WINTER SOLSTICE, DEC. 21, 2008 (Truth To Power) -- On Dec. 17, a Reuters story Downturn Spurs Survival Panic
reported that, "A paralegal, recently laid off, wanted to get back at
the ‘establishment' that he felt was to blame for his lost job. So when
he craved an expensive new tie, he went out and stole one.
The story, relayed by psychiatrist Timothy Fong at the UCLA
Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital, is an example of the rash
behaviors exhibited by more Americans as a recession undermines a
lifestyle built on spending."
In the coming months, the story continues, "mental health experts
expect a rise in theft, depression, drug use, anxiety and even violence
as consumers confront a harsh new reality and must live within
diminished means."
In yet another story, The Great Accumulation Hits The Wall, the Wall Street Journal reported that:
On Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the first official day
of the holiday shopping season, 31-year-old confessed shopaholic Nikki
Ebben was holed up in her bedroom in Appleton, Wis., while her husband
went to Wal-Mart to snag a $500 flat-screen TV. Ms. Ebben, who has
maxed out 15 credit cards and racked up more than $80,000 in debt, says
she vowed to stay away from stores. Still, she couldn't resist the
temptation of e-commerce, particularly the appeal of 30% off and free
shipping. While her husband was gone, she spent $400 at Toysrus.com and
Target.com, using money from the couple's joint bank account.
I went crazy, admits Ms. Ebben, whose mother stopped speaking to her for a time because she owed her parents so much money.
Both the Reuters and Wall Street Journal stories conclude that buying
and consuming have become part of the national culture and offer people
an identity -- the identity of a consumer, which many will now be forced
to abandon. Additionally, shopping has become a way for countless
individuals to cope with their emotions. Not only do the things we buy
allow us to feel good momentarily, but the disease of consumerism has
become so pathological that in many instances, people have come to
believe that they are what they buy, and the more expensive and coveted
brand or product makes a statement about who one is. This is enormously
significant because there's obviously more than "survival panic" going
on here.
I believe that it's not a stretch to conclude that for some, the
inability to consume may be creating a fundamental existential crisis
in terms of losing one's identity. This would certainly explain the
bizarre violence that occurred at the Long Island Walmart on Black
Friday a few weeks ago where an employee was trampled to death. If
consumption "rewards" human beings with a positive identity as well as
the sense of financial security, then it is nothing less than an
extremely powerful addiction. Withdraw the addictive substance or
activity -- or put it on sale at 70 percent off -- and many people will behave like
the street junkie who will do whatever it takes to score his next fix.
I hasten to add that short of living on air, none of us can totally
cease consuming. The issue, of course, is not consumption itself, but
consumption that isn't about buying or bartering for what we truly
need -- consumption based on fear, insecurity, alienation, all of which
are rooted in the human ego -- as opposed to the human soul.
While we may want to shake our heads when hearing reports like the ones
above, I consider them very positive aspects of economic collapse. Yes,
these desperate individuals are suffering a plethora of emotions as
they are forced into withdrawal from their drug of choice, shopping,
but in my opinion, this is the upside of the unraveling. There are no
guarantees that any of them will experience a personal psychological or
spiritual epiphany regarding the meaning of life, but as with any
addiction, when the drug of choice is no longer available, an opening
exists for the addict to make a different choice which may not have
been possible without forced withdrawal. Welcome to cultural rehab in
the throes of the collapse of Western civilization!
In addition to their profound connection with the earth community,
which dramatically informs their desires, indigenous cultures have in
place a tradition, namely initiation, for planting and harvesting in
their young, a foundational sense of identity. This tradition is not
simply a "rite of passage," but rather a series of ordeals, almost
always occurring in a natural setting, through which the youth must
pass that allow him/her to discover and utilize a deeper self. In fact,
the ordeals are often constructed in such a manner that unless the
youth can access that self, he/she may not physically survive. Any
woman or man who has passed through such an experience will almost
always attribute his/her survival to the support of the tribe, one's
own connection with nature, and the opportunity to discover a
previously unknown reservoir of courage, enabled by trust in oneself
and other members of the community.
In a culture where tribal community, intimate connection with nature,
and concomitant initiatory rites are absent, then the human psyche,
which appears to inherently requires these for optimum functioning,
will consciously or unconsciously devise its own rituals for
constructing an identity. If this is so, then we may conclude two
things: that initiation makes mindless consumption unnecessary, and
that mindless consumption in search of identity is a substitute for
initiation.
In indigenous/traditional cultures, even when entire nations or
villages are steeped in poverty, there is almost always a curious sense
of "enough." In fact, one usually finds there, more generosity,
magnanimity, and compassion than anywhere in industrial civilization.
One reason for this may be that beyond a sense of "I have enough because the tribe shares with me and I with them" is a more fundamental sense of "I am enough because I know who I am."
In the Native American tradition, the four directions are guideposts
for living and relating as we journey through the seasons of the year.
I am fascinated by the dramatic discrepancy between what Winter
symbolizes in the that tradition and what the culture of empire
demonstrates at this time of year. On the Native American medicine
wheel, we find four directions, each representing a season of the year
as well as a totem animal. Winter is the season of the North which
contains the energy of the buffalo who has the courage and stamina to
face the cold winds of the North. It also holds the energy of the
tribal elder who has journeyed many times around the wheel and now
looks back on her journey with seasoned wisdom and gratitude. The word
"elder," of course, has little to do with age and everything to do with
allowing oneself to be wizened as one traverses the wheel of experience
and learning.
The North is also symbolic of warrior medicine -- the definition of
warrior being profoundly larger than someone engaged in combat. Much
more than a mere fighter, the warrior is one who takes a stand for all
that is harmonious with nature and all that supports the well being of
the earth and tribal community.
Derrick Jensen frequently tells the story of the Cheyenne dog warriors
who in battle would tie a rope around their waists to which was
attached a picket pin. Driving the picket pin into the earth, they
would remain in place until the battle was over, or another warrior
relieved them, or until they died. In this way, the warrior committed
to taking a stand and omitting any possibility of capitulation. The
moral of the story, Derrick emphasizes, is the opportunity it presents
for us to contemplate where in the culture of empire we will drive in
our picket pin and not be moved. Specifically, I would ask all of us,
what are we willing to not consume? Where are we willing to take our
stand, at the risk of losing life itself, on behalf of the earth
community?
An antidote to the frantic, voracious consumerism of modernity's
holiday season might be quiet contemplation of the place of the North
and its "medicine" as described above. I write this on the eve of
Winter Solstice in this dark time of year-a time in which,
complementing the sun's journey, we are invited to focus within and
commune with buffalo and the elders, a practice even more essential if
we ourselves have entered elderhood.
Although spring will come, and beyond it, summer, we are certain to
face energetically the cold winds of economic collapse from now on,
indefinitely. Now, more than ever, we need buffalo medicine, strength,
courage, wisdom, gratitude, and the perspective of the elder who holds
a deep conviction that regardless of what we will be forced to endure,
the medicine of the North, and the medicine of the other sacred
directions, is at our disposal.
We are not consumers; we are the medicine of the North, South, East and
West. Certainly, this is one of countless lessons that collapse has
come to teach us. What would happen if we fully inhabited and savored
the North and discovered that we are absolutely, unequivocally, enough?
What would happen if each of us drives in our picket pin and refuses to
be moved?
***
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