as a compelling portrayal of human compassion and bravery, and a poignant plea for the protection of our remaining wilderness.

It is our mission to help people understand that we create our own reality within the context of our mass reality upon this finite planet. We have the ability to make our lives a heaven or a hell; but in so doing, we must address the issues of our day. We live in a world where the individual has been given supremacy over the collective, where subjective personal desires have been given free rein to use and misuse an objectified world, where we generate material gain through the exploitation of our environment, other living creatures and our fellow man (or woman). This egocentric outlook brought us to our current condition: we inhabit an atomized world of depleted resources, pollution, impoverishment and overpopulation. If we follow this perspective to its logical conclusion, then we will follow numerous other species into extinction as a result of entropy, environmental overshoot and subsequent die-off.

However, as our fundamental problem is one of perception, it could be quickly resolved if we would simply change our perspective. That is not to say that we should ignore what is happening in the world around us and escape into some fantasy. We need to understand the problems bred by our egotistical ignorance. We need to be aware of the environmental and social problems bred by our greed and over-consumption, or we will fail to learn the very lessons that will lead us to a more healthy perspective. In the coming years, every one of us will be confronted by these problems at a personal level that will lead us either into dissolution or a growing awareness of our true interrelationship with the world around us.

To this end, our mission on this website and in our newsletter is three-fold. 1st, we will try to help people understand the complex problems that are now approaching the crisis point. We need to understand that our various problems, such as energy depletion, global warming, overpopulation and impoverishment, are merely symptoms of our perverted perspective. As such, we cannot solve these problems with technofixes. Furthermore, we will not find a solution to our interwoven crises so long as we cling to a system of material profit based on exploitation. Before we can hope to overcome these trials, we have to change our perspective of insular individuality, competition and exploitation. In other words, we must change our entire way of life and perception of reality.

2nd, we will try to provide examples of people and communities who are attempting to make these changes. We will seek out positive advice on how each of us can make a difference in our own lives, in our families and in our communities. While doing this, we will not gloss over the shortcomings of various efforts nor the forces working against them, but we will not throw up our hands and pronounce the problems as insurmountable.

3rd, we will draw from the latest discoveries of biology, physics and elsewhere to explain how we do create our own reality. We will show that we are not at the mercy of our instincts, genetic determinism, Newtonian mechanics, neo-Darwinian behavior, or any other causal excuses for failing to take responsibility. We are conscious co-creators of our own reality, and it is time for us to become responsible adults or doom ourselves as dysfunctional adolescents.

While it is time to recognize that our childhood is over, that does not mean that life is at an end. If we can make a successful transition, then we will begin to embrace the full creativity of being. It is time to begin composing our masterworks, in a community of compassion, quality and commitment.