The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight by Thom Hartmann

My oldest son, who has lived with us for the last several years due to the recession of 2000-2001 and The Great Recession we are still reeling from, recently purchased a home and moved out.  We were very happy that he has reached this goal, and also happy to get some space back.  We decided to move several old bookcases out of the hallway, now that we had better places for furniture.  These bookcases were stuffed to overflowing with all sorts of books and video tapes, many of which were no longer worth hanging on to, especially the video tapes.  We are definitely packrats, as most Americans are.

When we sorted out the books, we found nearly an entire shelf of spirituality, self-help and important non-fiction books that we had obviously purchased during the nineties but never read.  I felt really stupid, but realized that I have only recently gained a true awareness of my spiritual nature and my role in helping this world evolve.  Even if I had read most of these books at the time I acquired them, they might not have made an impact, and certainly not spurred me to action at that time.  I understood that now was the time for these books and me.

A week ago, I completed reading The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, published in 1998, and written by Thom Hartmann.  The subtitle is Waking Up to Personal and Global Transformation.  This well-researched and very readable book explains exactly where we were then on our use of fossil fuels and the ongoing depletion of these resources, and clearly spelled out the attitudes, beliefs and mechanisms present in both the US society and all over the world, which will doom us as a species if we continue this massively irresponsible mismanagement of God’s earth (my words and emphasis).

Mr. Hartmann presents an expert treatise on how we got to the situation of that time, what the likely consequences in the near term and the far future would be, and what we needed to do if we wished to have somewhere for our children and their children to live a fruitful life.  His recommendations covered both practical solutions and a return to a more spiritually-centered belief, recognizing that we are stewards of God’s creation, that we are one not only with all other human beings, but also with all living things on this planet, and even with the inanimate parts of our world.  It is all God’s creation, and we are only a part of it, with no dispensation from the Creator to destroy it, but rather a sacred trust to care for it all and use it wisely.  Again, these words are my paraphrasing and interpretation of Mr. Hartmann’s work.

It has been almost thirteen years since this book was first published.  Although some people, perhaps many, have begun to understand, and much movement has begun towards alternate energy sources and more sustainable living practices, I still see our society, our governments and our businesses overwhelmingly sticking their collective heads in the sand.  Too many people in my country still cling to the old idea of living, even after having seen so many of our financial, governmental and social systems fall apart.  I have become convinced that we still need to wake up, all of us, and realize that we can make this life and this place what it should be, truly a heaven on earth, but only if we change our beliefs in our hearts, and only if we then translate those beliefs into positive action in the way we live, the way we do business, and the way we govern.

I strongly recommend that you read this book, or if you read it once before, read it again.  This information is still very relevant to our problems of today, and the solutions proposed have a tremendous amount of truth in them.  I believe we will ultimately do what is required, but we can do it with much less pain and suffering if we get serious now rather than wait until many are gone and those of us who are left are forced to act.

I am now reading The Healing of America by Marianne Williamson.  I will have a report for you soon on that book, but I can already tell you that it is still relevant and tremendously important today, even after a similar period of time.