Introduction
For hundreds of Millenia our human species has been slowly learning and maturing.
One perspective: Our "childhood" as early hunter-gatherers has now progressed into our late adolescence - with the potential for forming a planetary civilization.
And, the tumultuous period in which we are living is characterized by both clear vision and distortion. We can also see that we live amidst powerful internal and external forces resisting growth"creating stagnation and even regression.
Our current era can be thought of as an extraordinarily challenging rite-of-passage, which holds the possibility for us emerging into our global adulthood and creating an encompassing human community.
If humanity survives the coming decades (amidst a probable "whole-systems" collapse) we will be offered the potential of a renewed relationship with other human beings, other species, and the universe to which we belong.
A Survey
Duane Elgin states that most people recognize intuitively (and have at least a subliminal awareness) that the human family is in the process of growing up. For nearly two decades he has offered the following informal survey to groups around the world, posing these questions:
"When you look at the overall behavior of the human family, what life-stage do you think we are in?
"If you were to estimate the level of maturity of human behavior around the world, what stage of development best describes the human family: baby, toddler, teenager, adult, or elder?"
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He reports that the vast majority of people share an intuitive recognition: whether in the United States, England, India, Japan, or Brazil - people have responded in the same way. At least two-thirds say that humanity is in its teenage years.
Adolescent Qualities
He notes that:
Teenagers are rebellious and want to prove their independence.
From one perspective humanity has been rebelling by separating from "mother nature" for thousands of years, trying to prove that we are separate, superior, and independent.
Teenagers can be reckless and operate without regard for the consequences of their behavior.
It seems clear that the human family has been acting recklessly by consuming natural resources as if they would last forever, polluting the air, water, and land of the planet, and bringing extinction to a significant part of animal and plant life on Earth. Beyond the whales"we too are now an endangered species.
Teenagers are drawn toward instant gratification.
As a species, we have been seeking short-term pleasures and are largely ignoring the needs of future generations - as well as other species and the interdependent web of life.
Teenagers are frequently concerned with appearance and with fitting in.
Similarly, many humans seem focused on expressing their identity and status through material possessions. And, like teens, many of us gather in exclusive cliques - clustered in ethnic, racial, religious, and other groupings. Many of us still think of life in terms of in and out groups, and maintain an "us vs. them" mentality.
Much like teenagers, we don't yet to feel solid enough in who we are - in our identity. If we look carefully, we can see that we experience both divisions within ourselves and a fragmented sense of ourselves vis-a-vis the world and other beings.
Rather than experiencing our wholeness, connectedness and essential unity, we have yet to grow beyond our habits of experiencing ourselves as being utterly separate from others.
However - despite these manifestations of immaturity - we can remember that there are, and always have been, very beneficial aspects of the adolescent stage of development.
Adolescents have substantial energy and enthusiasm and, with their courage and daring, are ready to dive into life and make a difference in the world. Many teenagers have a hidden sense of greatness and feel that, if given a chance, they can accomplish wonderful things. These qualities can serve and energize us in creating a world focused on Life.
Growing Up
A big part of growing up is coming to terms with the "reality principle." For some - particularly teens with supportive parents who have nurtured their capacity to realistically relate to themselves and the world - (despite the upheavals of adolescence) this process is gradual and essentially gentle. For teens who have not been so lucky, the confrontation with reality proves to be significantly more challenging.
Adolescents who are growing toward maturity begin to realize that, as young adults, they will need to:
--- make a living and take care of themselves - physically, emotionally and on other levels;
--- respect others and forge cooperative relationships;
and
--- contribute and find ways to be generative - giving back to the world by developing their own abilities and capacities.
To optimally achieve these goals, they will need a blend of healthy self-esteem and humility.
These young people will also recognize that support is available, both from mentors and many other sources of knowledge.
The most mature will be learning to think independently and creatively, rather than merely relying on established sources of knowledge.
As Frank Barron's study of highly creative people showed - these individuals had the following traits in common: a high tolerance for disorder (and an ability to derive order from chaos), risk taking, fierce independence and a natural attraction to complex problems. Such young adults would also demonstrate a burgeoning capacity for introspection and self-awareness, leading to a familiarity with the darker aspects of their personality.
Perhaps most important of all is the quality we call "humility." Among other descriptions we can say that it involves growing beyond egocentricity (the assumption that the world revolves around ourselves). They will be gaining an ability to relate to others as "sacred subjects," rather than objects to be manipulated - seeing others as a "thou," rather than an "it."
A corollary aspect of this quality is the realization that we don't know everything and therefore simply need a lot of help. We become "teachable." Aid can arise from many dimensions of life and we will need to learn to ask for it.
Growing Up: An Epic Choice
As a species we are about to come face-to-face with the Reality principle. It will soon become clear that we have reached the limits of what the living systems of Earth and society can endure. We humans are now a global society of more than eight billion people, who are dependent on the shrinking resources of a finite planet.
Like teenagers who have not had the benefit of wise, firm, and nurturing parents, we will be in for a shock. Actually, we will be in for numerous shocks.
If we choose denial, our own future is likely to be grim. However, even if we choose to see reality as it is, the road ahead still looks arduous and replete with dangers. Those of us who chose to awaken we need to come to terms with these dark truths:
1. Our expanding consumption is killing the Earth. Rather than increasing our burden on a finite living Earth, we must learn to reduce this burden, accepting our stewardship, our responsibility to the living community on which we depend. We need to learn to live within the limits of our planet's regenerative systems.
2. An unconscionable wealth gap is shredding the social fabric of our world. We need to re-create social systems that are deeply fair, and that we feel are worthy of our loyalty. Rather than concentrating the power of financial assets and ownership in the hands of the few, we must find ways of sharing it equitably among all who share Earth, focusing on our common heritage.
3. Money-driven political and economic institutions place the human future at risk. Rather than yielding our sovereignty to money-seeking corporations and the mindset of Empire, we must: a) find ways to change the rules - holding governments democratically accountable to "We the Sovereign People", and b) insist on holding corporations responsible to the governments that issue their charters.
4. The power of the institutions of empire rests on control of human access to the resources that we depend on money to buy. We now live in the ultimate tyranny because the means of control are far less visible than armies and police battalions.
How we will proceed as a species is far from clear. Much is uncertain.
On the road ahead - even in the most fortuitous of circumstances - we will need to realize that those who are deeply attached to having power over others can be expected to try to maintain it at all costs - and that they will most likely wage intense campaigns to do so. For both these individuals and their institutions, the kind of radical change that is required will seem like a form of death.
In the worst-case scenario, power holders may be willing to "destroy the game," throwing over the grand chess board, with its pieces tumbling to the floor. Like spoiled children - rather than relinquishing power - the elites (consciously or not) may throw the ultimate tantrum, creating a massive extinction event. We should also be aware that there currently are questions regarding the existence of an agenda to radically reduce the world's population.
(Let us also recall that at this time - 2023 - the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has moved the hands of the "Doomsday Clock" forward, to 90 seconds to midnight - the closest to global catastrophe it has ever been).
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Being an authentic "grown up," with a desire to nurture Life on Earth, entails a willingness to tolerate uncertainty. As Pema Chodron has said:
"To me, the point where people get stuck is exactly here. They have so little trust in their ability to rest with negativity and uncertainty that whenever they detect a hint of paradox or not knowing, they become afraid and do all kinds of conformist, fundamentalist things to become secure again.
"It takes a lot of bravery even to consider that uncertainty is not a threat"The future is uncertain... but such uncertainty lies at the very heart of human creativity."
Change Agents
Those of us who are willing to work for genuine, vitally important change will need to access and utilize many of our best human qualities.
Besides humility, we will need faith, confidence, and also:
--- the capacity for joy in the midst of difficulty;
--- the capacity to think creatively, "outside the box;"
--- the ability to access our intuitive awareness;
--- the knowledge that we can simultaneously be independent and interdependent...
--- as well as the willingness to cultivate our own endurance, patience, determination, and a fierce love of life and each other.
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Because the present system of empire - which Philip Slater called "the mega-culture of authoritarianism"- has resisted significant change for thousands of years, it is likely that we will need to utilize counter-intuitive approaches, which are outside of the mental habits of western culture.
We will need to draw on the most advanced theories and practice of behavior-change available.
Some of these will have originated from traditional indigenous societies, some from eastern spiritual paths, some from the martial arts, some from treasure-trove of recent innovations in psychotherapy, including, psychosynthesis, contemporary psychoanalysis, gestalt therapy, and the radical wisdom of both hypnotist Milton Erikson, and anthropologist, social scientist, and systems theorist Gregory Bateson.
We, in the West, have already begun drawing upon the wisdom of eastern and western meditative and contemplative traditions, many of which have their origins in the spiritual traditions of India, Tibet, Japan, China, and countries in southeast Asia. As an example, witness the astoundingly rapid spread of mindfulness practices across society: in education, medicine, psychotherapy, business, and even the military.
In terms of strategies for social transformation, we have only just begun to apply these "ways of liberation."
Cutting-edge science, including new understandings from systems theory, quantum physics, zero-point energy, and biology can also help us forge a new worldview - and a new world.
And then there is the wildcard we refer to as "extraterrestrial visitors."
(Colonel Philip Corso reported in The Day After Roswell that he spoke with a being from another world. Corso gruffly asked, "What's in it for us?" The being reportedly replied, "A new world, if you can take it").
Conclusion
The ideal growth of an adolescent involves a maturing out of egocentricity. In the same way, our entire civilization is a creation of the ego. If we wish to survive, it cannot be saved in its current form. The human species needs to mature.
The goal cannot be rehabilitation, but rather must be a radical transformation. Nothing less will do.
As change agents we, ourselves, will need to be willing to grow - opening our hearts, deepening our intuitive awareness and discovering skillful means to create a life-enhancing civilization.
Much will need to be jettisoned to lighten our load, including obsolete beliefs and perspectives.
To repeat: those of us who are up for this journey will not only be working for a new world; we will need to be open to our own transformation.
Many sacred assumptions will need to be burned up in the fire of love and wisdom.
We might even call this the "crisp trip."
Any volunteers?
(Article changed on Dec 20, 2023 at 5:11 PM EST)
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