Ecological studies teach us that each thing in a niche is there because it delivers a value to the niche. Otherwise it is not there. No resource is ever wasted. As we have seen in Nature, waste eventually kills ecological niches.
Further, the myriad diversities in species and their special relationships with and within an ecological niche ensure that all resources within a niche are consumed very efficiently but in such a differentiated manner that the consumption is sustainable. The diversity makes sustainability possible.
There are no monocultures in Nature. Diversity, as a principle, is inviolate. When diversity dies, ecologies die. Only artificial sustenance keeps non-diverse “ecologies” / cultures alive. Just as huge amounts of artificial irrigation, herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers are needed to keep modern agriculture alive, a similar series of artificial “life-support” systems are needed to keep a monoculture system of exchange and monoculture system of work alive.
That is what we have today – a monoculture system of value exchange – a currency based exchange and a monoculture system of work – only work that enhances / maximizes the value of currency is considered of value. All other forms of exchange and / or work are considered either useless or entirely marginal (in the best case it is of entertainment value.)
This is a macabre ‘folie a deux’ of two monocultures that together require a vast infrastructure of artificial sustenance to survive. It requires bigger and bigger dams of currency (global funds of all types!) with currency flows that can only be controlled at one point and must be afforded unrestricted flow (WTO, World Bank, Transnational Corporations, Globalization), it requires heavier and heavier doses of fertilizer (cheap labor), herbicides and pesticides (military protection, unfettered work laws, no environmental regulation, no taxes etc…) just to stay alive.
This utter devaluation of all assets other than currency assets and all work other than currency producing work share a common principle. The “thing” is valued over the service it provides – be it trees, water, flora, fauna or people, it is objectification gone mad! Time itself is devalued – its role as an infinite bank account of possibilities is sacrificed in favor of instant conversion to currency – the highest possible return in the shortest possible time. It is as though time itself has no value unless it is both expended in the pursuit of currency and also converted into currency. Time itself has been objectified.
And so, you may ask – what of it. Life is good. Stock indices all over the world are up and booming. Traditionally developing nations are enjoying boom times! Historically speaking – unemployment levels are low. As long as we feed the monster we have nothing to fear – its full speed ahead! What’s wrong with this picture?
A gas tank with its last drops of gas in it will allow you to push pedal to metal and floor it and the engine will roar forward! No…it’s not that we may run out of gas or air or some other such commodity – we’ve always found a way around such obstacles….we are running out of humanity. We have completely internalized the monsters diet! We actually compete to feed it!! And we did not even make a pact with the Devil! We got nothing in return – we do this for free! Why? Why do we commit communal suicide?
Maybe it is as simple as this….we look upon ourselves as something above and removed from nature. We don’t need it. So….we believe we are kings of the hill…we can get away with anything. We overlook the fact that Nature does not need us. Not at all. We are not like the highest predator in the food chain. Nothing will happen if we disappear,…not even our pets will remember us only a few days after they get hungry! But in reality the situation is exactly the reverse…. When ecologies we depend upon deteriorate and die it is we who die first….and I am not just talking about natural ecologies. Humanity dies when mono-isms take over. Our cultural, emotional, spiritual bodies die! And when that happen a strange emptiness descends upon us. And that my friend is exactly what the monster feeds upon!
It takes a hell of a lot of junk to fill an empty life!
And that, my friends, is the engine of consumption!
It is not mindless consumption that makes our lives empty – it is the emptiness of our lives that breeds consumption!
Because, consumption is the deception that feeds the emptiness that keeps monocultures and mono-isms flourishing!
So, the next time you whip out that credit card stop a moment and ask yourself – do you need that credit card or does the credit card need you? Emptiness and Consumption…which is the Sith Lord and which the apprentice?
