Welcome from the Editor

In the 1950s American schoolchildren were taught to 'duck and cover', to hide under their desks in the event of a nuclear attack. Naivety such as that has dropped from the schedule, and nuclear Armageddon is not the constant fear it once was. Even so I sometimes want to hide under my desk. I read newspapers, listen to the radio, watch TV, and gather in items of news that build up to some wearying sense that the world is falling apart. Maybe some freak weather is rewriting the geography books, some distant deforestation is provoking a drought, some new virus infects some beasts, some food is proven toxic, some gene skips its defined role, some species vanishes. I love to marvel at the wonders of the world, yet I know they are under threat.

So as editor of TheBiggestIdeas.com I'm delighted to have the chance to be at my desk rather than under it. 'Knowledge is power' after all, and little by little I expect my knowledge of this world and its universe to be made much more complete as the articles and responses gather in these pages.

Some years ago I sat in the Amazon jungle of Peru and imbibed ayahuasca, a powerful hallucinogen derived from a jungle vine of the same name. It helped me to a visionary sense of the Earth as one living being, and to sure knowledge that every action we take in our lives affects every aspect of all of life. The story of that time is told in some depth in my book I Was Carlos Castaneda, but I wrote nothing there of one of my primary insights. This showed me how the worldwide web is like that jungle vine, a vine which is known in shamanic circles as a great teacher. The web has tendrils that reach around the globe, looping into the hearts and minds of countless millions of people. A lot of utter nonsense streams through those tendrils, but also the best teachings this planet has to offer. That's our market, that's the thrill of my job here at TheBiggestIdeas.com. We're shipping out some mind-opening, heart-opening ideas.

We're offering no gospel, unless it's some gospel of the living Earth. My guiding principle in running a website is that it be interactive – we touch you, and then you touch us in return. I look forward to your engaged debate in our forum, and to some informed and alternative views on our soapbox. This is your website. Please support it with your visits as it grows, shape it with your responses – and herald it to every friend and acquaintance in your address book!

Thanks for being here

Martin J. Goodman