Extract from an e-book by Carolyn Baker:
Anyone who is paying attention to the converging crises of our planet rapidly becomes aware, if he or she isn’t already, that industrial civilization has infantilized its inhabitants.
As someone has said, we are a culture of two-year-olds that refuses to accept limits.
Hence we are now living the consequences of our unwillingness to grow up and confront reality.
In Nature and the Human Soul, Bill Plotkin outlines the developmental, emotional, and spiritual tasks of our species from infancy to death, emphasizing our need for initiatory experiences that deepen the soul and its wisdom.
Speaking generally, it’s easy to deduce that, as a species, we need to grow up; however, Plotkin details the maturation process of individuals who become eco-soul-centric as opposed to ego-self-centric human beings.
An eco-centric human being or culture endeavors to serve both nature and the culture of which she is a part. In an eco-centric culture, customs and traditions are rooted in interdependence. Obviously, this is in stark contrast with the ego-centric individual or culture, which perceives itself as separate and often superior to the other. Dependence on authoritarian systems or extreme independence is valued. It’s all about me and mine. There is little concern for the sacred but much for the profane—and the word profane is related to the word profit.
Authentic adulthood is grounded in the sacred and in one’s connection with the rest of the earth community, with which the mature individual recognizes his interdependence.
From that perspective, it’s all about all of us, including our descendants, at least seven generations forward.
Turbulent times compel us to abandon our infantilized outlook and become reverent, interdependent, eco-centric adults.
While we are now experiencing the end of growth on many levels worldwide, there is no limit to emotional and spiritual growth. It is the one and only thing we can have as much of as we like.
We need to move all the resources we can as quickly as possible towards the most effective solutions if we are to halt & reverse the current destructive trends, and create a new, saner economy.