In this week’s post wrapping up why we must have a Sustainability Revolution if we and the planet are to thrive, I offer a simplified explanation of the big separation and how to heal it. Most readers will acknowledge that I am a great believer in personal sovereignty and self-actualization, and have written about both often within this blog. I am also a great believer in developing a spiritual connection to each other and the natural world. For Eons, indigenous peoples knew this was the natural way to live well within the world, but it is something we have not only forgotten, but something we disdained in favor of a materialistic-consumerism paradigm. This was a revolution in thinking initiated during the Medieval Renaissance where scientific rationalism/empiricism became the mindsets to understand the world (see link for more detail of these mindsets). Moving away from religious dogmatism, and superstition, to science can be considered a good thing for it allowed us to develop objective truths for technological decisions, but our problem today is that we hold science separate from our emotional thinking.
American astronomer, planetary scientist, and science communicator, Carl Sagan, was a voice of reason for science but understood its limitations: “Science is not perfect. It can be misused. It is only a tool. But it is by far the best tool we have, self-correcting, ongoing, applicable to everything. It has two rules. First: there are no sacred truths; all assumptions must be critically examined; arguments from authority are worthless. Second: whatever is inconsistent with the facts must be discarded or revised. … The obvious is sometimes false; the unexpected is sometimes true.” When you hear, ‘Trust the Science’ as we heard often during the Covid lockdowns, consider who was saying trust the mainstream, and then they said distrust any voice that disagreed or questioned their narrative.
One of the greatest problems we have today is that science has been coopted by economic interests that support authoritarian technocrats who determine objective and subjective truth for everyone. For instance, so much of what passes for information about sustainability is all too often linked to mainstream economic systems. They have bamboozled so many people with Pollyanna quick fix and simplistic technological solutions. For example, telling everyone that we can achieve ‘Net-Zero’ by switching to electric cars and then pushing political policies to make that happen. But, if the electricity used to charge EVs is from fossil fuel sources, then the ecological outcome is still more pollution.
During the industrial revolution starting in the mid-1700s, science started developing amazing technology that continues to this day. It also spawned a capitalist economic system that grew out of a mercantilist economy (see link of early post). In the ensuing Gadarene rush to create a technological lifestyle we forgot, or rather ignored, any questions about whether everything we were doing was good for us and the planet. We ran with the erroneous assumptions that science was neutral and technological advancement were always positive.
One of the better indigenous philosophies we need to consider again for ourselves is that called the ‘7th generation principle,’ which is a mindset that takes into account the impact of all our actions not just on ourselves, but on future generations. This means that every major decision, be it personal, community, governmental, economic, or business-based, has an obligation to must consider how those decisions will affect our descendants seven generations down the line. The environmental and ecological issue and problems we face today all stem from a separation of what I will term here as ‘Intuitive Conscience’ from scientific rationalism. Many centuries ago, we stopped asking questions framed through our emotions, morals and values about our actions that looked at technological benefits through an egoic perspective instead of a spiritual perspective. In essence, we ignored our innate conscience in favor or our hedonistic fantasies.
Now I could just go on about what a conscience is but the conscience link says it all enough. We all try to run our daily lives framed through our personal morals and values, which I will call conscience to keep it simple. In many cases, we suffer frequent cognitive dissonance (e.g., see link) as what we are obliged to do societally conflicts with our consciences. It has been happening for so long, I believe it has created split belief systems, the ones we use transactionally, and the others we use symbolically. I discuss this more in an early post, and how it allows us to carry on with poor ecologically beneficial lifestyle behaviors as long as we engage in some minor ways with good ecologically beneficial behaviors. For example, we recycle our drink cans, but create immense amounts of trash (directly and indirectly) from our daily lifestyle.
I’ve had complaints that I don’t cover the technofixes enough. I’ll do more of that using case studies from around the world, but while we persist in thinking that we can simply tweak our technology to reach a sustainable future, we are literally living in a hedonistic fairy-tale world. I’ll say it yet again. We can’t create a sustainable future unless we change our thinking. It’s why I spend so much time talking about psychological sustainability instead of spending all my time on technological sustainability as so many other environmental blog sites tend to do.
I have a lot of friends who are environmental ‘true believers’ and I admire their passion. But too many are unwilling to ask the hard questions, and even fewer are willing to listen to the hard answers when they hear them. I personally believe that there are enough of us out there ready to make the big changes in thinking needed and to trust their inner guidance (consciences) about what is good and what is harmful.
Once we can accept that it is our social conditioning that gets in the way, then we can begin the collective healing we need to move ahead. We get so attached to our beliefs and ideologies. My die-hard environmental friends keep thinking that ‘if only they saw it my way they would understand.’ And then go on a blame rampage that alienates the very people we need to think differently. We all think we are right, and except for psychopaths who know what they do is harmful, we tend to think we are always doing good. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. As long as we take sides on any issue we create strife and conflict. We all need to say enough is enough and start to understand that living well together requires that we heal ourselves so that we can heal others and stop the ridiculous conflict in trying to prove “My beliefs are better than your beliefs.”
Just because I disagree with you doesn’t mean that I hate you. We need to relearn that in society. Having a different opinion on anything ought to be a positive thing. But when our opinions become our identity, we take any disagreement as a personal affront that must be defended. Don’t waste time on blame, take personal responsibility for your own behaviors and understand that many others need to find out how they have been lied to and bamboozled by the powers that be. It is hard to admit, and can be quite traumatic, to find out that your cherished beliefs, the ones that define your moral compass and your inner conscience are based on falsehoods. That takes quite a bit of healing and personal deep-inner reflection.
When you can sit and reflect, you will find that the inner truth reveals itself and like a beam of light illuminating your path in the dark, you come to understand your true moral compass and how your intuition is your guide for what is right and what isn’t.
“The Lakota shaman Wallace Black Elk was once asked by a sincere young man what we could do to heal the Earth. He replied this way, “We don’t have to heal the Earth, she can heal herself. All we have to do is stop making her sick.” To this simple truth, I would add that the Earth can heal us too” Eliot Cowan.
The Sustainability Revolution is a choice, maybe several choices, that we make to heal ourselves and find that connection with the Earth that shows us very clearly what a better worldview based on Belonging (love and acceptance from others) and Self-esteem (recognition, respect, approval, and self-worth). It’s not that hard, but we have to trust our inner moral compass, not the words of authoritarians designed to mislead and corrupt our inner voice of truth.
“It’s impossible,” said PRIDE. “It’s risky,” said EXPERIENCE. “It’s pointless,” said Reason. “Give it a try,” whispered the HEART.
I’ll end this post with my definition for sustainability that I gave on the first post in this blog back in January, 2018. SUSTAINABILITY: Living within the limits of nature’s ecosystem services. And to live together in communities that are equitable, regenerative, resilient and adaptive.
To Be Continued ……………
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