The vision that guides our society is peculiar. Step 1 is to absorb as much education as you
can endure and afford. Step 2 is to plug
into the economy, aggressively pursue every opportunity for advancement, and
make as much money as you can, by any means necessary. Step 3 is to spend that money in a manner
that continuously increases your display of personal status, as defined by the
current trends of consumer society.
Obviously, this culture is disconnected from our ancestral
roots, and from the family of life.
Countless millions devote their entire lives to acquiring and discarding
unnecessary stuff. In the magazine room
at the library, I observe patrons devoting intense attention to understanding
the latest trends in automobiles, electronics, fashion, cosmetics, homes, pets,
and so on. They long to experience inner
peace and happiness in their lives, and they believe that shopping is the
sacred path. But, no matter how skillfully
they shop, or how much they spend, it never works, except for fleeting
post-purchase consumer orgasms.
Trainloads of Prozac numb the pain.
Nature-based cultures understand and respect power. It’s everywhere, in everything, including all
of us. Power comes in many forms, and it
is the greatest gift of all. Some folks
are skilled at tracking, hunting, or midwifery.
Others are healers, warriors, or storytellers. There are weavers, herbalists, or
shamans. Power speaks to those who
listen. Modern folks often leave their
power in the box, unopened, because they’ve never discovered their vision. They are lost.
A minority of modern people do manage to connect with their
power, and use it. They are not swept
away by the strong currents of consumer society, because they can see right
through the silly nonsense, and they have the power to deflect it. They do not indulge in false hope and
irrational optimism. They remain present
in reality. I don’t understand why they
are different, and I have no name for them, but they certainly exist, and they
live outside the fence of the fantasy world, usually in the shadows, distrusted
by the mainstream.
They tend to be intelligent, imaginative, and horrified by
the madness of modern society. Their
right brains are bulging and strong, from regular creative exercise. They are often writers, artists, musicians,
filmmakers, playwrights, poets, storytellers, dreamers, or rebels — people
whose spirits have not been severed from the ancestral realm of uncontrollable
wildness and freedom. They have
power. According to The Dark Mountain Manifesto,
“Words and images can change minds, hearts, even the course of history. Their makers shape the stories people carry
through their lives, unearth old ones and breathe them back to life, add new
twists, point to unexpected endings.”
If they had grown up in a nature-based culture, some of them
might have been known as shamans. All
wild cultures had shamans. Everywhere
around the world, descriptions of their methods are remarkably similar. Adults in a tribe can readily recognize the
boys and girls destined to become shamans, because their power is easy to
see. They sometimes have so much power
that it’s hard for them to function in society.
Older shamans take them under their wing, and teach them how to carry
their power, and use it well.
Ordinary children have no memories of other times, lives, or
realities, but young shamans do. They
tend to be introverted, and closely allied to nature. They may have powerful dreams or hallucinations. They can communicate with the spirit world,
and see things that the others cannot.
Sometimes they play important roles as messengers, bringing back wise
instructions from ancestral spirits, when the tribe is confronted with
challenges. They have a strong spiritual
connection to life.
For the sacred task of envisioning a sustainable future,
people with shaman-like powers could help us remember who we are, and where we
came from. Whatever we call them, they
must be people who have a passionate relationship with the natural world, who
excel at clear thinking, people who can effortlessly think
outside-the-box. This sort of crowd has
power. They can break spells.
Donella Meadows devoted a lot of thought to the notion of envisioning a
sustainable future. Our society is
enacting a vision of perpetual growth, and this drove her crazy, because it’s
so stupid. This stupid vision thrives
because alternative visions have yet to gain momentum. Most folks have no interest in greener
visions, because they are perceived to require sacrifice, a life of less. Less what?
Less stupidity? Less waste? Less anxiety and depression?
I recently saw the movie Cave
of Forgotten Dreams, about the ancient paintings at Chauvet Cave in
France, discovered in 1994. Many of the
paintings were done about 32,000 years ago, and they depict profound reverence
for life. In those days, France was a
healthy paradise filled with wild aurochs, horses, rhinoceros, bears, lions,
bison, and many others — a world that was spectacularly alive and well. The paintings may have been made over a
period of 5,000 years.
Can you imagine a low-impact way of life that lasted 5,000
years? Can you imagine living in a
society filled with awe, amazement, and overwhelming love for the natural
world? Can you imagine living in a world
that wasn’t on a high-speed path to self-destruction? Was this era of abundant freedom, wildness,
and vitality truly “less” than our modern suburbia? Wouldn’t it be precious to wake up in a sane
and healthy world?
Our wild ancestors always resisted the aggressive intrusion
of outsiders. The Sentineli
still do. They inhabit North Sentinel
Island, one of the Andaman archipelago of islands, in the Bay of Bengal, off
the coast of India. These people are a
Stone Age society of Negrito pygmies who survive by hunting, foraging, and
especially fishing. No signs of
agriculture have been observed. They
have a long tradition of welcoming visitors with a shower of arrows and
insults, and they are skilled marksmen.
Amazingly, the Indian government protects the Sentineli, and
allows them to live in wild freedom.
They remain free because the island isn't that big, doesn't have much
valuable timber, and mineral treasures are unlikely. The island is surrounded by treacherous reefs
and treacherous seas — safely getting there by boat is nearly impossible. Once a year there is one location that
becomes theoretically accessible to those who wish to take their life in their
hands and fight the powerful currents.
The Sentineli enjoy a good life in a healthy, stable, and
sustainable culture. They need nothing
that they don’t have. They want to be
left alone to live in peace. Imagine
what a terrible “sacrifice” it would be to live a simple life on an island
paradise, in balance with nature, in a world with no strangers.
To be continued.
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