NEW MYTHS FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM

If there is anything we have plenty of in the postmodern world, it is belief systems. But we also have something else: a growing suspicion that all belief systems -- all ideas about human reality -- are social constructions. This is a story about stories, a belief about belief, and in time -- probably a very short time -- it will become a central part of the worldview of most people.

Reality Isn't What It Used To Be: Theatrical Politics, Ready-to-Wear Religion, Global Myths, Primitive Chic, and Other Wonders of the Postmodern World
-- Walter Truett Anderson

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Countless cultures around the world have disappeared, along with their mythologies. In Mesoamerica, dozens of ornate Mayan temples lie mute, as do an untold number of Incan monuments in Peru, Celtic cairns in Wales, Khmer statues in Cambodia, and magnificent ziggurat-like structures in central Africa.

Easter Island, celebrated for the giant statues left by its vanished civilization, is unique in archaeology because of its isolation from its neighbors. Current archaeological evidence indicates that some 1,600 years ago the island's first settlers, explorers from Polynesia, found themselves in a pristine paradise with subtropical forests, dozens of wild bird species, and no predators. They multiplied and prospered, distributing resources in a manner that suggests a sophisticated economy and complex political system. Rival clans erected ever-larger statues on platforms, emulating the stone carvings of their Polynesian forebears, trying to surpass each other with displays of power and wealth.

Eventually, as the island's population grew to 20,000 people, the forests were cut more rapidly than they regenerated. Trees were transformed into fuel, canoes, and houses, as well as rollers and ropes to transport the gigantic stone heads. In time, the absence of wood for sea going canoes reduced the fish catches, while erosion and deforestation diminished crop yields. The growing populace consumed the local bird and animal populations.

When the island could no longer feed its human population, the political and religious oligarchy that had directed and distributed the local resources began to languish. Many archaeologists believe the ruling class was overthrown by warriors. In the ensuing disorder, clan fought clan, toppling and desecrating each other's statues. When the Europeans arrived on Easter Sunday, 1772, the once-fertile island was barren and desolate. Its remaining inhabitants, only a fraction of the numbers a few generations earlier, were heirs to a once-greater society that had degenerated into violence, starvation, and cannibalism.

It is likely that changes in the forest occurred over decades and would have been difficult to detect immediately. An islander might easily have missed the long-term trend, thinking: "This year we cleared those woods over there, but trees are starting to grow back again over here." Furthermore, any islander who issued a warning against the oncoming disaster would have been silenced by the ruling class. Chiefs, priests, and stone carvers all depended on the status quo to retain their positions and privileges.

Lessons for Us Today

Easter Island history shows us where our current path may lead us. Our planet today has a rising population faced with dwindling resources, and the earth has become so interconnected that, as on an island, there is no place that is not affected by the ecology of the whole. And we can no more escape into space than Easter Islanders could flee into ocean.

Humanity may not act in time to prevent the decimation of the rain forests, fossil fuels, arable land, and fisheries. In only 40 years, Ethiopia's forest cover shrank from 30% to 1%. During the same time period, the rest of the world lost half of its rain forests.

Powerful decision-making groups ignore those who sound an alarm; their political, economic, and religious agendas fail to address the problem of disappearing natural resources. But there is a crucial difference between us today and the ill-fated Easter Islanders: They had no books or histories of other doomed societies. We do have histories, and this information can save us.

If we are going to avoid the fate of Easter Islanders, we must change myths that are leading us toward extinction and find inspiring visions of a plausible and appealing future. The old myths have collapsed, but new ones have emerged to fill the vacuum. For transformation to occur, human beings must actively shape the future, an enterprise that goes to the heart of myth making. If we are each a cell in what Peter Russell calls "The Global Brain," then this is an individual as well as a collective venture.

Framing a problem in mythological terms can point toward solutions at deeper mythic levels. For centuries, the guiding myth of Western culture has been what might be called the "Grand Narrative of Progress." It is the story of movement toward a goal--achievement, improvement, and conquest. Modern science and technology have propelled this myth, extending the human life-span, harnessing natural resources and the power of the atom, carrying sounds through the atmosphere, and exploring outer space by defying gravity itself.

Rational thought and the empirical scientific method became the chief instruments of the progress myth, and they promised to discern which economic system, which form of government, and which aesthetic design would best lead humanity out of confusion toward a Utopian future. As science tests hypotheses, those that fail to be verified are abandoned, allowing science to move forward in a self-correcting, progressive direction.

Mythology was equated with superstition and falsehood: Its most vital elements could not be subjected to empirical verification, and it emanated from the well of imagination rather than reason. Spiritual concerns, beliefs in the divine, and respect for the sacred were considered to be the "opium of the masses" and, like any other addiction, a hindrance to progress. But as the Grand Narrative of Progress came to dominate other values and views, it cast a malignant shadow. The invention of the automobile was the quintessence of progress, but it left overcrowded highways, air pollution, and deforestation in its wake.

Fertilizers increased crop production but also increased the growth of algae in lakes and canals. The discovery of powerful insecticides-first greeted with enthusiasm and a Nobel Prize-was followed by the unintentional poisoning of fish, birds, and animals. Nuclear power plants increased available energy but led to storage problems, life-threatening contamination, and at least one accident with worldwide repercussions. The waste products of technological living began to choke great cities and foul once-pristine lands. Although Western housing, clothing, and religion were brought to aboriginal people, and the rate of infectious disease went down, the rate of alcoholism, drug addiction, suicide, and spouse and child abuse went up. Indeed, the Grand Narrative of Progress is a myth that stands in need of criticism.

Millennium Myths

From an anthropological perspective, myths can be seen as imagined narratives that address existential human issues and have behavioral consequences. Old myths are frequently challenged by counter myths in cultures, families, institutions, and individuals. The Grand Narrative of Progress, at this turn of the millennium, is countered by various "Millennium Myths," both utopian and apocalyptic. Of course, the new millennium will not actually start until the year 2001, and the year 2000 is not a mystical number but a social construct. It is based upon the hypothetical birth of Jesus, but his actual birth was probably some years before the time designated by medieval scholars. At the same time, there are Islamic, Chinese, and Hindu calendars, all of which render the years differently and some of which have their own millennia.

The auspicious versions of the Millennium Myth are sure that solar power, cold fusion, plankton harvests, or aliens from outer space will rescue humankind this time around. They portray a "New Golden Age," the "New Jerusalem," the "Peaceable Kingdom," or the "City of the Sun." In some of these scripts, heaven will come down to Earth, or at least be cloned. As one enthusiast writes, "By the year 2001, humankind will have reached its due date for the cohesion of its collective consciousness. By then the telepathic frequency of the rising awareness will converge within a more numerous, aware, and interconnected global population. The awakening itself will signal the millennium of Christian prophecy."

The gloomy myth-makers, on the other hand, foresee a world destroyed by floods or fire, and a human population decimated by war, starvation, infectious diseases, the Antichrist, or the collapse of the ozone layer. For them, the fallout of Western technology is past hope. Some religious leaders, who see the earth as being beyond redemption and people as hopelessly degenerate, believe entry into the "other world" is humankind's only chance of salvation. And this entry is typically limited to "true believers," those "pre-destined" to enter it, or those who have worked through their "karma." Many religious and ethnic groups equate the Grand Narrative of Progress with sexual depravity, televised imperialism, and cultural homogenization.

They want to keep their diet pure, their women veiled, their holy places inviolate, and their homes free from rock music, intruding police officers, and strange ideas. They do not want to participate in the information highway or the global village. Instead of expending their labors on behalf of scientific and technical advances, they prepare for Armageddon, the Apocalypse, and the "Last Judgment."

Although the Grand Narrative of Progress remains dominant, a number of competing myths have appeared. Some will rapidly fade, but others will combine, bringing together disparate groups who will form a critical mass and offer a challenge to the prevailing myth. Like two unstoppable parades taking opposite routes toward the same intersection, the Grand Narrative of Progress marches toward a technological utopia while the Millennialists strut toward an alternate world of one kind or another. The ensuing conflict is "Old Myth" and "Counter myth" writ large.

Mythic Transformations

Philosopher Joseph Campbell cautioned that one cannot predict the next mythology any more than one can predict tonight's dream. He was very clear, however, that if humanity is to survive, its dysfunctional myths must be transformed. For example, while all mythological systems direct the expansive faculty of empathy and belonging toward the "in group," they deliberately direct rejection and even violence toward the "outgroup." The shrinking globe dictates that we can no longer afford to use outgroups as targets for our destructive impulses. For Campbell, the emblem of the mythology begging to be born is the photo from outer space showing Earth as a beautiful, blue, but unambiguously indivisible home.

Sam Keen, a philosopher who worked closely with Campbell, has urged us to shift from the myth of progress to a myth of sustainable growth in order to create the compassionate political order needed to avert humanity from its self-destructive course. Keen has identified some of the radical changes in values and principles of political action needed to achieve the myth of sustainable growth. They include:

• Shifting personal identity from the egocentric to the community rooted person.
  
• Shifting from competition to economic cooperation.
  
• Shifting from sanctified violence and the myth of just wars to peaceful means of conflict resolution.
  
• Shifting from population explosion to zero population growth.
  
• Shifting from a secular view of nature as raw material to the belief that nature is sacred.
  
• Shifting from a world divided between the poor and the rich to a more just distribution of wealth and resources.

Keen acknowledges that these objectives may appear radical and hopelessly Utopian. He also notes that one-fourth of the world's military expenditures could provide shelter; eliminate illiteracy, starvation, and malnutrition; and retire the debt of developing nations. On the environmental side, it could stabilize population growth, stop ozone depletion, provide clean water, and prevent global warming and acid rain. Even if Keen's assessment is optimistic, it supports the proposition that solutions to even the most hazardous aspects of the world problematique are still within the reach of human vision and cooperation. Keen calls this the "Myth of Sustainability," and he offers it as an alternative to the present crisis.

The need for a unifying mythic vision amid the disorienting cacophony of competing myths remains. Abraham Lincoln's famous Civil War plea is more appropriate than ever. He observed that "the dogmas of the past are inadequate to the stormy present. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew." In his seminal book, Reality Isn't What It Used to Be (Harper & Row, 1990), Walter Truett Anderson describes two keys to post modern thought. The first is to realize that all explanations of reality are themselves constructions-human, useful, but not perfect. The second is to develop the ability to step out of reality constructs and see them as such.

Conflicting Visions

Kenneth Gergen, one of the foremost post modern thinkers, offers three principles relevant to conflict resolution and community building that fit nicely within a mythological perspective. First, Gergen suggests that we shift our focus from principles to participants. Conflict has been approached in the Western cultures by bolstering one's position with an abstract system of justification, moral principles, or rules of logic.

Post modernism realizes that any moral injunction or rational principle may be applied anywhere if the participants are skilled negotiators. We can continue to fortify our sense of righteousness and denigrate the opposition by taking refuge in abstract systems of justice, laws, or moral codes. Gergen, however, instead urges direct interchange between those in conflict, entertaining such questions as "What is the world view within which their actions are intelligent and good?" and "How do they perceive our view and their place within it?" When Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat met with President Carter at Camp David, they shared pictures of their grandchildren. It was an important preliminary to their historic peace accord.

Gergen's second principle is that we become aware of the prison of language. Post modernism emphasizes the enormous power of language to foster the illusion of irreconcilable differences. Many conflicts are more a matter of banner waving and facade than actual differences in lived values. Dissent in religious and political beliefs may not have an important bearing on one's daily life.

Disparate belief systems and lifestyles often mingle peacefully if members of the community do not get caught up in ideological verbiage.

The third principle is to identify real-life situations in which antagonists can find common ground. With a recognition of the limitations of linguistic exchange, post modernists urge that groups "press beyond dialogue." For example, athletes and musicians from all walks of life can generate smooth and effective teams or musical groups. Business executives and scientists from conflicting backgrounds are often able to work together to generate multinational corporations and cooperative research undertakings.

One of the great advantages of democratic forms of government is that they allow a dialectic among competing visions. As the French philosopher Michel Foucault observed, in totalitarian and autocratic regimes, where the power is concentrated in a single source, the natural flow of dialectic is not allowed to take its course. Postmodernism shifts the focus of discourse from the symbolic to the actual, yielding practical guidelines by which opposing groups can begin to find common ground.

As Mikhail Gorbachev advises, "only the creative interaction of all economic, political, and ideological groups-rather than the supremacy of one group over the others-will allow answers to emerge for the next phase of human development."

In making important decisions, the North American Iroquois Indians asked how a decision would affect the seventh generation to come. Anthropologists and psychologists have identified several strategies that could be put to effective use in making these decisions on an international level:

• Learned optimism counters the tendency to believe that, when something terrible happens to one's group or nation, it will be permanent and pervasive. But helping people and groups identify such negative myths can foster group interaction and support.
  
• Superordinate goals are mutually beneficial outcomes that transcend the separate interests of conflicting groups. In the Middle East, focusing on superordinate goals such as irrigation and joint water rights would undercut the territorial arguments that siphon off energy and resources.
  
• Synergy leads to beneficial outcomes that transcend the separate interests of the group and the individual. In cultures with a high degree of synergy, the society is organized so that an individual, in one act, serves his or her own advantage as well as that of the community. High-synergy societies, according to research conducted by anthropologist Ruth Benedict, are secure, benevolent, and high in morale. Low-synergy societies are insecure, surly, and low in morale.
  
• Emotional education supplements reasoning and critical thinking by developing children's ability to defer gratification, control their anger, cultivate insight about their own feelings, and develop empathy for others. Programs to counter teenage pregnancy, curb drug and alcohol use, and stop violent acting out are more successful if they incorporate emotional education than if they are based on the dissemination of information alone.
  
• Spiritual enrichment can clarify the values and ethics of an individual or a group. Unlike religion, which is usually closed-ended and dogmatic, spirituality can be an open-ended awareness of life's deeper meanings combined with a reverence toward those aspects of the cosmos that are beyond everyday experience and understanding. Herbert
  
  Benson's review of pertinent research indicates that people with spiritual awareness have higher levels of health maintenance, convincing him that spirituality is an evolutionary adaptive trait.
  
  President Dwight Eisenhower anticipated "systems design" when he remarked that plans are useless but planning is all-important. The information-based programs of both dictatorships and democracies rarely appreciate the complexity of social and economic systems, hence their goals are often undermined by events they failed to appreciate or predict. Policy planning, even if it cannot dictate or predict the future, can reflect shared values for the years ahead. One may ingest designer drugs and wear designer clothes, but one cannot sculpt a designer myth.
  
  Yet, if systems design and policy planning veer away from the Scylla of the Grand Narrative of Progress and the Charybdis of the Millennium Myths, it is still possible to foster mythologies based on sustainability and connection. The inhabitants of Island Earth can avoid the fate of the Easter Islanders as we set sail for the twenty-first century.
  
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  Source: "Mythic Perspectives for a World in Distress" by Feinstein, Mortifee, and Krippner, which was published in World Futures, 52, 187-238, 1998.
  
  Authors: Stanley Krippner, Ann Mortifee, and David Feinstein
  
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