"Hope remains only in the most difficult task of all: to reconsider everything from the ground up, so as to shape a living society inside a dying society." - Albert Camus
In a scene from the film, Ulysses' Gaze, Harvey Keitel is drinking with a friend in a Belgrade bar. The Yugoslav war is raging. In a mood of escalating intoxication, the duo toasts a string of people they knew years earlier. In the end, Keitel stands, lifts his glass and proposes a toast: "To the world that has not changed though we have dreamed so much!"
As the senselessness of war meets with cynicism and resignation, we seem trapped in a mythos that limits human nature and human possibility. Why has the world not changed? Why do the same wars recycle generation after generation? What are we not seeing? And, how is our cultural mythos blinding us to real alternatives?
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The technology, religions, economic systems, and political philosophies that developed in the past millennium have all converged to maintain what Riane Eisler calls the "dominator system" of social organization. There appears to be a pattern of unconscious social agreements that acts to preserve the dominator system by making adjustments to new input while systematically avoiding transformational change.
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Metaphor from a Trickster
To date, our cultural mythos and mythic figures have kept the dominator stories alive and thriving. In order to move beyond their power, we might borrow an analogy from Carlos Casteneda who suggested that we "look for our hands in our dreams." Such an exercise in self-consciousness, a way of becoming awake while captive within the dream, gives the dreamer a way to influence its outcome. Like the appearance of the monolith that marked an evolutionary mutation in the film 2001, finding our hands in our dreams is also a mutation. We move from passive observer to active observer to one who influences outcome.
Finding the equivalent of our "hands" in our social dream, or mythos, might also give us the power to become, possibly for the first time in recorded history, conscious co-creators of our story, co-creators of our mythos ---- co-creators who can consciously influence the outcome of inventions, technology, politics, economics, and science. It means understanding where we have come from (our history), where we are (the prevailing mythos), and where we want to go from here (the vision). What sort of world do we want to live in? We need to imagine and create that story. Technology cannot supply the story, although ascribing transformative qualities to technology seems to be part of our mythos.
Do Alternatives to the Dominator Model Exist?
Yes. The city-state of Dubrovnik was an intentional alternative creation. In the early 1200s, the founding members of Dubrovnik conspired to create a state that would not engage in war. Deciding that a monarchy or long-term ruler would threaten the peace, the council elected a city Rector for a one-month term. After thirty days, the Rector returned to his seat on the city council. Proficient in the ways of diplomacy and intent on long-term stability, Dubrovnik's City Council maintained peace and prosperity in their city-state for nearly 600 years. It is important to note that states on all sides of Dubrovnik were often at war, but never with Dubrovnik. Nor did Dubrovnik ever seek to conquer territory.
It is unlikely that you have ever heard of Dubrovnik's history. Because of our cultural bias, we learn very little about cultures that don't engage in warfare or amass territory. We have been raised with heroes; Dubrovnik didn't have heroes. We have been raised in a highly competitive culture; Dubrovnik citizens were raised in a cooperative and peacemaking culture. Stories about peacemaking cultures are omitted from our history books.
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