My name is Mike. I live in a community that practices anarchy.
From Good Men Project
People smashing windows, burning police cars, looting businesses, running around dressed in black – wearing Guy Fawkes masks – creating chaos. These are the images that come to mind most commonly, when we think of anarchy. Who created this meaning of anarchy in our minds?
Where I live, there’s nothing unruly to fear. It’s a small community but highly functional. It took years for me and my wife to break through the conditioning that living under a hierarchy piles on to the psyche. In our community, we have no authority figures. We’re all about concern for one another but live our lives in a notably personal way. We’re not a commune but an intentional community, living without a hierarchical structure of any kind. Could this work on a global level? At this moment, I’d have to say; no. Globally we’re drowning in our conditioning aka, the story we continue to tell ourselves about ourselves.
Most of us, of course, live in the confines of civilization where authority and order reign but civilization not only causes but requires suffering for its continued survival. Suffering, then, naturally brings about the need for the social construct we know as justice. Justice simply means fairplay. It means being reasonable and evenhanded and yet, civilization is anything but. How can reason and fairness gain traction, taking hold as a way of life, if the living arrangement we perpetuate (modern civilization) breeds continual suffering and injustice? What if we take civilization out of the equation? Does justice still exist as a social construct? Is it even necessary without the injustice that is caused by this living arrangement? Will we have anarchy without civilization? Finally, is our version of anarchy even accurate?
When we spend our lives working to earn our survival it takes a toll on our psyche, on our health, our relationships with each other and with the natural world. Where I live, life is about caring for our psyche. It’s about connecting with nature and our bodies, nurturing our physical well being and our relationships. It’s anarchy and it’s anything but chaotic. I suggest we do as social critic and blogger, John Michael Greer suggests; collapse early and beat the rush. Start moving towards the exit of civilization now and find like-minded folks. Practice anarchy or any sustainable living arrangement at a local level.
Clearly most folks caught up on the hamster wheel called, “making a living”, think such advice is ludicrous. It sounds crazy when one spends their entire life living in an insane situation. It takes a leap across a chasm of conditioning that is immense. It takes admitting that you know nothing about living. It takes humility. It begins with an exploration of self and ends with a life filled with liberation that is absolutely mind blowing. In between these two steps is a chasm filled with every fear you’ve ever had. One of those fears is living without authority in your life. No one being in charge of you and your affairs can be incredibly frightening. What should be more frightening is the fact that civilization is not sustainable and every civilization that has ever existed has eventually collapsed. Now that civilization is global in scale, and more complex than ever before, it’s only a matter of time before our giant game of Jenga comes crashing down.
If civilization is the story we tell ourselves about ourselves collectively then the ego is that story on a personal level. Our egos have built our current living arrangement. These stories are fictional and the consequences are extremely hazardous to our survival as a species. Destroying the very habitat that keeps us alive is not intelligent enterprise from a species whose name (homo sapiens) means wise ape. Using this story as our foundation, our actions become suicidal and psychotic. The aching desire for justice is a natural impulse when injustice fuels our way of life.
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What was life like before civilization? Was is chaotic? Was there justice? 3.4 million years of humanoid occupation of the planet, prior to civilization, should be evidence itself of its functionality don’t you think? If we went millions of years without population overshoot, without destroying habitat on a massive level or acidifying our oceans, domesticating ourselves and other animals, then we may want to contemplate and reflect upon the way folks used to live and take some cues from them. As Homo sapiens we’ve maintained a sustainable existence for nearly 200,000 years. Only during the past 12,000 years have we exponentially accelerated our environmental destruction and our horrific acts upon each another.
Usually when I bring up the destructive nature of civilization folks get annoyed. They often say something like, “What do you expect us to do? Go live in caves again?” My short answer is, no. My longer answer would remind people that we haven’t the skill set nor the same planet anymore to live that way. There aren’t that many caves and without grocery stores and running water we would be screwed. There are nearly 7.5 billion people on the planet and no one on the news or in the newspapers says word one about it. Civilization is how we got here. When we went industrial, our population went through the roof. Massive environmental degradation and injustice followed suit. We want justice and civilization. This is impossible and not based in reality.
Another argument I frequently hear is that civilization is just in our nature. This again ignores the long history humans have lived without it. It also ignores those who have never ventured into such a dead-end way of life having managed to live their entire lives as “outliers”. People tell me all the time that humans are a violent species; using as their rationale, the acts of violence they see or hear about as a sweeping generality while ignoring the overwhelming numbers of us who are rarely or ever violent.
Our personal story (ego) has been a form of conditioning our entire lives. Our ancestors for generations have been subject to the same conditioning. Collectively this story is called civilization. To break free of a construct that has literally replaced our idea about living is a heavy load to jettison for good. Many of us are extremely comfortable; never feeling the ill-effects of civilized living. Most get to avoid the direct physical suffering because we never have to see it. Our suffering is psychological. It’s killing us all the same, just more subtly. To move beyond civilization would require a shift into a state of consciousness that has not been seen since the dawn of civilization, during the agricultural revolution. This shift seems only possible if we face the collapse of the global industrial economy. In other words, we must face the unimaginable suffering personally. Civilization is our self imposed trap.
Imagine justice as a piece of fruit just on the other side of some steal bars. We can place our hand through the bars to grab the fruit but our hand will not fit through the bars while grasping the fruit. This is commonly known as the Monkey Trap. We remain trapped because we refuse to let go of the fruit. Our idea of justice works in a similar fashion. We remain trapped by it because we want it so badly while achieving it on a cultural, national or global level is impossible with our current approach. We want justice within a living arrangement that demands injustice in order to maintain itself for our benefit. These benefits or privileges come at a cost that we cannot afford to ignore any longer. We must let go of our story, see reality and then act. It’s the only way liberation is possible and for justice to have a legitimate chance. Otherwise, we will continue to hang on to a piece of fruit that we will never taste.
To begin your exit towards the civilized model one has to explore deeply what has been successful for other folks. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. When I discuss people’s options, I ask a long series of questions that get to the root of what someone is willing to do to make significant changes. Discussions range from debt to how comfortable folks are using non-traditional westernized toilets. Narrowing down what’s available can make it easier to take initial steps towards something different. Below are some places to start your exploration.
Intentional Communities
Anarchy
http://www.believermag.com/issues/201511/?read=article_sherman
Nomadic Living
https://www.inspiredcamping.com/how-to-fund-a-nomadic-lifestyle/
Work Exchange
Alternative Incomes
Living Off Grid
http://www.naturallivingideas.com/21-tips-for-living-off-grid/
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About Mike Sliwa
Mike Sliwa is a husband and homesteader. He taught high school for 12 years and left his career for a simpler existence. Currently he and his wife are living off grid, perfecting their durable living skills in rural New Mexico. Mike speaks about a wide variety issues concerning simple living, white privilege, abrupt climate change, Near Term Human Extinction, and other consequences of the civilized industrial global economy. He is a co-founder of the social justice speaking agency truality.org. Mike is the author of Chasing a Different Carrot, A Manifesto for the Predicament of Privilege. You can find more information at michaelsliwa.wordpress.com.