The rabbit and the hole.
A fable with a moral and a recipe at the end.
Okay, today I want to tell you a story. This time, it’s a fable, which is like a fairy tale except it’s a teaching story. This one happens to be about a rabbit, a bunny rabbit. And the bunny rabbit lives in a hole, deep in the ground. This particular rabbit is afraid of the future. She is stuck in a paradigm, she used to love her rabbit hole but now she feels stuck. She feels stuck because her rabbit hole used to be a safe and happy place, but now it is becoming a less safe and more scary place. This rabbit is afraid of what the world is becoming.
This rabbit has become afraid of the future, afraid of the outside world, and she is there right now, getting more and more anxious and fearful. That rabbit is just holing up in that hole, just to be safe. Maybe if she can just hole up for awhile things will settle down.
And every once in a while, she peeks outside the hole. But at the same time, the rabbit is getting hungry and she is also getting kind of curious about what’s out there. So one day, the rabbit goes out and sort of peeks out of the hole, because this particular rabbit, she is really, really hungry and she needs some food. So she peeks out of the hole and she starts munching on some clover that’s close to her hole, because rabbits have to eat like we all do, and she actually sees a bunch of bunnies, and they are playing! They are hopping and playing and they look like they are having fun. She also sees all the wolves and all the scary stuff, and there are some really scared rabbits too. The anxious rabbits are gossiping and saying that there’s no future for us because the robots will take our jobs. The wolves have found a new magic, and they are going to use this magic to create systems for controlling us, say the anxious bunnies. They will have drones and robots. And the dogs are helping them. They are going to make robot dogs and control everything and what will happen to us? Not to mention that they are killing us, and they control the world, and they are going to destroy the whole world with their plan, and we will all perish, not just the wolves, because they are destroying the world!
She hears the gossip and it sure is scary, but she also sees a few bunnies out there, playing in the field and she’s kind of curious about that. But she goes back in the hole, because she is afraid. She is afraid of what the future might bring.
And in the hole there she is wondering what those bunnies were doing. Don’t they know that the world is a scary place, and all the wolves and foxes and coyotes and jackals and hyenas and dogs, which everyone knows rule the bunny world, have discovered a new magic that will destroy us all! Do these playful bunnies realize that the wolves are not only evil but stupid, and that in their stupidity and their greed and desire for control they will eventually destroy us all?
And the bunny rabbit in her hole was safe for a while, but eventually she got hungry again, and she went outside again to munch on some clover. And again she listened to the anxious bunnies first, because they were closer to her hole, and anyway there were more fearful bunnies than playful bunnies.
But when she looked over at the playful bunnies she realized that their numbers were growing. And they just seemed so happy, and they were having so much fun, that she decided to hop up to them and asking what they were doing.
And the playful bunnies laughed and invited her into their game to play with them. It was a cooking game. So our bunny asked the other bunnies why they were not afraid. She asked them about the evil magic the wolves had discovered. All the other bunnies laughed. Not in a mean way, but in a loving way.
One of the playful bunnies explained that yes, it is true that the wolves have discovered a new magic. But we have been playing with this new magic and we have an idea that the wolves don’t really understand it. So we are playing with this magic in our own way, in a bunny way, and we have discovered some interesting things.
What have you discovered? Our bunny asked?
Well, we have discovered a new way we can work together and use this magic to create the world we want. We are trying right now to figure out how to get all the other bunnies to join us so we can use the magic to create a world for bunnies and dogs and birds and wolves and foxes and everyone else, so we don’t have to be afraid anymore.
Because we have discovered that the new magic is actually old magic that we have forgotten, and it is a natural magic, and it is a magic that really works best if each individual bunny can form an opinion about the world we want. Because by joining us you get to have a vote, because you are joining the bunnies who believe anything was possible, and we believe anything is possible, and this field that you see here, this grasssy glade, is he place where we have decided to do our work, which is so natural and fun that it doesn’t feel like work at all, it feels like we are all doing what we were born to do.
So if you can find within you that belief, that anything is possible, then you can believe in the future we are making together. If you can believe that it’s possible, the next step is to think about the role that you want to play in that. What part of that future world do you care most about? What is the change you most want to see in the world?
Because we need you, one of the playful bunnies chimed in. Every bunny who stays in their hole, anxious and afraid, is voting for the world the wolves want to create. Because the wolves are already at work, and this is superior magic, so there’s no way to stop it with the old magic.
And our bunny was curious but she was still afraid. And she wasn’t sure she trusted these bunnies. She thought it might be possible that these playful bunnies were somehow working for the wolves.
So she went back to her hole and thought about whether staying in her hole was really a vote for the wolves or not. Because sure she was afraid, but she didn’t really want to live in the world that the world was creating. Winter is coming, she thought, and right now I just need to hibernate. And I needed some kind of ideas to hibernate on, because what we are doing now sure doesn’t work, and the way the wolves are going about it just feels wrong. So I’m going to hibernate, she thought, and come spring I’ll make a decision to do one of two things:
The first choice is to ride it all out, the whole thing, in my hole, where I can be safe and just watch what happens. And here in my hole we can see if we can figure out what’s happening and then maybe later I will do something. Maybe I will join the bunnies later, if it’s clear that they are winning.
The second choice is to join the bunnies right away. I mean, they look like they are having fun and by joining them I will actually be helping them, because it is a network, and if I join, I will increase their numbers by one.
And with that thought, the bunny dozed off.
So what did the bunny decide? The answer is that we don’t know yet.
So now I think you are ready for the moral of our story, and the moral is this:
The future belongs to those who are brave enough to create it.
So whether you are that rabbit and you’re in that hole, or if you’re a playful rabbit and you’re playing in the field, then what we all really ought to be doing is trying to get people out of their holes because we really need more people to play in the field, and start making stuff with us.
Some of us who know already what our place is in the digital future, and if that’s the case we need to stop talking and start building something that will allow all those other people who are afraid, those bunnies in their holes, all those rabbits that are staying in their holes and afraid, to see what is possible for them. We need to help them paint a picture, a vision, so everyone on earth can see that the digital future has a place for them. The more of us that can be building and making, and doing things, and creating our lives, the more attractive it’s going to be to all those other bunnies.
We need those bunnies, when they peek out of their holes, to see that we’re not just playing around. That it’s not just idealistic new age bullshit. They need to see that we’re not just sitting in a circle talking, but we’re actually building something. Because a lot of those rabbits, a lot of those bunnies are busy. They’re workers, they’re working. They’re nurses, they’re doctors, they’re firefighters, they’re sanitation engineers, they’re cleaning the parks. These are people who are working, and these are the people who don’t see a digital future for them.
There has to be a digital future for them and it has to be free, and it also has to be something that is explicit, that they understand, that they can start today, and we have to tell them that their place in the digital future will not be given to them on a plate.
They have to earn it. They’re not going to get paid. The digital future is not something you can buy your way into. You have to earn your way in. The only people who can buy their way in are the rich, and we don’t want the future of the world to be built by the rich. It needs to be built by everyone.
And that means we have to have something that is more like a community garden, where we actually all work together, and we grow stuff, and we do stuff together as a community, and we build it, and it’s work, but it’s meaningful, purposeful work, and it is also fun. But it’s work, and we do it, and somebody has to step up and say, Hey, here’s a place. We can make this into a garden. We can start planting seeds. We can start getting people to come. And start planting seeds and grow the garden with us, and the more beautiful the garden becomes the more creatures it will attract. Because that’s what the natural magic is all about.
I’m here, seeing the future being built out by the Zuckerbergs and the Bezoses and the LinkedIn’s, and the Googles, and the Netflixes, and all the stuff the wolves are building.
And yes I realize that to a lot of you look at me and you just see another wolf. And I am a wolf. But inside I’m a bunny who stole the wolf magic, and some of my fellow wolves are really going to hate me for this, and some will try to stop me, because I’m trying to get the bunnies to play with this magic and build something beautiful together. It is something that is inside all of us, and we need to start giving it shape and structure or the wolves will inherit the earth.
And you may think I’m crazy, I may sound like I’m Noah building Noah’s Ark, without a rain cloud in sight, or maybe I sound like the guy building the Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner, or something like that, and that’s fine. And if you believe that, just don’t join me. Just stay in your bunny hole and keep talking because you are not the bunny I need right now. The bunnies that I’m talking to are the ones that are going to actually want to start making something. They’re tired of talk. They want to start doing it. They want to start building the future.
If that is you, you are the person I’m calling to. You are the person I’m calling to. I need you. I need you right now. Now is the time. We’re going to do this. We’re going to do it and we’re already started. We’ve got about, I don’t know, maybe somewhere between 50 and a 100 people already involved, and working on this in various ways. And I want you to join us, and I want you to be a part of it, and help us make this happen. Okay. Get out of your bunny hole. Or, if you’re playing, if you’re out in the field playing, let’s start actually making something. I don’t know what bunnies make in a field. We’ll never know until we start trying to build it, so let’s start trying to build it.
So if you want to get started, here is the recipe for the cooking game the rabbits are playing in this field, which is our world, right now.
