THE VAST PICTURE

by Ray Jason        

          I am lying on my back on the deck of my sailboat in the far reaches of the Pacific Ocean.  It is night and the sky is plush with stars.  I am alone … and in voluntary exile from humanity – immersed in an elemental realm of sea and sky and wind and wave.

Such timeless immensity inspires reflection; and suddenly with shooting star swiftness, I realize that seeking to understand “The Big Picture” does not probe deeply enough.  Instead, we must try to comprehend “The Vast Picture.”

Here is the difference as I perceive it.  When thinkers examine the Big Picture, their perspective is too human-centered.  It tends to focus on how we can order the world more efficiently to serve the desires of our species.  That’s because our dominant societal worldview perceives humanity as the “Big” in the Big Picture.  In fact, our false pride is SO BIG that we anoint ourselves as rulers over everything else on our planet.  We incorrectly believe that the geometry of life on Earth is a pyramid - with humankind at the apex.  And we have been so thoroughly programmed to blindly accept this lie, that we have forgotten what at least 100,000 generations of our human ancestors knew before us.  They understood that Life is a WEB – and humanity is but a single strand interwoven amongst millions of others. 

They realized that although they were blessed with exceptional skills, they were still a member of the animal kingdom and in order to flourish they had to abide by its rules.   So they kept their population in check, they didn’t exhaust their hunting and foraging grounds and they killed only when utterly necessary for survival.  They coexisted as partners with the creatures around them … a life of harmony rather than hegemony.

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But besides this “generational” approach to looking at the Vast Picture, there is also the “cosmic” perspective.  Lying on my back, gliding westward on my small boat, gazing up at the enormous universe, I realize that in the grand, inscrutable scheme of things we humans are utterly and laughably puny.  But even though we are miniscule, our impact is devastating! We are like a tiny, uninvited parasite that overwhelms its host.  This is precisely what our actions are doing.  We are destroying our air, our water, our soil, our brother animals, our fellow humans, our planet, our selves.    

The horrific tragedy of this is intensified as I marvel at the stars above me caravanning across the sky on their nightly pilgrimage.  Earth is but a pale, blue dot in a tiny solar system; and yet it teems with Life.  We have a diverse menagerie of breathtaking creatures – hummingbirds and giraffes and pandas.  We have landscapes of staggering beauty - mountains and deserts and jungles.  And we have natural forces beyond comprehension – hurricanes and tornadoes and earthquakes.

Looking up at this canopy of uncountable stars, I realize just how miraculously fortunate we are that our little, inconsequential planet is so moist and abundant.  Even though our telescopes can penetrate far out into space, they have discovered no other Life.  All of our fellow galactic travelers seem to be frozen, rocky globes or fiery, gaseous spheres.  With a planet which is so inexplicably bountiful and extraordinary, why do we not cherish and protect it?  Why do we desecrate it?    

Looking at the Vast Picture answers that foundational question.  We defile it because we no longer remember that humanity is but one strand in the web of Life.  And we destroy it because we have forgotten how blessed we are to be the only living planet amongst millions of lifeless stars.  We have forgotten our place on the planet and we have forgotten our place in the universe.  

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When did this fatal forgetting occur?  It began when we foolishly crossed the bridge from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic - when we hunter/gatherers abandoned our arrows and gourds for the seductions of conquest agriculture and civilization.  Paleo-people knew the wisdom of co-existing with the plants and animals.  Neo-people mistakenly believed that they could subdue and command them.   

The dawn of civilization was the beginning of the end for the hunter/gatherers.  And most likely it was the beginning of the end for all of us.  The extermination of their way of life came fairly swiftly for the indigenous people.  But for the 7 billion so-called civilized people now overwhelming the planet, our extinction is far more gradual - but it is probably just as inevitable.

We are so thoroughly programmed to admire the supposed benefits of civilization that we fail to understand that it is a CONQUEST CULTURE.  About 10,000 years ago in the (formerly) Fertile Crescent of the Middle East, many hunter/gatherers were already practicing what I call “gentle agriculture.”  But suddenly and steadily this style was replaced by “conquest agriculture.”  This new breed of farmers conquered any plants that jeopardized their cultivated crops.  They conquered any animals that attempted to eat those crops.  And they conquered any hunter/gatherer/gentle agriculturists who stood in the way of the expansion of those crops. 

And what was lost when those nomadic tribes-people were forced into the least desirable habitats or were enslaved or were viciously murdered?  If you read the propaganda of those who champion civilization, you would think that this development was a great leap forward for humanity – that bands of savages were replaced by communities filled with intelligent sophisticates.

But if one takes the time to read the first-person, real-time records of the initial encounters of explorers, a very different picture emerges.  The native people did not live in filth and squalor.  They did not attack the intruders.  Instead, they graciously offered hospitality even though they were suspicious of the intentions of the newcomers.

The demonizing of the indigenous people as some sort of “sub-humans” was a deliberate and malicious lie that was used to justify the horrible attacks that were launched against them.  This fraud, that claimed that they were not real people but some sort of “lower beings,” made it acceptable for the “civilized sophisticates” to steal their land and resources, to enslave them, and if they resisted with too much courage, to slaughter them.

And as hideous as such conduct was, it was even more repulsive when rich men swirled their brandy in their exclusive clubs and complained about “the white man’s burden.”  Their delusion that they were superior and had a duty to “better the world” created a legacy of blood and misery that reminds me of the putrid justification spewed by some U.S. officer in Vietnam : “In order to save the village, we had to destroy it!”  And in the case of the earlier imperialists, “In order to better the savages, we had to destroy them.”  Oh, and by the way, in doing so, we also became even more obscenely wealthy.

                                                

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Now I realize that for many of you who are reading this, what I am saying is quite troubling.  But let’s take a clear-eyed look at the human segment of what was conquered.  Then let’s evaluate what replaced it, and examine how that single style of social organization has evolved into a plague that actually threatens our planet. 

If you went and lived for a month with any of the 85 or so indigenous cultures that still survive, what would you discover?  You would find a small community where everyone knows each other and where they strive together for the mutual benefit of the tribe.  There are no rulers and ruled, no rich and poor.  There is significant equality between the sexes, with women participating in the both the survival responsibilities and in the decision-making. 

You would be amazed to learn that their average “work day” is only about 4 hours long.  Through their highly-evolved hunting , gathering and gentle agriculture they can feed themselves with only that much effort.  And what do they spend the rest of their time doing?  The anthropologists who live amongst them, report that they devote much of their non-labor time to playing, napping, dancing, telling stories and laughing.

One of the main reasons for their pervasive happiness is that they possess genuine “cradle to grave security.”  They live in such harmony with each other and with the natural world that cocoons them, sustains them (and occasionally challenges them) that they always feel like they are “home.”  This life mode might seem primitive and intolerable to us, but it provides complete fulfillment of all of their needs.  Can that be claimed by their civilized counter-parts? 

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Now let’s take an objective look at what the advent of civilization has brought to the vast majority of humanity and to the planet as a whole.   Here is a random list of societal traits that evolved since conquest agriculture spawned civilization which then produced its two most dominant institutions - the State and the Church.  These monoliths then steadily bequeathed us this catalog of horrors.  (Bear in mind that none of these pathologies existed amongst the long-gone hunter/gatherer tribes, nor can they be found in the few dozen indigenous enclaves that have managed to survive.)  You might wish to sit down, because this litany is staggering: 

·       Slavery

·       Insanity

·       Torture

·       Human Sacrifice

·       Genocide

·       Plagues

·       Loneliness

·       Industrial War

·       Obesity

·       Laws

·       Homicidal Dictators

·       Profits Over People

·       Asylums

·       Heart Attacks

·       Lawyers

·       Crusades

·       Habitat Destruction    

·       Cancer

·       Atomic Bombs

·       Poverty

·       Inquisitions

·       Diseases of Civilization

·       Witch-hunts

·       Drones

·       Suicide Bombers

·       Drug Addiction

·       Taxes

·       Robot Soldiers

·       Alzheimers Disease

·       Food Kept Under Lock and Key

·       Bankers

·       Missionaries

·       Junk Food

·       Overpopulation

·       Sweat Shops

·       Famine

·       Disparity of Wealth

·       Sexual Deviancy

·       Compulsive Consumption

·       Serial Killers

·       Child Molesters

·       Extinction of species

Now that is one profoundly disturbing list.  For someone like myself, who has been studying the downside of civilization for years it is an unsettling catalog.  But for most people, who are shielded from any discussion of the evils of civilization, it is an alarming revelation.  It is utterly taboo in our culture to question our foundational principle - that we humans are not just a part of the biological community but are exceptional, and therefore ordained to rule over everything else on Earth, whether it is the animals, the soil or the rivers.

If you doubt my claim that evaluating the merits of civilization is taboo in our society, then consider this evidence.  You will never see the nightly news investigate whether civilization is good or bad for us.  You will never hear a sermon proclaiming that humans are not the Chosen Ones, destined to rule over all others on Earth.  And you will never read editorials urging the dismantling of modern society in order to rescue the planet and all of its creatures.

No, the gatekeepers and opinion-shapers of the modern world do not want you pondering whether civilization is the solution for most of the world’s problems, or whether it is the cause of them.  They don’t want you to question whether even a hundred Mozarts can justify one mushroom cloud.

Replacing tribal society with civilization was probably the greatest mistake in human history.  Exchanging sustainability for scorched-earth agriculture, communal property for private property, co-operation for competition and sharing for self-interest has irreparably harmed the people, creatures and systems of our planet home.  The damage is so catastrophic that we are on the brink of destroying our life support system.  We are not just fouling our nest, we are demolishing it.

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For many years now there has been a small group of perceptive, compassionate, articulate thinkers who have been warning everyone that if modern industrial technological civilization remains on its current course, it will lead to global collapse.   There will be a massive die-off of billions of people and those who do survive will lead an existence stripped of all of the comforts and convenience to which they are accustomed.  The basics of daily living such as water, food, energy, security, communication, transportation and commerce will be profoundly and painfully ruptured.

I call these visionaries the Cassandra Choir because they are suffering the same fate as the mythological character Cassandra.  She could unerringly predict the future, and she used that ability to warn her people of looming calamities.  But instead of being respected and treasured, she was ignored and scorned. 

These contemporary truth-tellers are also marginalized and mocked by the protectors of the status quo, the folks who I affectionately refer to as TMA … The Malignant Authorities.  The Establishment insists that those in the Choir are “screwball doomers,” who are greatly exaggerating the risks that confront us.  They encourage us to ignore all of that negativity, and instead grab the remote control and settle in for the hot, new Surreality Show.  Of course, it is beneficial for the Elites to promote such denial, because the present system main-lines them enormous wealth and power.

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And how might these disasters unfold?  I refer to the likely catalysts by this term:  The Big Bad “E”s.  The “E”s that I am referring to are Energy, Economy and Ecology.  And each of these rivers of ruin has many tributaries. 

For example, an Energy catastrophe could come in the form of Peak Oil.  A major price increase or a significant supply decrease would destabilize the infrastructure of everyone who lives in the modern world.  Petroleum’s black-hand has enormous impact on our daily lives.  Without it, our cars don’t take us to work or the mall, the trucks don’t deliver food to the stores, the tractors don’t plow the fields, the container ships do not bring cheap clothes from the East to consumers in the West, and much of the power grid goes down, which means that all of the smart phones, ipods and flat screen distracto boxes suddenly shudder and extinguish themselves.

Or perhaps the energy grid goes down, not from a fuel shortage, but from very old and very tired equipment combined with demand loads that were never dreamed of when the power plants were designed and built.  Then again maybe it will be resource shortages of copper or bauxite or uranium that topples the insanely complex yet interconnected labyrinth of the so-called advanced modern world.  And besides these obvious threats, there could very well be some energy black swan flying just below the horizon headed our way.

As for the Four Horsemen of the Economy, the more accurate number might be the Fourteen Horsemen.  What might the tipping point be?  Could it be the U.S. dollar losing its extremely beneficial world reserve currency status?  Or maybe it will be the discovery that there is almost no physical gold in the depositories where it is supposedly secured.  Or perhaps it will all come tumbling down when the first major country defaults on its sovereign debt.  So many icebergs and yet so many incompetents steering the Economic Titanic!

And last, but certainly not least, there is the immense havoc that industrial technological civilization is wreaking on our Ecology.  Our population growth keeps thundering along even though we far exceeded the planet’s carrying capacity billions of humans ago.  And who cannot notice the increased frequency and ferocity of extreme weather events in recent years?  Even though we refer to the Amazon Rainforest as the “lungs of our planet,” we continue to destroy it in order to feed civilization’s insatiable desire for “progress” in the form of lumber and grazing land. 

And instead of viewing the accelerating melting of the Arctic ice fields as a horrific development, the TMAs (The Malignant Authorities) applaud it as an opportunity to get at previously unreachable fossil fuels. This intensifies the greenhouse gas effect and thus jeopardizes the entire ecological web that allows all life on Earth to survive.           

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My goal thus far has been to convincingly demonstrate that the onslaught of civilization has led to enormous problems for the people, creatures and systems of the planet.  Then I tried to show how these horrors have led to a situation that is so disastrous that humanity is poised to exterminate itself and many other species on our once bountiful and beautiful planet.  As a philosopher, I can state my message in 17 words: 

“Civilization has spawned such immense evil that it now threatens to destroy all life on our planet.”  

The natural response to such a devastating statement would be this question:  “In order to save the planet can an Anti-Civilization Movement arise?”  This leads to the obvious follow-up question:  “What would happen if such a crusade gained momentum?”

Any movement requires a certain number of people in order to gain enough critical mass to initiate genuine, profound change.  Many systems analysts suggest that between 10% and 20% of a base population group is necessary to achieve this.  When I examine the current state of global humanity, this is what I find:

·       The vast majority of people are simply struggling to survive.  They have neither the time nor the energy to involve themselves in anything more than the brutal daily battle for water, food, shelter etc.

·       A huge percentage of those living in the developed world are mesmerized by technological gadgetry.  They don’t realize that they are leading lives that resemble low-grade serfdom.  Being content with their smart phones, lotto tickets and 200 channels of nothingness, they are unlikely recruits for any paradigm-shifting movement.   

·       Most of the people who do recognize that something is terribly wrong with modern society are so troubled by it that they prefer to bury their heads in the sand rather than attempt to improve the dire situation.

·        Those who I have dubbed The Malignant Authorities (TMA) are so enriched and empowered by our dysfunctional civilization, that the last thing they wish to do is demolish it.

·       And finally, there is a miniscule core of clear thinkers scattered around the globe, who see the evils of civilization and would mobilize in order to dismantle it.  But their numbers are so tiny that they barely register on the paranoia radar of the TMA.

But let’s just imagine that some Black Swan miracle occurs.  An example might be an insanely wealthy media tycoon who somehow has a Gandhi epiphany, and leads a movement to “un-civilize” the world.   As soon as such a crusade gained any real traction, The Malignant Authorities would crush it using their monstrous surveillance capabilities and their horrific weaponry.  And they would do so in the most violent “send a message” manner.  

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So where does this leave us?  For 99% of our human social history we were molded in a hunting and gathering environment.  That is what shaped our evolutionary genetic code.  Humans were a small part of The Vast Picture.  We were a single, harmonious strand in the Web of Life.  Being immersed in Nature insured our emotional and psychological wholeness.

For more than 2 million years our ancestors led pleasurable, fulfilling, sustainable lives that did no harm to their fellow animals or to the ecosystems that supported them.  But then 10,000 years ago, we switched to conquest agriculture and this led to civilization which is destroying the Web of Life and replacing it with a Tangle of Atrocities.

These pathological choices and actions have become so grotesque that they now threaten most of the life on our unique and luxuriant planet.  And it seems highly unlikely that any movement can alter this disastrous course.  I wish I felt otherwise, but I just don’t believe that we can avoid a catastrophic collapse.

However, just as the medieval monks preserved the best of the Greco-Roman culture during the Dark Ages, I envision a new group of protectors who can survive the approaching calamities and bring news of the past to the future.  But besides conserving the knowledge of what was sublime about our Human Project, their more important task will be to warn those that follow about the horrors that civilization unleashed. 

I will write about these torchbearers in a near future essay.  They are called The Sea Gypsy Tribe.