Saturday, May 10, 2008

We may be a little different but we are pretty much same after all...

To me, this is an essential message from Pangea Day. Remember that if genetic code is a template that determines how we look, behave, and hence influence our cultures, cultural differences and any type of conflict arise from them are initiated by tiny differences in genetic codes. It is like we are fighting over a matter that seemingly looks significant because an initial difference in biology tends to be amplified when it comes to social interactions (gene -> mRNA -> protein -> etc all the way to the society). Considering that even identical twins (who have identical genetic codes) can fight over small things in a nasty way, it is not surprising that some people around the world find themselves not really compatible to each other in many aspects.

How to solve this kind of problem? To me the key is open communication. Communication doesn't have to be verbal - this was the whole point of Pangea Day, showing powerful messages through films. Also, biologically, differences in our genes can be reversed (whether it is perceptual or medical) by our conscious effort; one phenomenon that support this scientifically is epigenetics, where environment can influence how our genes are expressed (Larmarkism could be right after all..). Therefore, conflict in the world can definitely be reversed by conscious effort. We just need to come up with how to do this - which goes back to my point about open communication.

Open communication sounds obvious but I think there are two essential elements.
1. Conscious effort to understand others.
2. Effective means of open communication.

So, I would like to invite you to think about these two questions...
1. How to encourage others to make conscious effort to open to different ideas?
2. How to develop ways of effective means of open communication that is independent of language?

Lastly, I would like to you to have a look at this picture.



Fish acquires different skin color due to a difference in a single genetic code. Yet, they can get along with each other in one water pool. Maybe human beings are so smart and can think of a lot of things that bother them. Ironically, that causes all the trouble.

Here are some clips on Pangea Day that I highly recommend to watch. Enjoy!!


Pale Blue Dot
shows that we are just a tiny part of the universe. Doesn't mean we are not important. Means we co-exist with others.



Mutual Recognition highlights the importance of open communication.




Combatants for peace
shows how two opposite armed forces can cooperate to prevent further damage in war.



Elevator Music shows importance of being considerate of others.



More is a 3D animated film that I personally like because of its technicality. I am working on a 3D based short film in my free time which I hope to complete some time this year.




4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi - just to say I was really pleased to see this blog. I think Pangea Day is a great idea, but felt that the energy and connection created is now in danger of being lost. I'm interested in talking about ways in which the idea can be built upon to create lasting changes and connections. I blogged about my own experiences of Pangea day here: http://cased.wordpress.com/2008/05/12/pangea-day-report/

Anonymous said...

hey!

First of all, I'm glad andreally full of Love about Pangea Day.
This world gathering made me feel different in the way that I felt being every body and being no one in the same time.
So thank you every one for being part of this.

I do agree, the energy and connection created during Pangea Day is in danger of being lost. My friends and I are planning to make some short movies here in morocco to go over borders and sensitize people. Meanwhile, we do organise some music gathering around the idea of saving the earth from the climate crisis.
Unfortunately, this is still touching few people... Once people return back to the "normal" life, the system, they are (we are! ) kind of swallowed and absorbed by it.
What shall we do more when people became more materialistic than spiritual?
Anyways, I do believe on this cause and all this are just illusion of obstacles..
All together, we'll make the differece!

nanog said...

to Cased -
Yes Pangea Day is the great idea!
But even more - this idea will give us a lot of ideas! Ideas how to improve this world and live in better environment, ideas how to avoid miscommunication through universal language of emotions and love and many other ideas.
To me that's what this blog about.
Peace.

crackerj83 said...

Hi all, thank you very much for commenting. Pangea Day definitely has highlighted for us that it is possible to effectively communicate issues that universally affect different parts of the globe despite differences in language, culture and philosophy. As Cased and Souki pointed out, our collective task is to move beyond this event and to make this happen in everyday life. As Nanog and I mentioned, we can achieve this by starting to think about how to encourage people to care about what matters to the society and about ways to effectively communicate issues. To me, this can be best achieved by educating children to encourage global thinking. This will be my next post, so please stay tuned..