" I have no idea how he knows tWorld Transformation Movement (Introduction)

by xeno6696 , Sonoran Desert, Sunday, November 01, 2020, 20:56 (1265 days ago) @ dhw

" I have no idea how he knows that prehistoric humans lived in nothing but love and cooperation – his only reference seems to be the metaphor of the Garden of Eden."

Any cursory study of current non-state or pre-state societies, or even societies that evolved when state power declined has turned up more evidence that cooperation and mutualism tend to be our default mechanism. It's maybe 3rd on my list but I'm about to read "Against the Grain" which is an in-depth study of archaeological and paleontological evidence suggesting that the advent of agriculture and eventually state-based societies created the structural foundation to create empires, strongly suggesting that the majority of what we've viewed as "western progress" owes quite a bit more to self-imposed impulses to competition and domination. Apparently the majority of non-state societies tended to peaceful cooperation and it was the advent of states that made our world more violent.

Off the cuff, it's quite a bit older but Peter Kropotkin's "On the Conquest of Bread" offers some more contemporary examples, albeit from a more critical perspective on capitalism. It's difficult to discuss non-state societies without bringing up the spectre of Socialism, but the idea of human beings as somehow inherently brutish and 'evil' is an ancient trope that goes all the way back to the beginnings of recorded history. The fact is we couldn't build cities without mutual aid being an innate characteristic.

I'm sort of walking up to that line of politics here, but since the site in question is talking about "saving the world," there's no way to do that without at least broaching the subject.

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\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"