Fifteen years ago, Rebecca D. Costa challenged us all to face the danger we faced. In her book, The Watchman’s Rattle: A Radical New Theory of Collapsepublished in 2010, said,
“Today, the issues threatening human existence are clear: an intractable global recession, powerful pandemic viruses, terrorism, rising crime, climate change, rapid depletion of the earth’s resources, nuclear proliferation, failed education.”
Her mentor, the eminent biologist and naturalist Edward O. Wilson, who wrote the foreword to her book, summed up our predicament this way:
“We have paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and god-like technology. And it’s terribly dangerous, and now it’s approaching a crisis point altogether.”
The problems have become even more critical since then. Fortunately Kostas offered practical solutions and other experts have offered ideas about what we can do now.
When I was an undergraduate at UC Santa Barbara, I was lucky enough to experience a class with the great philosopher Paul Tillich. His words have guided my life’s work ever since:
“Every serious thinker must ask and answer three fundamental questions:
- What’s wrong with us? With men? Women? Society; What is the nature of our alienation? Our disease?
- What would we be like if we were whole? Was he cured? Did it happen? If our potential were fulfilled?
- How do we move from our state of brokenness to wholeness? What are the means of treatment?’
In order to heal our brokenness and find our way to more vibrant, long-lasting and fulfilling relationships, we need to understand our history and where we went off track.
For most of human history humans recognized that we were fellow humans in the community of life on planet Earth. We were partners, not overlords. In their book Cultivating Our Humanity: How Sovereignty and Partnership Shape Our Brains, Our Lives, and Our Future Riane Eisler and Douglas P. Fry report research that proves this
“For more than 99 percent of the approximately two million years since the appearance of a recognizable human animal, man has been a hunter and gatherer.” Eisler and Fry call their lifestyle, “The Original Corporate Companies”.
As Riane Eisler says in her book, The Chalice & The Blade: Our History, Our Future,
“Beneath the great surface diversity of human civilization lie two basic models of society. The first, which I call the sovereign model, is what is popularly called either patriarchy or matriarchy—the classification of one half of humanity against the other. The second, on which social relations are primarily based in its principle login, can best be described as the partnership model.”
When did dominance systems appear? Some say it began 10,000 years ago with the advent of agriculture. More recent research by environmentalist Dr. James DeMeo and mentioned in his book, Saharasia: The beginnings of 4000 BC of child abuse, sexual repression, war and social violence in the deserts of the old world, he says it happened about 6,000 years ago and was caused by a severe climate crisis that lasted for generations. Philosopher and psychologist Sam Keen, author of Fire in the Belly: On Being a Man, describes our situation as follows:
“The simple truth, which we have conspired to forget over the past century, is that the human species is an integral part of an incomprehensible unity of being in the process of becoming: a single organ in the body of Gaia.”
Keen goes on to say:
“The radical vision of the future is based on the belief that the logic that determines either our survival or our destruction is simple:
- We can only know what we touch.”
- The new human mission is to heal the earth.
- We can only heal what we love.
- We can only love what we know.
Clearly Keen is referring to our relationships. If humans fail to adapt, life on Earth will continue without us. It’s ours relationships this must change. There is good news and bad news. The good news is that we have a long history, more than 2,000,000 years, of sustainable cooperative practices that can guide us.
The bad news is that many people still refuse to wake up and accept the truth. For those who can handle and accept the present challenge, this is your time to take action. It is time to get back in touch with who we really are. It is time to wake up from our destructive disconnection from the earth, ourselves and each other and return to our corporate roots.
As historian Thomas Berry warned:
“We never knew enough. Nor were we sufficiently intimate with all our cousins in the great earth family. Nor could we hear the various creatures of the earth, each telling its own story. The time has come, however, for us to listen or die.”
The Sinking of the Ship of Civilization: What I Learned from the Vision I Had in 1993
In 1993, I attended a Men’s Leadership Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. One of the activities offered was a traditional Native American sweat ceremony where we had the opportunity to ask for guidance and support for ourselves and our communities. I had a vision where I saw the Sinking Ship of Civilization as well as the Lifeboats for the Sustainable Future. I have written about the vision and what I have learned in several articles. Here is the latest.
I continue to learn and better understand what we can do, including:
- Give “Culture” its proper name.
As long as we accept the belief that “civilization” is the pinnacle of human achievement, we will never take steps that can save us. In 1999 the world-renowned scientist Dr. Jared Diamond wrote an article, “The worst mistake in the history of the human race” in which he said that the advent of agriculture, the first step toward civilization, “was perhaps our greatest blunder.”
A more accurate name for this stage of humanity, which we live in during the half of one percent of human history would be better called the “sovereign model” as described by Riane Eisler.
- There is a better way of life beyond “civilization”.
In 1992 I was given the book Ismail, with Daniel Quinn. It offered a clear vision of the two worlds competing for our attention: A world dominated by hierarchy and dominance (Quinn calls it the world of Receivers) and a world of equality and connection (Quinn calls it a world of Leaves. In his book, Beyond Civilization: Humanity’s Next Great Adventure, published in 1999, says Quinn,
“Beyond civilization is not a geographical space in the mountains or on some remote island. It is a cultural space that opens up among people with new minds.”
- Changing your mind isn’t easy, but there are guides that can help.
Dr. Eric Meisel he is a longtime friend and colleague. He is an internationally recognized Diplomate Coach specializing in Creativity Coaching, Existential Wellness Coaching and Relationship Coaching. He is the author of more than fifty books including Brave New Mind: The Art of Serene Readiness. Maisel begins by telling us why a brave new mind is absolutely critical today:
“We were all rushing with no chance of catching up. We desperately need a brave new mind that can take into account our brave new world, a world at once strange and inhumane, full of material goods and loneliness, orchestrated by ruthless billionaires more powerful than governments, where our conversations are with AI chat boxes.
Kyra Bobinet, MD, MPH, author of The Unstoppable Brain: The New Science of Tranquility, Transformation, and Healing says,
“There is a newly discovered, but little known, secret in your brain that robs you of our freedom and power to live the life you long for. It also makes you lose your motivation to do what you know is best for you or others, leaving you stuck.”
He goes on to say, “What’s that secret? The habenula, an area of the brain that has two superpowers over your behavior. First, it acts as failure detector whenever you think you’ve failed, even in some tiny way, even subconsciously without knowing it. Second, and more influential, is a kill switch for your motive. This means that every time you think you’ve failed at something, you’ll suddenly find yourself without the motivation to keep going.”
I had never heard of habenula before, but I contacted Dr. Bobinet, interviewed her, and wrote the following article. “The Unstoppable Brain: The New Science of Calm, Transformation, and Healing.”
What I learned from my vision is that most people will remain in denial and go down with the ship. We cannot change people until they are ready to change. No one expresses this wisdom better than Mel Robbins in her podcasts and #1 New York Times bestselling book, The Let Them Theory. He says,
“If you’re struggling to change your life, achieve your goals, or feel happier, I want you to hear this: The problem is not you. The problem is the power you unknowingly give to other people.”
No one has provided greater guidance in returning to the roots of our partnership Dr. Harville Hendricks and his wife Dr. Ellen LaKelly Hunt. They are internationally recognized couples therapists, speakers and New York Times bestselling authors. Together, they have written twelve books with more than four million copies sold, including the timeless classic, Getting the love you want, which was on the NYTimes best seller list eleven times. The book caught the attention of Oprah Winfrey and he was a guest on her show 17 times in twenty years.
In their latest book, How to Talk to Anyone About Anything: The Practice of Safe Conversations, Harville and Helen describe their bold global social movement to shift from an individualistic culture that embodies values such as competition, control, dominance, and victory to a relational culture that embodies the values of personal freedom, absolute equality, radical inclusion, and the celebration of diversity.
They suggest that the driving force behind this transformation in culture is the shift from monologic conversation that leads to tension, conflict, violence, and war to dialogic conversations where people experience safety and connection. In a relational culture, the process of social interaction is collaboration, co-creation, and cooperation that leads to connection beyond difference.
This social cohesion and cooperation transforms conflict into security and facilitates and sustains local and global peace. They estimate that by 2050, the world will contain 9.8 billion people. Until then, if they can educate the tipping point, which is 30% or 2.4 billion people, in dialogue, the whole world will change the way they relate and replace conflict with peace everywhere. Come join the movement.
I would like to hear from you. My articles appear weekly on my website, www.MenAlive.com. Drop me a note at Jed@MenAlive.com.
