Emergent Civilization: is a new society possible?

[Note, this is a brainstorm! So, if the ideas ramble too much, or could be more coherent, please let me know. It's a matter of conveying them now and I'd appreciate feedback! This is the first time it's all down on paper, or, well computer screen. Perhaps it will eventually become a book...]

There's a lot of talk and urgency these days on creating a sustainable civilization. It's almost like an underlying anxiety many of us feel: we wish to continue our lifestyles, but have this sneaking suspicion that the whole way of life we undertake is completely unsustainable, almost like a grand illusion which will come crashing down under our feet.

There are many of us who are more hopeful, thinking if we work on renewable energy, ecologically friendly energy systems (solar, wind power), and local economies, we should be able to at least avert or lighten the problems we are facing. But then, there is also the whole slew of problems that follow--can government continue the way it is? What about multi-national corporations and world banks? Hegemony and neo-imperialism?

In other words, our way of organizing, thinking, interacting in modern society is all based upon flawed ideologies, systems of thinking that, perhaps on a smaller scale caused less harm and actually helped us survive, but are now an immense danger, perhaps a monstrosity. If we try to analyze this situation as holistically as we can, we see the problem isn't just in physical sustainability, it's also in culture, philosophy, economics, government and primarily psychology. Our whole way of seeing the world is upside-down, and based on a primal fear of insecurity.

Escaping the present, a culture of tomorrow.

That being, we see ourselves as somehow manipulators of the natural environment. That the world is a vast mechanical system we awakened into, and progress is made when we can more efficiently manipulate the world. This may stem from an acute psychological fear of impermanence, of isolation, not able to reconcile our thinking minds with the living environment we are a part of. Even further, being unhappy with what we are now (insecure, in danger) we imagine what could be, and find ourselves always striving for some greater tomorrow--which, we might have learned by now, never comes. This whole psychology extends to a collective psychosis: human beings terrified of the now.

We therefore see cultures or civilizations which can manipulate their world as "advanced," because they have found some level of security, like a puppet master hiding behind his strings. The more you can manipulate, the further along you are progressing! That perception has spilled over into culture, so that we treat human beings in the same way we do objects, relying principally on incentive, behavior and mechanics. We objectify ourselves in the world, and do so at the terrible risk at creating a fragmented worldview, in which we are not a part of the world but somehow alienated from it, a distant "other," that must assume control or perish.

But there is another point of view that sees human beings as any other emergent life form--plants, flowers, mice and bees. We, like them, have been grown by the universe. We are a part of this great web of life, interdependent, so that one action has the potential to affect the whole system. The "advanced," individual, or culture, is significantly different in that it does not assume control over nature. Mastery is a particular degree of understanding the forces of nature and working with them, like a sailor uses the wind and ocean currents in order to move. Life, then, is more like an art, in which we must learn technique (which is where intelligence comes in) in order to move with nature, because all of who and what we are is already a part of the natural world! They would see someone who attempts to fight natural forces as foolish, as if nature could somehow bend to his or her will. True mastery then, is in The Way of things, or Tao, which we learn not to create "what should be," and strive towards it but to see what is, and journey more organically.

Our particular and unique place in nature is that we are capable of reflection, and perhaps some greater degree of consciousness. We are particularly self-aware. But that comes at a great responsibility. Have we ever taken that ability to reflect upon the nature of things, and turn it upon ourselves? It takes maturity to accept the idea of "striving" towards a better future, a safer future, is in fact an instinctive illusion, perhaps driven by our ancestors struggle to survive. But, true survival, is releasing that primal fear--that is, true living is not mere subsistence, but learning the world will always be in flux, there is no true "security" out there waiting for us to unveil. Life is now! Wisdom is thus, knowing that insecurity is a reality of nature. In order to flourish, you're going to have to trust it, to open up. Living is being vulnerable, connected to the whole of life.

While we may be physically doing this, psychologically we hardly realize it. We act like seedlings terrified of breaking their shells and pushing out their first root and stem--yet we must, if we wish to live.

Philosophy of life, new perspective!!

Some of the attitudes that more eastern philosophies and cultures have taken towards the world--interdependence, holistic systems, emergence, synergy and relationship--have been unfortunately neglected in Western society. It's unfortunate in that, although western technology has brought great advancements in the manipulation of the world, it has drastically failed to find any kind of harmony, or equilibrium. What if the more organic philosophies became the guiding factor in scientific endeavors? Then the picture might be very different.

I think that, all of these points can be broken down into three major possibilities.

1) Organic philosophy--that the world is interdependent, relational, synergistic and vastly complex. In order to understand how anything works, you must study the object in relation to the whole.

2) This vast interdependent view of reality has emergent properties. Many things come together and form greater wholes, or layers--in the biosphere, in the social sphere (or noosphere).

3) One great way of seeing this is a holonic view of the universe: things are made parts. Every "whole" system has many parts, and everything is always part of a yet ever-greater whole. This goes from rocks, to planets, to solar systems, to galaxies, to galaxy-clusters, and beyond.

Human beings, then, are organisms in an emergent, interdependent universe. If we wish to flourish, we must learn to expand our sensitivity and overcome primal, illusory boundaries between us and the world. This can't be done by conceptions alone, but by directly working on ourselves and our attitudes. A tall order, perhaps, but there may be things that can help us along the way. Particularly, cultural mythos and alternative ways of organizing that may help foster new attitudes. This will be mentioned later.

A new way of seeing, and thus creating a civilization:

The next part of this blog will be exploring what happens when we see civilization as art, movement and flux--not merely mechanics, but cultivation. What would such a civilization look like? And would it be sustainable?

Please check out part 2.