Indigenous Wisdom for an Era of Collapse

[NB: two places have become available on the last online course Leading Through Collapse that I’ll teach, starting Mar 17th – apply before 3rd Mar]

I’m noticing increasing Western engagement with Indigenous teachings and elders. One reason might be that as people wake up to societal collapse, they reconsider deep assumptions in their culture, and are open to learn more from the wisdoms of Indigenous cultures. That seems like a great thing, but, like anything, there are both benefits and pitfalls. It’s something I’ve mused on for a while, so I’d like to share a few thoughts with you.  

For decades, some strands of the Western environmental movement cited the wisdom of Indigenous cultures, from Aboriginal Australians to Native Americans, and many places in between. Then, like me, they largely failed to integrate such wisdom into life choices and professional or political activity. Even the environmentalists who work in solidarity with Indigenous peoples have tended to bring their own assumptions and interests which then distort the teachings, insights and ways of being in the world. That is not only due to modernist ideologies of progress, hope, and happy endings, but also from the distortions that can come from privilege. Let’s face it, the middle classes and elites tend to be the ones in the West who make time to learn from Indigenous cultures. The theories of social change favoured by the privileged anywhere tend to be that education, awareness and reform are what matters. That makes organising to resist and reclaim power to meet basic needs and aspirations in more independent and self-reliant ways a secondary concern, if at all. I know of that strategic preference because my past career was shaped by it. Without these filters, I wonder what more we could learn from listening to, and experiencing with, those people who live with a different cosmology, and who experience life differently to our urban commercial norms.

We were all indigenous once. Sadly in the West we have had our own nature-based spiritualities oppressed and our opportunities for transcendent states of consciousness taken from our cultures. Our abilities to feel the consciousness of wider nature were lobotomised from our psyche. And we have been numbed to the pain of the destruction through the lie that Life is a machine, not a mystery. So the rise in interest and engagement with indigenous peoples, and their wisdom, is an awakening of our hearts and minds towards a great lack, and yearning, that comes from the deep heist that stretches across millennia. This awakening could be helpful for everyone. For instance, more of us could become defenders of the indigenous lands, peoples and ideas that are threatened today, ironically due to the metal demands of the sadly spurious ‘green transition’. However, we can be cautious to avoid engagement with indigenous peoples being instrumentalized in promoting an ineffective and identity-preening environmentalism in the West. With those provisos, I have been delighted to see Western NGOs promote the ideas of an indigenous elder who is sharing powerful insights for this new era of collapse. Arkan Lushwala was consecrated from a young age to be an Andean healer and ceremonial leader. One of his homes is the Sacred Valley of Cusco, in Peru, where he is a member of the Indigenous Community of Ccotataki. He was recently interviewed by the Pachamama Alliance:

Arkan shared that it’s important for humanity to “remember” ourselves because we have “forgotten so much of the original wisdom of humanity that was cultivated in relationship with the earth and the universe, with all of our relatives in nature and sacred allies that we have in the spirit world.” Arkan went on to explain that as a result of this forgetfulness, many people today see the state of the world and feel as if humanity is a “mistake of nature,” often doubting themselves and humanity as a whole. He made it clear that it’s crucial to end the forgetfulness so that humanity is once again guided by our hearts and by our relationship with nature because, as Arkan puts it, this is how we come to know who we are and how we can “participate in the wellbeing of all life just by being ourselves.” 

Arkan’s words are an important reminder for those despairing environmentalists who are drawn towards misanthropy. Anyone condemning the human species because of the destructive behaviours of a culture and system that became dominant in the last 500 years of our species’ 300,000 years existence, is ignoring the ways of life of Indigenous peoples today as well as that huge history of humanity. It is when our egos desire to feel less pain through condemnation and dismissal, and therefore, through numbing, that we are drawn towards misanthropy. Instead, waking up from delusion to remember who we truly are, and escaping the economic system that demands our contribution to that delusion, is central to a people’s environmentalism, not an authoritarian or technotopian one. It’s the essence of eco-libertarianism that I describe in Breaking Together. It means we might all begin to become indigenous again. Therefore I was delighted that Arkan wrote a foreword to the Spanish version of my book:

“Indigenous peoples have known for a long time that the collapse of human society is approaching, triggered by the breakdown of the balance of nature. We know this because we feel our Mother Earth, because we know how to listen when she speaks to us. Our wise Kogi brothers, for example, have been sending messages to the world for many years, announcing the urgency of changing the destructive aspects of the modern world. Change, or face total collapse, seem to be the alternatives we have today. In a colonized world dependent on modern science, this work by Jem Bendell, the result of a serious and profound research, delivers the truth to those who are not used to listening to our Indigenous voices, or to the Earth itself. Thanks to the work of Jem Bendell, we can clearly see that we have reached a point where adapting to the changes in the world also means adapting to collapse. And with great generosity, Jem Bendell guides us to what we need to learn to make this possible. He gives us good news by showing us what is possible, while he shows us that the damage caused to nature and humanity will continue to cause severe consequences for a long time to come. With the information that his work provides us, we can put our feet on the Earth, free ourselves from the illusions with which the modern world distracts us, and make the best decisions for the future of our communities, our children and our mother. the Beautiful Earth that gives us everything we need to continue living. I am very grateful for this work by Jem Bendell, and that it has arrived just now, when it is so needed.”

Please listen for free to my chapter that, I hope, conveys some insights from Indigenous wisdom for this era of collapse: Freedom from Progress. Or purchase the whole audiobook. 

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