"The clash of ideas brings forth the spark of truth."

This First Nations proverb, borrowed from The Sacred Tree, is a simple yet extremely powerful idea. It is the motto and driving force behind *spark-online not only because it uses the word 'spark,' but because at its most basic level, it summarizes what *spark-online is all about --the search for truth (with a small 't') and enlightenment.

Truth in the post-modern sense is more about consensus than it is absolutes, however, that does not diminish the basic need we have as human beings to make sense of our world and grab on to what little solid ground exists. We here at *spark-online tend to leave the debate over the existence of truth to the Epistemologists and Theologians, preferring to take the subjectivity of truth for granted, and instead seek to learn something about each other, our cultures, and our world, through the simple exchange of ideas.

Oftentimes, ideas clash, there is not consensus, and truth is buried beneath debate and rhetoric (and pride.) It is by fostering and encouraging this clash, this exchange in an open forum, that *spark-online hopes to help 'bring forth the spark of truth.'

The metaphor is an apt one, for what is truth but a spark? It is a brilliant flash of energy, released by the banging together of ideological 'rocks,' only to dissipate and disappear shortly after its creation. Truth is ephemeral at best. It seems to be that truth is the totality which perpetually exists 'at the tip of one's tongue.'

Every once in a while, however, a spark will fall on fertile ground prior to losing its brilliance. This is how student uprisings come into being. If the conditions are right, and there is enough fuel and oxygen present, a spark will lead to a flame, and a fire will get started. In other words, if a mind (or minds) is open to it, and there are enough resources at hand, the spark of truth can and will start the type of ideological fire that sweeps through populations bringing change.

Think about religious revivals and student uprisings, WTO protests and environmental blockades. In the forest ecosystem, a fire is the most natural and healthy method by which nature maintains itself. Old, dead wood and debris are burned away, restoring nutrients to the soil, allowing new growth --new life. It is an intrinsic part of the earth's homeostatic mechanism.

So it is with ideological 'ecosystems.' The old and dead mental clutter and debris that is passed around within and between generations must be burned away in order for growth to occur, diversity to be actualized, and enlightenment to take root.

*spark-online is committed to showering the world with such sparks of truth, in the hopes that once in a while, somewhere, conditions will be ripe for a fire to sweep through a human population, allowing the fulness of Being to be realized, making us better, more capable people, changing the world one mind at a time.

Copyright © 2000 Darren C. Anderson All Rights Reserved

Darren C. Anderson is a founding member of *spark-online. Happy one year *spark.

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