civilization me The beginning of the end, when humans became civilized you could argue that it was the beginning of the end for mother earth. That the growth of man into an organized culture is truly going to kill this planet. Once people became civilized, they became colder and hard, feelings were lost. Today we humans have very little feeling very little emotion very little control. Humankind will destroy the world and bring extinction to everything. 030109 ... MDogMA The area i've been residing has been hit with drought for three years straight. it's gotten so bad that i live just south of canada and i don't remember what snow looks like. farms going under rancers going to retirement homes, the governmental ie mental organizations of the area have finally decided that the problem might be linked to global warming, they've decided in all their great power to start a coalation to study if it is in fact a warming trend, to see if they need to make another coalation to see if there is anything they can do about it. investments in hybrid cars rake big returns 030109 ... monee civil eye zation 041226 ... zzz33333 The Wise Will Arise: a brief history of CIVILIZATION and resistance against it "Nature is not simply the random flight of atoms through electromagnetic fields. Nature is not the empty, despiritualized lumpen matter that we inherit from modern physics. But it is instead a kind of intelligence, a kind of mind." - Terrence McKenna SEEDS OF RESISTANCE The seeds of the “tree of resistance” to what we know as civilization start with the beginnings of and inherently target all aspects of civilization itself. From its conception, civilization has been resistant to normalcy and all normalcy (later masked as deviancy within civilization) has been resistant to civilization. Civilization masks its destructive nature with religion and the promise of a better life. Resistance to civilization by human beings is therefore not always immediately initiated with the arrival of civilization; moreover, resistance to civilization from inside, by the civilized, usually does not manifest until late in the game. Arguably many early civilizations were dismantled from the inside. Many seem to have spawned new offshoots of what may be civilization, and many were conquered and swallowed by other civilizations. Of those that collapsed without assistance, with or without resistance, few civilly legitimate written records remain to bear substantial evidence. Resistance to civilization becomes more apparent, more common and more visible as the system spreads and affects more areas of the world, and as it becomes more and more transparent in its screening of truths. Often throughout history civilization has successfully masked its inherently destructive qualities enough to target what Nyan Chanda alludes to as the inherent yearning and striving towards, in humans (and every living thing,) for a better life. As a result, resistance is not always immediately initiated with the arrival or indication of civilization It’s possible and has proven to be necessary to mask the ills of civilization with the lure of leisure and less work (physical or mental activity directed towards the production of accomplishment of something). Understanding the way words are defined and used in the English language speaking about civilization is crucial, as words may shape one’s perceptions. Currently, any previous civilizations have molded and gelled into one, which threatens to destroy the overall health of the planet. Consequentially, resistance from inside is growing, strengthening, spreading, evolving, and advancing, in the true senses of the words, continuously. THE POWER OF CULTURE COMPELS YOU I don't want to do this. I have little interest in doing this, save the reasons of writing something so I can turn it in so I can get a grade so I can stay at this school so I can graduate so I can get a piece of paper that says I graduated so I can put it on my wall and write down on job applications that, yes in fact it does exist, so I can get a job working somewhere doing something that isn't too awful so I can get paid in paper money so I can use that money to give to people who are also working their jobs so I will be allowed by The Powers That Be to Live and eat and drink and clothe mySelf with some silly, sick, sad, sorry, fake semblance of what is known colloquially as Peace. There is some sanity left for me in the fantasy that my words will be helpful to someone. I have more interest in work for this class than work for other classes, specifically because of the importance and direct applicability of this work (physical or mental activity directed towards the production of accomplishment of something). I have interest in applied, natural, organically generated, organically motivated, wild (wild is “occurring… in a natural state”) growth, learning and education. This happens naturally and without effort on the part of all humans. Barring mental retardation, human beings pick up languages, movement, and a near-infinite amount of other skills and trades remarkably easily. It takes little work for a human to learn--usually only concentration. It goes against my natural state as a wild animal to be in a structured, manipulated, subsidized, consciously organized and manipulated, industrial educational institution. I understand the necessity of work. It is hard for me to see “schoolwork” as beneficial beyond the reasons described in the above paragraph. Schoolwork is comprised mostly of the memorization of “facts” that are “known” about the world and in part the generation of new ideas. Much of school as we know it today, if not all, is not about learning at all: it is about enculturation (the adoption of behavior patterns of the surrounding culture.) What would compel human beings to whip themselves, to run through coals or over the backs of fifty cows, to pierce and cut and stretch their body in painful and unprecedented ways, to build a tower and jump off it, to dance and go into a trance and shake and jive and perhaps have what is closest to a seizure, to go through industrial schooling from ages five through twenty-five, to cut one's own wrists, to commit suicide? Among other possibilities, but perhaps most broadly, what compels people to do all these things and much more is culture. Much of the above list, including industrial schooling, is seen as initiations or rites of passage, which signify a transition toward maturity. The American Indian didn’t cut himself for the white man because it felt good: he did it because his culture taught him to show respect and self-sacrifice for alien visitors. The English, Latinate word "culture" (from cultura, from colere, meaning "to cultivate"), means, according to the first definition in the American Heritage Dictionary, "The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought." Other definitions include "development of the intellect through training or education," and even "enlightenment resulting from such training or education." This dictionary, these definitions, these words themselves, are all of course products of the same culture. It is important to understand the definitions of words because they can specifically dictate the workings of the human brain: the Sapir-Worf hypothesis suggests a systematic relationship between the language one speaks and how one interacts with the world. Language speakers throughout (uneasily) conceivable time have coached their minds, trained their minds, molded, manipulated, and ordered their minds to only think within the parameters of their language. Knowing the difference between definitions of words and true meanings of words, as well as the implied and true uses of words, is very important. It is also very important to understand there is much about the universe, life, everything in it and out of it, that is not explainable, conveyable, solvable, able to be understood or manipulated. This is perhaps the most difficult concept to understand, explain, and convey. Culture can be defined as human activity, the way humans interact with themselves, their world, or non-humans, but most specifically other humans around them. Understanding culture can help us understand social norms, social guidelines and boundaries--culture is part of what gives a human being his sense of ethics, morals, values, virtues. It is both one's social structure and the specific structure of that structure, the way it structures itself, those around it and the natural world, and the way it works. Culture may refer to organically formed, perhaps ethnic tribes, to any larger, "more developed" social structure such as what is commonly known as Civilization, or even be applied [with a prefix] to smaller sects within a larger group known as subcultures. These groups may or may not serve as a sort of subversive outlet for members of the "dominant" culture. The word is, of course, like most, or perhaps all words, open to interpretation. More recently, some people have begun to interpret the meaning of the word in new and different ways. There may be the culture of corporations, for example, or the culture of tennis-players, basketball fans, or guitar players. These are debatable uses of the term, as it is arguable whether or not they are a culture and not a sport, hobby, activity, pastime. Regardless, participation or involvement in these groups, whether deemed truly cultural or not, may in fact dictate certain behavioral characteristics or worldviews. The never-very-trustworthy internet website Wikipedia.com, and a good probable percentage of people polled on any city street, say the word culture may be used as a synonym for the word civilization. The word "civilization," originally from the Latin civilis, the adjective form of civis, meaning citizen, is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as "an advanced state of intellectual, cultural, and material development in human society, marked by progress in the arts and sciences, the extensive use of record-keeping, including writing, and the appearance of complex political and social institutions." Citizen, incidentally, is defined as "a person owing loyalty to...the protection of a state or nation." Nation is "a relatively large group of people organized under a single, usually independent government." The ninth definition of the word state is "a specific mode of government." Govern is defined brilliantly as "to exercise sovereign authority." A sovereign nation is one that is self-governing. Another way to define government, or the state, is, “the sole entity with the power to legitimately use violence to enforce decrees.” To Advance is "to cause to move forward, to put forward, to raise in amount or rate." Complex is involved or intricate, as opposed to the simple or the plain. Science is “the observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena.” (A phenomenon is any occurrence…perceptible by the senses.) Art is most broadly defined as “human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature.” Society is “the totality of relationships among humans.” Many early anthropologists describe civilization, and cultural evolution itself, as a whole, in terms of what is known as unilineal evolution. This is the idea that humanity moves forward on a measurable linear timescale from a “primitive” to an “advanced” state. Primitive means “not derived from something else, primary, basic,” that which has evolved and been selected and been essentially proven to work (physical or mental activity directed towards the production of accomplishment of something, in this case survival of a species.) Much of the English language is derived from Latin, Greek, and Anglo-Saxon roots. Language, of course, is an organic process and requires no definite rules: the main purpose is to communicate, to be understood. Words change over time and words are invented; things are invented, and words are invented to name them. There's no reason to believe the word "wheel" was used before the wheel was invented, or "desk" before desk was invented: arguably the words citizen, civility, civilization, even city, were all invented along with the things they described, or perhaps slid into like forming a habit, right along with the birth of the State. Examining the origins and definitions of words is especially relevant when we use words to describe something that human beings may or may not actively resist. Civilization: An advanced state of intellectual, cultural, and material development in human society, marked by progress in the arts and sciences, the extensive use of record-keeping, including writing, and the appearance of complex political and social institutions. “Advanced” is a highly subjective term. Human cultures have always existed and continue to exist today; this very existence can be considered by members of said cultures and outsiders to be “advanced” intellectually, culturally, and concern any number of things definable as “material development.” Every human being has parents, and thus, even if there were only three of them (which has rarely been the case,) those three humans would have a society. The concept of “progress” is also a subjective, cultural concept: unilineal evolution is a misconception of early anthropology. Every human has arts and sciences; presumably these progress in individual, perhaps immeasurable ways. Every single human society that has ever existed has kept records: the word “record” holds many more connotations than simply “a human state of writing,” or even a human culture that writes. The civilized may write, but that’s not all that makes them civilized. Even oral histories and stories passed down over generations, even knowledge of and a relationship with the land are records. Which of these records are better or more “advanced” cannot be determined, and is not relevant. The suffix “-ation” suggests a physical state, and especially a process or action; civilization, then, suggests a process, a schooling or teaching: the act of becoming civilized. Domestication is another great word to use to bring it into focus: domestic, referring to the home, or in the case of animals, tame. Its opposite would be wild, organic, pure, unadulterated, without having been affected or manipulated by conscious [human] effort. People, things, places, areas, regions must be civilized–they are that way innately; it must be enacted upon them. Civilization, then, can only be imposed by itself– that is, the Mohawk Indians never tried to civilize themselves or their land arguably because they themselves were not civilized. Civility is used to suggest and imply a sense of morality, virtue, justice, composition, maturity, poise, correctness, cleanliness, true humanity and obedience. Civility is one of those words which is best understood through its opposite; in this case generally barbarity, savagery and all that is wild. Human beings,