The Living Universe (21 page)

Again and again, Sorokin found that “hate produces hate, physical force and war beget counterforce and counter war, and that rarely, if ever, do these factors lead to peace and social well-being.”
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As the teachings of the world's great sages and the example of leaders from Ashoka to Gandhi and King attest, it is vitally important for us to bring reconciliation and forgiveness into our world at this pivotal time.

“Simplicity reveals the master,” says an old adage. More than 2000 years ago, in the same historical period that Christians were saying “Give me neither poverty nor wealth” (Proverbs 30:8), the Taoists were asserting “He who knows he has enough is rich” (Lao Tzu), Plato and Aristotle had proclaimed the importance of the “golden mean” (a path through life with neither excess nor deficit) and the Buddhists were encouraging a “middle way” between poverty and mindless accumulation. The wisdom of simplicity is not a recent revelation.

As we master the art of living on Earth, our mastery will be evident in the simplicity of our way of living. Simplicity does not mean turning away from progress; to the contrary, it is an expression
of a maturing civilization. We can gain insight into the relationship between simplicity and progress from the eminent historian Arnold Toynbee, who invested a lifetime in studying the rise and fall of civilizations throughout history. Based on his voluminous studies, Toynbee summarized the essence of a civilization's growth in what he called the
Law of Progressive Simplification.
He wrote that a civilization's progress and growth was not to be measured by its conquest of land and people; rather, the true measure of growth lies in a civilization's ability to transfer increasing amounts of energy and attention from the material side of life to the non-material side—areas such as education, cultural and artistic expression, and the strength of democracy and society.
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Toynbee also coined the word
etherialization
to describe the historical process whereby humans learn to accomplish the same, or even greater, results using less time and energy. Buckminster Fuller called this process
ephemeralization
(although his emphasis was primarily on getting greater material performance for less time, weight, and energy invested).

We can see material ephemeralization at work in many areas of our lives. For example, computers have evolved from room-sized giants to slim laptops with vastly more computing power. Libraries are evolving from massive buildings that warehouse millions of books to small computer chips that can store an even greater volume of knowledge. The telephone has evolved from a cumbersome network of telephone poles, wires, and transformers to cheaper, lighter, and more powerful cell phone technologies that employ transmitting towers and get rid of the bulky, burdensome, and weighty copper wires strung across the landscape. Automobiles have evolved from heavy works of iron and steel to an increasingly lighter architecture of high-strength plastic, aluminum, and other exotic materials.

Building upon the insights of Toynbee and Fuller, we can redefine
progress by expanding the definition of ephemeralization. Progress can then be viewed as a two-fold process involving the simultaneous refinement of both the material and non-material side of life. With ephemeralization, the material side of life grows lighter, less burdensome, more articulate, and effortless. At the same time, the non-material side of life becomes more vital, expressive, knowledgeable, wise, artistic, and nurturing. In short, ephemeralization involves the co-evolution of inner and outer, consciousness and matter. Ephemeral progress does not negate the material side of life but calls forth a new partnership where the material and non-material aspects of life co-evolve with one another.

The outer aspects of our lives most important to ephemeralize are the basics: housing, transportation, food production, and energy generation. It is important to lighten up our inner aspects as well—learning the skills of touching the world and others ever more lightly and lovingly—in our relationships, work, community life, and more. With the combination of outer and inner refinement we have the potential for genuine progress, or building a sustainable
and
satisfying world for billions of people without devastating the ecology of the Earth. In place of a paradigm of consumerism we can embrace the more powerful, interesting and creative paradigm of
ephemeralism.

We have seen that consumerism is a rational response if we view the universe as mostly dead matter and empty space. Consumerism offers us material pleasures, a sense of identity, and a measure of significance in an otherwise dead cosmos. In a non-living universe, it makes sense to exploit non-living matter on behalf of ourselves, because we are the most intensely alive creatures we know.

However, if we view the universe as fundamentally alive, a place
perfectly suited for our awakening to that aliveness, then simplicity of living makes sense. Now we want to reduce the busyness and clutter that distract us from diving deep into existence. Seeing alive-ness rather than deadness in the world around us, we feel less need for protection or even entertainment. We gather great satisfaction from the simple pleasures of engaging with others to share a conversation, a meal, or a walk. We see the significance of our lives in the size of our souls, not the size of our house, car, or bank account.

There are many names that we could give to this new approach to living: among them, voluntary simplicity, sophisticated simplicity, green living, ephemeral living, conserver living, and Earth-friendly living. Whatever we call this shift, it has dramatic implications for the future of our world.

At a global scale, to live sustainably we need to make much more efficient use of existing resources. To live more efficiently, it is vital to live more peacefully. Global military expenditures divert an enormous amount of human energy and material wealth that could otherwise be used for meeting basic human needs. To live more peacefully, it is essential to achieve a reasonable degree of fairness in material well-being. It is unrealistic to think that, in a communications-rich world, a large portion of the world's population will quietly accept living in absolute poverty and needless misery while a small minority lives in privileged comfort. Terrorism and civil unrest have their roots in desperate poverty and hopelessness. Without a revolution in fairness, the world seems destined to sink into endless conflict over scarce resources such as land, oil, and fresh water. In a self-fulfilling spiral of ruin, conflict over resources will increase demands for military expenditures and the potential for efficiency, equity, and long-term sustainability will diminish.

Instead of viewing simplicity as a lifestyle of limitation, it is
important to recognize it as a path of global opportunity. Gandhi's principle of “live simply that others may simply live” is profoundly relevant. If the human family chooses a path of moderation and fairness, then hope will grow as billions of people assist one another in building a future of mutually assured development.

Earth-friendly, or green, ways of living are no longer alternative lifestyles for a pioneering few; instead, they are becoming conventional lifestyles for the mainstream majority, particularly in developed nations. Even with major technological innovations in energy and transportation, we will require dramatic changes in patterns of living and consuming if we are to maintain the integrity of the Earth as a living system.
Simplicity is simultaneously a personal choice, a civilizational choice, and a species choice.
We will make the choice for a sustainable future with much greater enthusiasm when we recognize that it is a necessary part of a future path that calls forth our species potentials and leads us into ever-greater communion with the living universe.

Our communion with the universe is mirrored in our expressions of community with one another. It is through community that we can most fully realize and celebrate ourselves as citizens of a sacred cosmos. Modern neighborhoods with isolated, single-family dwellings have been compared to tiny, underdeveloped nations where the potential for community and synergy has yet to be realized. A new architecture of life is required. In a shift similar to that which nature makes—for example, in the jump from simple atoms to complex molecules, or from complex molecules to living cells—humanity is being challenged to make a jump to a new level of community.

Because much of the urban infrastructure is already in place around the world, this means that a revolution in green retrofitting lies ahead as we reconfigure our lives to be sustainable in this new era. Rebuilding our cities and neighborhoods into islands of relative self-sufficiency—reducing dependency on distant sources of food, energy, and other material needs—will become the basis for a global economic revolution. A global “green village” movement is a healthy response to a world systems crisis because it will create a strong, resilient foundation for living.

Current patterns and scales of living do not suit emerging needs. The scale of the household is often too small, and a city too large, to realize many of the opportunities for sustainable living. Taking a lesson from humanity's past, I believe it is important to look at the in-between scale of living—that of a small village of a few hundred people. Whether newly built, or created by retrofitting an existing neighborhood or building, I believe great opportunity exists for the development of small, ecologically integrated villages (“eco-villages”) to be nested within a larger urban area. I will use the term
eco-village
to describe the diverse expressions of new urban villages where the strength of one person or family meets the combined strength of others and, working together, something is created that was not possible before.

To illustrate from my own life, my partner Coleen and I have lived in an eco-village or co-housing community of about seventy people and we have seen how easily and quickly activities can be organized on that scale. From organizing fundraisers (such as a brunch for tsunami disaster relief), to arranging classes (from yoga to Cajun dancing), cultivating the garden, and creating community celebrations and events, we have participated in numerous gatherings that emerged with ease from the combined strengths and diverse talents of the community.

Looking ahead, I can imagine families in the future will live in an “eco-home” that is nested within an “eco-village,” that is nested within an “eco-city,” and so on up the scale to the bioregion, nation, and world. Each eco-village of several hundred people could have a distinct character, architecture, and economy. Most would likely contain: a childcare facility; a community house for meetings, celebrations, and meals; an organic community garden; a recycling and composting area; some revered open space; and a crafts/shop area. Each could offer their talents to support aspects of the local economy—the arts, healthcare, childcare, non-profit learning centers for gardening, green building, conflict resolution, and other skills—that would provide fulfilling employment for many. These micro-communities could have the culture and cohesiveness of a small town and the sophistication of a big city, as virtually everyone will be immersed within a world rich with communications. Eco-villages create the possibility for doing meaningful work, raising healthy children, celebrating life in community, and living in a way that seeks to honor the Earth and future generations. In looking at intentional communities emerging around the world, it is clear to me that a spiritual dimension is important in many of them. In turn, with the support of a conscious community, we can each grow into a more intimate relationship with the aliveness of the universe.

Because eco-villages, or co-housing communities, typically range in size from a hundred to several hundred people, they approximate the scale of a traditional tribe. Consequently, eco-villages are compatible with both the village-based cultures of indigenous societies and the needs of post-modern cultures. With a social and physical architecture sensitive to the psychology of modern tribes, a flowering of diverse communities—most created through retrofitting—could replace the alienation of today's massive cities. Diverse
forms of eco-villages could provide the practical scale and foundation for a sustainable future. I believe new villages will become important islands of community, security, learning, and innovation in a world of sweeping change. These smaller-scale, human-sized living and working environments will foster diverse experiments in community and cooperative living. Overall, sustainability will be achieved through differing designs that are uniquely adapted to the culture, economy, interests, and environment of each locale.

Despite the appeal of eco-villages as a design for sustainable living, there is not the time to retrofit and rebuild our existing urban infrastructure before we hit an evolutionary wall. Climate disruption, energy shortages, and other critical trends will overtake us long before we have the opportunity to make a sweeping overhaul in the design and function of our cities and towns; therefore, it is important to learn from experiments in eco-villages and co-housing and to adapt their designs and principles for successful living to existing urban settings. Without the time to retrofit into well-designed green villages, we must make the most of the existing urban infrastructure and creatively adapt ourselves within it. Global challenges will produce a wave of green innovations for local living—technical, ecological, economic, social, architectural, and more. Lessons learned in eco-villages and co-housing will be important sources of invention and inspiration for a new village movement as existing urban architecture is transformed into human-scale designs for sustainable living.

The mass media are a window through which we see the world. If the infusing aliveness of the universe is not recognized and celebrated in our media, then it is much less likely that we will see it
in our everyday lives. If the media present diminished images of ourselves as isolated consumers who want to be entertained, then we will tend to fulfill that self-image. However, if we see portrayals of ourselves as citizens of the cosmos who are actively engaged in a heroic journey of awakening, we will tend to fulfill that self-image. Because the mass media are so powerful in presenting and reinforcing our self-image as a species, it is critical that we use this storytelling machine of mass culture to tell ourselves bigger stories about where we are, who we are, and where we are going.