Humankind Advancing, Vol.9, No.1 January 1998
- - - IN THE REALM OF THE SOUL
Review by Erika Erdmann of
The Biology of Globalization
by Elisabet Sahtouris
Formerly a fiery peace activist, Elisabet Sahtouris now pursues peace and
ecological sustainability with an impressive maturity that is reflected in her
writing.
"Seen through the lenses of my worldview as a biologist," she writes,
"the capitalist/communist drama that played out for most if not all of our
lifetimes reveals a fundamental dramatic flaw. We played our own roles in it by
buying into an odd and ultimately impossible ideological choice: to build
society on the basis of individual interest or on the basis of communal
interest. -- OR? -- Whatever labels we give to the human econo-political
systems of various times and places, I think we can all agree that they are
living systems. If we see them that way, this either/or choice makes no sense. A
living system can only maintain its health while there is a balance of interest
between parts and whole, between individuals and community. To
sacrifice one for the other would kill the system."
The author's main concern is with a "a global community with more equitable
and less ecologically destructive economics." "As an evolutionary
biologist," she says, "I see globalization as natural, inevitable, and
even desirable." -- Movements into that direction are documented with many
examples and quotes. For instance, the multi-multi-billionaire Sir James
Goldsmith is now openly opposing the system that brought him to the zenith:
"What an astonishing thing it is," he wrote in a 1994 London Times
article," to watch a civilization destroy itself because it is unable to
re-examine the validity, under totally new circumstances, of an economic
ideology."
The accumulation of such examples lift the article up to an uncommon level of
joy and confidence in our future. Hope deriving from new attitudes at the top is
counterbalanced with that deriving from ancient wisdom of indigenous peoples
(the author's special field), who always felt one with the Earth and its
creatures. A renewal of this feeling of unity, she believes, would be the
greatest gift for our thirsty souls.
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E. Sahtouris is an evolution biologist, futurist and UN
consultant on indigenous peoples. Author of Gaia and EarthDance,
and co-author with Willis Harman of the forthcoming Biology Revisioned,
she lectures widely in Europe, North, South and Central America.