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Nature
and Civilisation
A
Life -Threatening Conflict and the Way of
Survival
-
Alienation of Humanity and Possibilities for Healing
-
by
Wolfgang Fischer
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Julius
Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who invented the atomic
bomb, shaken by the catastrophes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
describes how military authorities and considerations of
expediency had clandestinely invaded certain sciences and
robbed them of their independence. This development spurs
Oppenheimer to personal action. He draws attention to the
altered quality of the new weapons of mass destruction. He
attempts to initiate peace talks and to prevent the hydrogen
bomb.
Yet
he is overtaken by historical events. In 1954 the US Atomic
Energy Commission, accusing him of a lack of loyalty towards
the government, cites Oppenheimer before a committee of
inquiry. Although he explains his ethical motivation, his
security guarantee is rescinded, which in effect amounts to
public ostracism. Once again the conflict of interest
between the individual and government institutions has come
out into the open, thus threatening the continuity of social
evolution.
Today
the close connectedness of our economy, the sciences and the
ruling powers (such as the state and the military) with
social institutions providing education or guidance, such as
the churches, the school system and the universities, has
become quite evident. Yet the average citizen will hardly be
aware of the full implications of this - namely, of the
general transfer of interest, away from interest in our
community to an 'alienated' interest in power or
money.
Besides,
the character of what is considered 'scientific' is
traditionally defined, among other things, by experimental
repeatability and statistical frequency curves as proof of
relevance. Individual cases fall through this scientific
mesh and are therefore ignored; thus the total uniqueness of
an individual life, too, is not considered relevant. On the
other hand, scientific exploration tends to focus on detail
to such an extent that the total view of the aim and object
of its investigation - namely, the organisation and function
of Nature as our record-able and understandable environment
- is completely obscured.
Our
metaphysical concepts, moreover, being mostly unreal, we
imagine ourselves outside any of those spheres and
dimensions we may investigate and beyond any personal
responsibility for them. Cut off without any inner
connection and caught up in the illusion of omnipotence, we
fail to see how we are actually embedded in the material we
are analysing. (And which nowadays we are beginning to
distort down to the smallest detail, as is proved all around
us by the practice of genetic engineering.) Worshipping the
illusion of a fictitious 'progress' whilst never
acknowledging our Source and our Oneness with Nature, we are
in a sense acting suicidally.
Thus,
too, the self-generated consequences of human thought and
action - which by now extend to the micro- as well as the
macrocosm - fail to cause us to feel personally concerned.
And few of us even think of questioning, let alone changing
the causal social conditions which are rooted in every one
of us. In any real sense, hardly anyone feels to be part of
the cause of what's happening - most will rather see
themselves as being fate-afflicted and suffering observers.
And this again has its cause in our social systems. They
have no inherent interest in disclosing to the individual
his/her factual possibilities let alone in extending these
(although according to the German constitution (§21 GG)
this should be one of the tasks of the political
parties).
What
is occurring in our social systems is a shift of interest,
so slow as to be barely noticeable, away from a responsible
diversity of life towards an irresponsible simplicity of
power gain and business interests. This process, potentially
fatal as it is, is too gradual to be even noticed by most
people. Its subliminal dynamics is apt to bypass their
awareness; in most cases it is not even sensed.
One
reason for this is that, perception being related
physiologically to the senses, human awareness will respond
more quickly and easily to sudden changes in external
happenings than to those flowing slowly and constantly.
Changes in external conditions or stimuli which occur in
steps so tiny as to be barely noticeable, come close to
monotony - which is known to paralyse, making us inattentive
and tired. Calculated monotony will put people into a daze
(hypnosis).
The
state of our environment as well as the desolate social
conditions on the planet are proof that we have already
slipped into a life-threatening daze. It's true that after
every major catastrophe we are briefly aroused, but we then
tend to helplessly misunderstand it as a 'blow of fate'. We
thus irresponsibly minimise the effect of the thinking and
acting of the inhabitants of the industrialised world as the
root cause of so many calamities. We blame 'chance' or a
magical fate, whilst continuing to hide behind all our so
far pursued interests and considerations of expediency. The
motivations of personal or social objectives created by
ourselves remain outside our awareness.
As
recent analyses show, a contributing factor to the demise of
the Soviet system were the long-term consequences of the
environmental changes it had generated. Yet in the
industrialised nations most politicians still luxuriate in
an illusory consumption ideology which is depleting our last
resources; and this goes hand in hand with worshipping an
idyllic freedom ideal (freedom of action and of commerce)
which has long ceased to serve anything but the exclusive
interests of capital.
Certain
ideas and demands relating to the social responsibility of
capital, to disarmament and ecology, have been voiced for
decades; these days, when at last they might be put into
practice, they are made out to be imaginary threats. We are
told that ecological considerations or the 'social safety
net' are too costly. Armies which should be protecting
national boundaries are turned into international peace-
keeping forces that serve to secure access to the world's
resources for the industrialised nations. An obscure
juggling with figures which, computed in the stock
exchanges, are raining down upon us in hourly news
bulletins, serves to justify 'necessities' of acting which
but distract from the actually required measures - measures
that might ensure a continuance of true liberty and a
harmonious diversity of life on earth. Humanistic ideas and
objectives championing a more humane system are ridiculed or
criminalised, up to the politically sanctioned murder of
their protagonists.
Throughout
a large part of history, man-made power systems have been
spreading fear in their efforts to maintain if not extend
the social status quo at the cost of a natural, vigorous
plurality. Bureaucratic organisations like today in
Washington, New York or Brussels are developing blue-prints
and standards that are out of tune with the requirements of
a creative overall organisation of life. The world's
politicians are cleverly making use of the media in talking
of human rights and loudly proclaiming the need for freedom
and peace. In contrast to this, however, their countries'
economies are based to a large extent on arms production as
well as trade with means that have a widely deleterious
effect. This has caused a conflict which, attacking the
processes of ecological and social equilibrium of our
environment, is threatening the very survival of our
planet.
In
the following pages I shall attempt a metapsychological
analysis and diagnosis of the monotonous, devitalising
character of the dynamics of the shift of interest described
above. This will, I hope, provide a clear insight into the
correlation between a certain kind of thinking and acting
and the universally increasing dilemma thrust upon us
through the destruction of certain essential basics of life.
To uncover more deeply rooted motivations it seems useful to
collect findings from which general concepts can be
developed that may give rise to new perspectives:
I
Consciousness
Consciousness
as an integral mind-body function and organisation of the
human individual constitutes an individual microcosm of
values, concepts and aspirations (human c.n.s.).
II
Civilisation
Civilisation
as an integral function and organisation of social
connections constitutes a social microcosm of values,
concepts and aspirations.
III
Life
The
vital drive of plants stored in the chromosomes of the
cell nuclei as well as the instinct of animals which thus
becomes possible, in its integrative life function and
organisation constitutes a fine-tuned biological
microcosm ( DNA - c.n.s.)
IV
Nature
The
integrative interplay of all organic elements, living or
dead, as well as all inorganic ones, with the dynamic
cycles of planet Earth, such as weather, time etc.
represents a biological macrocosm.
V
Creativity
The
planetary interplay of the lunar orbit around the earth,
the orbit of the earth and planets around the sun and the
sun's pendulous movement around the level of our galaxy,
in linkage with all other intergalactic interferences
represents the astronomic/ astrological macrocosm - the
true Heaven/ Nirvana/ Divinity as understood by the
religions.
The
total interference of this macrocosm develops into a
basic bio-generative vibration of life.
VI
Evolution
The
ecologically social equilibrium within the biological
macrocosm of Nature and its conformity with the dynamic
principles governing the basic bio-generative vibration
guarantees a healthy, pluralistic development of life on
earth, the Evolution.
Health
may therefore be defined as the unimpeded, freely
self-regulating interplay of the micro- and macrocosms
here described.
VII
The Disturbance
Past
and present are characterised by the interplay of healthy
developments with pathological excesses. Both directions
and possibilities coexist simultaneously in close
interrelationship. Today however, the potential of
manifested excesses is beginning to endanger the
possibilities of health-restoring compensation on a
global scale. This poses the threat of total annihilation
of higher developed life forms on our planet through life
itself.
Disease
and its consequences may be defined as a disturbance,
caused by alien interests, of the unimpeded interplay of
the cosms here described.
VIII
Cause-and-Effect Connections
The
processes of life constitute a cybernetically
self-regulating development. In nature such a development
is marked by the fact that all involved processes are
happening within the context of a meaningful
interrelationship. They promote and limit each other in a
self-regulatory manner: never as yet has a tree grown
into the sky.
In
a natural development the desired value corresponds to
the self-regulating progress of a healthy bio-sphere and
it's growing complexity, whereas the actual value of a
certain point in historical time is determined by the
situation of the world at precisely that point in time.
For an understanding of the dynamic processes of
adjustment between actual state and desired progression
it is necessary to recognise the regulating quantities of
the feed-back processes involved in their overall
dynamics.
IX
The Regulating Quantities
We
may differentiate between existent and unchangeable
regulating quantities and those which can be moved and
manipulated. What appears as existent and unchangeable
through life itself is the biogenerative dynamics of the
stars. The individual, social and biological microcosm as
well as the biological macrocosm have been shown to be
variable and open to manipulation.
The
causal impulses of all techniques affecting the very
foundations of life, - such as genetic engineering,
nuclear technology, the manner in which global economy is
conducted and so forth - originate solely in the
individual microcosm of the human brain. Any impulses
coming from any other sphere should be recognised as
re-actions to actions originating in the activities of
the human psyche. Of all creatures on earth man today is
the only one to actively influence the changeable spheres
of his world by act of volition. This leaves him clearly
as the sole manipulating factor in the regulatory order
of the atmosphere.
The
highest potential for disturbance emanates from the world
powers who are constantly extending their influence all over
the globe. However, as long as man, in blindness to the
multidimensional principles and their cosmic overall
organisation, fails to learn to conduct himself in
accordance with its laws, he will again and again run the
risk of disturbing existent creative connections and
developments. In ruthless pursuit of money and power
governed by a belief in 'progress' which is resulting in the
devastation of the planet, he is blocking healthy tendencies
and creating or aggravating pathological developments
instead. Afterwards he is surprised about spontaneous and in
his deluded opinion 'destructive' processes in which the
energies blocked (by noone else but himself) seek explosive
discharge.
All
the (disturbance) impulses of the described processes are
happening within the above-mentioned microcosms and thereby
also touch the biological macrocosm of Nature. In this
process the impulses mutually influence each other with the
aim of eliminating any disturbances and facilitating an
undisturbed interplay of all participants.
Each
impulse changing an existing (dis)order is a disturbing or
regulating impulse. However, we may assess its quality
solely in relation to the existing dynamics of the
biogenerative basic oscillation of creativity as defined by
life, not according to the changing interests of the times,
such as fashion or power. The principles of the astronomical
macrocosm alone determine the objectives of the natural
feed-back processes within the basic laws of
physics.
In
the face of the present global situation, man-made standards
and principles of judgment or measuring are proving to be
totally underdeveloped and immature, unduly subservient as
they are to alien interests. The bio-social condition of our
planet is dependent on human intention and motivation. If we
aim for a peaceful world, we need to start with the
individual.
Any
disturbance or disease in the case of the individual is due
to an interruption of the fruitful feedback-providing
contact within the microcosms of the biological macrocosm.
Its cause is a missing congruence between the genetic
principles and the diverse realities of the individual, as
well as social, microcosms.
The
faulty and inadequate mind-body function and organisation of
the individual is proof that he is ‚unfinished'.
Furthermore the species man has so far failed to fully
develop his species-preserving or social instinct.
Neoliberal globalization even causes a ‚roll back' of
social gains within human society. Global manipulations are
causing conflict and disharmony within the social and
biological cosms. Nature's adjustment processes are causing
individual as well as social diseases. Through these, Nature
is seeking to protect itself against the threats caused by
man. Specific examples are epidemics, AIDS or cancer;
general examples are found in other forms of disease, in
accidents, 'chance', 'fate' as well as atmospheric, natural
or environmental disasters.
Social
disease is characterised by a kind of contact within the
social executive and regulatory authorities where fruitful
feedback is impeded. Moreover, these authorities have a
disturbed relationship with, or disturbing influence upon,
the biological micro- and macrocosms. Most legislative
actions fail to consider the interests of life, serving
power interests instead. As a result, Life in the form of
bacteria, viruses, constitutional frailty etc., and Nature
utilising environmental disasters - both authorised by the
creativity of Evolution - intervene in the human spheres to
ensure the goal of integrating the species homo sapiens into
the the evolutionary family. Even terrorism growing on the
ground of humiliation and suppression is serving the same
peaceful object.
The
correspondence in the social sphere to the disintegration of
the mind-body functions in the individual is a social system
whose culture endangers the health of Nature. A pathological
consciousness (mental illness, paranoia) and a defective
civilisation both produce illness, social unrest and
ecological imbalance. This concerns all physical-material as
well as the spiritual-mental-energetic dimensions of
life.
The
processes of adjustment to the objectives of a creative
social evolution triggered by the present desolate state of
global society may be seen as maturing processes.
This makes it plain that culture can naturally be changed in
the direction of healing solely through a maturing process
of the individual consciousness. For after all, the
respective social reality only comes into being through the
collaboration of the human individuals there united.
Tragically,
however, in human history, at least since the rise of the
patriarchate - a form of society where everything new is
supposed to originate in the male - the consciousness of the
power elites is the life-opposing factor (in the sense of
turning Nature upside-down) which is blocking any healthy
development toward individual as well as social maturity.
Ideas from individual worlds that do not fit into the
concept of those in power are ruthlessly persecuted and
criminalised. The behaviour of the power apparatus may be
compared to that of an organism which allergically and
panic-stricken, is attacking any infiltrating alien cells,
isolating and dissolving them, and thereby causing mortal
danger to itself.
The
closed-off, sick consciousness of the individual can respond
to new ideas with the same intolerance as dogmatically
organised institutions. Mental rigidity, death and disease,
revolution and war are the consequences of blindly
power-crazed behaviour of a human psyche that is still
immature in the sense of social evolution. Evolution,
however, cannot be stopped.
If
using our own history to consider the link between
individual thought and action and social events, i.e. if
feeling personally concerned and jointly committed, we
refuse to keep marching in step with the fellow-travelling
masses, we will be able to initiate certain learning
processes. With their help, then, further processes of
maturing and development will occur more smoothly and
healthily.
And
this again will have certain effects on society. Let's face
it: historical facts - whether achievements or disastrous
failures - always result solely through the interplay of the
thoughts and actions of individual members of society. Any
glossing over of one's own achievements, any rewriting of
history or casting blame on individual scapegoats only
serves to confuse and obscure our vision and inhibit
possible learning processes.
The
same goes for the tendency to idealise, to hero-worship or
to belittle, e.g.: 'Alexander the Great was a good general,
Djingis Khan an evil one'. We tend to honour murderers,
gangsters and exploiters, turning a blind eye to their
crimes concerning social property (= the resources of Nature
and our planet), dedicating to them streets and celebrations
whereas at the same time criminalising if not killing
reformers for posing a threat to existing power systems -
and in all this we act contrary to our very own
chances.
Take
Nature as an example. In the vital processes of Nature -
before the arrival of man - the interplay of the
multiplicity of species may be compared to an acracy an
empty space devoid of all humans, of any kind of structure
or institution, where each individual species is determined
by its vital drive or instinct. We may visualise this space
as a morpho- and psychogenetic ocean whose generative
potency rests upon the smooth interplay of the biological
cosms (DNA and c.n.s. and Nature) and the macrocosm of the
stars. The absence of domination, of any structure or
institution supporting or designed to perpetuate it - all
products of the still immature individual microcosm (human
c.n.s.) - guarantees a resonant, unadulterated exchange of
impulses and information between all the cosms. The
voluntary subordination (free of any alien interests or
disturbances) of the various species families to the finely
tuned interplay between vital drive (plants) and
instinctively correct animal conduct, and the perfectly
organised microcosm of the chromosomes, ensures the
functioning of the circulatory and regulatory systems and
networks which Nature builds upon.
Or
at any rate, was able to build upon - until man began to
interfere in Nature creating changes. Changes to the extent
of today even trying to alter its basic nuclear and genetic
structures, thus creating a kind of anti-Nature which
appears no longer compatible with the realm of Nature
evolved through millions of years. This is harbouring a
vastly destructive potential: genetically modified seeds in
the second generation have lost the ability to germinate;
the caterpillar of the Monarch butterfly dies when feeding
on pollen of genetically modified maize (which is already
being commercially cultivated in the USA). There has been
absolutely no research regarding the behaviour and effects
of genetically altered structures in the food chain - or
else, any possibly existing research results unfavourable to
the industry concerned, will have been
suppressed.
In
the 'minority world's' power centres the human species,
arrogant and utterly egocentric, in its immature way of
living has to this day, notwithstanding all detail
discoveries made by science, failed to develop an awareness
of the overall processes happening on this earth. Global
proof of this is the lack of instinct and responsibility the
effects of economical theories are exhibiting in exploiting
the living potential on our planet.
Whatever
their creed or religious denomination, most 'civilized'
people think and act without any religion in the sense of
re-ligio, i.e. failing to re-align themselves to the
universal condition or reflect back upon the causes of the
living whole. The freedom demanded by the people of the
leading nations, in its lack of resonance and responsibility
is shown to be nothing but an illusory detachment from
Nature, serving specific interests and hostile to life.
However,
like it or not, we are all part of Nature; therefore this
kind of freedom, each time it is acting against Nature, will
as a result provoke Nature's processes of adjustment.
However, since this connection is not perceived or
acknowledged, these will then be regarded as 'blows of
fate'.
Throughout
history the various religions have sought to provide false
existential explanations in the form of metaphysical
reflections. They describe an unreal dynamics of existence
by means of concepts such as karma, Paradise and Hell, piety
and sin, God's reward and God's punishment. If the state of
our planet is a measure of their success, all these
scenarios believed until now have been miserable failures.
Future analysis therefore need to overcome the historical
paradigms so as to let us see who is actually causing what's
happening. Unless our reflections include ourselves, we will
miss the last opportunity to unmask ourselves as the
perpetrators.
The
verbal references to God frequently made by the US president
and other public figures can be regarded as totally
antiquated and hypocritical. For they prevent us from
recognising that it is patriarchally formed civilisation
itself which, through is anti-Nature stance provoking a need
for adjustment, is causing humanity's disasters such as war,
social misery and ecological catastrophes.
It
seems to me that the sole meaning of the home-made disasters
befalling humanity can be that we should learn from it, in
case we would like to survive! Yet this would presuppose a
willingness to learn - and to be openly and honestly
prepared to accept responsibility, for what has happened in
the past as well as for what is happening now. At present
many people, either through ignorance or for the sake of
financial or political gain, are still shifting all
responsibility on to certain gods, political authorities or
other illusory powers. In this way they deprive themselves
of an active ability to learn as well as any possibility to
achieve a healthy change in their behaviour and life.
Such
rejection of responsibility, however, has the effect of
leaving a noticeable emptiness in the mind. This is then
filled with certain delusive ideas of objectives that seem
to provide a substitute for the missing connection with
reality - with paranoid concepts which, fuelled by an
addiction to power, or more money, impede the specifically
human evolution of the psyche. Thus we are dozing off
towards ever more destructive disasters.
The
way of living of white man's global civilisation is today
still ruled by Descartes' motto: 'cogito, ergo sum - I
think, therefore I am'. For centuries this has been
governing our thoughts and conduct. 'Civilized' humans are
developing their intellect, placing absolute trust in the
power of their mind (supposedly so superior to that of
animals!), and advancing their technological potential to
the point of remodelling the cudgel of the biblical Cain
into a very real instrument for creating global holocaust.
Yet feeling and a sensitive awareness of their own position
within the totality of Nature is eliminated. We are refusing
to acknowledge the reality of the inherent inter-connection
and natural determinedness that underlies everything. Thus
we continue to travel along the traditional path of the
archaic lonely warrior who, valuing human life infinitely
more highly than any other life but failing to perceive how
closely the species man is interwoven with the system of
Nature, regards Nature as dangerous and in need of
improvement.
This
kind of civilisation totally lacks the mental maturity that
would enable it to recognise the equal value of all life.
Much easier to accept ideas which distract from the
realisation of this oneness and maybe promise personal
advantages into the bargain - such as: 'Wealth signifies
being beloved by God', or: 'The killing of infidels
guarantees a place in Paradise'. Such beliefs generate
shadows in the social sphere, inducing the individuals to
compete, with the result of gambling away their
lives.
In
a state of arrogant delusion embracing a man-centred ethics,
all of us together have in the course of history globally
realised a form of society which has translated murderous
arrogance into political reality. We need to acknowledge
this tangible historical background to be able to learn from
it. We need to accept as a fact that Nature is being
destroyed by modern civilisation and that this civilisation
is manifestly counter-productive with regard to naturally
creative and self-regulating conditions. Only then will we
be able to cease making an ominous 'fate' responsible for
our problems.
The
context of destructive and antisocial conditions
characterising Western civilisation can only be maintained
because the leading sections of society have succumbed to
the ruling ideology and through their own attitude are
supporting it (according to Noam Chomsky most intellectuals
only serve as modern high priests to establishment and main
stream thinking). This applies, for example, to the medical
profession (cronyism with drug companies and
politico-economic establishment rather than supporting
patients), to lawyers (the rich/ powerful get better
protection at any time than the poor/ weak), to
intellectuals (rejection of the kind of idealism which might
lead to new perspectives for the future of a humanity in
tune with Nature), to journalists (sensational reporting
tends to appeal to lower emotions than would informing the
public), politicians (addiction to temptations of power and
money whilst losing sight of the mandate of furthering the
public welfare), scientists (accumulation of detail
knowledge and its utilisation in a manner that negates vital
connections), corporate executives (the welfare of the
corporation precedes if not opposes the common weal),
educationists, public servants and functionaries (often
acting, like everyone else, contrary to their innermost
convictions), and even to the clergy (claiming to represent
a power they themselves have constructed in opposition to
the development of a harmonious human relationship with
Nature or with those of different faith). A view free of
ideological blinkers will enable us to perceive that social
conditions in our times are the result of the (active or
passive) cooperation of innumerable individuals assembled
around the banner of democracy, progress, human rights and
freedom within a liberal culture of consumerism.
The
counter-ideology of state communism has not been any better
than the powerful 'culture' of capital, yet its demise has
provided the latter with a welcome opportunity to present
itself globally as superior and the only possible
alternative. Now this capitalist anti-culture in its
abnormality and arrogant deviousness threatens to establish
itself even more firmly (NATO's aggression against Serbia,
without having received any public legitimation, was made
out to be a communal reaction of the world against evil,
whilst far worse atrocities in East Asia or Africa, in
countries not linked up with economic interests, remained
unpunished). In the long run, the idolisation of capital is
endangering the very continuance of the variety of life on
our planet.
Yet
Evolution has not yet ended, nor has man reached the
maturity of his social dimension. Any rigidification may
well be considered as a helpful sign that severe shocks are
to be expected. The cocoon of the caterpillar is already
marked by the inevitable fate of being split open by the
butterfly.
However,
the apocalyptic explosion by means of which Nature will seek
to rid itself of the obstructions and constraints placed
upon it by our civilisation may yet be avoided. Each one of
us can contribute to our rescue through an open and
sensitive attitude which, fuelled by a feeling of personal
concern, will reject the functioning daily demanded from us
by the ruling social structures.
Let
us be clear, for a start, that the present state of our
world, devoid as it is of meaning and purpose, is to a large
extent the problem of a lack of willingness to accept
responsibility. Any personal responsibility is relegated by
immature, fearful and aggressive individuals in blindness to
their own interests to alien authorities. Human immaturity
and a lack of moral courage point to a loss of identity
whilst fear may be seen as indication of lacking or wrongly
developed self-assurance.
I
hereby call upon intellectuals, writers and journalists to
inform the public clearly and thoroughly about these
circumstances.
A
lack of self-assurance or missing sense of personal identity
is based upon the subjective feeling of being separated from
something that may be experienced as strong and
self-sufficiently one's own. The failure to recognise
humanity's close interdependency with Nature - a view
supported by many religions, including Christianity -
inevitably generates fear. Certain social developments, such
as recently in the capitalist system the systematic
separation of people from their means of production, have
further consolidated this state. In the end result it
culminates in the complete alienation of man from himself
and Nature, inevitably leading to a dependency on substitute
worlds (drugs, the power of state and religion, money and
matter).
Alienation
signifies that the connection to the Source is broken.
Alienated man neither knows his Self nor where he came from
or is going to. His life is no longer authentic but marked
by substitutes. Religious authorities may deceive him into
thinking there is a connection with God, whilst the state
may offer an illusory connection with order and progress;
and he will pay them tribute financially, thereby imagining
his soul to be insured and taken care of. But he has stopped
thinking for himself; and the resulting emptiness produces
fear and a loss of all sense of direction.
Fear,
stemming from such deep insecurity, makes people submissive
to anything and anyone promising release from this state.
Instead of being born into a healthy environment of a
society at one with Nature, we have all been thrown into the
fear-producing environment of the ruling ideologies and
religions where fear is inducing us to reject our innate
responsibility and transfer it onto separate, anonymous
authorities.
Yet
in the sphere of substitutes we have created in place of
Nature not only responsibility but parts of life itself are
transferred to these authorities. In themselves lifeless,
they are endowed with life by us selling to them our vital
energies. In the end it is no longer we ourselves who
produce effects but these faceless authorities and
institutions - governments, banks, corporations, the stock
exchange, and their laws and contracts. Though in reality
the causes lie in the individuals, the effects arise
seemingly without our direct involvement in the form of
developments brought about by social forces and
aberrations.
The
confusing connection between cause and effect characterises
our socio-economic reality to this day. The sell-out of
individual responsibility to the authorities in power is a
world-wide phenomenon, but the individuals themselves remain
unaware of it. It produces constraints that have powerful
effects, which people then assume to be natural and
therefore fateful and inevitable. Yet constraints will
always build pressure in pushing for adjustment.
So
it is necessary to attack these constraints by their roots.
We need to accept and admit that we as individuals, either
actively or as passive fellow-travellers, ourselves shape
our history. People need to recognise that today's
constraints, the planning of the military, the
consumption-oriented resource exploitation that forms the
basis of the global economy and the shifting of problems
which then remain unsolved, are threatening to annihilate
precisely those who are causing the whole disaster: humanity
itself, immature as it still is.
We
might still escape this fatal end if we make haste to raise
ourselves from the general doze by which we are struck down.
We need to feel jointly concerned as individuals, and out of
this concern take up responsibility. Human history may be
considered as a process of increasing self-awareness in all
dimensions. Once we discard any ideologically coloured
glasses, we will be able to recognise the connections
between causes and effects.
In
full and critical awareness, unhampered by any institutional
roles, accepting our own human responsibility, we are
enabled to learn from joy and suffering at the moment when
these occur. Only such direct learning from the
unadulterated feeling of the moment, without any dogmatic
detour, will enable us to find our own personal identity in
which we can accept personal responsibility. Sensitivity
creates identity. Feeling personally concerned we become
empowered to create change.
From
the beginning of history each individual has been carrying
within themselves his/ her identity as a seed, a natural
tendency toward personal authority. This authority has long
been waiting for its liberation and unfoldment. The
authority of the basic biogenerative vibration of the
universal Whole has been radiating and resounding 'through'
billions of people, seeking its own resonance within them,
throughout the course of all individual and historical
processes of development. The aim is their maturing into
fully responsible individual persons (personare = 'sound
through') via the general maturing process of humanity.
This
personal responsibility requires the self-assured banishment
of any alien authority from one's life. It implies a refusal
to make one's own vital energy subservient to any social
institutions and authorities whose actions are basically
motivated by their craving for material profit or power. The
members of the protest movement in the former GDR can serve
as an example. Yet their success was limited by the
dominating structures within the German Federal Republic -
an indication of the need for supporting the natural
polyarchy of the biological macrocosm of Nature through the
creation of a political space free of such
structures.
Such
a social space is by no means, as is often suggested, a
dream about all kinds of 'liberal' movements that ultimately
dissolve in general chaos. Nor is it devoid of all
regulating institutions. However, any bureaucracies and
coordination centres there will no longer lead a separate
existence marked by their craving for power, but will solely
serve purposes of regulation in the public interest. The
acceptance of personal responsibility on the lowest level
will cause any regulating structures to be aware and
flexible; in their effects they will constantly be adjusted
to accommodate common needs. The functioning and
organisation of the peoples' representatives, too, will be
measured by the common weal, i.e. by the extent to which
they are fostering a fruitful harmony between man and
Nature. They will exhibit an aware sensibility towards
reality rather than be, as nowadays, rigidly clinging to
wealth and power in a stubborn pursuit of, and servitude to,
particularised interests.
These
days only that intellectual or politician can be said to be
facing realities who is no longer trapped in the old
delusory paradigms and patterns of acting, nor lacks the
courage of his own convictions. Such a person will clearly
perceive what course of action needs to be followed to find
a way out of today's destructive and counterproductive
political structures. It is still possible to take the long
overdue decision between the priorities of ecology and
economy, between life and domination, for the sake of of
planetary survival - and to do so before the cosmic dynamics
pronounce their verdict about the now globally enforced
white man's way of living causing the trouble-source
humanity to be eliminated.
The
lack of orientation and the inadequacy of their value
standards which characterises today's industrialised nations
has led to a failure of the legislative in all relevant
spheres of economics and technology. As a result, the power
and pseudo-responsibility given to the executive has
increased beyond all proportions. At the same time the
increase in the power of the multinationals with their
international interconnections and treaties (NAFTA, WTO's
initiatives) has degraded national governments into being
their puppets, so that election results have lost their
relevance. Corporate Global Players act without any
democratic controls, on the contrary, they control world
politics. This again is an indication that the old
democracies have failed.
The
only guarantee of overcoming the dangerous lack of
orientation lies in an awakening of personal concern in the
individual, coupled with their active rejection of the
traditional political system and a fruitful exchange of
ideas with all like-minded spirits. This will create an ever
growing space of mental clarity, where existing laws,
international treaties, ideas and new projects can be
discussed and later realised, enabling the world's
population to live together peacefully within the context of
Nature as it is.
Any
idea will here be discussed and measured in the context of
the global Whole. No longer will fertile ideas be
incarcerated or destroyed by inquisitions but on the
contrary, those clashing with the still established old
order will be especially welcome. The liberation of mind and
spirit will create more space and ever new ideas. The
universal exchange of ideas will enable movement and
feed-back to occur and guarantee the necessary exchange of
information within the functioning of the cosms earlier
described.
In
this free flow, unimpeded by any blockages, obstructions or
polarities, resonance will be able to occur. And this will
be experienced as life resonance, personally and in the
present moment, creating increasing trust that the path
begun is the right one, affirming an inner faith (which can
'move mountains') free of any dogma. It will generate inner
images to motivate us and direct our will. Whatever is thus
created by our will, will be personally felt, along with
responsibility for it.
This
sensitivity will ensure the instant, authentic feed-back
concerning whatever is happening which Nature demands. It is
only on the basis of such sensitive feed-back that the
cultural process of our learning about the specifically
human interrelation with Nature can occur.
Fear
will dissolve and tolerance grow in this new environment. It
will form the basis for trust in life itself, leading to an
inner peace such as has always been radiating from the faces
of indigenous people in tune with Nature. Consequently we
will also nurture the innate trust of our children. Trusting
in them, we will let them grow and mature. Our own
experiences we will convey to them personally, in tune with
ourselves. We will not exclude them from anything nor limit
them in any way.
Being
thus raised in openness, truthfully and straight, the rising
generation will retain their innate trust coupled with a
healthy power of discernment, and the adults, a life-long
openness for new things. Life will heal itself. The species
man will reach their prophesied goal as humanity and Nature
are at peace. It will be the end of all addictions, all
killing and misery.
It
will be the end, too, of a confusing ethics of conscience
with ever changing polarities. Of an ethics whose dazzling
values in the course of the centuries have benefited some
and disadvantaged others - a most deceptive ethics that has
been with us from the time of the first patriarchally ruled
tribes via the torture chambers and wars of dogmatic
ideologies up to the verge of ruining our last chance of
becoming truly human.
And
it will be the end of all nostalgia, and of a suffering
which to this day is still glorified (as in: veneration of
the cross, stiff upper lip, 'steel yourself!').
It
is high time that we developed an ethics sufficiently
transparent, honest and clear for each life and each value
to find their rightful place within the universal processes
of Nature. This is the beginning of an Evolutionary ethics,
one that remains open for new impulses and information from
the multidimensional spheres of life as well as the
Universal Source.
To
gain a clearer picture of this Universal Source we need to
recognise and uncover the basic natural interrelationship
between world view and world reality. At the same time we
need to clarify the connection between mind and body so as
to render transparent the causes and relationships of all
information.
Mass
and energy are changeable into each other, the proof of
which was given by Einstein. The relation between matter and
energy is determined by the astronomically large factor of
the speed of light. Yet the light determines not only their
interrelation but also the mutation of the one sphere into
the other, in this way mediating between them, establishing
a connection between mass and energy through its vibration
and ensuring the mutability of the dimensions.
The
photons which appear as mediators between these are bearers
of information about a basic cosmic Cause. This information
ensures the interconnection and linkage between all the
diametrically opposed orders and quantities on their way
through the history of the galaxies.
The
conformity with natural law in the sphere of physics may
inspire us to reflect upon the connection between the mental
and the physical dimensions. The humanities regard logos,
the power of ideas, concepts or entire world views, as the
bearer of information between the two spheres. It determines
the material, social and cultural realisation of what is in
the mind. And each newly created reality again delivers new
information to the mental world, who is then able to use
this information for creating new realities.
Only
when we perceive reality as it truly is, and not as we have
learned (through our culture, religion, ideology, scientific
views etc.) to think how it is - only then do we have
a chance of acquiring authentic information about our world.
And only such authentic information will give rise to
motivations and behaviour patterns that are in harmony with
the requirements of Nature.
Sweet
things will taste sweet and bitter things bitter so long as
we do not hand down wrong concepts about the reality of
bitter and sweet. Only the correspondence of concepts and
reality prevents the split in our consciousness which will
arise when we take mental concepts for real although they
aren't true (e. g. considering to be sweet that which is in
fact bitter, even though we may not even like the taste).
Only when concept and reality are identical can we pronounce
something as 'right' or 'correct'. Only the correspondence
of human ideas about life with the conditions of Nature will
enable humans and their life to be authentic.
It
is, then, not a question of either the devil or any other
non-human force exerting a deceiving, distorting and
confusing influence over humanity. No, it is man himself who
has become the source of his illusions and misinformation.
His immature or even insane ideology having been handed down
for generations has left his descendants unable to develop
autonomy, keeping them dependent instead.
Dependence
creates fear of loss, and this again will give rise to a
craving for power and its reverse, the craving for
submission. In both these cravings we find the source of all
destructiveness.
Life
and Nature are one, universally creative and value-free. Any
dogmatic blocking of life experience and the process of
learning from it must lead to destruction in the material
and cultural world, to insanity being regarded as normal and
to the exchange of substitutes for reality. However, when
the view of life as it is in reality remains unobstructed by
any ideology, all life experience will benefit us and foster
our authenticity. Once tradition ceases to impose its
life-denying pseudo-reality and divisive dominating (divide
et impera!) structures onto our children in the process of
raising them, reality can again be experienced as it is in
truth, and the vicious circle of destructiveness and
violence that has marked human history to this day will be
broken.
Only
at this point does Popper's theory of mistake correction
apply. The system-immanent mistake correction
postulated by Popper will lead towards social evolution
and an improved world for all only where possible
understanding is not blocked by a craving for profit or
power and where the status quo can actually be called
into question.
The
corrective checks and balances pertaining to the ruling
system have some difficulty with humanity's naturally
evolved potential that gives us the freedom to choose
whether to see or not. This is because the correctives
pertaining to the system will only function on condition
that the antennae has not been manipulated or switched
off, the senses not been blinded, deafened or in some
other way deceived.
This
is the very point where we need to start, for in our
present society, prepared for violence and dominated by
neo-liberal capitalist ideology as it is, our sensorium
is certainly in delirium if not even totally switched
off. The automatic correctives built into the system have
failed: Although the damage caused by the WTO-directed
global economic system is evident and palpable, we are
sitting transfixed like the rabbit under the hypnotic
stare of the snake, without making use of our instruments
of potentially alternative economic management.
If
our societies were really open and free democracies, they
would constantly provide potential alternatives balancing
out any trends that threaten to become dangerous. Yet the
system, organised in totalitarian fashion so that the
interests of a minority override those of the general
population, is rigid and deadly. It forestalls any
positive social development in the direction of a world
that would be better for everyone. The actual use of
violence ensures the exploitation of resources for
generations to come, whilst mental manipulation through
compliant media is preventing the general recognition of
these and further dangers and thereby any widespread
resistance which might form the beginning of a
much-needed corrective.
A
healthy
and fertile flow of information between the body and the
mind presupposes an undisturbed, living feed-back within the
hemispheres of the cerebrum of bodily and emotional
experiences in the interplay with endocrinal and peripheral
systems. To lead us towards a practical spirituality and a
natural religion of life, our reflections need to include
the holistic aspect of life on earth and give priority to
the biological requirements of a healthy Nature over human
concerns.
A
spirituality that is in tune with Nature is marked by the
reality of life being recorded in the structures of the
central nervous system completely and without adulteration.
Physical as well as psychological spheres of life can be
transcended in certain meditative and trance experiences
where resonance with life as such can be individually felt.
To many indigenous people this still is common knowledge and
taken for granted, only white man comes along accusing them
of barbarity and abusing them for his own
purposes.
Through
the trance experience, life is seen in a universal context
which can never be grasped through the intellect alone. Free
of domination and violence, the acratic interplay of the
individual in resonance with the universe, an authentic flow
of ideas (emotional intelligence) is created which allows
continuous evolution to manifest. A biological example for
the profound creativity of trance happenings is the sexual
union when enacted consciously and leisurely in love far
beyond mere physical satisfaction.
And
this is what the natural human maturing process will look
like:
After
the maturing period within the womb as programmed by Nature,
the infants are gently welcomed into the world. As babies
who are being carried are as much as possible in close and
loving physical contact with a parent, the bodily separation
from the mother experienced at birth will not be able to
consolidate into the painful imprint of a sense of being
lost, alone and helpless, with all its destructive
consequences (of repression and reactions to this
repression). Thus a primal split of the instinctual drive is
avoided, the uninterrupted physical contact imprinting a
sense of belonging which will eventually manifest in the
form of a healthy social drive. In a learning atmosphere
that is right and healing for them their innate trust is
able to develop further. The mental vacuum of the new-born
is gradually being filled with truthful ideas, hence with
meaning and order. Their knowledge, acquired through
unimpeded learning from practical experience, will not be
theoretical but always related to the reality of life.
This
learning process is free from the kind of insecurity arising
nowadays through the discrepancy between reality and the
ideas deemed admissible by the ruling ideology. It therefore
generates no psychological splits, fears and addictions.
Accordingly, too, the reactions based upon these fears and
addictions - so common under the constraints created as
substitutes for reality in our present fear-culture - will
not be found anywhere in a society living in tune with
Nature.
Any
philosophy of power, in its compulsive urge to maintain
itself and increase its sphere of influence, can be seen as
a conglomeration of fossilised ideas, one-sidedly
self-serving and judgmental with regard to anything outside
itself. The exclusive pursuit of power, or money, gives rise
to ideologies that, in opposition to life, falsify reality,
negating any relevant facts or relationships by punishing or
ridiculing their acceptance. Such rigidly dogmatic ideas
have the effect of obstructing Evolution and ultimately
bringing about the destruction of the very forces engaged in
utilising and spreading them.
Even
classical psychoanalysis has so far been unable to surmount
the chief hindrances on the way towards recognising this.
Being itself subservient to the ruling power structures of
society, it is offering ways of facilitating their
acceptance but never of overcoming them. To this day it
presupposes the existence of splits (like a split primitive
instinct) whilst failing to acknowledge the reality of the
pure creative life instinct, the obstruction and disturbance
of which (through anti-natural social conditions) is
responsible for the arousal of instinctual forces of all
kinds.
Only
the philosophy of a holistic, all-pervasive and universal
right to a life in tune with the laws of Nature can
guarantee that life will continue to flourish. Through its
conscious awareness of self-responsibility it will continue
to develop the ideas on which it rests.
Our
World View Creates our World Reality
In
the spirit of responsible awareness the world society will
integrate itself into the planet 'GAIA', its newly gained
self-assurance the basis for all the elements and systems of
Nature on earth creatively living together and for each
other. Gods, demigods, demons, devils and other mythological
images from the information chaos of our former shadow
consciousness, no longer being assigned responsibility nor
supported by us, will dissolve. Their dark, destructive
machinations are a thing of the past. The cosm of the human
brain sky is thoroughly illuminated. The light of creativity
inundates our cerebral hemispheres and its creative ordering
power can become the yardstick for political order in the
future.
This
yardstick will ensure the maturing of individual life, from
the central nervous system to the structures of the DNA,
into an autonomous person. The sense and purpose of
Evolution is the maintaining, developing and continued
improving of the genetic structures of the DNA universe.
Accordingly, the sense and purpose of human life is found in
the development of the individual psyche and, on the social
level, human culture. Any ideas contributing to the shaping
of culture need to be in accordance with the genetic
blueprint of the evolutionary aim.
The
destructive qualities of life are caused by our thinking
within the mental confines of the contradictory and
falsifying ideologies. Religions that postulate universes
peopled by supernatural beings (some good, some evil), by
gods or demons outside the human sphere, foster a
fear-inspiring polarisation into rigid good or evil worlds
of ideas beyond reality. The very fixation of 'good' and
'evil' assigns priority to the judging of illusory
dimensions over the consideration of very real self-created
consequences. Judging thus becomes an end in itself which
maintains the illusory polarity (monomania), thereby
preventing its overcoming.
The
confrontation generated by the thinking in terms of
'good-evil' and 'either-or' feeds our fears, causing
mistrust and defence. Mistrust and defence will lead via
insecurity and error into nonsense. Error, nonsense and lies
will cement the insane reality of injustice. In this context
of injustice and loss of orientation the reality of life can
no longer be handled as such. On the individual as well as
on the social level it is replaced by
substitutes.
Tribal
people living in harmony with Nature have always been aware
of the importance of the consequences of their actions. This
was necessary for their survival, in learning to manage
natural conditions productively and profit from Nature's
abundance. However, the connection of religion to Nature was
destroyed by a mentality which no longer acknowledged the
union of counterparts, the dynamic search for equilibrium of
complementary and proportional counterforces - like Yin/Yang
and other symbols of indigenous wisdom - as the source of
creativity. This mentality no longer acknowledged Nature as
the womb of life (matriarchy, mater - arché = having
the source in the mother) but elevated in the patriarchate
the male to the position of powerful ruler and actor - a
process which historically initiated the transition from
abundance to scarcity, from life to the substitute. The
obscenity of this process still characterizes todays
politics.
The
ascendancy of the male principle was accompanied by the
creation of anti-natural institutions, with the alienating
consequences I have described. Thus the alienation of the
'civilized' part of humanity from Nature was systematically
hastened by the ruling powers for their own benefit.
Significant developments in this historical process have
been: the rise of monotheism; the emergence of politics as
the Free Man's occupation; the conversion of tribes and
nations to Christianity; the witch hunts (discriminating
against women); the invention of money, interest and
compound interest; colonialisation; the peasant wars; and in
our times, globalisation, as understood by the multinational
corporations and their handmaidens, the governments of the
industrialised nations.
The
increasing suppression of individual autonomy runs like a
red thread through the various stations of history. Anyone
still considering conditions to have much improved in recent
times, is failing to notice the fatal consequences of an
industrialised existence. It has already led to the global
destruction of the multiplicity of species and is now
threatening future generations, through the chemical
pollution of our air, water and food, through radiation from
nuclear technology, and through yet unknown dangers caused
by genetical engineering.
The
only thing that can save us now is an open communication
between all those whom it concerns: individuals, governments
and multinational corporations; and lively debate within all
social systems, the various sciences and the humanities.
Only the individual querying of political and religious
ideas as well as one's own thought and behaviour patterns
can show up the errors, mistakes and wrong teachings on
which they are based.
And
a degree of mental openness and flexibility alone can help
to overcome (and replace with meaningful, authentic ideas)
certain erroneous conceptions still fixed in peoples' minds,
such as: God cast man out from Paradise; the killing of an
infidel is the key to Paradise; wealth is a sign of being
favoured by God; misfortune and sickness are necessary
consequences of past lives; and so forth.
The
process of global healing is marked by an increased
willingness to defuse the explosive power of social
injustice by finding ways of just sharing of individual
material wealth accumulated through generations. Another
symptom of this process is an increasing realisation that a
satisfactory social environment is prerequisite for the
growth of trust, self-assurance and tolerance which in turn
will foster peaceful togetherness.
A
general mental orientation in tune with the natural order of
life and reflecting it, is imperative for individual health
as well as peace on earth. People will then no longer be
motivated by their addiction to power or money, nor by the
illusory pursuit of 'progress' at all costs but by
life-immanent necessities sensed meditatively and reflected
by an aware intellect sensitive towards the issue of
survival. Living in a global community, we are personally
responsible to take care that our social executive bodies,
governments and ministries will be subservient to a natural
order of life.
Thus
the aggressive and destructive elements of human existence
will be curbed and transformed. After millennia of frantic
craving we shall at last develop a salutary regulating power
that is capable of achieving a healthy, open and satisfying
future in tune with Nature.
In
awareness of this creative power, scientific research will
develop in tune with human evolution, no longer treating
certain partial aspects as absolute and callously exploiting
them for catering to the interests of a few at the expense
of a majority.
In
the context of universal connectedness it will be possible
to transform technology, social systems and philosophical
teachings so as to be attuned to the course and laws of
Nature. Under these circumstances, humanity will feel at
home in its natural environment and create a sustainable
society.
Sensitive
research of the social dimensions of life on our planet like
for example, the deciphering of the language of highly
developed fellow-creatures such as whales or dolphins (to
this day widely considered as merely a resource) will reveal
us their cooperative social behaviour. Humanity will first
need to mature into a humane and wisely conserving champion
of life on its own planet before being able to
constructively communicate with possible life forms from
outer space. Only under the condition of this maturity a
general orientation towards outer space makes sense in order
to take our peaceful culture as good tidings to the
stars.
The
species man is taking up its permanent seating in the
evolutionary concert. The main motive of the life symphony
has become the theme of each individual group of
instruments. Manifold variations of the one creative motive
are inspiring masterly soloists also from the audience to
join in ever more delightfully. A consequence of this
orgiastic joy is an ever more abundant cast and
orchestration of an orchestra whose harmonious and ecstatic
play ensures the continued existence and solidarity of the
entire concert audience.
amo
ergo sum - I love, therefore I am
To
render possible a happy community of all life is the
personal task ahead of each one of us, and the only chance
for us all.
The
state of Love is the state of power. In this state
there is no lack, no scarcity, and there are no
boundaries.
The state of Love is the state of potency. Everything is
possible except hatred and violence.
The state of Love is a radiating. It is in all things,
and likewise between them.
The state of Love is a jubilation. It is a great
cheerfulness. It is the joy of merely existing.
The state of Love is openness, a paradoxical
being-outside-within-oneself. Some call it ecstasy. It is
like the dissolving of the border between being human and
the world.
The
state of Love is that of being-able, of all things being
powerful and magical or magnetic. Of all things being
attracted to oneself.
The state of Love is that of being amazed or seeing, of
being-here.
The state of Love is that of ability and recognition, of
meaning, it is a knowing about the world, our 'sixth
sense'.
The state of Love is the actual state of Nature and at
the same time the best possible state of culture.
The state of Love is that of the divine. It is the state
of eternal invulnerability and wholeness (or
holiness).
The state of Love is that of the erotic feeling of being
alive. Energy flows through the body. And this body is
connected with that of the world, with its senses, its
memory, its rhythms and spaces, with Space.
The
state of Love is that of a different order. Here Nature
shows itself as completely different. And something has
happened which might be described as being pushed over to
its side. In this process, Nature has shown itself to be
a 'subject' saying "Yes" - but not to its subjugation,
thus an autonomous one.This enables us to experience that
humans are not the only ones to "think", "love", "act"
and "be" in some way or other. The perception of Nature
here described did not come about through an act of will,
it happened, as it were, automatically.
What
has happened here is a measure of the degree to which our
understanding of Nature is quite inadequate: in an absurd
way completely reductionistic, wrong and
counterproductive. We are not at all connected with the
possibilities offered by Nature, and not aware of them.
However, Nature as it is experienced can in this way
become the yardstick for the revision and opening of our
understanding of Nature which is so urgently required.
This would have immense consequences for our
understanding of science and our culture, that is, the
social practice in our dealing with Nature, both without
and within.
Claudia
von Werlhof
here
is more on the subject: http://emanzipationhumanum.de/english/titels.html#1
(german
version)
( spanish
version
)
see
also: Globalization
And Responsibility,
Alexander N. Yakovlev
Emanzipation
Humanum,
version 12. 2001, translation form german to english by
Rainer
Taëni.
Criticism, suggestions as to form and content, dialogue,
translation into other languages are all
desired
http://emanzipationhumanum.de/english/nature.html
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