The Great Forgetting

The “Great Forgetting”

We are living in the “information age”, right? The discoveries of modern science and technology has left us with the idea that our knowledge is always increasing, and only increasing. But we are also living in the age of the “great forgetting”. We no longer save seeds, know how to plant, preserve food, fix our own cars, start fires with sticks - we had forgotten all the essential skills and knowledge needed for survival and self-reliance. We had forgotten where we came from and how we existed, along with the social values that accompanied these ways of existence. Our connection with nature’s patterns, the soil, our food, our water has become severed in the age of consumerism.

We need to be more connected to our place, our community and the natural ecosystems upon which we depend. There is a relocalisation movement gaining momentum, as any of those promoting permaculture and bioregionalism will attest to. Many are choosing to disengage from consumerism and are seeking a smarter and slower rythm of life. 

As we enter the beginning stages of the decline of the industrial civilisation and the collapse of complex systems, the skills of survival and self reliance will be more important than ever.Those with these skills will be valued members of their communities. That does not mean that all of us will go back to live in mud huts - there will be a sytems hook up between nature and technology - Nature as model and mentor, where man will once again become an integral part of the ecological system, and not destroyer of it.