In the Social Equation post we discussed how one could see the construction of civilisation as equalling the balance of human emotions. As societies grew in density so formal frameworks were established to help order the chaos and provide balance. Until relatively recently religion was an important component in providing meaning to human emotion and existence. For thousands of years this model existed to provide a violent balance to our civilisation. As the time spent on searching for food and daily survival has decreased and been replaced by the ‘intellectual hunt’ so science has brought into question the literal interpretation of religious stories.
In 1859 Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution which fundamentally conflicted with the Christian teachings, that Man is descended from Adam and Eve, and proposed a logical answer to one of the great unknown questions. For those looking for answers to the meaning of life it seemed that science now had more relevance than books such as the Bible and so the strength of religion as a framework within society declined. Science only describes the physical and neglects intangible ideas such as morality and spirituality that can’t be measured but which form an important part of the balance of human emotion.
Modern society has quickly looked to fill the void left by religion with the cult of the individual where we replace our belief in God with a guiding belief in ourselves. Now we Love ourselves and money, we Hope and aspire to more material possessions, we Fear growing old/fat/ugly and not matching the images portrayed in the media and our Hate has maybe been channelled into computer games but appears less prominent as an emotion at present. It is as if Greed has now replaced Hate as the opposite driving emotion to Love within the Social Equation. There are still issues of racism, religious and political intolerance but what few wars we have are driven by greed for oil and money rather than hatred of an ideal or group of people. Even the London 2011 riots were fuelled by greed for new trainers and televisions rather than any social, political or racial hatred. Without religious stories to guide us morally we rely on the media of art, music and film which has worked hard to promote the cult of the individual and the positive nature of financial greed.
The Social Equation (cult of the individual): Civilisation = (Hope + Love) / (Fear +Greed)
Maybe we should congratulate ourselves that we have managed to replace Hate with Greed in the Social Equation but this has itself created new challenges. The physical embodiment of Hate was war and this acted as a consumption mechanism to justify society’s need to work to pay for armaments and maintain national security. The armaments were then destroyed in war along with hundreds of thousands of people and the process of growth began again. Society’s need to work has now been replaced with Greed and its physical incarnation consumerism but this has created unsustainable levels of material consumption. Where war levelled society and highlighted the insignificance of material possessions and the importance of Hope and Love, Greed hasn’t created a shock which enables society to rebalance its priorities and emotions. The Credit Crunch is the alternative to war but unfortunately it has failed to nudge people into consuming less resources or reassessing their values. We have a serious challenge to fill the void left by religion with a convincing new framework.
In the next post we will look at how a Carbon Community could provide an alternative framework for the balance of human emotion but will ask the question are there any better solutions?
Greed is the Root of all Evil?
Balance Society 