Instead of looking at the world around us as both a dangerous wild place and also as a giant piggy bank we can take as much from as we like, we should instead look at the world as a partner.
The world is not alien. We have made ourselves very alien, but the earth is not alien at all. The earth is our home and our parent and our partner in our continued existence.
We need to treat it like an equal. Take what we need, but never again become so gluttonously greedy. Give back to the earth when we take from it. Treat it, and by association ourselves and our children, with respect.
This lifestyle will necessitate adaptive cultures, and resilient cultures, because your become more capable and adaptive and resilient when you cannot simply throw money/energy at a problem and attempt to over power it. In such cases you must be creative and capable and - obviously- better at solving problems.
Our problem is that all that -very limited- high energy fuel has made us very lazy; and wealth has taken the place of ingenuity. We need to regain our ingenuity and our resilience. And that starts with changing our premises.
The earth is not a wilderness, full of disorder and dangers. It is our home and our workshop and out school. We do not need more energy to be more adaptive and resilient. We need more ingenuity, more mental flexibility and more competence to be adaptive and resilient.
We need to seek enough, not more. We need to work with our partners on this planet- the animals, the green plants, the fungi, the bacteria. We have been at war with 1.5 million species, as well as the ecosystem that makes our continued survival possible, and it is a war we cannot win.
We need a whole new world view, and we need it now.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
What is the Lunisolar Year? And How do freepathers use it?
Answer:
The lunisolar year is a calendar system that bases the year around the solar year: using equinoxes and/or solstices to mark the year, and the lunar month: using the lunar cycle to mark the months.
Not all freepathers use the lunisolar year, and they do not all use the same one. that said, the lunisolar year is popular amongst feepathers for a number of reasons.
The Freepath recommends the idea of immersion as the goal rather than enlightment, embracing the physical world rather than transcending it. As such, a calendar that is self regulating based upon physical patterns that are directly and personally observable allows the freepather to put themselves in a direct and vibrant relationship with the planet, the sun, the moon, the seasons, and all the myriad of things touched by the changing seasons.
Just as the year ends for a third grader on last day of school before summer vacation, so does the year end with the cold of winter end the year for the gardener.
Using the lunisolar calendar requires nothing more than a view of the sky, and allows the freepather to tell the date in the same way that he would tell if it was raining, by looking outside. No intervening outside forces are required to make the knowledge understandable or useable.
The lunisolar year is a calendar system that bases the year around the solar year: using equinoxes and/or solstices to mark the year, and the lunar month: using the lunar cycle to mark the months.
Not all freepathers use the lunisolar year, and they do not all use the same one. that said, the lunisolar year is popular amongst feepathers for a number of reasons.
The Freepath recommends the idea of immersion as the goal rather than enlightment, embracing the physical world rather than transcending it. As such, a calendar that is self regulating based upon physical patterns that are directly and personally observable allows the freepather to put themselves in a direct and vibrant relationship with the planet, the sun, the moon, the seasons, and all the myriad of things touched by the changing seasons.
Just as the year ends for a third grader on last day of school before summer vacation, so does the year end with the cold of winter end the year for the gardener.
Using the lunisolar calendar requires nothing more than a view of the sky, and allows the freepather to tell the date in the same way that he would tell if it was raining, by looking outside. No intervening outside forces are required to make the knowledge understandable or useable.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
What are the Unborn Elders?
Answer:
The unborn elders are the children of your tribe who have not yet been born, and the grandchildren of your tribe not yet born, and so on; marching into the future.
Freepathers frequently 'pray' to the unborn elders by making promises to these unborn generations, and by reaffirming their obligations to these unborn children and the impact that the actions of those of us currently alive will have on the later generations.
Freepathers do no impute any mystical power to the unborn elders, and understand that the unborn elders are a mental construct used to visualize people who do not yet exist, but who- when they do exist- will have to live with the consequences of the actions of those who do currently exist.
Prayer to the Unborn Elders is a method reminding us of our obligation to future generations.
Hence the freepath saying, "Do not pray for rain, when you can carry a bucket."
The unborn elders are the children of your tribe who have not yet been born, and the grandchildren of your tribe not yet born, and so on; marching into the future.
Freepathers frequently 'pray' to the unborn elders by making promises to these unborn generations, and by reaffirming their obligations to these unborn children and the impact that the actions of those of us currently alive will have on the later generations.
Freepathers do no impute any mystical power to the unborn elders, and understand that the unborn elders are a mental construct used to visualize people who do not yet exist, but who- when they do exist- will have to live with the consequences of the actions of those who do currently exist.
Prayer to the Unborn Elders is a method reminding us of our obligation to future generations.
Hence the freepath saying, "Do not pray for rain, when you can carry a bucket."
Sunday, February 19, 2012
A Formal Objection
"Of Course, these are critical services, but energy's role in our lives is actually more fundamental, essential, and subtle. We extract energy from our environment to create order out of disorder and complexity out of simplicity. Put simply, societies with access to lots of energy are generally more adaptive, resilient, and better at solving problems."
(The Upside of Down, by Thomas Homer-Dixon, page 37)
The paragraph above exemplifies nearly everything destructive and self-defeating about our civilization. It articulates near perfectly almost the whole of the Industrialized Nation's philosophy.
"We extract energy from our environment to create order out of disorder..."
Let us start with this passage. It is, just to start, patently untrue. This statement implies that the natural world lies in disorder without us civilized humans. That the water cycle, and erosion and plate tectonics are disordered and without pattern. That natural selection and macro-evolution are just random events. That ecosystems are simply random collections of animals and plants. The ignorance in this statement is simply astounding.
The second half of the sentence is even worse however.
"...and complexity out of simplicity."
Tribal cultures have an incredible level of order- just to limit ourselves to humans for the moment. Pretending that there is a higher level of complexity in civilized society fails to take into account all the myriad of nuances of tribal society.
Beyond human affairs however, the passage says implicitly and explicitly that what civilized humans make is more complex than a leaf of lettuce or a grain of millet and the accompanying plant that produced it, and the accompanying ecosystem, food web/food chain that made that plant possible- tying together thousands of species and even more apparently inanimate forces such as the wind and the nitrogen cycle.
The arrogance in this statement, arrogance that is left as a premise and not even examined by its author, is almost beyond belief. Or at least, the arrogance would be beyond belief if it did not come from a culture with a ten thousand year history of such arrogance.
The next sentence is not as bad, but it has within it one of the key miss-assumptions of civilized humanity.
"We often use this order and complexity, in turn, to help us solve the problems we face- for instance, to shelter ourselves from our harsh environment and to protect ourselves from attack."
By assuming that the world is harsh, everything becomes an enemy or an attack. This basic belief in a hostile wilderness (the wilderness itself being an invention of civilized humanity) is what allows us to drive all species before us and destroy them whenever they resist or simply stand in the way of our expansion.
"Put simply, societies with access to lots of energy are generally more adaptive, resilient, and better at solving problems."
This statement is partially true on the surface. Such societies are rarely more adaptive and just as rarely better at solving problems. They don't need to be either, because they can simply pour energy into the problem. Much in the way a rich person can simply spend money to make most problems go away.
And this does not make the rich person more adaptive. They pay other people to be adaptive. All of this does make the society more resilient however- at least temporarily. The weakness of this statement is that such societies are thus dependent upon a mass of cheap and readily available energy.
In other words, such societies are addicted to energy. They are slaves to cheap fuel and act like junkies when they need another 'hit' of cheap energy to keep their economies and the accompanying systems running.
Never despair; but if you do, work on in despair.
-Edmund Burke
Saturday, February 18, 2012
What is a Prayer Promise?
Answer:
A prayer promise is a promise written on paper or on a cloth flag, made to the generations of children yet unborn who will be affected by the actions of the person now alive. Paper prayer promises are referred to as prayer sheets. Cloth prayer promises are referred to as prayer flags.
Prayer sheets are traditionally burned in ceromonial fashion in a ritual of some sort. Prayer sheets, being more private, are generally used for personal commitments, or in public ceremonies where the ceremony itself acts as communal reinforcement.
Prayer flags are not burned as a general rule, but are displayed outside of a person's home or in another public place. Such prayers are displayed as a method of commitment, so that other members of the community can help to hold the freepather accountable to the unborn elders on the promise made.
Prayer sheets and flags are not assumed to have any magical power, but are used to reinforce personal commitments and public responsibilities and promises. Not all Freepathers use Prayer sheets or flags, and those that do may call them by different names. The use of the word prayer is designed to draw a link to practices that new frepather's are likely to recognize, not to indicate any religious connection.
Common variations include written boards where public declarations can be made, whether online systems or physical are used. Audio and visual recording of oaths are also used. Written promises sealed with wax stamped with signets are used by some romantics amongst Freepathers.
A prayer promise is a promise written on paper or on a cloth flag, made to the generations of children yet unborn who will be affected by the actions of the person now alive. Paper prayer promises are referred to as prayer sheets. Cloth prayer promises are referred to as prayer flags.
Prayer sheets are traditionally burned in ceromonial fashion in a ritual of some sort. Prayer sheets, being more private, are generally used for personal commitments, or in public ceremonies where the ceremony itself acts as communal reinforcement.
Prayer flags are not burned as a general rule, but are displayed outside of a person's home or in another public place. Such prayers are displayed as a method of commitment, so that other members of the community can help to hold the freepather accountable to the unborn elders on the promise made.
Prayer sheets and flags are not assumed to have any magical power, but are used to reinforce personal commitments and public responsibilities and promises. Not all Freepathers use Prayer sheets or flags, and those that do may call them by different names. The use of the word prayer is designed to draw a link to practices that new frepather's are likely to recognize, not to indicate any religious connection.
Common variations include written boards where public declarations can be made, whether online systems or physical are used. Audio and visual recording of oaths are also used. Written promises sealed with wax stamped with signets are used by some romantics amongst Freepathers.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Progress and Contentment
I am testing a theory. I have read many theories regarding why human beings did not 'progress' technologically in any significant way during the first ninety-nine percent of their time upon the planet. Real progress, as defined by modern civilization and its measure of success did not occur until roughly ten to fifteen thousand years ago- an eye blink in the eye of our history as a species. Why was this so?
Were humans not yet 'fully evolved', as has been many times suggested. Anthropology seems to be constantly discovering evidence, such as Neanderthal flutes and stone tools used by the so called Hobbit that place doubt upon this theory.
Were humans so desperate and taxed by the quest for food as hunter-gatherers that they did not have the time for such innovation? Studies repeatedly show that the hunter-gatherer lifestyle takes fewer calories and leaves more time for rest. So this seems unlikely.
Were humans not yet properly using division of labor, a societal technology which allows greater specialization and greater productivity? In fact humans were not, but given that they had greater leisure time that civilized humans, they certainly could have made up at least some of the difference very easily. Thus, this seems unlikely to be a decisive factor.
Perhaps the key answer lies in what humans were, rather than what they were not. Hunter-gatherer cultures, where they are still able to practice their lifestyle undisturbed, are well adjusted and generally content. Modern civilized humans suffer from chronic stress and anxiety and depression and all the resulting side effects that these things produce upon society. Hunter-gatherer cultures do just fine. The are happy, they are content, they are not worried about the future most of the time. They are confident in their ability to face the future. They are not the neurotic wrecks that modern humans are.
When you have a pebble in your shoe, you shift your weight or remove your shoe and get rid of the pebble. When you have an itch, you scratch it. If you cannot reach it, you grab something that will enable you to reach and scratch the itch. When you are placed in an uncomfortable place, you try to fix the situation. When you are placed in an intolerable situation, you fight back.
Perhaps the problem is that we are approaching the situation from the wrong viewpoint. Perhaps, because we civilized humans are constantly feeling as though we are trapped in an intolerable situation, we assume that all humans must be. Perhaps, hunter-gatherer humans did not invent all the things that we invented, because they did not feel the itch that we feel. Perhaps it is only civilized humans trapped in an intolerable situation, and those humans who are not trapped inside with us do no feel the itch. Perhaps, early humans did not 'innovate', not because they were less able than us- but because they were less bothered than us. We are trapped in a prison, and do not understand why our free neighbors next door are not trying to escape as we are. The answer is simple- we are in prison, not they.
Were humans not yet 'fully evolved', as has been many times suggested. Anthropology seems to be constantly discovering evidence, such as Neanderthal flutes and stone tools used by the so called Hobbit that place doubt upon this theory.
Were humans so desperate and taxed by the quest for food as hunter-gatherers that they did not have the time for such innovation? Studies repeatedly show that the hunter-gatherer lifestyle takes fewer calories and leaves more time for rest. So this seems unlikely.
Were humans not yet properly using division of labor, a societal technology which allows greater specialization and greater productivity? In fact humans were not, but given that they had greater leisure time that civilized humans, they certainly could have made up at least some of the difference very easily. Thus, this seems unlikely to be a decisive factor.
Perhaps the key answer lies in what humans were, rather than what they were not. Hunter-gatherer cultures, where they are still able to practice their lifestyle undisturbed, are well adjusted and generally content. Modern civilized humans suffer from chronic stress and anxiety and depression and all the resulting side effects that these things produce upon society. Hunter-gatherer cultures do just fine. The are happy, they are content, they are not worried about the future most of the time. They are confident in their ability to face the future. They are not the neurotic wrecks that modern humans are.
When you have a pebble in your shoe, you shift your weight or remove your shoe and get rid of the pebble. When you have an itch, you scratch it. If you cannot reach it, you grab something that will enable you to reach and scratch the itch. When you are placed in an uncomfortable place, you try to fix the situation. When you are placed in an intolerable situation, you fight back.
Perhaps the problem is that we are approaching the situation from the wrong viewpoint. Perhaps, because we civilized humans are constantly feeling as though we are trapped in an intolerable situation, we assume that all humans must be. Perhaps, hunter-gatherer humans did not invent all the things that we invented, because they did not feel the itch that we feel. Perhaps it is only civilized humans trapped in an intolerable situation, and those humans who are not trapped inside with us do no feel the itch. Perhaps, early humans did not 'innovate', not because they were less able than us- but because they were less bothered than us. We are trapped in a prison, and do not understand why our free neighbors next door are not trying to escape as we are. The answer is simple- we are in prison, not they.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Building to Your Landbase: An Example (the Pacific Northwest Coast)
The Pacific Northwest is wet from the Warm tropical winds that blow in from the ocean. In order to build in the PNW, the dampness must be taken into account.
If you are planning to build and earth sheltered building, then avoiding water trapped in the ground will be important. Drainage can be achieved by digging out the foundation and putting large rocks under the basement which would enable water to pass underneath the building without flooding in most cases. An interior moat could also be effected, by digging trenches around the interior basement wall allowing water that does enter to exit without damaging the building. Shaping of the ground in front of buildings to lead water away from the buildings is also a viable possibility. Drainage can also be achieved by using the black house model of double stone walls with gravel between and extending that wall down into the ground.
Local cultures tended to use above ground long houses built of timber, likely because they built on the water's edge and thus had to build on rocky ground, and also likely to avoid having to address the matter of the damp soil. Nonetheless, the local eco-village movement has had good success building cob buildings and earth sheltered buildings in this damp climate, so the challenges can be met.
PNW winters are not as cold as those of the land east of the Coast Mountains, however the dampness in the air can make them just as unpleasant. Remaining warm is still important. Earth sheltering will allow for the thermal mass of mother earth to help the temperatures. Small rooms will allow body heat to be used as an effective heating mechanism.
PNW summers can get quite hot, and again earth sheltering and the thermal mass provided by this technique will keep the temperatures reasonable, while a solar chimney can aid in cooling and ventilating the structures.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Change and Ritual
 |
| Ritual purification can help start change |
 |
| Rituals can initiate newcomers into new ideas |
Exercise regimes are better designed as games and league based competitions. Rituals should make people feel valued and respected and not be long or boring.
 |
| Rituals can look silly if you are not careful |
Also, Rituals must start small and build in formality or else the formality must seem genuine right from the start. Too much formal rituals with a group that is itself not built on formal structure and rules will seem ridiculous.
 |
| Rituals can show gratitude |
Saturday, February 11, 2012
On Armor
-From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"A brigandine is a form of body armour from the Middle Ages. It is a cloth garment, generally canvas or leather, lined with small oblong steel plates riveted to the fabric."
"Lamellar armour was one of three early body armour types made from armour plates. The other two types are scale armour and laminar armour."
"Lamellar armour consists of hundreds of small rectangular iron, leather, or bronze plates (scales or lamellae) which are pierced in various locations and laced together into horizontal rows to the proper length needed to construct a particular armour item.[1] The rows of Lamellar armour evolved from scale armour,[2] from which it differs by not needing a backing for the scales. When the lames are made of leather they can be hardened by a process such as cuir bouilli or lacquering."
For a small tribe or homestead community, defensive armor will need to be light and mobile ad not require intensive preparation methods. This will likely limit the armor's effectiveness against small arms fire, but in the event of resource shortages, this will become less of an issue as time goes on.
For small scale war, protection from hand held weapons such as blunt instruments and bladed cutting or piercing weapons will be invaluable. Obtaining armor capable of defending against firearms would be more a matter of scavenging, or preparation ahead of time, than a matter of crafting.
Leather stands out as a good alternative, as it is lighter, easier to obtain and replace and work, and quieter than metal. Metal, if used would be well served to be used in a manner similar to a Jack of Plate or Brigandine.
Bulletproofing works by using multiple layers of kevlar to slow and stop a bullet. The Chinese did this successfully with layers of paper armor against early firearms, and the Mongolians used layered silk shirts to similar effect against arrow fire. But obtaining silk or paper in large amounts could be tricky for a small community and neither technique proved effective against modern fire arms.
And depending upon the type of conflict anticipated and the weaponry expected, forgoing armor altogether may be a wise decision. This would lighten the load of the warrior and improve mobility dramatically.
A small community might have better results relying upon stealth, foot speed, mobility and unconventional warfare tactics than armor that cannot stop a bullet.
On a different note, structures can be used as cover if they are sturdy enough. Think of heavy structures as a kind of non-mobile armor. For a small community that is thinking defensively, having reinforced structures placed strategically to provide cover in a defensive battle, but not for the attacking for the attacking force could serve as a kind of armor replacement.
Just as castles had arrow slits that protected the archer and allowed the archer a range of targets but did not do the same for the attacker, a clever tribe or homestead community could potentially build defensive cover structures to do the same, or perhaps even mobile defensive structures, or collapse-able structures that could be hidden when the defender was forced to retreat to deny the attacker access to them.
Also, do not forget to think of camouflage as armor in its own way. A warrior is hard pressed to attack what is unseen, or that of which the warrior is not aware. Being unseen, unnoticed or unregarded can be as useful as being armored.
In the movie 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves", several of Robin's men act as decoys to lure the knights guarding a caravan away. As the knights chase down the men, they quickly dart around a bend in the path and slide under burlap sheets that have been propped up with single sticks which the men kick over as the slide. This causes the burlap to fall over the men revealing that the top of each burlap sheet is covered with leaves and moss and earth and even a few plants, making the men appear to vanish into slight rises in the earth beside the road. The knights gallop past, assuming the men are just ahead of them on the trail.
Mythbusters have shown the water is tremendously effective against gunfire, suggesting that local bodies of water can be used as camouflage, armor and transportation all together in one easy package. Likewise, if the tribe or homestead community is making use of earth sheltering for their homes, then they have a ready made set of bunkers that will defend well against small arms fire. Bear in mind that if the opposing force has access to military grade equipment, the standard practice against bunkers and pill boxes was to use a flamethrower.
Using predominantly natural material will render a homestead community or tribe vulnerable to fire to a certain extent. Stone and earth will not be as vulnerable, but if plant matter such as wood or thatch or sod is used in the construction of the roofing, then fire damage could expose the defenders in short order. In such cases, where one is using cover as opposed to armor, defenders should prepare to evacuate by building escape hatches into all defensive structures ahead of time.
The Tunnels of the Vietcong and the Japanese and Iwo Jima are excellent of examples of this strategy at work. When faced with an opponent that is dramatically superior in one or more areas of strategic value, attempt to change the game so as to render those advantages unusable or even transform the enemy's advantages into liabilities.
If the enemy outnumbers you, lay out your defensive structures to nullify the advantage of large groups. If the enemy out guns you, lay out your defensive structures to prevent the use of their superior weapons as much as possible. If the enemy is better supplied than you, lay out your defensive structures to tax and expose supply lines.
A small tribe or homestead community must rely upon and be intimately familiar with their landbase in order to live with that landbase without damaging it. As such they should consider the whole of their landbase as potential armor against attacks and prepare that landbase appropriately.
Red Cloud made excellent use of this principle in his war against the Americans, known as the Powder River War by some, and Red Cloud's war by others. Knowing that he was outnumbered and out gunned and out supplied, Red Cloud harried the US military with guerrilla strikes at homesteaders who had illegally settled on Lakota land in violation of the current treaty (and with tacit US approval), and struck at extended and exposed supply lines. He also took advantage of the military's lack of respect for his forces by sending small groups in apparent suicide attacks that would quickly turn into apparent routs with the US military in hot pursuit of the apparently beaten Lakota warriors. This would then be quickly reversed as the Lakota led the Military into ambushes such as the Battle of the 100 Slain.
Another form of armor is to not need a supply line at all. By being intimately familiar with their landbase, a tribe or homestead community should be able to abandon their settlement and still live confidently off the land and continue to harry and strike at the invaders from their pre-planned defensive structures. Both Bruce Lee and Sun Tzu spoke of the the military and combat advantage of being formless with no place for the enemy to strike at, no place to insert a sword, nothing the enemy can grab.
Another form of armor is being modular. With a central basic strategy, but no central command; the enemy has no way to end the battle quickly and decisively, and the enemy further cannot gain an advantage by capturing and interrogating a tribes warriors. A warrior cannot give up another battalions battle plans if the warrior does not know it, or expose the location of the central command if there is none.
"A brigandine is a form of body armour from the Middle Ages. It is a cloth garment, generally canvas or leather, lined with small oblong steel plates riveted to the fabric."
"Lamellar armour was one of three early body armour types made from armour plates. The other two types are scale armour and laminar armour."
"Lamellar armour consists of hundreds of small rectangular iron, leather, or bronze plates (scales or lamellae) which are pierced in various locations and laced together into horizontal rows to the proper length needed to construct a particular armour item.[1] The rows of Lamellar armour evolved from scale armour,[2] from which it differs by not needing a backing for the scales. When the lames are made of leather they can be hardened by a process such as cuir bouilli or lacquering."
For small scale war, protection from hand held weapons such as blunt instruments and bladed cutting or piercing weapons will be invaluable. Obtaining armor capable of defending against firearms would be more a matter of scavenging, or preparation ahead of time, than a matter of crafting.
Leather stands out as a good alternative, as it is lighter, easier to obtain and replace and work, and quieter than metal. Metal, if used would be well served to be used in a manner similar to a Jack of Plate or Brigandine.
Bulletproofing works by using multiple layers of kevlar to slow and stop a bullet. The Chinese did this successfully with layers of paper armor against early firearms, and the Mongolians used layered silk shirts to similar effect against arrow fire. But obtaining silk or paper in large amounts could be tricky for a small community and neither technique proved effective against modern fire arms.
A small community might have better results relying upon stealth, foot speed, mobility and unconventional warfare tactics than armor that cannot stop a bullet.
On a different note, structures can be used as cover if they are sturdy enough. Think of heavy structures as a kind of non-mobile armor. For a small community that is thinking defensively, having reinforced structures placed strategically to provide cover in a defensive battle, but not for the attacking for the attacking force could serve as a kind of armor replacement.
Just as castles had arrow slits that protected the archer and allowed the archer a range of targets but did not do the same for the attacker, a clever tribe or homestead community could potentially build defensive cover structures to do the same, or perhaps even mobile defensive structures, or collapse-able structures that could be hidden when the defender was forced to retreat to deny the attacker access to them.
Also, do not forget to think of camouflage as armor in its own way. A warrior is hard pressed to attack what is unseen, or that of which the warrior is not aware. Being unseen, unnoticed or unregarded can be as useful as being armored.
In the movie 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves", several of Robin's men act as decoys to lure the knights guarding a caravan away. As the knights chase down the men, they quickly dart around a bend in the path and slide under burlap sheets that have been propped up with single sticks which the men kick over as the slide. This causes the burlap to fall over the men revealing that the top of each burlap sheet is covered with leaves and moss and earth and even a few plants, making the men appear to vanish into slight rises in the earth beside the road. The knights gallop past, assuming the men are just ahead of them on the trail.
Using predominantly natural material will render a homestead community or tribe vulnerable to fire to a certain extent. Stone and earth will not be as vulnerable, but if plant matter such as wood or thatch or sod is used in the construction of the roofing, then fire damage could expose the defenders in short order. In such cases, where one is using cover as opposed to armor, defenders should prepare to evacuate by building escape hatches into all defensive structures ahead of time.
The Tunnels of the Vietcong and the Japanese and Iwo Jima are excellent of examples of this strategy at work. When faced with an opponent that is dramatically superior in one or more areas of strategic value, attempt to change the game so as to render those advantages unusable or even transform the enemy's advantages into liabilities. If the enemy outnumbers you, lay out your defensive structures to nullify the advantage of large groups. If the enemy out guns you, lay out your defensive structures to prevent the use of their superior weapons as much as possible. If the enemy is better supplied than you, lay out your defensive structures to tax and expose supply lines.
Red Cloud made excellent use of this principle in his war against the Americans, known as the Powder River War by some, and Red Cloud's war by others. Knowing that he was outnumbered and out gunned and out supplied, Red Cloud harried the US military with guerrilla strikes at homesteaders who had illegally settled on Lakota land in violation of the current treaty (and with tacit US approval), and struck at extended and exposed supply lines. He also took advantage of the military's lack of respect for his forces by sending small groups in apparent suicide attacks that would quickly turn into apparent routs with the US military in hot pursuit of the apparently beaten Lakota warriors. This would then be quickly reversed as the Lakota led the Military into ambushes such as the Battle of the 100 Slain.
Another form of armor is to not need a supply line at all. By being intimately familiar with their landbase, a tribe or homestead community should be able to abandon their settlement and still live confidently off the land and continue to harry and strike at the invaders from their pre-planned defensive structures. Both Bruce Lee and Sun Tzu spoke of the the military and combat advantage of being formless with no place for the enemy to strike at, no place to insert a sword, nothing the enemy can grab.
Another form of armor is being modular. With a central basic strategy, but no central command; the enemy has no way to end the battle quickly and decisively, and the enemy further cannot gain an advantage by capturing and interrogating a tribes warriors. A warrior cannot give up another battalions battle plans if the warrior does not know it, or expose the location of the central command if there is none.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
The Future
I want to talk to you today and I want to let you know that you are the most important generation in history. And that because of that, history will remember people like you and me as history's greatest villains.
The world is in danger on multiple levels.
The evidence has been obvious for years. But only now are people starting to accept the evidence in large numbers. As a result, this generation- you and I will be blamed for the collapse that is likely coming. This is not fair, but this is how it is.
The previous generation- your parents and mine- will claim ignorance. They will say that the signs weren't clear. They are lying, of course, to save their guilty souls. The signs were clear. Our parents simply stuck their heads into the sand and passed the buck to us. Well, unfortunately for us- the buck seems to have stopped here. Our parents are busy playing denial or pass the blame or both. So we are all that's left.
And based on our performance so far- history will remember us as villains and cowards- as world breakers. In the time it has taken to say this. Another species is likely extinct, 15 will be extinct by the end of this hour, over 300 by the end of the day. Between 300 and 600 acres of rain forest will have been deforested permanently. Almost 300 people will have been born, onto a planet whose population has gone from 1.5 billion to 6.7 billion is roughly 100 years.
Species extinction, deforestation and associated ecosystem destruction, overpopulation.
Why do we allow this?
Because its too big? Because we need to make a living? Because we have bills to pay and assignments to hand in? Because time spent saving the world means an F in biology or not paying the cable bill?
How dare we.
The world is in danger on multiple levels.
The evidence has been obvious for years. But only now are people starting to accept the evidence in large numbers. As a result, this generation- you and I will be blamed for the collapse that is likely coming. This is not fair, but this is how it is.
The previous generation- your parents and mine- will claim ignorance. They will say that the signs weren't clear. They are lying, of course, to save their guilty souls. The signs were clear. Our parents simply stuck their heads into the sand and passed the buck to us. Well, unfortunately for us- the buck seems to have stopped here. Our parents are busy playing denial or pass the blame or both. So we are all that's left.
And based on our performance so far- history will remember us as villains and cowards- as world breakers. In the time it has taken to say this. Another species is likely extinct, 15 will be extinct by the end of this hour, over 300 by the end of the day. Between 300 and 600 acres of rain forest will have been deforested permanently. Almost 300 people will have been born, onto a planet whose population has gone from 1.5 billion to 6.7 billion is roughly 100 years.
Species extinction, deforestation and associated ecosystem destruction, overpopulation.
Why do we allow this?
Because its too big? Because we need to make a living? Because we have bills to pay and assignments to hand in? Because time spent saving the world means an F in biology or not paying the cable bill?
How dare we.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
The 3%: The Reality of the Warrior Class
 |
| Berserkers were likely among the 3% |
Most people are not born fighters or natural killers. 97% of us will react to the possibility of physical violence in the same way that we would react to an open flame thrust at our face. This is self-defense hard coded into our brains, with only a 3% margin seeking danger instead of running from it.
This reaction to violence is natural and wise, but also dangerous and limiting. This aversion to violence places the 97% at the mercy of the 3% not averse to the use or threat of violence. Wise cultures throughout history have honored the 3% and given them a place in the group where their unique perspective on violence can be used to defend the group from outside members of the 3%.
But 3% is not a large number. Cultures have, throughout history, also found ways of forcing the 97% into violence and have discovered ways of coercing the 97% to commit violence on others. This coercion normally leaves the 97% emotionally scarred and broken, but that does not concern the people who make the decisions in most cases. And a larger better funded group with a coerced army of the 97%, supported by that group's 3%, can easily overwhelm smaller groups that simply rely upon their own 3% with no back up.
The Need for More Warriors
So smaller tribes and nations therefore need a method of training their 97% to become warriors, but to do so in a way that does not leave those warriors emotionally crippled and useless in normal societal life after the war is over.
 | ||
| The Minutemen- Warriors not likely to be part of the 3% |
A warrior needs several things to act effectively in a war. They need social sanction from the people they are fighting for, from their comrades, and from the people directing them. They need as much separation as possible between their warrior self and their regular self, and a way of switching between them. They need a purification ritual before and after combat, or some other way of cleansing them of their sins. They need to be able to dehumanize their opponents. They need all this in order to able to do what must be done and also to be able to return to regular life afterword.
Step by Step
Dehumanizing your opponent is not a popular idea in modern society. The idea screams of bigotry, and sets of social alarm bells ringing. The problem is that the more a warrior empathizes with their opponent, the more the opponent becomes human in the warrior's mind; the more that opponent's death will injure the warrior. Necessary steps must be taken to make the nature of the dehumanization of the enemy potentially temporary and create a method of removing the dehumanizing mask. Much in the way that members of rival religions could be baptized or otherwise sworn in to the new religion, a society that uses dehumanizing mask for their enemies needs an official method of removing that mask from a former opponent once the conflict is over.
Purifying the warrior before and after is important to create psychological barriers. A purification before violence sanctifies the violence as condoned and necessary and honorable, helping the warrior take necessary action. Purification afterword acts like confession, literally cleansing the warrior of sins committed in the name of the community. Purification provides sanction and absolution, allowing the warrior to say that what has been done was just even if the actions required to do so were horrible.
Separation between the world of the warrior and the world of society is important to minimize overflow between the two, such as warriors being unable to reintegrate during peace time. Delineations need to be strong and clear. However, the purification and transformation rituals are needed to help the warrior cross that line back and forth in health. A strong divide with no ritual to move a warrior through that divide will result in dis-integrated warriors living in society unable to live as other do.
Social sanction is critical, the warrior needs to feel that the actions taken are for the group and for something greater than the self. This belief imparts an honor and nobility on the violence that cannot be justified when the actions are taken solely for the self. A withdrawl of social sanction is a betrayal of contract between society and its warriors, and can cripple warriors or turn them against their own people.
The Militia and the Minute Men
Not everyone needs to be dedicated warriors within a society, but as children in school all practise fire drills, every able bodied member of a small nation or tribe or community should practise for the evenutality of interpersonal violence and the possibility of war, and they should practise so that they will minimize their chances of personal physical and emotional trauma, and maximize their chances of success.
A small tribe should plan to prevent hostages from existing. Every member past puberty should strive to be a warrior and every member younger than this should know how to support the warriors and when and how to flee so as to avoid being used as hostages or leverage or ransomed for concessions.
Weapons should be chosen for effectiveness, portability, and because they are easy to learn and use effectively. Armor chosen should be light and offer good mobility. Strategy should be based on the principles of unconventional warfare, as they are almost certainly going to outnumbered, and outgunned. Equipment, everything from weapons to tools, should be as low tech as is reasonably feasible, so as to facilitate ease of repair, maintenance and replacement.
Practice Makes Normal
Procedures in the event of various violent events should be clear and well practised, and responses should be compartmental, so that different groups have different duties that they know how to perform in the even of that particular violent event.
As an example, in the event the home base is attacked, there should be a dedicated force of defenders that immediately begin suiting up for heavy defensive combat, and another quick start unit of light skirmishers to buy the heavy defenders time to suit up, and evacuation units to get non-combatants to safety quickly. OPtionally, another unit could be charged with sabotaging the base and destroying valuable items that cannot be removed by the defenders.
Repetition and practice render the frightening into something routine, and make the difficult into something normal. These drills and plans and duties should not be hidden from citizens and certainly not hidden from children, but rendered normal duties through practise and repetition.
The Power of Games
As much as possible, games and league play should simulate as many parts of the warrior life as possible. Games should be physical training that trains the warriors for the particular rigors and stresses combat will create. Games should be designed to teach and practise applicable strategy and tactics necessary for unconventional warfare.
This injunction applies to all types of games. Physical games are obvious targets for such design work, but intellectual games and story games and card games and similar can all be sharpened and shaped to teach greater or lesser portions of the necessary skill, procedures, responses or attitude to survive a violent confrontation.
A small nation or tribe survives only as long as it can think for itself as a unique separate entity, that it can provide for the phsycial needs of it's people, and that it can defend all of that from outside forces. Survival starts and ends with our ability to deal with violence from competitors, rivals and enemies.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)