Wise advice

[Lance Christie]

In the Relocalization Network Coordinator's HUB, Tom Ellis wrote, responding to a debate between two coordinators, one of whom emphasized the importance of the instinct to competition and the other cooperation among human beings in determining reactions to the collapse of fossil-fueled civilization:

Lynn Margulis is closer to the mark when she says (I think it was she)--"Symbiosis writes and competition edits." In short, we cooperate when we perceive that it is in our interest to do so; we compete (i.e. fight or flight) when we feel that we are threatened.
 
Symbiosis provides the basis for innovation; competition and the mutual avoidance thereof preserve the ecological status quo. The only constants in all of this are the three cardinal survival values of all living beings:

--health (internal homeostasis);
--competence (the specialized skills to survive in a predictable niche) and
--adaptive flexibility (the generalized skills necessary to adapt to unpredictable change).

And there's the rub--in a time of (relative) systemic stability, we tend to select for competence; conversely, in a time of systemic collapse and/or catastrophic change, Gaia selects for adaptive flexibility, which depends--above all--on diversity--of genes, of skills, of diets, of coping mechanisms.

And of course, cooperation generally (but not necessarily) increases our collective adaptive flexibility.

This is why I keep returning, as the wave of global economic collapse approaches ever closer to home, to three simple injunctions:

Plant gardens. Get to know your neighbors, and grow community. Create local, sustainable economies.

Or putting it even more simply, I adhere to a "Dharma Gaia Mantra" I have invented: ten verb phrases I repeat on the outbreath, to quiet my mind and focus my priorities:
Breathe, Observe, Let Go.
Be well, Do Good Work, Keep in Touch. (with gratitude to Garrison Keillor)
Learn Gaia.
Teach Gaia
Heal Gaia
Create Gaia.
Best wishes, Tom