Victor M. Toledo
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Few authors have influenced me as much as the American historian Morris Berman (1944). Of his 17 books, two of them, The re-enchantment of the world and Body and spirit: the hidden history of the Westhave inspired me deeply, and are in some ways progenitors of my book The Civilizers. At this time when the so-called Fourth Transformation (4T) is preparing to begin a second stage, and has managed to reach a constituent that for the first time will make a thorough reform of the Judicial Branch, the largest area of corruption in the country, it seems to me that what Berman wrote in The re-enchantment of the world in 1981 can be equally inspiring for the new phase. I reproduce then as a small tribute to that author key paragraphs of his work. Since 2006 Berman lives in Mexico, “a place where there is a space for imagination, dreams and delirium. Surrealism walks through its streets. My first visit –he says– was in 1979 and I immediately felt an intimate connection… In Mexico daily life is possible, there is a spontaneous sense of collaboration and help, which does not exist in my country, because there everything is economic value. People are not such, they are objects. In Mexico friendship is real” (Luis Eduardo Cortes Riera in Archipelago; https://www.revistas.unam.mx/index.php/archipelago/article/view/88560/77685).
See then this set of illuminating thoughts, taken from chapter nine The politics of consciousnesswritten 43 years ago on planetary culture:
“Such a culture will presumably be more dreamy and more sensual than our own. The inner psychic landscape of dreams, body language, art, dance, fantasy, and myth will be a large part of our attempt to understand and live in the world. These activities will come to be recognized as legitimate, even crucial, forms of knowing, and will be accompanied by the direct cultivation of psychic faculties: extrasensory perception, psychometry and psychokinesis, aura reading and healing…
“The result will be an emphasis on community rather than competition, on individuation rather than individualism, and an end to the ‘false self-system’ and role-playing that have so defiled human relations. As for power, it will be understood as being centered, a true inner authority, and not the ability to make others do what one wants against their will. Power will be defined as the ability to influence others without pressure or coercion…
“At the same time, there will be a strong shift in the emphasis of medical practice towards popular and natural forms of healing, tending to avoid the use of drugs and chemical manipulation; and a near fusion of ecology with psychology, since it will be widely recognized that most diseases are a response to a disturbed psychic and emotional environment…
“The principle of diversity will require the preservation of endangered species and cultures as factors that increase the gene pool of possibilities and, therefore, make life more stable, long-lasting and interesting.
“Politically, there will be a major emphasis on decentralization, which will extend to all institutions of society and will be recognized as a prerequisite for planetary culture. Decentralization demands that institutions be small-scale and subject to local control, and that political structures be regional and autonomous. Characteristic of such decentralization are community hospitals and food cooperatives, the cultivation of collective spirit and neighborhood autonomy.
“Mass production will give way to craftsmanship, business-based agriculture to small, organic, labor-intensive farms, and centralized energy sources – especially nuclear power plants – to renewable energy options suited to their own regions.
“Eventually, the economy will be a steady-state economy, a mixture of socialism, capitalism, and small-scale direct barter. It will be a ‘conservative’ society, in the sense that nothing will be wasted, and with a great emphasis, to the extent possible, on regional self-sufficiency. There will be little interest in profit and gain as an end in themselves. The attitude toward others and toward natural resources will be one of harmony rather than exploitation or acquisition. As ecologists Peter Berg and Raymond Dasmann have said, economics will be a sub-branch of ecology.”
For Helio García, who gave me the Re-enchantment of the World in March 1991, with eternal friendship.
