Crisis or Transformation ?

The "crisis" view:

Filling a bottomless keg

The Internets are brimming with know-it-alls attempting to explain the financial crisis in words, cartoon and sometimes song. And most of the explanations are more tangled than the mess itself. So when a friend sent us this animated video, the thesis project of Art Center student Jonathan Jarvis, we were impressed by its simple, concise audio/video explanation. Yes, an art student does a better job of explicating the financial crisis than most of the mainstream news and financial press coverage we've seen. Maybe Paul Krugman should take up painting?

Watch this cute video: The Crisis of Credit Visualized

The Transformation view:

When a caterpillar nears its transformation time, it begins to eat ravenously, consuming everything in sight. (It is interesting to note that individuals are often called “consumers” and one of the largest manufacturers of heavy construction machinery is called “Caterpillar, Inc.”). The caterpillar body then becomes heavy, outgrowing its own skin 3,000 times, until it is too bloated to move. Attaching to a branch (upside down, we might add, where everything is turned on its head) it forms a chrysalis—an enclosing shell that limits the caterpillar’s freedom for the duration of the transformation. Within the chrysalis a miracle occurs. Tiny cells, called “imaginal cells,” begin to appear. These cells are wholly different from caterpillar cells, carrying different information, vibrating to a different frequency–the frequency of the emerging butterfy. At first, the caterpillar’s immune system perceives these new cells as enemies, and attacks them, much as new ideas are called radical, and viciously denounced by the powers now holding center stage. But the imaginal cells are not deterred. They continue to appear, increasing in numbers until the new cells are numerous enough to organize into clumps. When enough cells have formed to make structures along the new organizational lines, the caterpillar’s immune system is overwhelmed. The cells of the original body then become a nutritious soup for the growth of the butterfy. When the butterfy is ready to hatch, the chrysalis becomes transparent (much as the Internet is making many hidden actions transparent). The need for restriction has been outgrown, yet the struggle toward freedom is part of the process. Were the chrysalis opened too soon, the butterfy would die. As the butterfy emerges, it fills its wings with liquid, (a “right wing” and a “left wing,” we might note), and then flies away to dance among the flowers...

The cultural transformation from love of power to the power of love is the drama of our time.
(A. Judith: WakeningtheGlobal Heart)

Watch it live: