J: The old fisherman took me to the shore, pointed his hands at some distant waves and the shoal. I could not see any fish. But  I pretended  that I could  (the coward that I was). Then on I started watching the waves, learning to see beyond the waves. This helped to map the system, how all the waves, together, tangible and intangible, come together to create what we create.

It is against our programming to think in waves. Unlike fishermen, men on land have come to think in straight lines which leads us to booms and busts rather than waves and cycles. which are but  natural But we are always taken by surprise. The captains could not see beyond the linear,   waves and cycles.

M: Dev's  complaint is, the dialogue brushes past too many issues and leaves everyone of them unexplained

J: Dialogue is for ADULTs. They need no advice. You can at best draw their attention or perhaps provoke them to ask questions. Once this is achieved they need be left to make the rest of the connections. (If there are gaps one can always Google it). There has to be enough space for the adult to find itself and mature.
Now that the context is set and the flood is more than a myth, choice is between building your own ark or a community one. The latter happens only in myths and is beyond our scope.

M: There is no substitute to building a personal one. We need as many arks as possible rather than waiting for another Noah. Each one needs to build an ark for oneself. Without learning to ride the waves, one can not lend a helping hand. That would be catalyzing suicide

J:The pyramids were built when the valley was fertile and the soil supported the community. The floods used to keep the soil fertile. When we were young we celebrated the floods which were a rare event. It was a time for celebrations, taking out the canoes, go frolicking. Now they have built embankments to the river. When the river swells, the currents are stronger digging the bottom of the river further down. The embankments get washed away  but  are strengthened continuously,  further accelerating the death of the river. The forests were replaced by a wide portfolio of crops which more or less acted like natural forests which gave way to the plantations, fertilizers, pesticides and weedicides. Now the soil is dying. Floods when they come spread the pesticides and weedicides all over, further accelerating the rot.

M: The other flood is more difficult to see. The most endangered species is the Homo sapiens and not the others in the list. History tells us that the collapse takes more than 100 years for the full cycle to be completed. When our span of attention is less than 15 years, we fail to see the flooding that takes a century or more.

J: The crisis could be the birth pangs of a new species. Nature is ruthless when it comes to the survival of the fittest

M: One of the participants had this dream of the pied piper and the giant wheel. We get into the giant wheel and the driver decides when we need to get out. The music is so enchanting that we merrily join the flow, the flood. We become the frog soup - drowned in the flood

J: Either we dream of a glorious past or a glorious future. Neither helps, the flood/ crisis is a perennial one , taking place here and now. We pray to our father who art in heaven. Just as we push him up       (push HER  underground) out of our lives we dream of a golden past or a future. This is the problem with stimulus selectivity. We would like to listen to our favourite music and shut out the inconvenient and the unpleasant, out of focus.

M: Are you suggesting that we don’t wait to save the planet but be selfish enough to save our own skin.

J: That may be the best that one can do., appropriate selfishness – Charles Handy
Nature will see that in spite of floods and plagues there will be enough left for the show to continue. One can choose which fork to take. The crowd will always be behind by at least 20 + years behind the lone walker. Nobody is going to build a Lexus, reading the Toyota Way
One can learn only from the people on the edge. The African proverb, a favourite of Al Gore and quoted in The Hot, Flat and Crowded by Fried man, “If you want to go quickly go alone but if you want to go far, go together” may not always help.

M: For Galileo it was much longer. Had he gone with the crowd,  we would'nt have him in the history books. The crowd and the pyramid dwellers took a long long ime to reconcile with his personal vision. One can not always go with the crowd. One has to learn to hunt with the hound as well as run with the hares.

J: What about the Gurus, Best sellers, the secret, the law of attraction, the self improvement industry - NAN

M: There are enough saviours/ pied pipers who promise salvation. The crutches help till you learn to walk. Once you have learnt to walk, it is time to dump the crutches and listen to the guru inside. One cannot see through the other's eyes. We need new eyes to see a new vision NOW to create a desirable future

J: What is that painting of yours ?

M: 'The new eye, window to the self /reality'. I have attempted to map, create a visual of what we have been discussing. Perhaps one could meditate on it for some time. But we were talking about a learning engine.

M: The Ark is the learning engine which continually outperforms, beyond booms and busts, floods, feasts/festivals