The root cause of all collapse is contradiction.
A contradiction is a fact, not a theory.
If I put 100 cows on a pasture, but the nature of the pasture itself—
the weave of grasses and forbs, the depth and texture of soil,
the available sunlight and water—says it will support only 10,
we have a contradiction.
When confronted with the fact of contradiction which is the cause
of collapse, first there is ignorance of the fact, then denial, then
resistance.
I may at first not know the nature of the pasture very well, so I make
the essentially innocent mistake of turning out too many cows. But
if I am for whatever reason attached or committed to my idea of
100 cows—say, I need the cash they will bring me, or I desire to
have more cattle than my neighbor—I will tend strongly to deny
that I am mistaken. This denial will harden into resistance once
others begin calling attention—bringing into the public commons—
the fact of my mistake. Then this stage of resistance will tend strongly
to do the wrong thing twice over, so instead of 100 cows I now will
show that I am right with 200.
Contradiction literally means ‘contra-diction,’ to ’speak against,’
as when two realities speak against each other, or when two
theories speak against each other, or when two facts speak
against each other.
Harmony is the opposite of contradiction. Its root meaning is
‘fitting together.’ Harmony is the essence of adaptation. Obviously,
adaptation is the opposite of collapse. Nature as a whole, when
seen and experienced as a symphony of dynamic, flowing
movement, is always necessarily harmonious, because these
movements will tend strongly either to fit or adapt together, or
perish.
Because contradiction is the very essence of waste—waste of energy,
essentially—the economy of Nature’s watercourse way necessarily
will move to resolve contradiction.
The only single exception to this in the whole of Nature is humankind.
And for one simple reason. Because we are tragically unaware of
the confused formative movement of consciousness itself which leads,
when faced with simple facts, to stubborn denial, and to rigid, self-
destructive, resistance.
The greatest of ethical imperatives, therefore, is to by means of
becoming in an enlightened way aware of awareness itself, heal or
resolve the confusion of consciousness. And the contrary also follows,
that the greatest sin is to knowingly exacerbate, or manipulate, or
conceal the confusion—and the resulting denial and resistance—
for reasons of power and self-interest.
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