NEED OF THE HOUR

TRANSITION NOW!

RADHAMADHAV DAS, PHD

©Sublime Union, 2015.

First edition, January 2015.

Cover art: Joy Datta

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Introduction

Need of the Hour is about getting our present priorities right.

Unless we anticipate the various world crises and achieve a

wide and fast transition to a sustainable way of life, millions of

people could lose their lives during massive infrastructure

collapses. This threat is a great chance to create the impetus

for the much needed green transition. There are many

solutions for the green transition, but people don’t realize

them because they have not realized its urgency. Therefore,

this booklet focuses on creating the awareness of the urgency

of a wide and fast green transition and only points to solutions.

There already are many books and videos that describe

solutions in detail.

Humanity is now at a crucial turning point. At least for a

while, we need to set aside our personal priorities and

recognize the pressing global need of the hour. Let’s not be

disheartened if countless people prefer to sleep in a burning

house, even if they belong to our family, friends, science

community or spiritual tradition. It is the responsibility of those

who are awake to make a difference.

The way to the source leads against the current. To swim

against the mainstream current means first of all to sort out

relevant information. We hear about the increasing ecological

threats of environmental pollution, deforestation, species

extinction, top-soil erosion, desertification, water depletion

and climate change related disasters like floods, droughts and

hurricanes. However, the leaders and mainstream media hardly

pay any attention to the most imminent threat to humanity at

present: Massive global famines, epidemics and wars caused by

a collapse of most human infrastructures due to an

unsustainable economy. This threat will be explained in the

first chapter.

In 1992, 1,700 of the world's leading scientists, including

the majority of all living Nobel laureates, published the

following World Scientists' Warning to Humanity (emphasis

added):

“Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course.

Human activities inflict harsh and often irreversible damage on the

environment and on critical resources. If not checked, many of our

current practices put at serious risk the future that we wish for

human society and the plant and animal kingdoms, and may so alter

the living world that it will be unable to sustain life in the manner

that we know. (…) No more than one or a few decades remain before

the chance to avert the threats we now confront will be lost and the

prospects for humanity immeasurably diminished. (…) We the

undersigned, senior members of the world's scientific community,

hereby warn all humanity of what lies ahead. A great change in our

stewardship of the earth and the life on it is required, if vast human

misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet is not to

be irretrievably mutilated. (…) A new ethic is required – a new

attitude towards discharging our responsibility for caring for

ourselves and for the earth. (…) This ethic must motivate a great

movement, convincing reluctant leaders and reluctant governments

and reluctant peoples themselves to effect the needed changes.”

Today, over twenty years later, this alarming warning

seems to have been ignored by most folks and leaders. The

crisis has worsened – our collision speed has increased. We

were not able to find the “new ethic” that’s required to make a

transition to a sustainable way of life. Need of the Hour is

offering such a new ethic. Ultimately, the E-crises, namely the

energy crisis, the economy crisis, the ecology crisis and the

equity crisis, are all caused by the attitude of exploitation,

which roots in a wrong understanding of human nature. This

root crisis is the human identity crisis – the I-crisis. The I-crisis

and its solution shall be addressed in the final chapter.

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1. The Energy Crisis

The energy crisis is the most imminent threat to humanity at

present and should thus be given prime priority. It is very

staggering that most people fail to do just that. The energy

crisis is brought about by an unsustainable economy system – a

system that cannot be maintained in the future. The present

global economy runs according to the model of infinite growth.

In order to sustain this economy, there needs to be a constant

growth in profit, which means a constant growth in energy,

production and resources. You don’t have to be a genius to

understand that this model is illusory. The Earth’s energy

resources, her raw materials and her capacity to host industries

and purify their wastes are limited. Therefore, the growth of

any industry is also limited. It’s just a question of time until the

resources and hosting capacities are exhausted.

The production of many essential natural resources has

already peaked and we have gone far beyond nature’s hosting

capacities, which is evident in increasing ecological disasters.

The UN estimates that by the middle of this century, there may

be 150 million environmental refugees. Confronted with these

facts, more and more people admit the fallacy of infinite

growth and consumption. But how much do we actually change

our lifestyles to make a timely transition to a sustainable

economy? Not enough – and that’s quite understandable. Who

will agree with measurements like cutting down air and car

travel to half and consuming much less? Humanity as a

collective will unlikely become wise voluntarily. Therefore,

before nature is going to be out of balance beyond repair, the

only hope would be a drastic event that will force our economy

of greed to a halt. And exactly such an event is now knocking

on our door.

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It’s the end of cheap oil. Cheap oil is the black blood that

flows in the veins of the giant monster of our destructive

economy. What will happen without cheap oil? Unless we

timely transition to a sustainable economy, our oil-dependent

economy will collapse. Do the math, it’s not hard. We have just

peaked in global oil production in 2005 and are now on the

peak plateau. Many leading oil industrialists agree with David

Demshur, the CEO of Core Laboratories and former President

of Standard Oil, who said that “we are at the plateau in what

the globe is going to produce annually” and that oil production

will start declining increasingly faster in 2016 (17th Oil & Gas

Conference, Denver, 2012). It’s crucial to be well informed

about the upcoming oil crisis. Please click on the links below

and watch these three documentaries. You can also search for

them on YouTube.

A Crude Awakening - The Oil crash. Lava productions, Switzerland, 2006.

Many experts, most of them doctorates, shine light on the peak oil crisis.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qGM9ypR-UI

Collapse - the Greatest Preventable Holocaust. Michael Ruppert.USA, 2009.

The most outspoken presentation of the possible consequences of peak oil.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7WLCEUi7vk

The End of Cheap Oil. National Geographic.

This documentary includes a presentation of organic farming as a solution.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsV_3yBDXXI

Once the oil supply drops rapidly, oil prices will shoot up

over four-hundred percent. Many experts of the oil industry

are expecting that this will happen within the next five years.

This gives us very little time to bring about the green transition.

It is the eleventh hour. What are we to expect if we fail to

transition in time?

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With the exception of a few organic farmers, farming will

come to a standstill because the farmers will not be able to pay

petrol, fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides (all oil products).

When global food reserves (estimated to last for only 70 days)

will be depleted, hunger will spread. Hardly any truck or car will

move. You may be rich and have some petrol, but by now

people are starving, and they are looting for food and petrol.

Who will protect you, when even the military and police forces

will plunder? Power and money lose their influence when

people get hungry. Once all animals and all plants including

seeds are eaten up, what will we plant and what will we breed?

Are we aware that if we don’t transition we will be facing

horrible scenes like those of the Bengal famine during which

people ate all rats and snakes of the country before they died

of hunger? Who will maintain infrastructures like streets,

communication, law-enforcement, canalization, hospitals and

fire brigade? When these structures collapse, we are talking

about famine, civil unrest, plagues and uncontrollable fires. In

the above referred documentary film Collapse, Michael

Ruppert calls it “the greatest preventable holocaust.” That’s

not a nice picture. And it’s not some kind of doomsday hype

but cool-headed logical combination of known facts. The

collapse equation is very simple:

Unsustainable economy

+ Absence of a wide and timely transition

= Collapse

Fatih Birol, the Chief Economist of the International Energy

Agency, summarized: “We must leave oil before it leaves us.”

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Energy Crisis FAQs:

1) Aren’t there still a lot of oil reserves?

Yes, but not cheap oil. Expensive oil will lead to collapse. The oil

that can be easily produced is depleting now. We must also

consider the open secret that many oil producers lie about

having large reserves so that people keep on investing and

buying. An obvious proof that we are running out of cheap oil is

that everywhere, even in Saudi Arabia, they are now increasing

off-shore drilling (and tar-sand extraction) which is much more

expensive. Nobody would do that if cheaper oil was available.

2) What if the infrastructure collapse doesn’t happen within

five years?

It’s not that it will anyway happen – it will happen if we don’t

transition to oil-independency. If we don’t transition, then it

will happen soon because we have peaked in oil production

and it’s just a question of time until production drops faster.

Even if the collapse is bound to happen only in ten or twenty

years, it still gives us very little time. Thus in all cases we should

strive for a wide and fast green transition.

3) If peak oil was in 2005, why have the oil prices fallen from

$100 to $50/barrel from July to December 2014?

Because the OPEC and other bodies that decide the oil price

standards fabricated these prices for strategic reasons such as

weakening certain countries and strengthening others. It has

nothing to do with increased fracking and tar sand extraction.

The changes of oil price do not directly represent production.

There is a lot of room for stretching prices because the price is

always much higher than the minimum profitability.

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4) Can’t tar sand extraction and fracking save the situation?

They may prolong the collapse by a few years but they will also

be exhausted. And they are disputed due to causing massive

fresh water losses, nature destruction and pollution.

5) What about renewable energies like solar, wind, tidal and

thermal?

If scaled up massively, renewables could cover 50-100 percent

of future energy demands. But if not scaled up in time, they

could only prevent collapse if our economy becomes less

energy-demanding. And it’s questionable if renewables can be

maintained because they still depend on the oil industry and

petro-chemicals.

6) What about biofuel?

Present technology still uses too much agricultural land. Every

acre of land sacrificed for biofuel is one lost for food

production.

7) What about human ingenuity, the ability to meet challenges

with new inventions?

We can always hope for an invention – a tech fix. There is

nothing wrong with that, just as there is nothing wrong with

people hoping for God’s intervention. But it would be

irresponsible to rely solely on a wonder, be it technical or

divine. “Trust in Allah but feed your camels first.” Collapse will

be nothing short of a desert. We better start feeding our

camels and get the transition off the ground.

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One of the most upsetting aspects of the energy crisis is

that even those sincere people who are trying to live in a

sustainable way, for example in eco-villages, will not be spared

of the destructive looting during the infrastructure collapse.

We must face the reality that our green projects can neither be

called sustainable, resilient or holistic if they are not

sustainably integrated into the greater whole, particularly if

they lack a master plan for resilience in regards to large system

collapses. It is of utmost importance that leaders, educators

and activists recognize this imminent danger and work unitedly

towards the only way to avoid all the mentioned disasters:

A wide & fast transition to a fully sustainable economy.

It’s a huge challenge, but it is the only realistic chance we have.

Let’s be positive and join forces to make it happen.

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2. The Economy Crisis

The word ‘economy’ also means ‘the sparing use of resources’.

Ironically, the modern economy is depleting our natural

resources very uneconomically for short-sighted profits. A true

‘economy’ should be evaluated in relation to its sustainability –

but modern economy is measured only by monetary profit.

Since the modern monetary system is uneconomical, it digs its

own grave. Money only carries value as long as the natural

resources and services it represents are readily available. When

the natural resources tumble, money will tumble. After all, you

can’t eat money, and who will care for money once its value

will be less than the paper it is printed on? Other factors of the

coming economy crisis are production of money that isn’t

backed by tangible assets, speculation at stock markets,

massive debts that cannot be repaid and insurances that are

unable to cover their policies.

In 2014, the sixteen main US intelligence agencies

including the Army, FBI and CIA have issued an alarming report

that predicts “the fall of the dollar as the global reserve

currency” and “a worldwide economic breakdown and

collapse” (see third of below listed videos). People’s ignorance

of the corrupted money system is tremendous. As Henry Ford

put it: “It is well enough that people of the nation do not

understand our banking and money system, for if they did, I

believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow

morning.”

Please watch:

The Making of Money: www.youtube.com/watch?v=x67DxMeGOrc

The American Dream: www.youtube.com/watch?v=j69Ap4lndl0

The Death of Money: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQBia1Mw9Vw

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3. Who is to be Blamed?

Who is to be blamed that practically nowhere in the world the

leaders have a master plan for a timely & complete green

transition? Why is it not the first priority on their agenda? Why

are they catering to everything else except to the most pressing

need of the hour? We could continue like this, but blaming has

never solved any problem. It’s easy to blame politicians,

leaders and corporate firms. But ultimately, they can only

manipulate the people

if there is, to some

extent, a mutual

agreement. Especially

in regards to the

energy crisis, many

people actually want

to be told comforting

lies. Who wants to be

told the unpleasant

truth that we have to

power down and

reduce consumption,

and who wants to actually do that? Leave aside the masses -

which eco-friendly people want to be told that even their self-

sufficient eco-villages will be destroyed (by collapse-caused

looting) if we don’t achieve a widespread and timely transition?

In the political system of democracy, usually the leaders will

only be elected if they conform to the opinions and

expectations of the people, no matter how illusory they may

be. Therefore, it is important to educate people and create an

awareness that will give enough momentum to support leaders

who push for transitioning to a sufficiently resilient economy.

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4. A Wide & Fast Green Transition

Let’s now look at the external solutions for a green transition.

The internal solution is the topic of the concluding chapter.

Macro-solutions (big scale): Solutions for the industry, town,

nation and globe, for example a transition plan into oil-

independency for an entire state.

Micro-solutions (small scale): Solutions for individuals and

small communities, for example buying from local organic

farmers and reducing energy consumption.

The Transition Network is a good example of a transition

solution (www.transitionnetwork.org). There is also a great

need to make people aware that if we want to avoid massive

system collapses, the transition must happen on a wide scale

(macro-level) and very fast. We are starting the Sublime Union,

a non-profit organization to raise this awareness and work

towards sustainable solutions called Sublime Life Systems.

Please keep on checking www.sublimeunion.org for more

that’s yet to be uploaded. The Sublime Union also addresses

the identity crisis.

Some organizations make it look like micro-solutions are

sufficient, but this is misleading because it can distract from

making serious efforts for macro-solutions. One of the central

efforts of the Sublime Union is to raise the awareness that

without macro-solutions, even the most sincere micro-

solutions are still like building castles in the sand that will

tumble in the tsunami of infrastructure collapse. For example, a

micro-level family solution is to increase energy independence

by installing solar panels on the roof. However, this is only

sustainable if we simultaneously work for a macro-solution that

makes sure that the entire solar industry transitions into oil-

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independency, otherwise we will not be able to maintain,

replace or add solar panels in the future. The high

interdependency of modern human infrastructures makes

them very vulnerable for times of crises and this is why some

experts question if they can be maintained at all during the

transition. One thing is clear – if we don’t strive for macro-

solutions, there is little hope. Therefore, it is essential to

understand that a most important micro-solution is to form

joint ventures that push for macro-solutions.

Some macro-solutions are as follows:

The remaining oil and other limited resources are to be

reserved for critical emergency systems. We must scale up

systems of harvesting sustainable and clean energy like solar,

wind, thermal and tidal. The German Energiewende (energy

transition) is a step into this direction. Again, we should

remember that the industries of products like solar panels and

wind turbines still rely on petrol and petro-chemicals. The

entire industries have to transition to oil-independency. Human

energy consumption has to be radically reduced and our

lifestyles have to change to simple living, high thinking.

Farming needs to immediately transition to locally self-

sustaining organic farming. Organic farming doesn’t use

industrial chemicals and is thus not oil-dependent. To minimize

the large collapse-prone urban food supply chains, many of the

available spaces in the cities like parks, flat roofs and balconies

have to be converted into organic food gardens. If that cannot

cover the local food demand, streets can be covered with green

roofs. A green transition will not only save us from famines

during the transition to the post-petrol era, but also give us

healthy, chemical-free food and save endangered species like

the indispensable bees from extinction. Scientific research has

found that especially in the developing countries, organic

farming methods can yield up to 180 percent of conventional

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farming yields. With less machines and a great demand of

labor, there will be enough jobs for all. Many of us will enjoy

the privilege of gardening in the backyard and some will plow

the fields with oxen. This will repair our broken relationship

with Mother Earth and offer us natural and free physical

fitness. Farming is charming.

Companies can greatly increase the efficiency of energy

and resource usage. This can be done without incentives

because it yields profit in itself. Transportation systems like cars

and trucks need to become more efficient by usage of light

materials like carbon fiber and they should be powered by

renewable energy. Our economy has to be true to its name and

be evaluated in regard to economical and sustainable

management of natural resources, services and contribution to

education, health, culture and social life. We must return to a

currency that’s backed with real assets like gold. The economy

system should maximize direct exchange of locally produced

goods and services with less intermediate profiteers and

minimize import from distant places. Societies must transition

to a collaboration of self-sufficient villages and towns. A

centralized government will be valuable only if it organizes

local self-sufficiency, local administration and the defense of

countries. It is harmful if it continues dependence on oil-driven

far-off industries and centralized administration. If

governments don’t release some of their control, they will lose

it all when the systems collapse and people will suddenly be

forced to form small communities without preparation.

Macro-solutions are not unrealistic – some are already

being implemented. Bhutan is an entire country dedicated to a

transition to 100% organic farming. After a collapse of food and

fuel supplies in 1989, the Cubans replaced up to 80% of

industrial farming with community-based and bull-powered

organic farming. Today, 90% of Havana’s fresh produce comes

from local urban organic farms and gardens.

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1. Vegetables and fruit plantation in the middle of the Cuban city Havana.

2. A community-owned PV array on a noise barrier in Freiburg, Germany.

In 2011, the Danish government mandated to achieve

independence from coal, oil and gas by 2050. In 2014, the Thai

government decided to greatly scale up organic agriculture.

The whole world is watching Germany’s Energiewende (energy

transition) to independence from non-renewable energy

sources like coal, oil and nuclear power. On a sunny day in

2012, the Germans broke the world record when they were

able to cover half of their country’s energy demand from solar

power. In 2012, the Energiewende offset an estimated 146

million tons of CO2-equivalent emissions (the targeted

greenhouse gas reduction is 80–95% by 2050). It has helped to

bring down the cost of solar to less than half and created

380’000 new jobs, while the GDP rose steadily. In the USA,

many companies are saving more than fifty percent of energy

demand and billions of dollars by switching to more efficient

infrastructure and technology. There are many such

encouraging transitions, but no state or country has yet

achieved a green transition with sufficient resilience, especially

in regard to the capacity of helping millions of people who have

not yet transitioned, which is essential to avoid collapse. There

is a lot of work to be done and that too within a short time. We

can at least invite experts from all fields and start green

transition conferences and think-tanks and establish local

transition committees everywhere. This can be organized by

the government and/or NGO’s.

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Below are some micro-solutions:

1. Support organizations like the Sublime Union that promote

macro-solutions amongst the leaders and educators.

2. Get a sound education and training for micro-solutions.

3. Help to develop green cities and eco-villages with emphasis on

self-sustaining organic food production. If you don’t have a

garden, plant vegetables on your rooftop, balcony and walls.

4. Deepen your relationship with Mother Earth and Nature to

increase your universal integrity and to intensify love and care

for her and all her inhabitants. Go for walks and hikes in nature,

alone and with friends. Engage in nature hobbies.

5. Find your way into spirituality – the soul needs spiritual food. If

people are spiritually nourished, they have more compassion

for others, act less self-centered and reduce consumerism.

6. Start organic seed banks. This is a better investment than

intangible assets such as bank deposits that will vanish during

collapse. Even gold may not be of much value during transition.

Organic seeds may replace paper money.

7. Keep cows and bulls for organic fertilizer, pesticides, milk

products and to power tilling, milling, transportation, etc.

8. Become a full or partial vegetarian (start with 2 days a week).

Eating meat is one of the biggest contributors to global

violence, hunger, water shortage, heart-diseases and obesity.

Cattle-farming is the greatest forest destroyer and producer of

greenhouse gas (methane). The production of 1 kg meat uses

up to 10 kg grains, 20 liters of petrol and 15,000 liters of water.

9. Install solar panels. Use solar cookers. Use wood from

reforested forests for heating and cooking.

10. Use a rainwater harvesting system. Shower instead of bathing.

11. Reuse and recycle things if possible. Take cloth bags with you

and don’t accept plastic bags. Use rechargeable batteries.

Make transactions like paying bills online to save paper.

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12. Engage in activities and work that can be done locally. Use a

bicycle or public transport and avoid car and air travels. Use a

high-efficiency and low-emission car, if possible an electric car

charged from renewable electricity. Use car sharing.

13. If possible, buy only local and organic produce, from toothpaste

to cloth to food. Capitalism means that we create our world by

our buying choices.

14. Keep a large stock of grains and other storable nutrition.

15. Showcase the green transition in all aspects of life to set an

ideal example. Wear locally produced organic cloths. Wash

them with soap-nuts or similar non-polluting gifts of nature.

Use recycled paper. Switch to LED lamps. Turn off all electric

devices if not used, especially at night.

16. Learn from local ancestors who have lived in natural ways for

many generations.

17. Buy second hand products. You can get more for less and you

create a much smaller eco-load and carbon footprint.

18. Stop buying new stuff if not absolutely necessary. The real self

is beyond the material body and can only be satisfied with

sublime relationships.

19. You may want to relocate if you live in a region that is

extremely vulnerable to system collapse such as a very cold

place that has insufficient local food production and depends

on oil heating for basic survival.

20. Telecommute to save in transportation energy. Work out an

arrangement that you can work more at home. Have video-

conferences instead of flying in people for meetings.

21. Share your experience and inspire others to transition.

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Please watch these videos of transition solutions:

Rob Hopkins @TED: Transition to a world without oil

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8meWY0W40OA

In Transition 2.0 - a story of resilience and hope in extraordinary times

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFQFBmq7X84

Small scale city backyard farming on 1/4 acre = 3 tons of food a year

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfnzV4n1_xk

Green cities TED talk: How rooftop farming will change how we eat

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSQm09twKEE

A (partially) self-sufficient farm near Lake Geneva

www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6kCzEP9ebo

Permaculture paradise: Val and Eli's garden

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iSaRzjxL3E

Permaculture principles in application ‒ Geoff Lawton

www.youtube.com/watch?v=N225HDyIUe8

Crystal Waters Ecovillage, the first permaculture-designed village.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UH51W9tYFE

Global Ecovillage Network: www.gen.ecovillage.org

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5. The I-Crisis and its Solution

Now let’s look at the internal solution. Although

this chapter may seem to drift off the topic of

the green transition, it actually goes to its very

core. All the given information so far is widely

available and many people are aware of it.

Nevertheless, most people are not doing enough

to meet a timely green transition. What is the

missing element?

As per the warning to humanity by leading world scientists

quoted in the introduction, “a new ethic is required.” Ethics are

expressions of inner human values reflected into the outer

world. Wes Jackson, the president of the Land Institute, said in

the documentary The Eleventh Hour: “To me the value is the

healing power that comes from getting that it’s not just global

warming; it’s not just fossil fuel dependency; it’s not just soil

erosion; it’s not just chemical contamination of our land and

water; it’s not just the population problem; and it’s not just all

of those – the deterioration of the environment of our planet is

an outward mirror of an inner condition.” Inner human values

are defined by what we identify with – what we believe to be

our core nature. Social psychologist Erich Fromm wrote in The

Sane Society that our entire modern culture is pathological

because it is based on a faulty foundation; it is thus our first

task to ascertain the nature of man and then only can we

identify the actual human needs that stem from this nature.

If we don’t know our true nature, it is very possible that we

are also wrong about our needs and values that define our

ethics and how we act in life. Could it be that we are wrong

about the very basics of our existence – about who we are?

Yes, indeed. The actual root crisis is the I-crisis – the human

identity crisis. We have been busying ourselves with trying to

solve our problems only at the surface level and have never

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bothered much to examine their deeper roots. Whatever we

experience and know is based on the identity of the knower. If

our concept of the knower is wrong, our knowledge and its

application are also wrong. So it really boils down to the

ancient big question: “Who am I?”

You may say that we know very well who we are; men and

women, sons and daughters. I beg to disagree. We have not the

slightest idea who we are. It takes only three seconds to find

this out. Please take your index finger and point to your exact

position. Are you hesitant? Don’t worry, that’s absolutely

‘normal.’ In an experiment, I separately handed a pointing

device to ten different professors and asked them to point it to

their exact position. All of them first hesitated. Eight of them

each pointed to different places like their head, chest or lap.

One professor admitted that he didn’t know and another

professor refused to answer. If we don’t know where we are,

we also don’t know who we are. And if we don’t know who we

are, how can we possibly know what is best for us?

There are two main concepts or paradigms of self-identity:

Sublimism: The self is a sublime being beyond the material

body and its attributes. Thus our real needs

are of a sublime nature.

Skeletonism: The self is the material body and its attributes.

Thus our main needs are the bodily needs.

Modern education teaches skeletonism, the concept that

we are the material body. However, as we shall see in the

following section, our human ethics and way of thinking are

essentially based on sublimism, the concept that we are a

sublime being beyond the material body. Many modern

educators are trying to replace sublimism with skeletonism, but

they cannot be successful because skeletonism goes against

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logic and against our very nature. Sublimism does not

necessarily mean that we are disembodied – we could have

sublime material or spiritual bodies. It neither commits to

dualism nor does it disvalue the material body. After learning

various arguments for sublimism, we will discuss how

sublimism can enable a more healthy way of life on Earth.

Argument for sublimism from biology

At face-value, our most common concept of self-identity is

skeletonism – that we are our given human body composed of

cells. However, from biology we know that these cells are

constantly being replaced by new cells. The maximum living

span of most cells is seven years. Almost our entire body is

renewed every seven years, so the average age of an adult

human body remains below seven years. But although our

body remains only seven years old, we believe that we are

much older, maybe thirty-six years or more, and nobody

disagrees with that. If I purchase a house today, even fifty years

later I will still be its possessor, although in this time my body

will have been renewed seven times. So if I, the possessor, am

still the same after fifty years, but my body has been renewed

many times, then I am a sublime being beyond the material

body.

Syllogistic presentation: Premise 1: The material body is almost

entirely renewed every 7 years. Premise 2: The person is officially

accepted to be still the same even after 20 years. Conclusion: The

person or self is a sublime being beyond the material body. Thus

skeletonism is false and sublimism is true.

Argument for sublimism from medicine

In a video about his book The Scalpel and the Soul, Prof.

Allen Hamilton, a Harvard-educated brain surgeon, speaks

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about “things that medical science say should not be possible.”

Hamilton explains that similar events occur in hospitals around

the USA, but doctors are afraid to talk about them. Hamilton

recounts an operation he had done on a young woman whose

blood vessel ruptured at the base of her brain. They put her on

a bypass pump, cooled her body down and turned off the

pump for 25 minutes, during which the heart and the brain

stopped working completely with no blood flowing. Dr.

Hamilton assures that during this period “she is completely

dead by every criteria we have.” In this state, the ruptured

blood vessel is repaired. During the period of the operation

there happened to be some private conversations between the

staff. One of the nurses announced that she was getting

engaged. After the operation and reanimation, Dr. Hamilton

visited his patient in recovery. Hamilton recalls: “She starts

telling us about this private conversation, but word for word,

right down to the jewelry store where they bought the ring.

That’s impossible – her brain had absolutely no electrical

activity. So the question is; where were these memories made?

The idea that a consciousness can exist and make memories

independent of the brain is a startling finding.” There are

thousands of medical reports of people who have had similar

out-of-body experiences. There are even reports of patients

under full anesthesia who were able to witness and correctly

disclose incidents that happened in other rooms during the

operation. These reports strongly suggest that the self is a

sublime being beyond the material body.

Syllogistic presentation: Premise 1: A clinically dead body cannot

perceive and memorize any external event. Premise 2: A person is

able to perceive and memorize external events correctly while that

person's material body is clinically dead. Conclusion: The perceiving

self is a sublime being beyond the material body; it can be alive and

active even when the material body is clinically dead.

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Argument for sublimism from ethics

Humans possess ethics that they protect with morals and

laws. Let us focus on four Core Values: love, individuality, free

will and ethics (LIFE). We perceive these values as having real

existence. This is the classical perception of the Core Values,

which is, as we shall see, based on sublimism. Modern science

teaches materialism and skeletonism, according to which love,

individuality, free will and ethics are mere epiphenomena,

accidental by-products of chemical reactions creating mental

impressions that have no independent classical existence. They

are like programs of machines.

Sublimism > Classical Core Values

Skeletonism > Epiphenomenal, robotic Core Values.

For example, let’s say Jane and Robert want to get

married. According to sublimism, their love is real, their

individuality is real, their freedom of choice is real, and their

ethics are real. But according to materialism or skeletonism,

these Core Values are only pipe-dreams of robots. Jane and

Robert are mere lumps of matter without any classical

individuality and free will. Following the dictates of the

chemicals in their brains reacting to external sense-

impressions, one lump is forced to marry another lump.

However, their impressions of free will and love are real in as

much as programs of machines are real; they are robots with

free will simulation programs. This is how materialists argue

that materialistic or epiphenomenal Core Values are not

entirely unreal. To be clear, we are in the following speaking

about classical Core Values, not epiphenomenal Core Values.

According to materialism, we are simply like waves in an

ocean of matter and our experience of existence as factually

existing individual beings is illusory as we are all but matter. It

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would then not be ethically incorrect to plunder and kill others

because since we don’t possess free will, everything is already

determined and we cannot be held responsible for any action

since we are not the doers. According to materialism, there are

no classical subjects at all; no I, no you, no we. So if I kill

someone, nobody kills and nobody gets killed – it would only

be like one wave swallowing another wave by chance. Of

course you could say that it is unethical to terminate a machine

as sophisticated as a human machine and thus end its free will

simulation program. Even if we subscribe to this view, it is very

obvious that it is a radical downgrade of value from the

classical, sublime view. Killing a sophisticated machine is more

justifiable than killing a classical dog that has classical

individuality and free will. Thus if we take materialism seriously

– and I hope we never will – it becomes easier to kill a human

than to kill a (classical) dog.

We all possess classical ethics and cannot abandon them;

we know intuitively that we are individuals; we possess free

will and we are responsible for our actions. In practical life,

even the staunchest materialist cannot live by the principle

that the universe is mere matter evolving by chance. If we were

mere lumps of matter there would be no basis for classical

human ethics. In order to be able to uphold and further

develop classical human ethics, we must embrace its mother

paradigm; sublimism.

Syllogistic presentation: Premise 1: According to skeletonism, we are

mere lumps of matter without classical individuality, free will and

responsibility. Premise 2: It is the nature of humans to possess

classical ethics depending on the existence of classical individuality,

free will and responsibility. Conclusion: Skeletonism is wrong

because it goes against our core nature (we are not ready to

abandon our classical ethics for robot ethics) and sublimism, which

allows for classical ethics, is right.

22

Argument for sublimism from psychology

Despite their body aging, people always feel young. This

indicates that the self is not aging, and thus the self is a sublime

being beyond the body. The following lines are from a poem

written by an old man shortly before he died in a hospital:

Crabby Old Man

What do you see nurses…….what do you see?

What are you thinking...when you're looking at me?

A crabby old man.......................not very wise

Uncertain of habit......with faraway eyes?

Who dribbles his food.......and makes no reply

When you say in a loud voice.....'I do wish you'd try!'

Who seems not to notice ....the things that you do

And forever is losing.............. a sock or shoe?

Who, resisting or not..........lets you do as you will

With bathing and feeding .........the long day to fill?

Is that what you're thinking…....is that what you see?

Then open your eyes, nurse...you're not looking at me

(…) Inside this old carcass.....a young guy still dwells

And now and again ...............my battered heart swells

(…) So open your eyes, people……..........open and see

Not a crabby old man.....look closer.........see...ME!

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You can find more arguments for sublimism on

www.sublimeunion.org. Please note that sublimism is not a

paradigm that was designed to serve any personal agenda.

Sublimism is simply the conclusion of the systematic

exploration of the self. Its validity will further be strengthened

by its capacity to solve major human problems at their roots.

Dr. Henry Kendall, Chairman of the Union of Concerned

Scientists and Professor of Physics at MIT, said that science had

no silver bullet to fix the environmental crisis. He identified the

problem as overconsumption, and said the only remedy would

be a change of values. Sublimism can bring about this much

required change of values. Overconsumption is rooted in

skeletonism, the illusion of identifying with the material body

and its demands of gratification. Our present consumption-

hungry value system is centered on bodily sense-gratification

because of skeletonism. Sublimism loosens the knot of bodily

identification and thus leads to a shift of value towards

transcendence.

Václav Havel, the first democratically elected president of

Czechoslovakia, mentioned in a speech in Philadelphia in 1994

that “a new model of coexistence is needed, based on man’s

transcending himself.” He even referred to transcendence as

“the only real alternative to extinction.” Sublimism is that new

paradigm of transcendence. It leads us from our darkest illusion

of skeletonism towards the bright sublime reality. A person

who wakes up to the reality of sublimism can be compared to a

person who becomes lucid during dreaming. To become lucid

means that during a dream you become aware that you are

dreaming. Some of us may recall a typical dream in which we

find a lot of money on the road. We collect as much as possible

and keep it safe in our dream home. Then when we wake up,

we realize that it was only a dream and become disillusioned,

having wasted so much time collecting something that cannot

be had after all. If we were lucid in the dream, we would not

24

care about the dream-money so much

and utilize our time in more valuable

activities. Similarly, if we wake up to

the sublime reality that we exist

beyond the material body and its needs, we will start

pondering: “If I’m not the material body, why should I waste

my life with running after bodily gratification? Let me serve the

body only to keep it healthy and focus on finding out who I

really am and what I really need.”

The sublime value system will not only reduce consumerism

but also many other problems of humanity. The more we

realize we are not the material body, the less we identify with

its attributes such as race and nationality. This will reduce

racism and conflicts between nations and foster universal

brotherhood and peace. Intelligence and progress will not be

measured in how much material wealth we have accumulated

but in how much we have realized our sublime self and

contributed to sublime progress within our community.

Once people identify less with material gender, we can

expect fewer problems related to sexuality such as sexism and

sexual abuse. Some people will choose celibacy or adopt

orphan children, which will also help prevent population over-

growth. Fewer children will be produced as an accidental side-

effect of sensuality. They will be purposefully created with a

sublime intention. Our own sublime development will help us

to control our senses and their agitations and thus reduce

aggression and bodily violence.

Last but not least, sublimism offers an umbrella paradigm

under which all sublime thinkers and activists from all different

backgrounds can unite and turn the tide of traditional

materialism. There are countless people with sublime

intentions in this world, but there is a lack of unity and

collaboration due to difference in opinion. Despite difference in

opinion, people were able to develop sophisticated

25

infrastructures like roads and airports because they were able

to cooperate for the common goal of material prosperity.

Under the umbrella paradigm of sublimism, all sublime people

can similarly unite and cooperate to develop sublime

infrastructures for sublime prosperity. Just like various

competing companies can use the same road system, similarly,

various sublime people with different visions can develop and

use the same sublime infrastructure. Since the need of the

hour is to bring about a wide and fast green transition, we hope

to soon see the development of sufficiently resilient green

urban and rural solutions. We should utilize this rare

opportunity for a complete system overhaul to design new

sublime systems of society, education, research, economy, etc.

Once we have accomplished the green transition we can

invest more energy into the sublime transition – the inner

transition or identity transition, which can solve our crises at

their root. We need to develop sublime sciences that enable us

to explore our sublime identity. It is not enough to know that

we are not the material body – we have to realize who we

really are. We could be a very subtle material organism or

energy that has so far evaded detection. Albeit conforming to

the basics of materialism, such a finding would transform

traditional materialism and lead to a more sublime science. Or

we could be a spiritual energy or a spiritual being with a

spiritual body beyond classical matter. Then we would have to

develop a spiritual science or explore the methods of existing

spiritual traditions. Or we could discover that spirit and matter

are defined by different affinities of the same prime substance,

rather than being divorced dual substances. We will explore

the sublime reality in many different ways – yet we shall be

united in purpose in the Sublime Union. It is very likely that we

will tap into never experienced dimensions and potentials of

life. The sublime transition is the greatest challenge for

humanity, and it is also our greatest chance.

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Concluding Words

We will all have to transition to sustainable ways of life – either

we do it smoothly, or infrastructure collapses will force us into

a very violent transition. If you prefer the smooth way, don’t

wait for others. Be the change you wish to see in the world.

Participate in the Sublime Union and implement Sublime Life

Systems in your surrounding (www.sublimeunion.org). Be part

of the Transition Network (www.transitionnetwork.org). Let’s

see it positively; we are in a very exciting time in human

history. The green transition and the sublime transition can go

hand in hand. If we look deeper, our situation bears a great

potential of transformation.

What the caterpillarWhat the caterpillarWhat the caterpillarWhat the caterpillar

Calls the end of the woCalls the end of the woCalls the end of the woCalls the end of the worldrldrldrld

The master calls a butterfly.The master calls a butterfly.The master calls a butterfly.The master calls a butterfly.

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