The Dark Mountain Project - The eight principles of uncivilisation

I have recently started following this and am strangely drawn to their primal and slightly apocalyptic philosophy, any thoughts?

1. We live in a time of social, economic and ecological unravelling. All around us are signs that our whole way of living is already passing into history. We will face this reality honestly and learn how to live with it.

2. We reject the faith which holds that the converging crises of our times can be reduced to a set of‘problems’ in need of technological or political ‘solutions’.

3. We believe that the roots of these crises lie in the stories we have been telling ourselves. We intend to challenge the stories which underpin our civilisation: the myth of progress, the myth of human centrality, and the myth of our separation from ‘nature’. These myths are more dangerous for the fact that we have forgotten they are myths.

4. We will reassert the role of story-telling as more than mere entertainment. It is through stories that we weave reality.

5. Humans are not the point and purpose of the planet. Our art will begin with the attempt to step outside the human bubble. By careful attention, we will reengage with the non-human world.

6. We will celebrate writing and art which is grounded in a sense of place and of time. Our literature has been dominated for too long by those who inhabit the cosmopolitan citadels.

7. We will not lose ourselves in the elaboration of theories or ideologies. Our words will be elemental. We write with dirt under our fingernails.

8. The end of the world as we know it is not the end of the world full stop. Together, we will find the hope beyond hope, the paths which lead to the unknown world ahead of us.

Very good.

If I have any criticism it would be with the last line of "3" where the term "myth" is used with it's two different meanings within the same sentence.

"These myths are more dangerous for the fact that we have forgotten they are myths."

These myths are dangerous not because they are untrue but because the "truths" they express are not those of a society able to live in balance with the Earth. Goes to the heart of the purpose of "myths", what are they and their role in defining human cultures. Look at "4". It's not a matter of doing away with "myths" as it is of changing to different myths, ones by which we can live in balance.

PS: re the "Dark Mountain Project" --- could you give the reference/link? I might want to post this to another place.

Never mind. I found it. And printed off the PDF of the manifesto (warning to those of you who try to read it on the site, very trying, or at least is is for me with my less than perfect color vision).

I should add that my current thoughts lean towards Home made life having a focus on post civilisation skill sets, we are half way there with a lot of topics, but I am considering firming it all up with a specific section with discussions and articles - thinks like making shingles, making nails, water purification, maybe we can persuade the meat eaters among us to discuss dressing carcasses etc.

Stuff that I guess is discussed on survival sites, but I want to go beyond the idea of Prepping and Bug out kits and look at how we can make ourselves and local communities workable.

My reasoning is based on the current "green"activism seems to be based around selling eco products or dabbling around making people feel better about their consumption rather than tackling anything of substance. For instance the Guardians Environment section has recently run tiny "articles" on; Cutting-edge sustainable design, What's the carbon footprint of ... a heart bypass operation? and Can I go camping and be green?

I mean, serious stuff yeah? Little wonder folk are abandoning environmentalism as a bad job.

Any thoughts on this folks?

Bringing this together with a parallel thread, I'm still thinking about some of the ideas from the programme 'How to Live a Simple Life', and have started to read about Francis. What you said, Badger, made me think about Francis's symbolic gesture of undressing and giving back to his father all his clothes, to show that from this point he wanted nothing to do with his father's wealth. An all-or-nothing act, not merely dabbling, or trying to reconcile two ways of life. Maybe the world needs more people leading an all-or-nothing way of life(which would be costly...)

I know that he gets a lot of flak, but I have invited Mark Boyle to join us. His way of living is certianly unique and I understand what he is trying to accomplish, obviously it is not something that most of us could attempt, but I admire his balls for trying it and taking the flak he does from the naysayers.

I do think that it is important for us to examine the mythology of our current civilisation and how we can improve it to better our lives and those around us

To make radical decisions is easy, to act on them takes guts and determination and I want this forum to be a place that supports people making choices that are right for them. I certianly do not want us to become another green washed site that talks incessantly about carbon footprints or new eco products, yet produces nothing of merit to help people.

Sorry, a bit ranty today, but I think this is important

Badger wrote:I do think that it is important for us to examine the mythology of our current civilisation and how we can improve it to better our lives and those around us

I agree with this Badger.
I also note that John Seymour, Peter Owen Jones and also Satish Kumar are television presenters and journalists. There are many other people that are just doing things differently, quietly.
How do the masses change?