Sad to say, this will be a short post (getting too late over here!) but I HAVE to share this with someone.

All right -- I posted the White Road a while back and I've been considering a legend of 4 groups of people set off in four different directions. I know it's a metaphor (probably) but it gives me a way to break down the world and re-arrange it into different patterns. And then I come upon this in the recesses of my brain (yea brain!).

Four roads, four bundles, four sets of instructions given by the Creator to the People.

Four easily observable "paths" human cultures can go down, through their own observations of the world around us.

BLACK ROAD: The oldest path, the "Storied Path." Humans become human when they start piecing together stories ("Story of B"). This progression, A followed by B followed by C, also opens up the idea of Time. Things have happened before, things can happen after. This is VERY different than the world of Events; this thing happened to me, this thing happened to you.

This first path sees us and the world around us as a function of Time and analyzes everything in the world as storied pasts / futures (these are also physical places: future = horizon, past = buried in the earth, now = wind. See Spell of the Sensuous, David Abram).

The ultimate expression of humanity in this paradigm is that of the lwa, the ancestor spirit that is a collection of experiences and identity that can impose its will on current generations in order to answer their needs.

YELLOW ROAD: I'm going to claim this as the second road, the "Eternal Flow" Path. This road comes from the observation that one thing becomes another. We eat, it becomes us; we die, we become it. In this paradigm, there is no such thing as a human. There is only a collection of influences of external forces acting in a particular point.

Human society becomes more of a hivelike structure; function and family over individuality (note: I'm not saying this is BAD at all -- it's an alternate paradigm). It analyzes energy flows through and around things -- feng shui is an excellent example of this and places emphasis on whole environment harmony.

It's ultimate expression of humanity is the Taoist immortals, people who are immersed so far into the flow of the external world that their lifespan becomes self-determined and they move within it like spirits.

WHITE ROAD: Welcome to the third path, which sadly has now become the bastard stepchild (sorry ancestors!). Using terms we're familiar with, let's call it the "Science" Path. This comes from close observation of death, where you realize that when something dies, it gets pulled apart into many more smaller things. This grants you ultimately, the impetus to pull things of your own apart so you can arrange them in different forms.

I'm honestly not sure what kind of structure the white road leads you to because it got mixed up with the PTSD culture of agricultural societies. It does lend itself to hierarchy because it takes energy to break things down and it's easier to do that if you're the upper class and got a lot of slaves to help you out.

I do understand it's ultimate expression; it is the corporation, giant creations that can efficiently strip things down and convert them to other things. While on the whole I don't appreciate corporations, it is an elegant design and there are a few (like Patagonia) who have managed to keep a very human (and environmental!) face on it.

RED ROAD: Given that people migrated over to this corner of the world last, I'll put this in the last -- but certainly equally important -- place. This is the "Life" Path, concerned with fostering the health of a given ecosystem in regards to human life. It's the path responsible for the food forests of South America and the healthy equilibrium that the Americas enjoyed for so long.

It sees the world as a healthy system of living relationships and can allow new members of the family to join to promote diversity. Its ultimate expression, I think, might be the merging of humans to concepts within other species.

***

Yes, I know these are oversimplifications and examples can be found to the contrary and they don't cover everything and they aren't comprehensive.

But think about it for a moment.

Take a look at the Black Road. Take a walk down it. See the world through dramatically changed minds. How about the Yellow Road? Kick science in the ass and remember that you aren't you -- there are several trillion bacteria in your body that make up a LOT of your mass that aren't connected to those neurons that pretend you are you. The Red Road -- I have a lot of friends that talk about the Red Road, the journey to maintain traditional ways...

Perhaps these can be stepping stones to not only breaking your views of civ but establishing new ways that you can then link back to your ancestors. Perhaps not.

Either way, enjoy.

Best

Bill Maxwell

10,000 Ways