Article: 567 of sgi.talk.ratical From: (dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcliffe) Subject: 37 revolutions around Sol Keywords: expand yer soul whenever you can Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc. Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 21:12:05 GMT Lines: 336 some VERY warm and special raticaljunkies were able to sniff out the fact that today at 4:26 pm i will have completed 37 revolutions around Father Sun with the bountiful blessings of Mother Earth sustaining me all the way. it's rare that we ever truly give thanx in this culture for all that we have been given. its even rarer to experience acknowledgment of how fundamentally connected we all are to EVERYTHING. "All my relations" is a deeply meaningful expression and concept used by many indigenous cultures to emphasize how interrelated every thing in the universe is to every thing else. i am currently experiencing a VERY DEEP opening up in my life. exploring the book "In The Absence of the Sacred, The Failure of Technology and the Survial of the Indian Nations" (by Jerry Mander (author of "Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television"), (c) 1991, Sierra Club Books), has contributed to this. it has enabled me to consider the impact of technology upon the society and culture we all find ourselves living out our lives within in a way *i* have not conceived of or confronted before now. i have not yet completed it, but when i do, i will be writing up a more thorough "book review" to post. in the meantime, i urge all of you to scan it at the bookstore and consider challeging yerselves as well to possibilities of alternative visions of the way we could somehow, someway consciously choose to live our lives in relation to our Mother and all: 213 IN THE ABSENCE OF THE SACRED The relationship between grandparents and grandchildren is one of the most critical elements in the maintenance of Indian culture. For young people, the elders are windows to the roots of their own identity, to the visions of Earth and life that came before modern times. The sharing of knowledge between elders and the young is what makes survival possible. For the elders, the notion of a Mother Earth is totally integrated into their beings. And young activists today realize the importance of that perspective. So they verbalize such concepts, which, even if new to them, are ancient nonetheless. They recognize that Indians are the authentic guardians of such ideas, and they are ensuring that the lineage of understanding is preserved. That white folk have a hard time accepting this is logical, since the concept is alien as the people who speak of it. And yet it behooves us to at least entertain the possibility that the idea of a living planet, a concept that has endured for millennia, just might be true. Lately some scientists have emerged who are ready to argue on behalf of the whole planet as a living system. Notable among them are bioligists Lynn Margulis and James Lovelock, authors of "The Gaia Hypothesis," which describes the planet and the atmosphere as a unified biological entity. Their work in particular became the focus for numerous conferences on the issue, including the one organized by James Swan titled "Is the Earth Alive?" in Mill Valley, California, in 1986, which considered the point from both traditional native and Western scientific perspectives. However, it will take many such conferences and many more books before there is any change in the dominant Western view of the issue, since such change could prove subversive to our culture. If such an idea were taken seriously, the United States would be hard-pressed to continue existing in anything like its present form. Many authors, notably Carl Jung and Aldous Huxley, have stated that Western societies fear, hate, destroy, and also revere Indians, precisely because they express the parts of our personal and cultural psyches that we must suppress in order to function in the world as we do. How could present-day America possibly exist if great numbers of people believed that the minerals in the ground, the trees and the rocks, and the earth itself were all alive? Not only alive, but our equals? If our society suddenly believed it was sacrilegious to remove minerals from the earth, or to buy and sell land, our society would evaporate. Nor could it exist if Americans believed in an economic life organized along steady-state, collective-subsistence forms, as most Indian societies are. Therefore it is logical, normal, and self- protective for Americans to find the philosophical, political, and economic modes of Indian culture inappropriate and foolish. TABLE OF INHERENT DIFFERENCES The concept of an organic female earth is basic to native societies, and is also a basic difference between native peoples and the people of technologized societies. Believing that the earth is alive leads to a world view utterly unlike the one that emerges when you believe the planet is dead, or that it is a "machine." Is it possible, then, for the two societies to coexist? To look at that issue, I thought it would be helpful to create a chart that compares the two societies in various aspects of life. The more detailed the comparisons, the more obvious it becomes that in almost every category Indian and Western societies are at virtually opposite poles. Beyond "opposite," they are in contradiction. During the years I worked on this book, I kept an informal list of various characteristics that seem to be inherent in all (or most) native societies. Though it is by no means complete, and does not pretend to be scientific, I think it reveals the near impossibility of assimilation. The two cultures are profoundly at odds. To attempt to merge them does not produce co-existence or integration, but death for one or the other, which is already happening. The following chart is not universally applicable to all Indian societies or all Western societies. There are differences among Indian tribes just as there are among Western societies. For example, though the Aztecs and Incas were Indians, they were more like modern Americans than the majority of other Indians. In fact, it is because of the ways in which the Aztecs and Incas were similar to us--they created a "state," they had hierarchical authority (which most Indian societies do not), and their architecture was built for permanence--that we speak of them as "an advanced civilization." In fundamental ways, however, Indian tribes and aboriginal peoples, whether they live in the far north or in tropical forests, are more alike than not. The Inuit, the Navajo in the southwestern U.S., and the Aborigines in Australia all share very similar attitudes toward nature. To the degree that they have not been overtaken by Westerners, they still engage in collective production, share commodities, and live in extended families. They have similar ideas about art, architecture, time, and dozens of other dimensions of life. Their religions are nature based; they believe in a living planet. Also important, they share the fact that Westernized nations are behaving toward each of them in exactly the same fashion. This in turn is because despite all our differences, most Westerners are also more alike than different. In both the Soviet Union and the U.S., we wear ties and wristwatches, drive cars, live in nuclear families in permanent structures alongside pavement walkways. We work for fixed hours of the day for years at a time for a person we call "boss." We use money to purchase commodities. We share an attitude about our level of superiority to nature and to non-technological humans. What follows, then, is a rough description of tendencies, loosely comparing technological cultures on the one hand and native cultures on the other. It is meant as a vehicle for exploration and discussion. (Some of the points will be amplified in later chapters.) Technological Peoples Native Peoples ____________________________ ______________________________ ECONOMICS _______________________________________________________________________ Concept of private property a ba- No private ownership of re- sic value: includes resources, sources such as land, water, land, ability to buy and sell, and minerals, or plant life. No inheritance. Some state owner- concept of selling land. No ship. Corporate ownership inheritance. predominates. Goods produced mostly for sale, Goods produced for use value. not for personal use. Surplus production, profit mo- Subsistence goals: no profit tive essential. Sales techniques motive, little surplus must create "need," hence production. advertising. Economic growth required, espe- Steady-state economics: no cially in capitalist societies, concept of economic growth. hence need for increased produc- tion, increased use of resources, expansion of production and market territories. Currency system--abstract value. Barter system--concrete value. Competition (in capitalist coun- Cooperative, collective tries), production for private production. gain. Reward according to task/ wages. Average workday, 8-12 hours. Average workday 3-5 hours. Nature viewed as "resource." Nature viewed as "being"; humans seen as part of nature. POLITICS AND POWER _______________________________________________________________________ Hierarchical political forms. Mostly non-hierarchical: "chiefs" have no coercive power. Decisions generally made by Decisions usually based on executive power, majority rule, consensual process involving or dictatorship. whole tribe. Spectrum from representative Direct participatory democracy; democracy to autocratic rule. rare examples of autocracy. Operative political modes are Recognizable operative political communist, socialist, monarchist, modes are anarchist, communist, capitalist, or fascist. or theocratic. Centralization: most power con- Decentralization: power resides centrated in central authorities. mainly in community, among people. (Some exceptions include Incas, Aztec, et al.) Laws are codified, written. Laws transmitted orally. No Adversarial process. Anthropo- adversarial process. Laws centrism forms basis of law. interpreted for individual Criminal cases judged by cases. "Natural law" used as strangers (in U.S., western basis. Criminal cases settled Europe, Soviet Union). No taboo. by groups of peers known to "criminal." Taboo. Concept of "state." Identity as "nation." SOCIOCULTURAL ARRANGEMENTS AND DEMOGRAPHICS _______________________________________________________________________ Large-scale societies; most socie- Small-scale societies, all ties have high population density. people acquainted; low population density. Lineage mostly patrilineal. Lineage mostly matrilineal, with some variation; family property rights run through female. Nuclear two- or one-parent families; Extended families: generations, also "singles." sometimes many families, live together. Revere the young. Revere the old. History written in books, por- History transmitted in oral trayed in television docudramas. tradition, carried through memory. RELATION TO ENVIRONMENT _______________________________________________________________________ Living beyond nature's limits Living within natural ecosystem encouraged; natural terrain not encouraged; harmony with na- considered a limitation; conquest ture the norm; only mild alter- of nature a celebrated value; ations of nature for immediate alteration of nature desirable; needs: food, clothing, shelter; anti-harmony; resources exploited. no permanent damage. High-impact technology created Low-impact technology; one-to- to change environment. Mass-scale one ratio even in weaponry. development: one-to-millions ratio in weaponry and other technologies. Humans viewed as superior life Entire world viewed as alive: form; Earth viewed as "dead." plants, animals, people, rocks. Humans not superior, but equal part of web of life. Reciprocal relationship with non-human life. ARCHITECTURE _______________________________________________________________________ Construction materials trans- Construction materials usually ported from distant places. gathered locally. Construction designed to survive Construction designed to even- individual human life. tually dissolve back into land (except for pyramids built by minority of Indians); materials biodegradable in one lifetime. Space designed for separation Space designed for communal and privacy. activity. Hard-edged torms; earth covered Soft forms; earth not paved. with concrete. RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY _______________________________________________________________________ Separation of spirituality from Spirituality integrated with rest of life in most Western cul- all aspects of daily life. tures (though not in some Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist states); church and state separated; materialism is dominant philosophy in Western countries. Either monotheistic concept of Polytheistic concepts based on single, male god, or atheistic. nature, male and female forces, animism. Futuristic/linear concept of time; Integration of past and present. de-emphasis of past. The dead are regarded as gone. The dead are regarded as present. Individuals gain most information Individuals gain information from media, schools, authority from personal experiences. figures outside their immediate community or experience. Time measured by machines; Time measured by awareness ac- schedules dictate when to do cording to observance of nature; things. time to do something is when time is right. Saving and acquiring. Sharing and giving. It is important to note that the characteristics on each side of this chart form an internally consistent logic. In politics, for example, hierarchical power makes a great deal more sense for operating a large-scale technological society in widely separated parts of the world than does a consensual decision-making process, which is much too slow to keep pace with machinery, electronics, and the need to grow and expand. In relation to the environment, the notion of "humans above nature" is more fitting for technological cultures, and for capitalism in particular, than "humans within nature," which throws wrenches in the wheels of progress. -- daveus rattus yer friendly neighborhood ratman KOYAANISQATSI ko.yan.nis.qatsi (from the Hopi Language) n. 1. crazy life. 2. life in turmoil. 3. life out of balance. 4. life disintegrating. 5. a state of life that calls for another way of living.