The inextricable entanglement of the total sphere of life as one entity demands we treat it with a level of respect we could only term, self-respect. There is no environment existing as a separate system outside of ourselves; we are a part of the environment, and the environment is a part of us. The biosphere is in a state of homeostatic balance, and its processes contain the distilled intelligence of billions of years of delicate interactions that serve all life. When we try to alter and control nature, we upset those internal regulatory processes and disturb the equilibrium. There are potentially dangerous consequences for irresponsible use of force and control. These concepts are just as true in the sociopolitical ecosystems as they are in the natural world. We must be kind and gentle gardeners with people and nature.
We need to be respectful and careful with nature and the environment. Environmentalism goes beyond corporate green-marketing gimmicks, beyond debates over global warming and beyond the irrefutable molecular pollution of the biosphere. Environmentalism is about life itself, because the environment is the space where all life happens. From the microcosm to the macrocosm, there is a total symbiosis between the environment and all its diverse inhabitants representing an inseparable physical interdependence. From the fungi and billions of microorganisms in a handful of living soil, to intestinal microflora forming the endosymbiotic relationships enabling human digestion, immunity systems, and vitamin synthesis— no part of human life is possible without the total environment. One could say that from the tiny microbes, to higher-order multicellular organisms, we are all in this thing together.
You cannot mechanize nature or people. Natural life is wild and dynamic, not tame and obedient. We have all seen a small plant breaking through the concrete sidewalk— this simple but powerful visual metaphor illustrates what happens in any domain where we attempt to control nature. Like fools we tamper with the low-level rules of the complex systems of life for greater efficiency and control, and we forget that nature already has the most efficient processes we have ever observed. If we push nature too far we are going to get hurt, and arguably those repercussions are already becoming apparent in so many ways. If we continue to get in the way, the wild river of life may cut a new course, and more than likely, not a pleasant one. All dominions of control— governments, corporations, foolish scientists, reckless capitalists, and oligarchy overlords— beware; the collective mind of the masses is a great uncontrollable river of extraordinary power. The power of people and nature is the final word.
The monstrous hand of control can be seen in monocultures of specialization such as assembly lines, strip malls, row farming, feed lots, chain stores and chain restaurants (feedlots for people), federalization, corporate cultures, racist gatherings, suburban tract housing McMansions, factory farming, mono-medicines, entrenched patriarchies, budget fashion, and sweatshops. The industrial revolution assembly lines gave birth to the sweatshops and indentured child slavery; as they say, you may know a tree by its fruits. The sweltering white-head of the capitalist greed-boil can be seen oozing out bland consumer conformity, and low quality goods at a high world-wide collateral cost. Economics without emotion is war against the heart of life itself. The war is between authoritarian, fear-based, profit-seeking uniformity, and freely democratic, anarchic, organic diversity; a battle between unnatural deceit and natural truths. It is a battle between the digital, synthetically-glossy Billboard Top 40, and the imperfect, analogue truth of brilliantly-flawed local live music. But ultimately, this is really a war between the forces of life and death, and the sacred expression of self-determination and freedom of choice. Monocultural forces want you to forget your childhood dreams, grow up, look the same, act the same and be the same, and this is why monocultures are bigoted and intolerant of those who are different. Monoculture hates diversity of all types, especially diversity of opinion, and is therefore the enemy of free speech and expression. Monocultures create mind-monopolies. Monoculture hates small towns, artists, artisans and colorful diverse expression, preferring instead a one-size-fits-all solution, which satiates the largest number of people at the highest profit. Monoculture wants you to forget that the joy of life is in the community of the village, where you can touch, taste, smell, feel and experience a motley potpourri of cultural vicissitudes. This beautiful village is where the real human family lives. The zombie brand-drones of monoculture live in the grey prison cells of homogeneity, dearth of the vibrancy of choice— standing in a cultural bread-line, just to stay alive.
We want cheap products, even our food, because of false resource scarcity created by certain elements in society. But you can't twist mother nature's arm for a discount, at least not without some consequences. In life, you get what you pay for, or in other words you get back what you put in — no matter the currency: tender, barter, or time. People who think they can outsmart nature have a few lessons to learn.
The homogenization of our consumer culture underscores a profound laziness and a sad lack of creativity and style. From coast-to-coast, any-town USA looks like the same sprawling strip mall, from sea to shining sea. It is like a bizarre form of consumer-xenophobia. The machinery of mass-corporatization loves the lazy, closed-minded tendencies of ignorant consumers, who have underdeveloped palates for quality craftsmanship. Craftsmanship exists in everything, from goods and services to vegetables, governments and even personal relationships. It seems we often timidly seek predictability and ease over adventure and effort. How we create the things we consume is very important because the act of creation yields by-products itself. Life is a constant consumption of our environment through our senses. We consume sights, food, conversations, products, touches, sounds, air and time. But as creatures with a body, we should all be especially concerned about the quality of air, water and food we allow into our bodily vehicle. As an organism there is nothing more relevant or sacred than what you put into your body. There is nothing more "meta-physical," in a literal sense, than food. Food is the ultimate sacrament. Food is a part of our contract with life.
The war for freedom is an information war fought with words, misdirections, distractions and omissions. It is an information war because people are basically good, and when they are in possession of the full truth, they usually do the right things. That is the reason information is controlled — because the free flow of truth is not always expedient for those wishing to maintain control. Begin to see the violence around you; begin to see the violence within you. Turn towards love, and become love. In the new world to come, let us only consider a true profit to be that which is for the greater good of all.
The truth is that no vile usurper of freedom can harm you if you have nothing to lose. True freedom and power only comes when one is free of attachments, including the attachments of attempting to control outcomes. There is nothing more powerful and nothing more dangerously beautiful than a free mind. This is why so many great defiant spirits, who continued to advance their beliefs in spite of energetic attempts to silence them, were eventually physically murdered. But even in the shadows of physical violence, the real battlefield is the realm of ideas. The real violence is committed in the writing of history, the records of the legal system, the reporting of news, through the manipulation of social contracts, and the control of information. The real violence is committed by each one of us when we choose promotions over justice and popularity over truth. We are all a part of a food chain of violence which will never end until we reassess what is truly profitable to a society, and until we redefine our very poor relationships with one another.
A person is not solely their body; a person is also the unique consciousness within. The greatest crimes in the world are not committed against the body, but against the freedom of the consciousness. In this regard, the world is full of murderers, assassins and energy thugs. Since you are not solely your body, they do not come to kill your body, but rather they come to kill your name, energy, and output. They kill your energy with audits, legal fees, politically-motivated arrests or propaganda against your credibility, character or morality. They understand the tribal mob mentality, and know how to let the mob do the dirty work of social stoning, through condemnation and ostracism. This type of murder is completely legal, but is nonetheless a great crime. To murder a soul's freedom and essence of being because someone does not agree with their ideas is barbaric, and yet this is business as usual on planet Earth. This is the name of the game — control.
The machinery of government and its war apparatus acts as a double-edged blade, with one side sharpened for outer enemies and the other honed for inner enemies. The government holds its self-preservation as its highest imperative. The system loves to make public examples out of so-called "troublemakers" to teach everyone important lessons. A personified system can almost be seen sneering at its subjects and ordering them to keep their heads down, and to not make eye contact, or else! But we must look intimidation in the eye, and stand defiantly against what we know is not just. Nothing is more beautiful than freedom, and nothing more grotesque than its molestation.
