The New Blueprint

One of my favorite writer/thinker/activist on the net is Ran Prieur. Ran has successfully “Dropped out” accomplishing the same freedom to enrich ones consciousness that Thoreau spoke of when he said, “Give me the poverty that enjoys true wealth.” Ran’s latest essay, “Beyond Civilized and Primitive” is a true gift of insight. Fundamentally, there is a problem with the argument made by those who think that we can solve the problems of civilization by going back to a more primitive society. Ran confronts the issue of Post-civilized society heads on and gives some very thought provoking insights on how humankind can evolve. This essay has reaffirmed my belief that we can take steps today that will improve our future without becoming Neo-Tribalist. Here is an excerpt if this post hasn’t convinced you to read it:

We must apply intelligent selection to technology, but we aren’t really worried that the neighboring village will reinvent metalworking and massacre our children with swords. We just want bulldozers to stop turning grassy fields into dreadful suburbs, and we want urban spaces to be made for people not cars, and we want to turn off the TV, and take down the surveillance cameras, and do meaningful work instead of sitting in windowless office dungeons rearranging abstractions to pay off loans incurred getting our spirits broken.

We like ice cream and hot baths and sailing ships and recorded music and the internet, but we worry that we can’t have them without exterminating half the species on Earth, or exploiting Asian sweatshop workers, or dumping so many toxins that we all get cancer, or overextending our system so far that it crashes and we get eaten by roving gangs.

I just added another story called “Three Brothers.” I tried to reveal a wider perspective on civilization, how it came into play and how it may pass. This story may spark the argument that dualistic thinking is a product of our civilization and did not exist before our dominant culture took over the planet. My counterargument is that before we ate “the apple”, and started developing society and technology beyond our wisdom, we were controlled creatures. It wasn’t until we became autonomous from nature that we started experiencing life in relative terms. When we were governed by the laws of nature, we were whole. When we separated ourselves, we we became a divided species. I think the profound point here is that we can take over every corner of this planet, we will suffer great consequences, but regardless we can do it. We have free will, consciousness, autonomy, whatever you want to call it. There was a time when humans could not do this, they did not have the food supply and technology to achieve this feat, they were restricted by the natural world and their own abilities. Then there was a culmination of agriculture, technology, and communication which opened a door for a new way of existence. Because of the doorway we opened, over 10,000 years ago, we will soon be able to open another door, but this will only happen because we were able to master the autonomy (free will) that we achieved in this phase of humanity’s existence.