(note: This is a thought experiment in progress. Even I don't agree with all the ideas herein all the time. Please email me at: apegrrl@
rattlebrain.com
with comments or suggestions.)

The Missionaria Protectiva
(with a nod of thanks to the late Frank Herbert)
would be a corps of committed people working to improve literacy, democracy and environmental awareness.

Much of their work would be in the countries with the most biodiversity. However, some work must also be done in home countries here in the "North" -- in the current centers of economic and cultural power.

Why missionaries?

The problem with countries of the "North" is that our cultures, dominant though they may currently be, are fundamentally broken. The ideas that we spread around the globe (the dominant memes of our culture) are toxic when applied to 6+ BILLION people within one fragile biosphere.

What concerns me is that we have exposed most of humanity to images of our least sustainable lifestyles, and promoted this as the "good life." From my experiences in Africa and Southeast Asia, it is clear that these images from movies, television shows and advertisements are very attractive to people everywhere. They want to live lives like the ones we are showing them. And given the current demographics of our species, our numbers will exceed 8 billion within a few decades. It is hard to justify denying everyone else the lifestyle we have, and it is unlikely the majority of humankind would accept such disparity over the long run.

Our homeworld is already suffering from the carelessness that is fostered by our broken cultures. We must work quickly to mend these broken lifeways, to provide sanity to a world out of balance. We must build a new culture. In the "North" or "West" we label the institutions that build cultures as "religions" and the people who work to spread their ideas "missionaries."

What we need now are people to proselytize for a new cultural foundation, one that promotes healthier relationships between people and other organisms. We need a culture in which diverse human communities are vital components of living ecosystems, in which human communities are integrated wholes within biological communities. The Missionaria Protectiva would do this work. They would integrate the best of currently established cultures, and help them grow healthier. They would work to halt the cancer-like expansion of human population currently threatening the integrity of the biosphere. They would promote the adoption of the healthiest practices for humans living in harmony with other species in each habitat. And they would do this not with government regulation or the use of force, but by inspiring others with ideas and actions.

A new "religion"?

We have countless historical examples of fairly radical changes in culture, some driven by internal re-visioning of how people should live, some brought by contact with outsiders. Indonesia, originally home to a multitude of indigenous cultures and religions, became predominantly Buddhist, Hindu, and currently Muslim through interaction with outsiders. South America is now mostly Roman Catholic, but had possessed a diversity of native religions before the arrival of European missionaries. While many of us decry the loss of cultural diversity that resulted from these changes, there is no denying the tremendous power and influence of religious teachings in changing the way people live. Could this approach be studied and harnessed in the service of saving the biosphere on which we all depend? Can we use persuasion instead of regulation or violence? Can we stem the rising tide of consumerism threatening to drown the planet?

I believe that we can. We must act quickly, with enormous dedication and passion. I believe it is possible to change the way people everywhere view their relationship with one another and with the rest of the living earth. Religious conversions in the past have been most successful when the missionaries could offer people a better life, through more advanced technology and medicine, and through the promise of education and literacy. If we act wisely we can still do this in many parts of the world, and even do it in such a way that we cause less harm to local ecologies, and we maintain maximum cultural diversity.

The good life, with better health care and access to education and technology, is like the color and scent of a flower to a bee. It will lure people in, but they won't keep coming back unless they get something more sustaining from it. We can't really change their worldveiw unless we have something deeper to offer, something better than what they've got currently.

I don't think it's necessary to completely replace the religions in which people currently invest their faith. In fact, if one of the goals is to maintain cultural diversity, we can't.

I will probably submit this scheme to something like the Global Ideas Bank soon. But if you're interested in this project, e-mail me:

apegrrl@
rattlebrain.com

please feel free to spread these memes, but be nice and give credit where credit is due - refer people back here to the apegrrl This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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