The Great Turning

In the months before the Invasion of Iraq, I did all the things you are supposed to do in a democracy when you oppose something. I wrote letters to my representatives and my local newspaper. I marched in street demonstrations. I even risked arrest by dropping an antiwar banner over a billboard.

I was just one of millions of people in America and around the world who took action against the war. I felt a great sense of belonging when I realized how many people were fighting for a just and peaceful response to September 11th. I thought I might be watching democracy in action.

Then the bombing started, and it was like a physical punch in the gut. I lost some of my faith in democracy.

It wasn't until I read David Korten's book, The Great Turning, the I realized what was extraordinary about those days. It was not that we lost in our attempt to stop the war. It was that millions of people made the attempt.

It was one of the first manifestations of a new global consciousness - and according to Korten, a sign that we must heed if we are to make the next few decades a "Great Turning" instead of a "Great Unraveling."

Korten quotes the New York Times to make his point about the Iraq anti-war movement:

"Commenting on the demonstrations and their impact, the New York Times observed that 'there may still be two superpowers on the planet: the United States and world public opinion'....This, however, is a superpower struggle like no other in human history. Rather than a classic contest for dominion between states, it is a struggle between two globalizations... one imperial and the other democratic."

Korten sees two possible futures - The Great Turning, in which humanity turns away from an Imperial worldview, or the Great Unraveling - what we face if we continue on the path we currently follow. The world faces a choice: between the 5000 year old model of civilization (which he terms Empire), or a new model of civilization, based on ecology, bottom up self organization and cooperation (what he calls Earth Community).

As he makes his case, Korten examines the history of Empire, as well as the ecological roots of an Earth community. He takes us on a survey of the past five millenia and the rise of Empire, showing us examples of how civilization as we know it has made much of humanity less free, less healthy, and more miserable.

He examines the role of religion in spreading Empire's culture of domination - as well as its role in liberating people and building community.

He examines the stories that give Empire its power. He offers scientific evidence to counter the stories that humans are naturally greedy and need strong rulers for safety. He questions the stories that inequality is natural and even good, and stories that our rewards will come only in the afterlife.

Finally, he offers new stories for us to tell each other, and to live by as we build a new Earth Community. He also shows a path towards Earth Community.

So what exactly is Earth Community?

The simplest answer is that it is the opposite of Empire. I should say now that while the US is currently the archetype of "empire," the book is not an anti - American screed. All nations on the planet share in the guilt, as they are not about people and democracy, whatever lip service they may offer.

Likewise, although Korten documents many ways in which civilization has not been the boon our history books tell us it was, his Great Turning is not a turn away from civilization. It is a turning towards a radically new vision of human potential and society that takes advantage of global communications technology and other advances, yet is based on cooperation, peace, and justice.

What Korten is proposing is not a liberal solution (whatever that means). Nor is it a conservative strategy. It has elements of both - and it appears that 'liberals' and 'conservatives' have more in common than they think. According to Korten:

"Eighty - three percent of Americans believe that we need to rebuild our neighborhoods and small communities and fear that family life is declining. Ninety - three percent agree that we are too focused on working and making money and not focused enough on family and community. Eighty - six percent agree that we are too focused on getting what we want now and not focused enough on the needs of future generations."

The Great Turning is a step outside of the reality that we learned in school and on tv, in history books and countless war movies. It is radically democratic: bottom up cooperation and self organization.

To get an idea of what Earth Community should be like, we can look to the natural world and ask one question: What has made life on earth so resilient in the face of endless catastrophes? The answer is diversity and a sort of cooperation. Ecologists are finding more and more that nature is not an endless, bloody competition that favors only the strong and ruthless. It is one big community. One animal creates opportunities for others, who create opportunities for still others. Korten offers examples from a wide range of ecological studies.

For example, Jon Luoma, in his book "The Hidden Forest," illustrates this natural cooperation in an Oregon old growth forest. "...the Oregon scientists would discover dazzling examples of commensalism and symbiosis. In perhaps the most astonishing case, they would find a tight symbiosis between towering trees, great matted networks of fungal threads, and an endangered relative of the mouse.... some of the world's most spectacular trees soar above the forest thanks largely to the dining habits of tiny rodents."

We can also look to prehistory for clues about what an Earth Community would look like. Humanity, for the bulk of its history, has functioned as a cooperative partner in this natural world. We evolved in small, non hierarchical bands of hunter/gatherers, taking only what we needed from nature. Only in the last 5000 years have we begun to see ourselves as something separate from or better than nature - and in that time we have almost destroyed our home. Earth Community would in many ways be a return to that model - smaller, tightly knit communities, less consumption, less hierarchy.

So I have told you what Earth Community is not. And I have suggested some clues about what it is.

But isn't there some pithy one liner that explains what Earth Community is? I think Jim Hightower said it best, in his review of the book: "Imagine a world guided by the deeply held values that most Americans share."

To get a better idea than that, you'll have to read the book.