"Everyone will sit under their own vine,
and under their own fig tree,
and no one will make them afraid."
-Micah 4:4
Two things are as clear as diamond to me. One, that it is altogether practical for individuals to live in a primarily self-sufficient, productive (in real terms, not what our culture calls 'productivity'), and ecologically sane way of life that gives benefit both to the natural world and people, and two, that practically every social, political and economic structure in this society works against people actually doing that. Why is that?
Our society is based on zero-sum interactions. More for me, essentially, means less for you. There is only one pie and it is all a matter of how you slice it up, and some get more and some don't. Given that worldview, there is absolutely no incentive to consider things from the point of view of whole communities or an ecosystem. The easiest way that we see these zero-sum games played out is in our interactions with the environment, where we despoil that environment to seize its riches. Strip mining or cutting old-growth forests or in any of innumerable other ways, we view the only possible scenario as a win for us means a loss for nature.
However, this zero-sum game also plays out in human interactions, where each individual (and group such as a corporation) sees no reason to look out for the interests of the whole because of the belief that this would mean less for them. Almost every social, political and economic process in our society is based on a zero-sum worldview, almost the only notable exceptions being matters of love or family. There is no incentive for looking out for the whole, because it is simply viewed as a matter of who gets more and who gets less, and everyone wants to get more of course. It takes no great conspiracy theory to explain the myriad systems that are arrayed against the real interests of the individual and communities and the ecological community: it is a symptom of a disease that exists in all our minds to one degree or another. It is a kind of meme, an intellectual virus. In times past, this virus no doubt conferred some reproductive advantage. Now it threatens all of us. It does not merely threaten us in the form of ecological damage, but also degrades our own lives and interactions with others in innumerable quiet insidious ways every day. Millions or billions of people find themselves unable to live a wholesome natural life as an organism, as a living being on this world, and must continually fight a human system designed to make them lose in order to even survive. They have no modicum of security in life, no connection with nature, none of the rhythms of nature in their life and are utterly dependent on the zero-sum cannibalistic human system in order to continue existing. And existing is the right word, it is hardly living.
On a small scale, there are all kinds of zero-sum interactions in nature too. The leopard eats the gazelle: that is a zero-sum interaction. Leopard wins, gazelle loses. We are used to thinking of ourselves as predators, that may be one reason why zero-sum interactions became so predominant in our culture. There are also non-zero-sum interactions, which can be positive (win-win) or negative (lose-lose). We are in fact as a species engaging in a massive non-zero-sum interaction with the world on a broad scale, in this case a lose-lose interaction. We are busy not only destroying the natural world but destroying ourselves as well. Ecocide. Everybody loses.
However, nature is also full of positive non-zero-sum interactions, positive synergies among communities of organisms which improve the conditions of life for all of them. Indeed, most of Nature's interactions are that way if you zoom out to a large enough scale. The death of the gazelle is a loss for him and a gain for the leopard, but also by weeding out weak, sick, unperceptive or otherwise inferior individuals it is a gain for the gazelle community as a whole that has its genetic pool strengthened thereby. The earthworm benefits from the dead leaves shed by plants, and in their guts and in the soil they form robust bacterial communities and open up the soil to air and moisture, which in turn benefits the plants. There are innumerable kinds of mutually beneficial relationships between plants, and between plants and fungi and plants and bacteria. We have a symbiotic relationship with many of the bacteria in our guts, legumes have a symbiotic relationship with the bacteria that allows them to fix nitrogen. The number of mutually beneficial relationships in nature are too innumerable to mention. We too can live lives that are either primarily zero-sum or primarily mutualistic, though primarily mutualistic lives among humans is probably pretty rare. Agriculture can be zero-sum or mutualistic, generally industrial agriculture is mostly zero-sum. The soil suffers, the genetic strength of the crops suffer, only we supposedly benefit, and that benefit in terms of non-toxic nutrition diminishes more and more. The overall nutrient content of our food has diminished in the last hundred years anywhere from 5% in certain fruits and vegetables to 40% or more in others.
We CAN use our knowledge to create food-producing ecosystems that are more diverse than natural ecosystems, more resistant to adverse conditions than natural ecosystems, and create more niches for more organisms, benefiting ourselves and the rest of the biotic community. We CAN have positive synergistic relationships with other organisms, benefiting them and us. We CAN move away from dependence on an erratic economic world for our survival, an unstable economic world which has no security, and create our own security through beneficial relationships with our environment. We CAN'T do that however if we retain our selfish zero-sum mentality. Our zero-sum mindset will only lead to more ecological destruction, more war, more starvation, more economic disruption, more human beings whose hearts and minds are so twisted by their unhealthy world that they become more like the creatures of our nightmares than real people. It is time to realize that more for Nature does mean more for us in the end.
Indigenous spiritual traditions emphasize the kinship of all living things. The deer, the tree, is your brother, not merely the means to your own ends. We have the knowledge to bring the ancient dreams of mutualistic relationships with living things to a level of fruition far beyond what these cultures could have dreamed of. We have the capability of creating relationships with nature which are vastly more productive, more secure, more diverse, and more beneficial to all organisms involved, than anything previously known. What we lack, is the heart and soul to actually do it. Our intellect is enlightened, our spirits are darker than ever. This is an age of profound spiritual darkness, and the effects of that darkness do not require any special mystical vision to see. Just look at what we do, that's all. Do we create beauty and happiness for all creatures, or do we create devastation, pollution, and death? Just look and see, there is nothing esoteric about it. It's about as abstract as a tumor.
Our society is based on zero-sum interactions. More for me, essentially, means less for you. There is only one pie and it is all a matter of how you slice it up, and some get more and some don't. Given that worldview, there is absolutely no incentive to consider things from the point of view of whole communities or an ecosystem. The easiest way that we see these zero-sum games played out is in our interactions with the environment, where we despoil that environment to seize its riches. Strip mining or cutting old-growth forests or in any of innumerable other ways, we view the only possible scenario as a win for us means a loss for nature.
However, this zero-sum game also plays out in human interactions, where each individual (and group such as a corporation) sees no reason to look out for the interests of the whole because of the belief that this would mean less for them. Almost every social, political and economic process in our society is based on a zero-sum worldview, almost the only notable exceptions being matters of love or family. There is no incentive for looking out for the whole, because it is simply viewed as a matter of who gets more and who gets less, and everyone wants to get more of course. It takes no great conspiracy theory to explain the myriad systems that are arrayed against the real interests of the individual and communities and the ecological community: it is a symptom of a disease that exists in all our minds to one degree or another. It is a kind of meme, an intellectual virus. In times past, this virus no doubt conferred some reproductive advantage. Now it threatens all of us. It does not merely threaten us in the form of ecological damage, but also degrades our own lives and interactions with others in innumerable quiet insidious ways every day. Millions or billions of people find themselves unable to live a wholesome natural life as an organism, as a living being on this world, and must continually fight a human system designed to make them lose in order to even survive. They have no modicum of security in life, no connection with nature, none of the rhythms of nature in their life and are utterly dependent on the zero-sum cannibalistic human system in order to continue existing. And existing is the right word, it is hardly living.
On a small scale, there are all kinds of zero-sum interactions in nature too. The leopard eats the gazelle: that is a zero-sum interaction. Leopard wins, gazelle loses. We are used to thinking of ourselves as predators, that may be one reason why zero-sum interactions became so predominant in our culture. There are also non-zero-sum interactions, which can be positive (win-win) or negative (lose-lose). We are in fact as a species engaging in a massive non-zero-sum interaction with the world on a broad scale, in this case a lose-lose interaction. We are busy not only destroying the natural world but destroying ourselves as well. Ecocide. Everybody loses.
However, nature is also full of positive non-zero-sum interactions, positive synergies among communities of organisms which improve the conditions of life for all of them. Indeed, most of Nature's interactions are that way if you zoom out to a large enough scale. The death of the gazelle is a loss for him and a gain for the leopard, but also by weeding out weak, sick, unperceptive or otherwise inferior individuals it is a gain for the gazelle community as a whole that has its genetic pool strengthened thereby. The earthworm benefits from the dead leaves shed by plants, and in their guts and in the soil they form robust bacterial communities and open up the soil to air and moisture, which in turn benefits the plants. There are innumerable kinds of mutually beneficial relationships between plants, and between plants and fungi and plants and bacteria. We have a symbiotic relationship with many of the bacteria in our guts, legumes have a symbiotic relationship with the bacteria that allows them to fix nitrogen. The number of mutually beneficial relationships in nature are too innumerable to mention. We too can live lives that are either primarily zero-sum or primarily mutualistic, though primarily mutualistic lives among humans is probably pretty rare. Agriculture can be zero-sum or mutualistic, generally industrial agriculture is mostly zero-sum. The soil suffers, the genetic strength of the crops suffer, only we supposedly benefit, and that benefit in terms of non-toxic nutrition diminishes more and more. The overall nutrient content of our food has diminished in the last hundred years anywhere from 5% in certain fruits and vegetables to 40% or more in others.
We CAN use our knowledge to create food-producing ecosystems that are more diverse than natural ecosystems, more resistant to adverse conditions than natural ecosystems, and create more niches for more organisms, benefiting ourselves and the rest of the biotic community. We CAN have positive synergistic relationships with other organisms, benefiting them and us. We CAN move away from dependence on an erratic economic world for our survival, an unstable economic world which has no security, and create our own security through beneficial relationships with our environment. We CAN'T do that however if we retain our selfish zero-sum mentality. Our zero-sum mindset will only lead to more ecological destruction, more war, more starvation, more economic disruption, more human beings whose hearts and minds are so twisted by their unhealthy world that they become more like the creatures of our nightmares than real people. It is time to realize that more for Nature does mean more for us in the end.
Indigenous spiritual traditions emphasize the kinship of all living things. The deer, the tree, is your brother, not merely the means to your own ends. We have the knowledge to bring the ancient dreams of mutualistic relationships with living things to a level of fruition far beyond what these cultures could have dreamed of. We have the capability of creating relationships with nature which are vastly more productive, more secure, more diverse, and more beneficial to all organisms involved, than anything previously known. What we lack, is the heart and soul to actually do it. Our intellect is enlightened, our spirits are darker than ever. This is an age of profound spiritual darkness, and the effects of that darkness do not require any special mystical vision to see. Just look at what we do, that's all. Do we create beauty and happiness for all creatures, or do we create devastation, pollution, and death? Just look and see, there is nothing esoteric about it. It's about as abstract as a tumor.
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| Tar sands before and after. |
In the book of Micah in the Old Testament, it describes a world where there is no need for war or disputes and every man will sit under his own vine and his own fig tree, be self-sufficient and live in peace. There is absolutely no physical reason why that cannot happen. The only reasons why that does not happen are to be found in the darkened depths of the human heart and spirit, the profound sickness within us.
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