A Quiet Revolution

Our culture has failed us on multiple levels and is in dire need of change. One way (but not the only way) to bring about this change is through a quiet revolution in our own lives.

Modern humans are overly specialized, disconnected from each other, not terribly happy, toxified from industrial poisons, relate poorly to the natural world, and are be driving the planet towards the mass extinction of most complex life.

If this is true, you may be asking -- then why the hell are we continuing down this path?

The simple answer is that our complex society has grown very good at growth and self-defense, and that there are few viable ways to disconnect from this complexity. Unless you're inclined towards throwing yourself off of the nearest cliff to eliminate your carbon impact, there is no way to 'opt out'.

As Daniel Quinn likes to say, "Our culture has locked up all the food." This is also true for shelter, water, clothing, and social relationships. So much of our lives in this culture revolve around working at a specialized job we don't like to pay for basic subsistence, luxury items that our culture insists are essential, and interacting with people who are doing much of the same thing. Even if your idea of 'opting out' involves voluntary simplicity, finding the essentials to support yourself (food, water, clothing, shelter and human companionship) is no simple matter. They are all locked up to one degree or another.

Moreover, a communal life based around voluntary simplicity is a threat to a complex society that has eliminated all viable alternatives to itself through 12,000 years of expansion and genocide.

Yes, communes and kibbutzes do exist. A few isolated hunter-gatherer tribes exist. But the exception does not disprove the rule.

There are various ways that our culture deals with people who are not enraptured with America's SUV culture. The simplest way is that access to the essentials for life requires money, which can only be accessed through theft (risky) or doing work that supports the larger culture (like making burgers for people too busy to do it for themselves).

This is reinforced by how we raise our children. Our schools prepare students to become good employees and consumers, teaching practical skills like 'How to Balance a Checkbook' and 'How to Fill out a Job Application'. Advanced students are taught 'How to Start Your Own Business'. Teaching students how to build a home from primarily native materials, grow a garden suited to their bioregion, or gather wild plants with medicinal or beneficial nutrients would be considered *impractical* and would likely get a school shut down. Young people in our society are expected to go to school, get a job, get their own place to live, and start contributing to society (just like everyone else!).

Our culture has become very good at enforcing social norms with only the implied threat of violence. The social norm is, 'everyone works' and 'only well-educated people have the luxury of enjoying their job'.

If an adult decides that, once they've made it through this indoctrination, they still want to simplify their lives in a meaningful way ... the challenges are still pronounced.

There is not enough open land nor enough expertise for more than a tiny fraction of people to go back to living off of the land without purchasing property. Arable land is not cheap, and neither are the taxes need to keep it. Purchasing arable land as a community is difficult because building a cohesive community must allow for the patient development of community decisionmaking. Experience in developing these sorts of communities is something that we do not find in great abundance today -- failure rates for intentional communities approach 90%.

Even moderate simplicity, such as working less hours and spending more time on other pursuits (such as raising a family, political activism or growing your own food) has its own challenges. Perhaps rather than explaining them, I'll simply ask some leading questions:

A) How many middle aged political activists have trouble making ends meet, when they discover they are no longer healthy (no health insurance!) and willing to live in a 2-bedroom apartment with 5 people (who keep rotating in and out). But they have little salable job experience, no savings, hefty student loans, and aren't very good at moving up the promotional ladder via office politics.

B) How many two-parent families cut back to 1 income in order to raise their child(ren)?

C) Is it more cost effective to make your own soap, raise your own corn, bake your own bread ... or to work a few more hours at work and simply buy these items at the supermarket?

The answer to these questions is: A) Too many to count on one hand! B) Very few! and C) Wonderbread isn't real food!

Our culture is very good at channeling people into behavior that serves to support the culture. I make this point because a frequent (and biting) charge from right-wing friends of mine is that 'If you believe in all this hippy stuff, why aren't you doing XYZ!?!'

The simple answer is that it is difficult. It is particularly difficult if you're not young, healthy, childless, debt free, and in a supportive family or community environment.

The larger answer, however, is that it is essential to keep trying. The logic of the marketplace, where the value of an action can only be measured by its opportunity cost, is destroying the ability of the planet to support complex and diverse life.

This is a quiet revolution. It will not change the face of the problems facing our society, and our world. It is, nonetheless, essential to simplify your life to the extend that you're able to -- and then keep on pushing.

Our lives have not been improved by this massive degree of complexity and specialization, but they will improve as we turn towards spending more of our time on pursuits that bring us joy.