There’s something wrong with our culture. Our actions based on our culture more or less forces us to destroy the planet in order to live. We know that’s not right but we can’t seem to stop it. What’s wrong with our culture?
One, we see ourselves as separate from nature. In fact, we think we are above and superior to nature. We control nature and nature provides us with resources. We take what we want and we change nature to suit us. The crucial point is that we forgot that we belong to nature. We are nature. We are but one species out of millions of species that inhabit this planet.
Two, we don’t follow the rules of nature. Because we think we are separate from nature, we conclude that we are not subject to the rules of nature and we don’t have to follow the rules. The rules of nature evolved over millions of years and more or less suit the biodiversity of life on this planet. The rules are what works and are correct because they have survived the test of time. The rules of nature are:
- Resources instead of waste. There is no waste in nature and by-products produced become resources for others or are assimilated harmlessly back to the surroundings.
- Competition but no extermination. Nature hunts, kills and eats to live and survive, and not to destroy or cause the extinction of others for the sake of power and control.
- Diversity and no one best way to live or to do things. There are different ways to live and do things in nature, and those that worked continue while those that don’t worked disappear. Nature does not force others to live one way of life or allow only one species to rule. There is always diversity of life in nature.
- Adaptation but no exploitation. Nature adapts to the surroundings and uses what is available and existing. Nature does not use more than it needs and does not force others to produce more for its own use.
Three, we created our own game and rules. Because we don’t follow the rules of nature, we invented our own rules for our own game. It goes something like this: This game is called Economic Growth, which is played by Buyers and Sellers, and with Money and Stuff as the medium. The aim of the game is to accumulate as many Stuff and Money as possible. Buyers need Stuff and buy them from Sellers using Money. Sellers sell Stuff to Buyers and collect Money. Buyers work for Sellers to produce Stuff in return for Money to buy more Stuff.
The game got more complicated as time went by. Some Buyers have insufficient Money to buy Stuff and Sellers pay little Money to Buyers who made Stuff. Some Sellers and Buyers accumulated more Money and Stuff than others. Some Buyers bought Stuff which they thought they needed. Some Sellers produced Stuff that is bad for the environment.
One problem was that there was no end to the Economic Growth game. Once we played the game, we could not stop and have to continue to play to accumulate more Stuff and Money. Even if we want to stop, we are influenced by other Buyers and Sellers to keep on playing. The other problem is that we did not know how to play the game as it got more complicated. We just follow what the Sellers say and tell us to do. We play along with the game while complaining about those Sellers.
Some rules of the Economic Growth game are:
- More is better. We win by having more money, and more or bigger stuff. If we want more stuff, we work harder to make more money.
- Win or lose. We wanted the best for ourselves and became selfish. We started to adopt a win or lose mentality. Me vs You. Us vs Them. Business A vs Business B. Country A vs Country B. North vs South. Man vs Nature.
- Focus on means and not meaning. Our focus is on getting more money and stuff (means) and not on what we want to achieve with money and stuff (meaning) such as happiness, health, relationship, etc.
- Shortsightedness. We tend to do things without considering the future consequences and impacts on nature and future generations. We choose to ignore problems that do not happen in the near future or if we do not see the immediate impact on us. We keep doing more of what does not work and keep repeating the same mistakes.
To sum it up, there’s something wrong with our culture because our minds believe this: Since we are separate from and above nature, there is no need to abide by the rules of nature or learn from nature, and we do what’s best for us according to our game and rules. As long as our culture believes in that, we will keep on destroying the world in order to live.
To stop our destruction and save ourselves, we got to first change what we believe in our culture. Our changed minds must accept this: Learn what works in nature and do what’s good for nature because we are nature. By changing our minds, a new culture appears and our actions will then change for the better.
Image attribution: What What.
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