CHAPTER #1 -- THE FOUNDATION

For some 2000 years or more civilization has been ruled by a paradigm which was grounded in the Judeo-Christian creation myth. It was reinforced by Greek philosophy, Roman Power, Newton’s Mechanics, Darwin’s evolution, and Smith’s economics. In the waning two decades of the 20th century a new scientific and social paradigm has been developing that could have the most, deep, fundamental impact on human civilization since man first moved out of the cave. The old paradigm placed humans in a purposeful universe created by some super normal power for the domination and use by man. The new paradigm suggests a self-organizing universe in which humanity is but one of the created interdependent webs of being.
The new paradigm, which I’ll call the Gaian paradigm, not only has many roots but, can be, and is becoming, the underpinning of a new global network of cultures replacing the now dominant and domineering man-centered Industrial culture. The new cultures will, like all cultures, be a holistic unified coherence of interdependent components. They will result from a deep fundamental transition of our worldview, our social institutions and our lifestyles. The need for this transition is being made obvious by the growing numbers of critics of industrialism. And it is happening, and being made real,

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CHAPTER #1 -- THE FOUNDATION for
A GAIAN PARADIGM

For some 2000 years or more civilization has been ruled by a social paradigm on which all Aspects of the EuroAmerican cultures are based -- the “dominator paradigm.” In the past 2 decades a new social paradigm has been emerging that could have the most profound and fundamental impact on human civilization since humanids first came down from the trees. The old paradigm placed humans in a purposeful universe created by some superormal power for the domination and use by man. The new paradigm we’ll call “A Gaian Paradigm.” It suggests a spontaneously self-organizing universe in which humanity is but one of the created interdependent webs of being.

THE DOMINATOR PARADIGM

The “dominator paradigm,” has had a long evolution. It grew from the Jewish creation myth that held that the earth was created for the use of and domination by man. The early Church held that a "chain of being" put man at the top of a hierarchy with only a few celestial beings above. Below were women, children, other races, animals, plants and the Earth, each there to serve and be dominated by the rungs above. The “dominator paradigm” was stamped in the minds of Europe by the thousand-year Inquisition that burned some one million people, mostly women, at the stake for believing in Earth as our creator. It was spread to the East by the crusades that destroyed “infidel” humans, cities and nations. During the Age of Colonization and Discovery it was perpetuated and made worldwide by the sword (technology), the cross (Christianity), and the flag (nationalism). It was fixed in our secular moral system by the acceptance of Adam Smith's economy that claims that human "self-interest," competition and materialism should, and does, dictate all human actions. This abomination as the essence of humanity now rules the world.

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