Looking Back to our Future Home

"PARADISE" is from an ancient Persian word for "garden" or "park". It differs from "jungle" or "forest" in that it implies human intervention in the natural order. We can beautify that order, make it healthier and protect it - or we can make it barren and ugly by exploiting it and each other. "Paradise" does not mean "heaven" here. That is generally assumed to be an other-worldly state where souls are supposed to go after having complied with the tenets of some religious or other organisation - unless they are relegated to hell or purgatory. Renewing Paradise is turning the earth into a garden planet and living our lives here, and possibly elsewhere in this universe, fully, harmoniously and creatively. This might seem naive or escapist at a time when we seem to be creating hell on earth for ourselves in various ways - widening disparities between rich and poor, spreading hatred, over-population, ecological and economical collapse, nuclear warfare. This website shows that what seem to be symptoms of disintegration, decay, and impending doom could also be precursors of a time of harmony and a flourishing of the human spirit in a setting of natural abundance. It depends on whether we realize the real potential of our present situation, or remain trapped in prejudices and programs inherited from the past.

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Lessons from the early Industrial Revolution

Europe was squalid, superstitious and filthy in the 17^th century - hence regularly racked by disease and exploited into misery by ecclesiastical and monarchical powers. When it ended, some people in North England disliked the monarchy and had little faith in religion. They did, however, have much faith in the powers reason and science to better the human condition, free enterprize and competition, democracy and justice. They also had many wonderful new ideas for the uses of steam and steel to mass produce and transport many goods very cheaply that masses of people needed very much. This section shows how that betterment of mankind those early idealists hoped for came to be shared most unjustly. That injustice was the root cause of many of our present problems

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