WORLD FUTURE
It’s Time to Cry and Do Better
A journey showing our western civilization with fresh eyes. And a realistic path to a better future.
When did our western civilization start? I’d have to Google it, I’m no historian. But I do know that our transition from hunter-gatherers to farmers (12,000 years ago?) and later the industrial revolution (1750) had a lot to do with it.
In this story, I want to take you on a journey. Show you my perspective on western civilization and invite you to look at possible solutions for the mess we’re in right now.
My vision of the future is an abundant one. It might sound strange considering the fierce unrest in the world. Corona deaths, economic collapse, homelessness, and black lives matter dominate the headlines.
But please bear with me as the story unfolds.
We can create a future that’s happier and healthier than the road we travel now. We just have to face the cage we’re in and choose a way out.
Together.
My view is not a complete worldview, of course. It can never be. There are so many details that other cultures than my own western one can add to my story. But I try to tell it anyway. In my own words. With my current knowledge.
Always feel invited to add your unique perspective from your own cultural background. It’s very valuable to me and the others who read with us.
And then I’ll lift a corner of the veiled path to a better future that my friends and I are working on. In real-life. Actually happening.
The Roots of Western Civilization
I started by mentioning farming and industrialization. With it came a scientific view and a spiritual one.
Let’s start with our spiritual view.
When the Europeans started to travel and ‘discover continents’ we laughed at ‘savages’ who worshipped multiple Gods. We said one God was better. We chose Christ and started our calendar 2020 years ago. And we conquered the world. Colonizing land and people and nature as a whole.
Reducing everything and everyone to a resource.
Reductionism has been our middle name in all of these endeavors.
Our western science is greatly inspired by René Descartes, the man who proudly said we are thinkers. His most famous quote is: “Cogito ergo sum, I think, therefore I am.”
But he’s also the one who claimed we are like machines. Well, I’m not so sure about that. My mind and body are entwined alright. And where is my heart, my compassion, my soul in this worldview?
Here is one of Descartes’ science quotes.
“Et ainsi nous rendre maîtres et possesseurs de la nature — And thereby make ourselves, as it were, the lords and masters of nature”
— René Descartes (1596–1650).
The ‘we’ I speak about in this story has roots in Europe and has since spread to the Americas, Australia, and New-Zealand. My own cradle stood in the lowlands (The Netherlands, Belgium).
And only after many years of growing up and gaining wisdom, I became a World Citizen and adopted a multi-layered worldview.
Historic Design of Our Civilization
Well, in Descartes’ time (1596–1650), we have to realize that our poo ran through the streets. Illnesses like diphtheria and polio were mainstream. We were ambitious to do better. To build a civilization. And we did.
This was some time after Columbus first set foot in America (1492). Australia was already discovered by western explorers (1520 in Portuguese history stories, 1606 from a Dutch viewpoint).
We, Europeans, put our stamp on the world. And all of us together called it western culture.
We created artificial energy to replace human energy. For instance in the forementioned farming. We spent this energy without constraint. Not limiting ourselves in the amounts of coal, oil, gas we retrieved from the earth. We invented awesome new materials. Concrete. Asphalt. And plastics.
We built sewer systems and cities. We conquered illnesses with chemical medicines. We lived longer. We found a new God in wealth and money. And for ages, we went on and on and on. Trodding the same path. Innovating in the same manner. Building on existing knowledge.
And that’s where we are now in history.
Chaos arrived in the year 2020.
Chaos has the signature of COVID-19, feeling the responsibility of social distancing or fiercely fighting to preserve freedom, #metoo, trolling on social media, and children skipping school because of climate change.
There’s fear, unrest, and desperation.
Let’s take a minute for it to sink in.
We did what we did. History is history. And chaos is chaos.
Several Sides to One Story
Of course, there are different sides to one story. History will look different from another angle. Some say right is right. Some say right is wrong. So what’s the real truth?
I believe in finding out for ourselves. So, I’ll give you some thoughts to explore and invite you to sharpen your own worldview in whatever way you like.
Here are some other sides to the story of Descartes and our western civilization than the success stories we usually tell.
We designed a sewer system, yes. The poo doesn’t run through the streets anymore. We flush it away with on average 1.6 gallons of drinking water. It’s transported over long distances. And then it ends up in a cleaning facility where we use chemicals to turn it into drinking water again. Clever?
We produce enough food, yes. We use phosphate out of mines in Marocco and China as fertilizer. We put monocultures on our land, making the crops vulnerable for pests. We smother the soil life underneath our feet with large tractors. And we use ten times as much energy to produce our food than we get out of it in calories. Clever?
We conquered many diseases, yes. And we live longer in years. But in the process, we created a lot of chronic illnesses. According to the World Health Organization: “It has been calculated that, in 2001, chronic diseases contributed approximately 60% of the 56.5 million total reported deaths in the world and approximately 46% of the global burden of disease”
Our health is now trapped in business models. Our doctor says that high blood pressure will make us sick, so we need pills. But what is the real cause of our high blood pressure? Stress? Lifestyle? And in the meantime, we keep running. We never stop. We need to earn serious money to afford a house and food. Clever?
Redesign Our Civilization
What we often don’t realize is that we designed this civilization ourselves over the centuries. We got trapped in it. Yes. And it will be an enormous job to get us out of it and redesign our civilization in a more clever, humane, and truly civilized way.
There’s chaos now in the world. There’re many different viewpoints and they all think they are right. Everybody’s fighting. We need to go this way! We need to go that way! We need to build windmills! We need resources! We need to hoard our money! We need to be the first to find a vaccine!
It’s all true. And it’s all not true.
So what do we need to do?
My answer is: be with what is for a while.
Life unfolds in cycles. There’s a time for action, and a time for reflection. I think we might be better off being in reflection-mode for a bit.
What can we reflect upon? Here are some suggestions.
Foundations of Our Current Civilization
There are some things we might want to reassess before redesigning our new civilization.
- We built our civilization on a reductionist worldview. We thought people were machines. We failed to see the connections between parts. The bigger picture
- The reductionist worldview helped us find solutions by specialized scientists. But also here, we failed to see the connections. An example. Yes, we discovered DNA. But we still know next to nothing about epigenetics, the way DNA interacts with its surroundings, and how to find solutions in this realm. It might be world-changing!
- We built our civilization wanting to control nature. We want just one crop, so we design monoculture. We want rain, so we seed our clouds with silver iodide particles to make them drop their rain. Our hunger for other than human energy makes us rape our planet, destroy our rainforests, and dam our rivers
- Our reductionist thinking, our fear-based religions, and our short term tunnel vision make us think that abundance doesn’t exist. Scarcity rules our world
- We made money our God. We are running a marathon to serve this God. And we fail to see that we give away our power to companies with business models and a few very rich people. We built our civilization like a pyramid without the wisdom inside
- We think we need to force ourselves. To restrict ourselves. We think success can only be found in 60-hour working weeks. So we build up stress. Ruining our immune systems and wanting more pills. Quick fixes
- And when we’ve finally done our job and flop onto the couch, we don’t have any energy for love or thinking or intuition. We choose Netflix. We choose distraction. We go bungee-jumping for the adrenaline rush. We do anything to make us feel alive.
I think our western civilization has made addicts out of us. All of us. Some are addicted to gambling, narcotics, or booze. Others are addicted to work, shopping, mobile phones, or sex. It’s all the same addiction. We have become zombies in a seemingly civilized world.
Consider this quote. Unfortunately, I can’t remember who said it:
“Success is only as valuable as the price we paid to achieve it.”
— Quote by source unknown
Pfew, What Next?
Take a minute again to let my worldview sink in. I know it’s an alien worldview and you might not like the implications. I understand that. And you don’t have to agree with me. But for me, fresh eyes helped me find a better path for my life.
So, my remedy is to sit with it. To let it sink in. To slow down. Not do anything about it. Just be with it.
We might cry over what we’ve lost and are still losing. We need to realize the price we are paying to judge our success on the other side of the ravine.
- Cry about all the feelings we don’t have anymore. The abundant love we miss out on. Cry about the numbness in our hearts
- Cry about the rape of our planet. If we feel inside ourselves, we can feel her pain. We can feel her despair
- Cry about the lives lost in little boats at sea, trying to escape poverty and reach the money-driven world
- Cry about the slaves, who helped to build this nightmare world, losing their lives in the process and giving their descendants an inherited pain that can be felt in our current day and age.
Yes, the world is chaotic now. And we want to do something to make it better. Letting our emotions out is a great start. And if we slow down, we will know which way to go next. Let’s feel before we go on the road again. And create a future of wisdom. Of health. Of happiness for all.
It can be done. Let’s take time to get our eyes adapted to the dark tunnel and see the road ahead.
Steps to Take
These steps might help us get (and stay) on the road to a better future.
- Slow down. Meditate if you can. Learn how to feel Mother Nature. Train your calmness-muscle
- Train your listening skills. Not listen to react, but listen to understand another person’s worldview. This does also include not reacting aggressively on social media posts you do not agree with
- Stop fighting, kicking, and trolling. Avoid toxic people and don’t be a (passively) aggressive person yourself
- Stop trying to be right and be immensely curious instead
- Change your mindset from scarcity to abundance. If we would embrace all that nature produces instead of choosing good (crops) and bad (weeds or byproducts), we can create abundance in our local economies. But until companies and governments understand how, we can all slow down on buying stuff and increase on love, warmth, and support
- Make your life simpler and cheaper. It will help you choose time over money if you don’t have to earn so much money to survive
- Become aware of your patterns. The feeling you get when shopping for stuff you don’t need. The craving for sex without love. The craving for sugary food. The craving for fighting and winning
- Connect to nature and become aware of everything and everyone around you.
A New Foundation for Economy, Culture, and Society
And for those of us who now think I’m trying to get you on a road to nowhere. Please, think again. The transition is already happening.
We are creating a world in which the economy will be aligned with the ecology of our planet. The solutions will be systemic and nature-based. We will build it on a foundation of care and responsibility.
We will develop business models that are based on collaboration instead of competition. Based on synergy instead of scale. We will think globally and act locally. Both feet firmly rooted in local, healthy soil.
Our culture will hopefully become more mindful and modest. Taking up our rightful space, yes, but leaving space for other people and other species as well.
We will combine old, indigenous wisdom with technologies that enhance all life. We will gain scientific insights with quantum physics, systemic thinking, observation, and qualitative research methods.
We will restore ecosystems, unleash the abundance of nature, and learn together how to live within the boundaries of our planet.
Our societies and companies will fulfill basic needs for all without waste. Carefully designed waste streams will be resources for other products. Distributing wealth fairly. Realizing all the time that success is only as valuable as the price we paid to achieve it.
I see it’s already happening. So, just have hope and keep your eyes open.
Let me tag a few people who might like to read and whom you might want to check out because they write awesome stuff themselves. Charlotte, Livia, Lets Save Earth, Chowa, Jhon, Mike, Trista, Blaine, Kenneth, Karen, Dr John, Tree.
And if you want to connect, you can find me on LinkedIn, Twitter or my website. Or somewhere connecting to old wisdom and design the life-enhancing methods of the future…
Thank you, Mike, for adding your wise energy to my words.