I really appreciate your article submissions and commentary. By the way, are you a permaculture person? My connections to the listservs is that I finished Larry Santoyo's L.A. Permaculture Design Course in March 2007. I work as Lead Teacher in Biology and Marine Biology at Banning High School's Global Environmental Science Academy, so we use many of these articles in discussions and use them in our projects. Sharing these articles and other information is great!
----- Original Message ----
From: Diana Liu <diana1127@sbcglobal.net>
To: lapg@arashi.com; City Repair LA <cityrepairla@lists.riseup.net>
Sent: Sunday, January 6, 2008 8:09:53 AM
Subject: [Lapg] "Re-learning" what we've forgotten - by Chris Maser
I thought that this was a very good article. I don't mean and certainly don't think that we should abandon what we have now and go live a "hunter-gather" way of life. However, there are some fundamental principles of human relationship that the article suggested that we can learn from the hunter-gather society that seem to have gotten lost as we became more "civilized". Isn't it ironic?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Kindness in words creates confidence.
Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
Kindness in giving creates love.
- Lao Tzu
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
-----Inline Message Follows-----
"Re-learning" what we've forgotten
by Chris Maser
Editor's note: This is Chris Maser's Part Three of his series for
Culture Change. I ate this one up, because ever since I read a 1987
article in Discover magazine by Jared Diamond, about
hunter-gatherers' working only a few hours a day a few days a week,
I've been aware that our modern way of life is not what it's cracked
up to be. In Maser's article there is solid anthropological insight
applicable to our current challenge as a dysfunctional society facing
extinction. In his 18 maxims, he concludes with "Placing material
wealth, as symbolized by the money chase, above spirituality, nature,
and human well-being is the road to social impoverishment,
environmental degradation, and the collapse of societies and their
life-support systems." - Jan Lundberg
* * * *
*
If we all treat one another with the best principles of human
relationships, it is analogous to complying with Nature's biophysical
principles by taking responsibility for our own behavior. In other
words, if I want to become acquainted with you, it is incumbent on me
to determine how I must treat you in order to allow, even encourage,
you to reciprocate in kind. Thus, for me to receive the best
service, it is my responsibility to initiate a good relationship with
the person serving me. Likewise, to have an adequate supply of
quality resources in the form of ecological services from Nature to
run our cities, we must take care of the land in a way that
perpetuates the natural capital we require for a quality life. Here,
the bottom line is that, by treating one another -- as well as the
land -- with respect, we are uniting the two disparate entities into
a single,
self-reinforcing feedback loop of complementary services
that can be perpetuated through time.
To bring this about, however, we need to view one another and
ourselves differently, which necessitates a brief, generalized visit
to the hunter-gatherers of olden times. If you are wondering why we
need to visit the hunter-gatherers, the answer is simple: to
understand what we have forgotten -- how to live in harmony with one
another and the land.
What the hunter-gatherers knew
The hunting-gathering peoples of the world -- Australian aborigines,
African Bushman, and similar groups -- represent not only the oldest
but also perhaps the most successfully adapted human beings.
Virtually all of humanity lived by hunting and gathering before about
12,000 years ago. Hunters and gatherers represent the opposite pole
of the densely packed, harried urban life most people of today
experience. Yet the life philosophy of those same hunter-gatherers
may hold the answer to a central question plaguing humanity at it
enters the 21st century: Can people live harmoniously with one
another and Nature?
Until 1500 AD, hunter-gatherers occupied fully one-third of the
world, including all of Australia, most of North America, and large
tracts of land in South America, Africa, and northeast Asia, where
they lived in small groups without the overarching disciplinary
umbrella of a state or other centralized authority. They lived
without standing armies or bureaucratic systems, and they exchanged
goods and services without recourse to economic markets or taxation.
[ - to continue reading this article, go to:
http://culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=143&Itemid=2#cont - make sure all the address is pasted into browser.]
* * * * *
CULTURE CHANGE
P.O. Box 4347
Arcata, CA 95518 USA
Telephone and fax: 1-215-243-3144
Email:
info@culturechange.orgThank you! We look forward to any feedback.
Pass along the subscription link below to enable a friend to sign up
to receive Culture Change Letters via email.
_______________________________________________
You are subscribed to the Culturechange mailing list
http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/culturechangeTo unsubscribe from this or any mutualaid.org hosted mailing list, visit:
http://lists.mutualaid.org/unsub.php"Re-learning" what we've forgotten
by Chris Maser
Editor's note: This is Chris Maser's Part Three of his series for
Culture Change. I ate this one up, because ever since I read a 1987
article in Discover magazine by Jared Diamond, about
hunter-gatherers' working only a few hours a day a few days a week,
I've been aware that our modern way of life is not what it's cracked
up to be. In Maser's article there is solid anthropological insight
applicable to our current challenge as a dysfunctional society facing
extinction. In his 18 maxims, he concludes with "Placing material
wealth, as symbolized by the money chase, above spirituality, nature,
and human well-being is the road to social impoverishment,
environmental degradation, and the collapse of societies and their
life-support systems." - Jan Lundberg
* * * * *
If we all treat one another with the best principles of human
relationships, it is analogous to complying with Nature's biophysical
principles by taking responsibility for our own behavior. In other
words, if I want to become acquainted with you, it is incumbent on me
to determine how I must treat you in order to allow, even encourage,
you to reciprocate in kind. Thus, for me to receive the best
service, it is my responsibility to initiate a good relationship with
the person serving me. Likewise, to have an adequate supply of
quality resources in the form of ecological services from Nature to
run our cities, we must take care of the land in a way that
perpetuates the natural capital we require for a quality life. Here,
the bottom line is that, by treating one another -- as well as the
land -- with respect, we are uniting
the two disparate entities into
a single, self-reinforcing feedback loop of complementary services
that can be perpetuated through time.
To bring this about, however, we need to view one another and
ourselves differently, which necessitates a brief, generalized visit
to the hunter-gatherers of olden times. If you are wondering why we
need to visit the hunter-gatherers, the answer is simple: to
understand what we have forgotten -- how to live in harmony with one
another and the land.
What the hunter-gatherers knew
The hunting-gathering peoples of the world -- Australian aborigines,
African Bushman, and similar groups -- represent not only the oldest
but also perhaps the most successfully adapted human beings.
Virtually all of humanity lived by hunting and gathering before about
12,000 years ago. Hunters and gatherers represent the opposite pole
of the densely packed, harried
urban life most people of today
experience. Yet the life philosophy of those same hunter-gatherers
may hold the answer to a central question plaguing humanity at it
enters the 21st century: Can people live harmoniously with one
another and Nature?
Until 1500 AD, hunter-gatherers occupied fully one-third of the
world, including all of Australia, most of North America, and large
tracts of land in South America, Africa, and northeast Asia, where
they lived in small groups without the overarching disciplinary
umbrella of a state or other centralized authority. They lived
without standing armies or bureaucratic systems, and they exchanged
goods and services without recourse to economic markets or taxation.
[ - to continue reading this article, go to:
http://culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=143&Itemid=2#cont - make sure all the address is pasted into browser.]
* * * * *
CULTURE CHANGE
P.O. Box 4347
Arcata, CA 95518 USA
Telephone and fax: 1-215-243-3144
Email:
info@culturechange.orgThank you! We look forward to any feedback.
Pass along the subscription link below to enable a friend to sign up
to receive Culture Change Letters via email.
_______________________________________________
You are subscribed to the Culturechange mailing list
http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/culturechangeTo unsubscribe from this or any mutualaid.org hosted mailing list, visit:
http://lists.mutualaid.org/unsub.php