Showing posts with label Climate Change. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Climate Change. Show all posts

Thursday, July 31, 2025

Collapse and Rebirth: Richard D. Hames

 

"These approaches fail because they refuse to confront the core issue: the lifestyle and infrastructure of modern industrial civilization are fundamentally incompatible with the biophysical realities of our planet. True sustainability would require radical reductions in energy and material throughput, dramatic decreases in consumption levels, and a fundamental restructuring of economic and social systems—changes so profound that they would amount to the "end" of civilization as we know it. "

 https://richarddavidhames.substack.com/p/beyond-the-event-horizon

I was deeply moved when I encountered this article on Substack by philosopher and futurist Richard David Hames.  He so eloquently and succinctly says it as it is, now.  Where do we go from here?  We are living, I believe and agree with the author, in the chaos of end stage capitalism, cultural collapse, and in the U.S., governmental collapse,  all set against the global environmental catastrophe of climate change.  

People like me, and scientists, mythologists, writers, artists, politicians and many others, have been talking about "paradigm change" and "re-mything culture" for a long time.  Here we are, and where do we go from here?  How can we "compost" the "detritus of our failing civilization into the foundations" of what is to come? How do we navigate in a collapsing system, and also such profound cultural denial? I take the liberty of sharing this important article here, as this Author speaks I believe so well to what is occuring.  I  highly recommend to any who read this post subscribing to Mr. Hames Substack Blog.  He is one of those who are "Realists of a larger Reality"

"Our task is not to prevent collapse, we've already past the point of no return. Our task is to compost the detritus of our failing civilization into the foundations for whatever emerges from this vast transformation. This requires grieving the loss of the familiar world while remaining open to possibilities that we cannot yet imagine. It means cultivating resilience and adaptability rather than efficiency and growth. It demands that we rediscover our embeddedness within the living systems that sustain all life, abandoning the mythology of separation that has brought us to this threshold." 

 


A Journey Through Collapse Toward Regenerative Futures

The symptoms manifest across every domain of planetary function: carbon cycles destabilised by the combustion of ancient organic matter, nitrogen cycles overwhelmed by industrial fertiliser production, hydrological systems disrupted by massive infrastructure projects, and biodiversity hemorrhaging through habitat destruction and chemical contamination. These are not separate crises, they are interconnected expressions of a fundamental mismatch between the operational logic of industrial civilisation and the biophysical constraints that govern all life on this planet.

Our species has consumed the geological inheritance of millennia in mere centuries, burning through fossil fuels accumulated over hundreds of millions of years, strip-mining the planet's mineral wealth, and harvesting renewable resources—forests, fisheries, fertile soils—at rates that surpasses nature's ability to replenish them. Meanwhile, we have overwhelmed the biosphere's waste-processing capacity, saturating the atmosphere with carbon dioxide, choking the oceans with plastic, and poisoning ecosystems with an ever-expanding cocktail of synthetic chemicals that natural systems cannot break down or incorporate.

To understand how we arrived at this juncture, we must trace the arc of human development from our earliest emergence as a species. Our ancestors evolved with biological imperatives perfectly suited to their environment: survive, reproduce, consume available resources, and expand into new territories when possible. These instincts served us well in a world where human populations were tiny and technical capabilities limited. But our capacity for innovation—the discovery of fire, the development of tools, the evolution of intricate social cooperation—began to allow us to transcend natural constraints in ways that would ultimately prove catastrophic.

The agricultural revolution marked a pivotal turning point, transforming human societies from nomadic hunter-gatherers into settled civilizations capable of generating food surpluses. This abundance enabled population growth, social stratification, and the concentration of power in urban centres. More notably, it fundamentally altered our relationship with the natural world, shifting from participation within ecological systems to domination over them. Growth became not merely an opportunity but an imperative, both for survival in competitive environments and as a marker of civilizational success.

The industrial revolution accelerated these trends exponentially, as the discovery and exploitation of fossil fuels provided access to energy stores that had been accumulating in Earth's crust for eons. Coal, oil, and natural gas became the foundation for unprecedented population growth, processes of production, and material consumption, enabling a way of life that seemed to transcend all previous limitations. This fossil-fuelled bonanza created the illusion that perpetual growth was not only possible but natural, obscuring the fundamental reality that we were drawing down finite stores of ancient sunlight at rates millions of times faster than they had been created.

The drivers of our current predicament operate at multiple levels, from the biological to the cultural to the systemic. At the most fundamental level, we remain governed by evolutionary programming that compels us to consume and reproduce without regard for long-term consequences. Our brains evolved to respond to immediate threats and opportunities, not to process abstract dangers that unfold over decades or centuries. In competitive environments, those who exploit resources most aggressively tend to outcompete those who exercise restraint, creating a relentless "race to the bottom" that plays out between individuals, corporations, and nations.

It's worth noting here that while evolutionary drives and competitive systems incentivise short-term exploitation, indigenous wisdom demonstrates that culturally evolved practices—like stewardship, restraint, and cyclical thinking—can realign human behaviour with long-term sustainability, offering pathways to overcome our more self-destructive programming.

Nevertheless, that does not change our present predicament. We have constructed elaborate belief systems that not only justify but actively promote behaviours that are driving us toward collapse. The mythology of technological salvation convinces us that innovation will always provide solutions to whatever problems previous innovations have created, even as our track record demonstrates that new technologies typically generate more problems than they solve, often with greater complexity and unintended consequences. Our economic systems in particular are predicated on the assumption of endless growth, requiring constant expansion of production and consumption to maintain stability, despite the mathematical impossibility of infinite growth on a finite planet.

Most fundamentally, the worldview of human supremacy that underlies modern civilisation portrays our species as separate from and superior to the natural world, justifying the treatment of ecosystems as mere resources to be exploited rather than living systems of which we are an interdependent part. This conceptual separation enables us to externalize the costs of our activities, treating the biosphere as both an inexhaustible source of materials and an infinite sink for wastes.

The tragedy of our situation becomes apparent when we examine the responses that have emerged to address these mounting crises. Despite our growing awareness of environmental degradation and social dysfunction, proposed solutions almost invariably focus on technological fixes and economic adjustments that go out of their way to preserve the fundamental structures and assumptions of industrial civilisation.

Green technologies promise to maintain current consumption levels while reducing environmental impact, ignoring the resource requirements and environmental costs of manufacturing and deploying these technologies at scale. Economic reforms propose to decouple growth from resource consumption and environmental degradation, despite the absence of any historical precedent for such decoupling at the scales and timeframes required.

These approaches fail because they refuse to confront the core issue: the lifestyle and infrastructure of modern industrial civilisation are fundamentally incompatible with the biophysical realities of our planet. True sustainability would require radical reductions in energy and material throughput, dramatic decreases in consumption levels, and a fundamental restructuring of economic and social systems—changes so profound that they would amount to the "end" of civilization as we know it. The resistance to such transformations is understandable but ultimately irrelevant, because these changes will occur whether we choose them or not.

We are already witnessing the early stages of this great unraveling. Multiple planetary boundaries have been crossed, triggering feedback loops that are accelerating environmental degradation beyond our ability to control or reverse. Thawing permafrost releases vast quantities of methane and carbon dioxide, amplifying heating trends. Melting ice reduces the planet's ability to reflect solar radiation back to space, further accelerating temperature rise. Deforestation and ecosystem destruction eliminate carbon sinks while increasing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. These processes are now largely autonomous, continuing regardless of human interventions.

The social and political dimensions of collapse are equally evident. Rising inequality and resource scarcity fuel social unrest and political volatility. While national political horseplay descends into sheer spectacle, conventional governance structures are proving inadequate to address challenges that transcend state boundaries and operate on timescales that exceed electoral cycles. Progressive and conservative political movements alike remain trapped within paradigms which incorrectly assume the possibility of maintaining current civilisation through minor modifications, unable to acknowledge the biophysical limits that constrain all human activities.

Unless we stumble upon a suite of technological miracles, the depletion of cheap, easily accessible energy sources ensures that the industrial system cannot sustain itself indefinitely. As the energy return on energy invested for fossil fuel extraction continues to decline, the economic foundation of modern civilization becomes increasingly unstable. Complex supply chains that depend on cheap transportation fuels become vulnerable to disruption. The elaborate financial systems that facilitate global trade require constant growth to service increasing debt burdens, creating instability that cascades through interconnected economic networks.

Collapse is not a future event to be avoided but a present reality to be navigated. Economic instability, resource scarcity, extreme weather events, and social fragmentation are already disrupting the normal functioning of industrial society. The question is not whether collapse will occur but how rapidly it will unfold, what forms it will take in different regions and communities, and what we must do to adapt.

This recognition, while painful, offers the possibility of liberation from the illusions that prevent us from responding appropriately to our circumstances. Accepting that industrial civilisation cannot be sustained allows us to stop investing energy in futile attempts to preserve the unsustainable and instead begin the work of adaptation and transformation. Living with the reality of collapse means slowing down, becoming more present in our immediate environments, and rediscovering beneficial ways of life that operate within ecological limits rather than in opposition to them.

The end of industrial civilisation doesn't necessarily mean the end of human culture or the possibility of flourishing communities. Throughout history, human societies have demonstrated remarkable ingenuity in developing ways of life adjusted to their local conditions and available resources. The knowledge and skills required for such adaptation still exist, though they have been marginalised by the homogenising forces of industrial development.

Our task is not to prevent collapse, we've already past the point of no return. Our task is to compost the detritus of our failing civilization into the foundations for whatever emerges from this vast transformation. This requires grieving the loss of the familiar world while remaining open to possibilities that we cannot yet imagine. It means cultivating resilience and adaptability rather than efficiency and growth. It demands that we rediscover our embeddedness within the living systems that sustain all life, abandoning the mythology of separation that has brought us to this threshold.

The transition ahead will be neither smooth nor equitable, but it is inevitable. Our choice is not whether to undergo this transformation but how consciously to participate in it. By releasing our attachment to the myths and structures of industrial civilisation, we create space for ways of being that honour the limits and gifts of our earthly home. In the ruins of the old world, the seeds of the new are already beginning to germinate. It's an exciting time for those with a pioneering spirit. A time for real hope that we're able to generate a world of peace and prosperity.

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Monday, May 12, 2025

Before the Flood

Almost 10 years ago this important film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, came into the theatres, and then home video, and left, and was largely ignored.  Ten years before that the same thing happened to Al Gore's   An Inconvenient Truth  

Basically, nothing happened.  Now we have a "president" (and I put that in quotation marks because he is not behaving like a president, rather, he fancies himself a dictator.)......... who calls climate change "a Chinese hoax", and gleefully tells his billionaire supporters to "drill, drill, drill" while he, and they, willfully ignore the endangerment of the future for money.  If that isn't a deeply moral issue, I don't what is.   

I don't know what to write about in this blog these days, because, as an American, our country is in chaos, and as someone who cares about the environment, about Gaia..... I have a great deal of anger, and grief, and often feelings of helplessness in the face of the ignorance and greed that ignores, indeed, ridicules the profoundly important message in this film.

This post, with this film, was a draft from 2022.  Even I turned away from putting the links to it on my Blog.  It's time I share them, time I myself look at this film, and Al Gore's film, again.  Because it's important to know the truth, even if it's inconvenient.  


Before the Flood (Trailer)

2016  

From Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Fisher Stevens and Academy Award-winning actor, and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio, BEFORE THE FLOOD presents a riveting account of the dramatic changes now occurring around the world due to climate change.  

BEFORE THE FLOOD aired in theaters, and globally on the National Geographic Channel, in 2016. 

 https://youtu.be/D9xFFyUOpXo


AND HERE IS THE FULL MOVIE:  

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

"A Shrine for the Sixth Extinction"

 

“By burning through coal and oil deposits, humans are putting carbon back into the air that has been sequestered for tens—in most cases hundreds—of millions of years. In the process, we are running geologic history not only in reverse but at warp speed.”  Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

In 2000 I participated in a Samhain "Litany for the Lost".  5 people, standing in a circle, recited names of extinct and vanishing Species.  It was important that we remember the names of some of our  fellow Beings that were lost to the future in ever increasing numbers.  I have thought about that for years, and received a grant from the Puffin Foundation  for which I am very grateful,  to create a  "Shrine for the Lost:  The Sixth Extinction".  

“Homo sapiens might not only be the agent of the sixth extinction, but also             risks being one of its victims.” Richard Leakey 

We are not the only life forms striving to evolve on our beautiful Planet Earth, and as species are lost, the Balance of ecosystems breaks down, like a tapestry unravelling.  It is the greatest of human arrogance to think that humanity is not a part of that tapestry, and that our lives do not also unravel with it.  



My Dia de los Muertos "Shrine for the Lost":  the Sixth Extinction   consists of 4 wall hung panels, exhibited with a book, a candle, and a short video.  Each panel has 2 vertical lists with interspersed visuals and is 7 feet long.  I wanted to grasp the magnitude of our loss by actually seeing these long lists......which I could have made much longer. 

The Installation includes my accompanying book A Shrine for the Lost:  The Sixth Extinction and a video  "Litany for the Lost", which artist Kathy Keler  collaborated with me on.  I am very pleased that this Project is completed, and it is my hope that it will serve to educate - and to remember - the profound tragedy of our continuing loss.

https://youtu.be/5GE5kxwhxFw

 






I have made application to create the Shrine at the 2023 Parliament of World Religions, and hope this exhibit will have a chance to travel in the future.  Below are details from the  Panels.  It's my hope as well that I can show it in collaboration with those who can talk about what we can do individually to help to slow this loss of habitat and environmental degredation - such as learning to compost, to eat less meat, and to use clean energy.

Lauren Raine MFA
November 2022








And the List continues................
 

Monday, July 19, 2021

Three Seconds

Powerful, simply expressed:    should be shared widely 

https://youtu.be/B-nEYsyRlYo

Saturday, July 10, 2021

How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint (from the BBC)


https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57751918

"Since the start of the heatwave, people have linked the unusual and extreme nature of the event to climate change.  Now, researchers say that the chances of it occurring without human-induced warming were virtually impossible."

 https://youtu.be/a9yO-K8mwL0


 

Thursday, December 26, 2019

A "Webbed Vision " - Toward a New World Story



"What might we see, how might we act, if we saw with a webbed vision? 
The world seen through a web of relationships…as delicate as spider’s silk, 
 yet strong enough to hang a bridge on.” 

The quote above, from theologian Catherine Keller, has been deeply important to me.   I first read her book "From a Broken Web" in 2008, when I was pursuing my "Hands of the Spider Woman" Community Arts Projects.  The first project  was at the Midland Center for the Arts (with the Alden B. Dow Creativity Center) in Michigan, then at the Creative Spirit Center, also  in Midland (with Kathy Space),  and last when I was a Resident Artist at the Henry Luce Center for the Arts and Religion in Washington D.C. 

Perhaps because I live in the Southwest,  the "legends of the Spider Woman" have always fascinated me as I encountered Her in native American art.  Spider Woman is an ubiquitous Creatrix found throughout the Americas, with her earliest known  origins among the Maya of South America.  Spider Woman manifests among the Navajo and the Pueblo Peoples of the Southwest as the "great Weaver".    Among the people of the Keresan Pueblo she is also called  Tse Che Nako,  the "Thought Woman" who weaves the worlds into being with the stories She tells.  Within this metaphor of the "great weaver",  Spider Woman waits at the center of the Web of life, within which we are all connected,  interwoven and co-creating.
Ts' its' tsi' nako, Thought-Woman, the Spider is sitting in her room thinking of a story now:   I'm telling you the story   She is thinking.
Keresan Pueblo Proverb from Carol Patterson-Rudolph 2

My path on the trail of  Spider Woman has been fraught with synchronicities, which I have come to think of as  touchstones along the way.  Synchonicities, to me, are a mystical part of the overlay (and the foundational "under")  of  the metaphor Dr. Keller writes  of.  As I write about   "A Webbed Vision" , for example, I note that for the past weeks a spider has made its home on the ceiling directly above the keyboard where I write.  I have come to think of that spider as my muse - perhaps, fancifully, she is Spider Woman's envoy,  weaving its patient web just  above my head, reminding me each day of a vision I want to hold.

In her 1989 book  Dr. Keller does not speak of the Native American Goddess Spider Woman, but she often  references  the Greek myth of  "Penelope".  Penelope is a name with  ancient origins that derive from an archaic  Greek word  meaning  "with a web on her face".   It is likely that Penelope was originally a Fate or Oracular Goddess before she was later demoted in patriarchal Greek mythology to the faithful wife of Odysseus, weaving and un-weaving a shroud to avoid her suitors (it's always  interesting the way myths are transformed to suit the evolving mythos and power base of different cultures).   Yet within the earlier context of a more egalitarian society, "Penelope" would be one who could "see" and "weave" the beginnings and the ends of a life.  She might have been personified with a loom before her, or spinning a thread.  Taking the metaphor further, such a Goddess  would "see" the inter-dependencies between all things, the Great Web spreading out across the landscapes of life.   


Pueblo mythology tells that when each of the previous worlds ended in catastrophe, it was Spider Woman who led the people through the sipapu, the kiva (or birth canal) into the next world.  As such Spider Woman is the divine midwife for the birth of  each new age. According to Hopi cosmology,  we have now entered the "Fifth World".  It is interesting that, in contemporary  Neo-Pagan practices,  there are 5 Elements that symbolize the "great Circle".   The Fifth Element is called "Center", and is represented with the color white, the union of all colors.  It is the last Element, and symbolizes the universal force or Aether that unites all the other Elements.  

I cannot resist imagining that the World Wide Web might just be  is Spider Woman's latest appearance!  


“In Hopi cosmology Spider Woman was the first to weave. Her techniques and patterns have stood the test of time, or more properly, the test of timelessness.…..…..Weaving is not an act in which one creates something oneself – it is an act in which one uncovers a pattern that was already there.” 
John Loftin 3

As we confront the universal catastrophe of climate change,  it seems to me that this is a significant and appropriate metaphor.  Indeed, a significant Prophecy:  for what we now confront concerns  not just a tribe or nation, but all beings upon planet Earth.  We must evolve a new, global paradigm  for this Fifth Age if we are to survive.   Spider Woman, bringing a vision of the Great Web of life, once again must be the midwife as She makes visible the connections, the strands of the Web,  whether we speak of  ecology,  economy, quantum physics, or integral psychology.   In our essence, as Jungian psychologist Ann Baring has said, "we are one".


 " The new myth manifests through the triple influence of quantum physics, depth psychology and the ecological movement suggests that we are participants in a great web of life, each one of us indissolubly connected with all others through that invisible field.  It is the most insidious of illusions to think that we can achieve a position of dominance in relation to nature, life or each other. In our essence, we are one."
Anne Baring,  Awakening to the New Story   4
How indeed, as an evolving  global society, would we think and act, if we saw,  like  Penelope (or Grandmother Spider Woman)  "with a webbed vision"? Would we be able to change the catastrophic course of ecological destruction if  we had such a theology based upon Relationship instead of Domination?  If our reasoning, and our way of seeing,  was inclusive rather than dissectionist?  If instead of valuing  competition and the "alpha" winner,  we valued consensus? If instead of "fight and flight" in the face of danger, we instead pulled out the defense tactic found among female monkeys of "tend and befriend"?   If instead of renunciate, hierarchical religions that turn us away from nature and Earthly existence toward an abstract "heaven" or "nirvana", we saw ourselves as profoundly embedded in the sacred body and evolving soul of our living planet?
"The question is not so much "What do I learn from stories" as "What stories do I want to live?" 
David R. Loy, "The World is Made of Stories" 5
                      


If each of us could, like Penelope,  "see" ourselves holding  a thread that originates with all of those who came before us - and touches all of those who will come after us - how indeed might we see, and act?
"The New Story coming into being is that the whole universe is a unified field. The world we experience is like a minute excitation on the surface of an infinite cosmic sea which sustains not only our world, but the entire Cosmos. We live within a cosmic web of life which underlies and connects all life forms in the universe and on our planet. Through a vast network of electro-magnetic fields we are connected to the earth, the sun and the hundred billion galaxies. So we are not separate from any aspect of planetary or cosmic life. "
          Anne BaringAwakening to the New Story 6

As I watch the ongoing corporate greed that is eroding not only democracy, but the very life of our planet,  and the unreasoned ideology of capitalism (as opposed to local free enterprise) that makes it  possible for this new monarchy of the 1% to arise, I wonder sometimes if there is any hope for the future at all.  If I am not my brother's and sister's keeper, and they mine - who is?  Monsanto?  Walmart?  A civilization, indeed the raising of a single child, is a grand collaboration among many,  and it might be said from that "webbed vision" of societies  that the exploiters and  warlords pounding their chests and sitting like dragons on their stolen gold....... are the parasites of a civilization, rather than any  appropriate leaders.

We urgently need pragmatic ways to create and envision expanding community, which can be simplified to a fundamental sense of belonging.   Beyond that, we need an ethos and mythos that supports the fundamental, and foundational, understanding of inter-dependency.    If America was not a culture that idealizes "rugged individualism" where "good fences make good neighbors"  what other kinds of values might enhance the quality of life for us (and perhaps the very survival of our species) along with an extended community of many other species we share our world with?
"The Rugged Individualist" cheers when needy people are deprived of food, battered women are deprived of protection from brutal husbands, children are deprived of education, because this is "getting government off our backs.”
Philip Slater,  The Chrysalis Effect: The Metamorphosis of Global Culture  6
"Alpha male" individualism fails in every way to communicate that we live within a  web of human and environmental inter-dependency, a web that is unimaginably vast and  also very intimate. This is the "Webbed Vision" that sees and recognizes the links that must be restored.   A successful adult is so because of  parents, siblings, friends,  teachers, community resources, the backdrop of nature and environment, global society.........and distant ancestors that enabled him or her to be born.  Without a sense of belonging and contributing to that continuum as it reaches into both the past and into  future generations, human beings end up feeling alienated, disposable,  and without a sense of purpose.   Which is what an unsustainable, insatiable consumer system, as a placebo for the pain of spiritual and communal isolation, feeds on.

In tribal societies, survival depended  on cooperation, as well as the collective ability to adapt continually to new environmental challenges, be it drought, invaders, or the exhaustion of resources.  The mythic foundation of any tribe (or civilization) is ultimately  the template upon which they stand; a culture with a rigid mythos that cannot adapt and change is doomed to collapse.   Without a significant mythos of co-dependency in the face of global ecological crisis, the coming collapse of our civilization is apparent.  
"The culture that is holistic is holistic because its reasoning structure is holistic.  The problem we have with holism is that our reasoning is fragmentary, dissectionist, it removes us from relating things, it structures things in separate compartments in order to "have control"
 Rafael Montanez Ortiz  7

The Latin origin of the word "religion", religios, means to "link back".  To rejoin with the greater and divine  whole in some way.  In my opinion, many of today's religions, at least in their institutionalized forms, fail in communicating  this ultimate "webbed vision" - in fact, as tribal social control mechanisms with millenia of often mutually contradictory doctrines behind them, they do exactly the opposite.  They separate, create discord and fear, and damn those who do not share their cultural or philosophical constructs.  Religions are essentially concretized mythologies - concretized communal stories.  

           

What stories are so many people and institutions telling about the world we live in, the 21st Century world of global civilization? How do these sacred stories - most of them with their origins in ancient tribal societies existing in a very different kind of world - serve, or fail, the world of today?

Returning to "religios", the "linking back" to what is sacred, patriarchal  Renunciate religions that teach us to renounce the world, the body, and the demands of relationships of every kind, either in service of some abstract "better place" or teachings that degrade earthly life as "impure" or "unreality"..............will not help us.  More importantly, they certainly will not  help  those who must come after us to live in a diminished world.   In traditional theological  systems of patriarchal religions,  divinity is placed "elsewhere", be it the literally conceived  paradise that awaits the faithful,  heaven, or nirvana.  Equally, this renunciation of life can include more elegant abstractions that teach us that  "this is not real" but fail to describe what actually "is real" in a way that is tangible.  Renunciation of a false, dangerous, or corrupt world is a prime theme  to be found in patriarchal religions, religions that have their origins in violent  warrior ideology and warrior  lifestyles.  It might be said, for an example, that the  Old Testament God Yahweh, with all his punishments and rules,  is a classic  example of an authoritarian, merciless, warrior  "sky god".   

And more subtly, the  New Age message that "this experience  is not real" which drives devotees to seek "the real world"  found in  some divine, other-worldly, perfected  abstraction once we are "purified" or "surrender" in order to have one's consciousness raised sufficiently.  Which often must happen  through an authoritarian Guru or spiritual leader, with many of the attendant social abuses.  

To speak of "oneness",  to address creating a cohesive vision of holism that is appropriate to the world we live in today,  mythic systems that include  creative diversity within that "oneness" are needed.   Myths and symbols that can include many gods and goddesses, many voices and languages, and many ways to the truth instead of simply eliminating the competition.  Further, our world myth can no longer be simply a human world myth - it must include many evolutions, many other beings within the intimacy of ecosystems.  If we're to survive into sustainability.   

"We live in a world today in which the problems we face are all planetary" Philip Slater commented in his last book The Chrysalis Effect, “the polarization and chaos we see in the world are the effect of a global cultural metamorphosis".  Slater's view was ultimately hopeful - that we are witnessing the chaos of a new evolution.   That metamorphosis he spoke of, I personally  believe, is based on the realization of inter-dependency with all life.  In his view, this is humanity's childhood's end.  We are called now to the world, each other, and the miracle of life, with a "Webbed Vision". 

As the New Year approaches, I personally would like to call on artists, writers, musicians, storytellers,  and all  other "cultural creatives" to help to make a new mythology for the global tribe.   The writer Ursula Leguin called them "realists of a larger reality".  Among the Navajo (Dine`) infant girls still have a bit of spider web rubbed into their hands so they will "become good weavers".   May we all now rub a bit of spider web into our hands for the work ahead of us ..........and, like Penelope, may we all now see "with a web on our faces".


“Hope now lies in moving beyond our past in order to build together a sustainable future for all the interwoven and interdependent life on our planet, including the human element.  We will have to evolve now into a truly compassionate and tolerant world – because for the first time since the little tribes of humanity’s infancy, everyone’s well being is once again linked with cooperation for survival.  Our circle will have to include the entire world. 
Joel Kramer and Diana Alstad, The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power 8
                   

1)   Keller, Catherine, From a Broken Web: Separation, Sexism, and Self, 
       1988, Beacon Press

2)    Patterson-Rudolph,  Carol,  On the Trail of Spider Woman, 1997, Ancient City Press.

3)    Loftin, John D., Religion and Hopi Life, 2003,  Indiana University  \
        Pres(first published January 1st 1988)

4)   Baring, Anne, "Awakening to the New Story",  2013, from her  website: 
       https://www.annebaring.com/anbar14_comment.htm

5)   LoyDavid R., The World is Made of Stories,  2010, Wisdom Publications

6)   Baring, Anne, "Awakening to the New Story",  2013, from her  website: 
       https://www.annebaring.com/anbar14_comment.htm

7)   Slater, Phillip, The Chrysalis Effect: The Metamorphosis of Global Culture,  2008, 
       Sussex Academic Press

8)   Ortiz, Rafael Montanez Ph.D., interview with Lauren Raine, unpublished manuscript 
     (1989)

9)  Alstead, Diana and Kramer, Joel, The Guru Papers:  Masks of Authoritarian Power, 
       1993, Frog Books