Meta-Solutions for the Meta-Crisis

A civilization consists, conceptually, of a physical body and and a psychological body. The physical body is everything material, while the psychological body is everything that happens in the conscious and unconscious collective subjective. They both greatly influence each other. The material structures influence the thought patterns, they underline the significance of institutions and reinforce societal belief structures through architecture, design and anything concrete. An example: The president of the United States of America resides in the White House. It is a symmetrical, white, neoclassical building with pillars at the front. This building is the product of the psychological body, in the sense that the prevalent societal forces of the time built it. It is also a reinforcement of certain structures in the psychological body. It pays hommage to symmetry, ancient greece, rome and other less accurately describable tendencies. Imagine, for a second the presidents residency to be a teepee or a log cabin or a great wooden sailing boat anchored on the Potomac river. It would reflect a very different psychological body. It would reflect a different society. This is one example of the interdependence of the physical and the psychological body of a civilization. There are countless others and to list and characterize them all would mean to reinforce a certain, at this point pathologically overexaggerated part of the western psychological body: The strong tendency towards specification, specialization and quantification. The important takeaway is: Every manmade object, even every man-manipulated object tells a story and influences the psychological body and vice versa.

Now modern civilizations face a multitude of problems and there are many initiatives underway, which try and tackle these problems. The issue is: These initiatives largely remain within the same paradigms which created the problems in the first place. If one looks at human health, we find that, yes, we are rather unhealthy and health is in decline. Now we can go ahead and analyse our bodies very thoroughly and we'll find that there might a deficiency in nutrients or any other illness for that matter. As a response, we take supplements or medicine, or we might change our diet. This approach does, of course, not solve the problem at its root. What is a root problem? A very common scheme is illness through detachedness. It is a precondition for a fulfilled and healthy life to be connected to nature. All of us come from the soil and out of the womb and none of us can live without the forests and the oceans. They directly or indirectly keep us alive. The first meta-solution for the meta-crisis is nature. Nature is the only true common ground which everyone relies on whether he or she likes it or not. It is our ancestral origin and it's baked into our DNA. With civilization being such a short phenomenon (in evolutionary timescales), our bodies still are designed for nature, not for the office or the concrete jungle. Plants and animals are healthiest in their natural environment and the same goes for humans. Most doctors would agree that a reasonable amount of sunlight, a fair bit of physical exercise a natural diet of unprocessed foods and a healthy amount of community are the best factors for a healthy and long life. This is naturality. A civilization itself is built on nature. Only now can we experience what it means to be disconnected from nature. In the early stages everyone was outdoors, in the fields or on the roads.

Naturality could be implemented into society in many ways. A psychological as well as a physical change is necessary. Once it is more incorporated into civilization, the benefits will come in. We will be able to reap the rewards of health, e.g. contentness and peace. This is a general, broad scale approach. Naturality as a remedy for the meta-crisis.

This cannot, however, come unaccompanied. The psychological body, which houses the belief structures and paradigms, the norms and values, the truth centers and institutions is in a dire situation. It has deep reaching credibility problems. The story and the value structures of the west did not bring about the promised land of milk and honey but a rather messy place we desperately call "progress", clinging onto it like a sailor to a sinking ship. The fundamental ideas of 
progress through technology,
truth through science
and prosperity through economy
have not lived up to their promises. Despite having more things than ever, people feel hollow and empty. Despite supposedly knowing more than ever before, we struggle to orient and navigate. Despite all the technological powers, we feel powerless. The common myth, the greater societal project is becoming more and more unconvincing. Society is losing purpose. The rationale of the day is to fight for oneself, ruthlessly, pragmatically, without values. Virtues are naive and fighting for something other than yourself or your close peers is childish or weak. Pragmatic alliances are formed only for the sake of mutual profit. Now the quick and thoroughly evil way to regain cultural purpose is to create and external enemy. The wise and thorough way is to eradicate all these beliefs and structures that are not serving and to establish a common myth, a common project which is based on more than economical growth and material possessions. This process requires some serious weeding, taking out all the bad stuff until only good stuff is left. It is a process which is done by the prophets and storytellers, the philosophers and psychologists, the musicians, artists and architects and by everyone else.

A foundational condition for a functioning civilization - given that that is something desirable - is a connection to nature. The second foundational condition is a greater common project which is self-sustained, not directed outwards at an enemy. This greater project must be closely related to what it means to human and the deeper needs and dreams of a human. It is not enough to establish a green economy, since the value structures did not change. It is not enough to have zero CO2-emissions since society still runs on despair, greed and power. It's time to start building new societies and real alternatives, to weed out the old bad belief structures and to establish something worthy of being called "progress". Progress can never be an endless race to solve the problems that once were solutions. Progress is an informed step into the direction of greater humaneness.