Fluent Essays

Requirements Write a summary for each reading. A summary highlights (emphasizes) the main points of a text. Structure your summary as follows: Name the author (or authors) and title of the text.Identify 2-3 of the major points or ideas of the reading. Be concise. Accurately represent the author’s writings. Use direct quotations from the text.Conclusion: What findings (evidence, conclusions) does the author give? Example of opening sentence: In “__________” (title of article) by __________ (author’s first and last name), the author documents… • Don’t copy sentences verbatim from the text. Summarize the reading in your own words. • Use present tense, for example: The article documents, describes, examines, etc. The author observes, writes, concludes by saying, etc. • Type the following at the top left or right corner of the front-page: Your first & last name Environmental Problems & Solutions Winter 2020 Reading title & author(s) Getting started Grab the reader’s attention by: Citing an interesting fact or statistic from the reading. Opening with a quote from the reading. Posing a question your summary will answer. Using examples from the reading. Word length • 2.5 pages typed. • 12-sized font (any style). • Double-spaced. • Print single-sided. • Staple pages together. Missing pages is not the instructor’s responsibility. the_cycles_of_civilization_sally_j_goerner.pdf Unformatted Attachment Preview tile C- Floris Books / 7 77 S. J. Goerner of Integral Society The Emerging Science and Culture C1rork f’ter —- You cannot understand our times without understanding the epoch battle between our two deep cultural currents mutualism and domination. It has been running continuously for live thousand years. People have been aware of this battle for a very long time. We are on the cusp, therefore, of a radically new and yet remarkably old view ot history. Popularized versions of this view talk ol how the Patriarchy arose in a time long ago and still weaves its tendrils of oppression into much that we do. This story, however, tends to create a rift between men and Women which is thise and destructive. Women can he just as oppressive as men and men have often been the champions of the humane way. Therefore, I am going to tell the talc more along Gandhi’s line. New science ideas actually link up with a theory which is very old and which has nothing to do with gender in itselt Over a thousand years ago, St Augustine said there were two cultures struggling for the hearts ofinen. Their battle played out in the ups and downs of transient civilizations. One etilture seeks to build a city on earth that reflects the great design. This culture espouses harmony, synergy and common wellbeing. The other culture is centered on war and worldly things, particularly power and wealth. Since this culture originally achieved por through conquest and subjugation, it often finds torture and killing necessaty to maintain the exploitative edge. Everyday callousness and repression, therefore, is part of a larger, more reprehensible scheme now supported by an entire socio economic system. Contrary to our usual impression, both deep cultures are found in virtually all societies, past and present. primitive and sophisticated (and l’vlahatma Ciandhi When I despair. I rc’nwnther that u/i through his/on’ the 0/truth and love has a[lvuvs won. There have becit ti’rants andmwdc,cand/wa tunc thU can SLL1fl11IU11( 11)/c THE CYCLES Of CIVILIZATION CHAPTER? AFTER THE CLOCKWORK UNIVERSE Animal evolution had a Big Bang which set the stage for all the major species today. Western civilization is much the same. Though it is ... for our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world Ephesians 6:12 Civilization ‘s Big Bang among male and female members). Hence, in most societies, the two cultures lie side by side. On the other hand, they don’t lie still. A great deal of history is defined by the oscillations between them, for ex ample, cherished values such as freedom, justice, equality, compassion, and serving a larger design (that is, spirituality regardless of creed) all represent a deep mutualist urge. Westerners call these Enlightenment ideals, but they actually represent a project that humanity has been working on for thousands of years. A deep mutualist dream has been pushing for the entire time that domination has ruled. The two-culture view thus helps us see the cycles of history more clearly. The pendulum swings. There are periods when social justice and common-cause move forward and times when the return of rapa ciousness undermines a great society. As a result, civilizations go through an S-shaped evolutionary curve, one that starts with a swelling mutualist soul and ends with malaise and renewed exploitation. The goal of this chapter is to outline the role that mutualism plays in founding civilizations and establishing cherished ideals. I include it because today’s turning requires we understand the strength of our hu manity and the powerful role it has played throughout the last five thousand years of history. Ours is not the first round. The humane side of humanity has been struggling to live free of the self-serving for thousands of years. To make web patterns and their connection to the mutualist dream more substantial I am going to describe how a world-wide series of mutualist surges, swelled up into one grand, historical boom roughly twenty-five hundred years ago. I call this boom the Big Bang of Civil ization because we are quite literally still reeling from its effects. It set the stage for all that we hold dear in government, science and religion. 294 1 — — 295 rarely mentioned, the foundations of western civilization’s most cherished traditions were almost all laid in a brief golden burst from a mere two 800 to 200 BC. Most were laid between 600 and 400 BC hundred years. All of them represented a mutualist return. first, classical Greece burst forth in this period, founding western traditions of science, democracy, philosophy, drama and the arts. Secondly, the Romans also forged their Republic during this time, founding traditions of law, civic duty and political self-reform. Finally, and least mentioned of all, the Axial Age of spirituality developed the concepts of wisdom, compassion, and humanitarian action and set them at the heart of the world’s great religions. In all regions of the civilized world, prophets and sages began to create new and remarkably similar ideas about the nature of the sacred and how to live life that are crucial to this day. Taoism and Confucianism emerged in China and Hinduism and Buddhism in india. The Hebrew prophets evolved new versions of monotheism in Israel and the Greeks gave birth to the philosophical God which led to rationalism in Europe. Parallel ideas emerged even in regions with no commercial contact, such as China and Greece. Hence, though it is rarely mentioned, underneath the various dogmas, all the religions mentioned above share a common core perspective known as the perennial philosophy. This philosophy argues for love, compassion, justice, equality and harmony. It is, therefore, of a mutualist vintage. Awareness of our two deep cultural currents, allows us to see the story of this time as the single most powerful upsurge of mutualist mores in recorded history. This alone makes the tale important. Yet, the new science’s rediscovery of the Great Ordering Oneness also allows for an even more unusual view. Across the world, the prophets and sages of these which is why times ended up developing very similar insights philosophers since ancient times have described a common perennial philosophy lying at the core of the world’s great religions. The source of their inspiration was also similar. In essence, these seers quieted their ego, immersed themselves in the mystery and listened to the voice of the greater Reality which is woven into each of us. Today, scientists can understand both the perennial philosophy and the source of inspiration in terms of a now physically-discernible Oneness which did create us and is woven into all things. Appendix C summarizes the Perennial Philosophy and looks at how understanding the Great Ordering Oneness might affect the Integral view of spirituality and religion. 7. CYCLES OF CIVILIZATION To whon can I speak today? Gentleness has perished and the vIolent man has come down on everyone. Ptahhotpe, twenty-fourth century BC, Egypt The Return of the Dominator Ethos AFTER THE CLOCKWORK UNIVERSE The idea of a lawful world that could be known by reason was so exciting,’ as Artigiani says, that Greek thinkers explored an endless array of ideas in a 150 year inteLlectual explosion of almost unequaled creativity.’ But then the dominator ethos of arete (glory-seeking and prowess, not ethics) surged back and wanton competition set in. Leisured intellectuals would gleefully compete, trying to advance their own theories and to publicly annihilate their fellows. The real victim, however, was collaborative learning. Never of much use to the common man, fine ideas spun off into space. Athens’ worldly success also brought a new dominator pride and rationalizations of power still found in theories today. Plato’s The Republic shows the shift. Its chronicle debates between Socrates and Decline of the Classical Age The foundations of Western civilization’s most cherished beliefs were all set in a brief golden period which reached its pinnacle between 600 and 400 BC. Think of it: science, democracy, Republican virtue, citizen soldiers, civic duty, ethical conduct, social justice, and a transcendent, compassionate God who urges love and right living as the truest form of worship—all in a few hundred years. All of these thrusts were also bound up (one way or another) with reaction to dominator abuse. They involved the struggle to build a society founded on liberty, equality, justice, common wellbeing and a sense of order in the world. Furthermore, most efforts in science and religion were aimed at understanding the ordering force which undergirds the world and embraces humankind. It was a world wide phenomenon. Unfortunately, progress toward a loving world and a mutualist society does not run smoothly. The various flowerings faded and most ended in disaster. 296 I — — 297 — — — Glaucon. Socrates champions the idea that societies must continually pursue justice by refining their understanding of what it meant and exploring better ways of achieving it. Glaucon, on the other hand, champions the dominator view that might makes right.’ He argues that for men of the ruling class, justice and law are merely matters of expedience. Justice, he says, is merely a compromise between what is best doing wrong and getting away with it and what is worst being wronged and not being able to get revenge.’ Such philosophical debates, of course, reflected a deeper problem. Glaucon’s idea that might is right and justice merely expedience, emerged from a deep dominator perspective that would soon play out its natural pattern self-destruction. This brings us back to the habit of war for personal gain. Athens had formed the Delian League in an effort to unite the Greek cities for mutual protection. Unfortunately, Athens’ great general Pericles saw Greece united under Athenian rule and largely for Athen ian benefit. Athen’s relations to its fellow states became more and more self-serving. Eisler cites a message that says it all. Athens was preparing to annex a small Greek city called Melos when the Melosians sent an envoy begging for mercy and justice. In their reply the Athenians tell the Melosians bluntly that they are not interested in right or wrong, merely what is expedient. Their message put it like this, the question of justice arises only between parties equal in strength, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.’ Athens’ ruling class operated on dominator principles and cooperation for the greater good was not part of their vision. Unfortunately, pitiless self-service generates the same in response. Resentment grew in the other states, particularly in Sparta which had dominator aristocrats of its own. In the wars that followed, Athens and Sparta took turns devastating the entire peninsula razing towns, cutting down olive trees, sowing salt and killing large numbers of peo ple. It was a perfect fore-runner of the calamitous fourteenth century replete with plagues and famine caused by ruination of crops. Greek unity and culture disintegrated. Aristotle (384—322 BC), Plato’s most celebrated student, thus presided over the now fading Greek miracle. He extended science like almost no one else. As tutor of Alexander the Great, he is responsible for salting Greek thinking in a place that would keep at least the intellectual aspects of the miracle alive. But dominator thinking was 7. CYCLES OF CIVILIZATiON AFTER THE CLOCKWORK UNIVERSE By the first century AD the Roman Empire was well on its way to decadence. The taste for opulence continued throughout the Imperial period. The rich amused themselves with splendid feasts and the poor with their free bread and circuses. Remote lands were ransacked to support them both. Yet, beneath the gaudiness, decay was taking its toll. A power ful yearning for meaning afflicted both rich and poor. Growing numbers ofpeople sought a pillar ofmeaning in a crumbling world and many found their solace in the upstart religion called Christianity. It became the official religion of Rome with Constantine’s conversion in 312 AD. What is less often mentioned is that Rome’s fall had a profound effect Dominator Effects in Religion now in force and he added to its rationalization. In his Politics, he argues that nature is built of elements that are meant to rule and ele ments that are meant to be ruled. Aristocrats are meant to rule slaves and men are meant to rule women. Anything else violated the observ able and, hence, ‘the natural order,’ a phrase used by generations of dominators thereafter. As Greek glory was ending, however, Rome’s great rise was begin ning. Justice and collaboration had been growing for three hundred years and power had grown along with it. After reducing Carthage, its main Mediterranean rival, to a vassal state, the war machine then began to roll. Conquest succeeded conquest. Unfortunately, intoxicated with their sudden rise to power, the new generation of statesmen departed form the wise policies of their great predecessors. They fought mercilessly and mined the countries they conquered. They then put those countries under governors who ruled like despots trying to amass enough money in their brief tenures to last for the rest of their lives. Conquered peoples paid for this greed in blood, slavery and back-breaking taxes. Still, governors were not the only greedy ones. Tax collectors, bureaucrats and contractors who sold goods to the army, all gouged their share. As wealth poured into Rome, the ancient simplicity of Roman life gave way to avarice and a love of pomp and luxury. The great Roman character began to dis solve as vice and corruption flourished. Enough has been written about Rome’s fall that I will not belabor the point. Instead I turn to its effects on Christianity, the pivotal western religion. 298 1 t 299 upon Christianity not all of which was good. Have you ever wondered how it is that Christianity, a religion of love, came to be used to justify torture, mass murder and suppression of thought? The answer has nothing to do with Christianity’s core values, but with the politics of power as it began to play out in religion. Christian institutions were swept up into power issues, precisely because Rome was going down hill. Becoming the official religion of Rome, therefore, was not al together good because power politics tended to corrupt the heart and soul of Christianity. Constantine, for example, probably converted be cause he believed Christianity would make him victorious in battle. Since he boiled his wife alive and murdered his son soon after, we should not imagine that his conversion meant that he had actually adopted Jesus’ teachings. Rather he appears to have been following ex pedience and superstition. Similar problems of Christian meaning versus Christian religion became rampant. Soon Christian beliefs themselves were swept up in the politics of power. Doctrine, for instance, became a political foot ball, with economic and political issues undergirding the religious ones. As a result, compassion, moral imperative and concern for deep meaning were gradually replaced with literalism and required obedi ence to elite-controlled teachings. This process was well underway by the time of Constantine. Required infallible orthodoxy became a more central issue in Western Christianity than it ever was in Judaism, Buddhism, Islam or even Eastern Christianity. Required doctrine eventually became the rationale for torture, mass murder and suppression of thought in the Middle Ages and most of the victims were Christians. Spiritual concerns were used to justify such harm, but issues of money and elite control often lay underneath. Hence, in the greatest conversion of all time, the worship of the God of Love began to spawn cruelty, bigotry, coercion and closed mindedness. Christians were taught that ‘faith’ means unquestioning adherence to elite-defined doctrine. This conversion colours many peo ple’s sense of religion today. The return of the dominator ethos in religion is witnessed by a grotesque conversion. The deep values that touch people’s hearts are used to support the habits which they were originally meant to oppose. While I am at it, however, let me also point out that the problem of dominator corruption is not limited to religion. It affects all institutions in a similar way. For instance, when a scientist stands up to demolish 7. CYCLES OF CIVILIZATION AFTER THE CLOCKWORK UNIVERSE Two distinct ideals of human society lie behind history. One is based on self regardless of other. It values rank. The other is based on self and other. It seeks a collaborative society based on mutual benefit. When the dominator ethos returns it tends to undermine a great society. If knowing leads to doing, then it is dominator thinking that will kill us. Thus, if we are going to avoid the cycle, we must understand in detail why the dominator ideal does not work. This is the story I take up here. I explore two descriptions of the usual cycle of rise and fall, one from archaeology and the other from sociology. The first gives a sense of how the social body falls apart and the second how the social mind decays. The two are related, of course. Hence, 1 also explore how these cycles might fit a web view of failed collaboration, failed intricacy and failure to learn. But first, we should note one thing. Dominators usually claim their ways are necessary because they work better. Here we see the other side of the coin. Elites often do well right up until the time the society collapses around them. So when someone tells you, for instance, that the pursuit of gluttonous gain is necessary and good, then you must ask the long-term question good for who and how long? In the end, dominator dream usually leads to devastation at home and abroad. It is not a sustainable form. Humankind holds two visions one which enabled its to live well and in harmony with each other and the world and another which brings its to the brink of extinction Daniel Quinn The Causes of Social Distress his opponent using weapons from personal attacks to social status, then that scientist is acting out the principle that ‘might makes right.’ Whenever this happens, science ceases to be the pursuit of understand ing and becomes merely another attempt to establish control. In this small act, the entire meaning of science is corrupted. The false God of winning is substituted for the real God which is understanding. False Gods appear in many spheres. 300 I ... — Small and Mutual Social evolution usually begins with the population growing mostly in the countryside with small cities beginning to form. In this stage, the society is likely to be a relatively egalitarian agricultural or semi-nomadic society. For example, in the Age of Judges, the Hebrew tribes were mostly shepherds with strong egalitarian modes. Both men and women could be generals or Judges. Warriors were also mustered from their tribes which made them loyal to their people instead of an employer-king. These kinds of mutual-benefit societies exist most often when people are close to the land and each other. As the population grows, this changes. Stage One ... 301 Archaeologists too are beginning to echo themes seen elsewhere in the new science. A new breed of researchers emphasizes interdependent entities, similarities in pattern, and stages of evolution. They describe evo lution as: ‘some kind of development in which cultural phenomena became increasingly complex, although in individual cases there is some kind of devolution.’ Enter the nasty word, ‘devolution,’ a topic of great concern in ar chaeology. Hence, though debates about cacises are heated, most archaeologists ag ... Purchase answer to see full attachment