Chapter 30: Cultural and Philosophical Precedents

In approaching our Transition, it is important to focus what it is we want to create, design, build and live in that will be more productive and better for our morale, well-being, happiness, and sanity. We will want to avoid overly focusing on what we want to get away from. It would be kind of silly to initiate a Transition with absolutely no idea what we want to achieve, or to actually succeed in overthrowing the economic power structure and then have no idea what to strive for, what to paint on the fresh canvas that we have given ourselves.

The results of an incompletely thought-out revolution can be seen in Iran. The Shah was an oppressive, murderous dictator, so most Iranians supported Khomeini to get rid of the Shah. Iran got yet another murdering dictator in his place. Similarly in the United States some people voted for Trump because of wanting a change from typical corrupt politicians, but in so doing quite possibly brought the United States and maybe the world to the brink of disaster and destruction because of many of the regime’s actions and policies.

Good, applicable ideas can be found in diverse places, sometimes in some of the last places where one would think to look. One such source of some good (alongside some not so good) ideas is called “The Green Book,” written by of all people Muammar Qadaffi. While the world may never know to what degree or in what ways that regime did or did not apply these ideas, there are some good points to consider in constructing new paradigms. Some of it, of course, can be taken with a grain of salt, but some of it is worth reading.

Karl Marx also had some excellent ideas that should not be abandoned.

There are of course many other sources to look at and learn from. While we learn from such sources, we must also activate our brains, creativity, observations and experience to come up with new ideas of our own. Whatever we come up with, we will do well to take a large, inclusive perspective and strive to avoid the trap of becoming dogmatic, inflexible and arrogant. We will be undertaking an ongoing process of discovery that hopefully will never become a box that we try to force ourselves or each other into.

A tribe called Kasachi are an ancient culture who have kept their core values intact through the rise and fall of many civilizations and empires over millennia. Their culture is one of the healthiest, most positive cultures in existence. Kasachi culture is truly classless, symbiotic, run by consensus, highly socially sophisticated, creative, and thriving. They have no hierarchy, no form of currency, no gender or other enforced roles, and no concept of ownership or aggression. By far they are among the happiest and freest people with the healthiest relationship norms.

Kasachi are a caste-less, leaderless society that has continued to successfully adapt to the ever-changing dynamics of living on this planet among aggressive, invasive, acquisitive cultures. Their community decision-making process is in many ways superior even to direct democracy. When a decision has to be made, everyone gathers together, including children. The pace is relaxed. Each person, in no particular order, speaks their ideas and perceptions. While one is speaking, nobody interrupts and all listen. They don't directly answer each other to agree or refute what each other said. Each just speaks their truth.

In the course of the process, a consensus develops. There comes a point when everybody knows they are on the same page and action is taken.

Sometimes various people add information, like "The water supply is drying up and doesn't look like it will last the summer" or "The Nawwabs and the T'kishi are gearing up for a fight and right now we are right in the middle. I think the sooner we're out of here the better" or "On my way back here from Zubzub I noticed plentiful food about 250 clicks east of here," etc...

This mode of operation is of course more straightforward for them since it is their culture, They grew up with it. For us who didn't grow up with that paradigm, it will be necessary to relearn some things in order to master it. But we humans have the ability to learn new skills, knowledge, and perspectives throughout our lives, and it is known that doing so is extremely healthy and somewhat affective in reducing risk of dementia in later life.

On the subject of learning better communication skills, there is a Web site called Non Violent Communication that we would benefit from studying together.

More useful books, cultures, web sites, scientific papers, social experiments, business and social models, and other helpful information is to be found. We will have the best success if we search and keep alert for information, knowledge, techniques, examples, precedents, and other sources and generously share that knowledge in large and small scale collaboration.

We will be erecting new paradigms and pioneering their implementation in the human community on a large scale. But the “territory” is not completely unexplored. We will benefit from the wisdom, observations, successes, failures, and experiences of those who have embarked upon versions of them before us.