Breaking Free from Primal Survival Impulses: The Key to Achieving a Sustainable Transition
The sustainable transition requires the acknowledgment and recalibration of deep-rooted collective primal survival impulses.
The global sustainability crisis is caused by primal survival impulses deep-rooted within the collective unconscious and integrated within dominant cultures and social structures. These impulses of domination, accumulation, and conformism drive our nations, global economy, and institutions.
Initially, they were responses to threats of hostility, scarcity, and social separation, today they are embedded in our systems of power, and recipes for success. They have self-perpetuated below our level of awareness, mistaken for human unchangeable nature.
Yet this paradigm of primal survival impulses and collective traumatic stress is doomed to come to an end. With exponential technological progress comes the increasingly important risks of catastrophic war, planetary overshoot, and human obsolescence (social conformity combined with AI and automation is a deadly combination).
To break these interrelated vicious cycles, we must address the collective traumas and fears of hostility, scarcity, and separation at their core. We also need to dismantle the outdated oppressive and exploitative social structures that feed on them.
The global sustainable transition implies a human and cultural renaissance, established in higher levels of consciousness, knowledge, and empathy. We need a paradigm shift for all humanity toward a peaceful, harmonious, and free world. This means shifting our priorities from competition for short-term gain and power to collaboration for long-term sustainability and betterment of the world.
To achieve this, it is capital to educate ourselves and others about the current global challenges and implications of a sustainable transition. It is also important to advocate for policies and practices that prioritize regenerative practices over profits and to work to build strong, resilient communities that can anticipate, embrace, and catalyze the impending profound social and cultural transformation.
Ultimately, the transition to a sustainable world requires a deep transformation of our cultural and societal values. We are called to move beyond our primal survival impulses and embrace a new way of being that values the health and well-being of all living beings and the planet itself. Only then can we create a truly sustainable and better world for ourselves and future generations.
The sustainable transition implies a paradigm shift for all humanity, that starts within each and every one of us.
