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Docta Ignorantia XXVIII On Population The ordinary wisdom in many circles is that humanity suffers from overcrowding of living spaces. The view is widespread. The so-called condition of overcrowding is employed to explain many social and psychological and spiritual dysfunctionalities. The thought is, lower the population densities and society will be normal again. The conclusion is one dear to the hearts of many: abort and destroy, control reproduction, restrict fertility capacity and right, liquidate individuals. Each of these programs has one or more euphemisms under which it goes for political correctness. In the West Germanic countries, such as United States and Western Europe, we call it 'Choice.' In Hispanic countries, such as Brazil, we call it 'Protection.' In East Germanic countries, such as Russia and Balkans, we call it 'Cleansing.' As usual, I do not agree with the assessment or the policy conclusions drawn from it. Population density is not the problem. Adherence to Dharma is. This view will not be widely shared today, but it is correct. In previous Yugas, Mother Earth has abundantly and happily supported densities up to three times those we experience today, over the whole arable surface of the planet. On the other hand, many of the most least-getting-along times in European, African, Asian and American history occurred during times of population densities far less than those we experience to day. So, the problem is not population density. The problem is Dharma. Adherence to it, that is. When there is no adherence to Dharma, society will devolve into a chaos. When Dharma is upheld, society is prosperous and happy. This is the universal experience of humanity during all Yugas. In 1969,. I was invited to address a conference in Philadelphia comprising behavioral psychiatrists supported from the National Institutes of Health. The leader was the chap at NIH whose rat research 'demonstrated' the necessity of keeping down population densities, for the preservation of society. I came into view because of my familiarity with Bateson's communications (cybernetics) theory. I was just then exploring the lineaments of parallel computing, something now partially included in chip architecture but then just a bionic ideal. I did not address the conference. The present Yuga is typified by intransigent and defiant non-adherence to Dharma. We cannot change this characteristic of the Yuga. It is with us for about 7000 more years, so there is no point decrying it. What we should do, rather, is to search out, determine as best we are able and practice Dharma in all realms in which we have responsibility. Dharma supports those who support Dharma. Although Dharma is defied during this Yuga, it is still, as always, omnipotent, and there is, really speaking, no other game in town. Another individual is not another mouth to feed. It is another pair of hands to work. Those who want to eliminate population are merely selfish. They are unwilling to share resources they do not need in the first place. Take food, for example. Americans are going to weight clinics while others are starving. If people would eat only what they need -- for Americans, about 25% of what they actually consume -- there will be food for everyone. Again, if people will eat efficiently, the land will be spared a huge burden. For example, it takes 15 pounds of grain to make one pound of cow. It is efficient to eat the cow, which also comprises many things human body positively does not need? No, consuming flesh (fish, bird, land animal) is extremely wasteful of resource, but many of us pride ourselves on having the ability to waste on a grand scale, taking it as a sign of our potency. So again, the proper course is to practice Dharmic behaviour. A major a-dharma today is the use of land for cash-crops. Crops should be for food for human and animal, not for cash. The 'huge farm loses' from recent flooding in the central portion of the United States involved cash crops that were already under government subsidy. The corporate farms -- including substantial 'church' holdings of various denominations, especially Mormon -- were only growing for the federal subsidies, the price supports. And they wanted government moneys to put them back in 'business' as government pick-pockets. Dairy farmers have now got a genetically engineered cow that substantially increases the milk they can over-produce into the federal price support system. In other words, they can fill the cheese and dry milk warehouses that much faster -- at tax-payer expense. There is no shortage of food. There is no shortage of land. There is shortage of Dharma. Crop land should be used for growing food, not cash crop. If food is not needed, as today it most certainly is not, the land should be allowed to rest. The problem suffered by land today is deforestation. This is the genuine problem. Deforestation is not caused by overpopulation. It is caused by waste, by carelessness, by greed. That is, it is caused by a-dharmic behaviour. The main effect of deforestation is not loss of oxygen resupply, but rather, loss of top soil. Civilization rests on 6 inches of top soil. Without that top soil, food does not grow. Without food, life does not exist. Food is at the base of all. And top soil is at the base of food. Trees keep top soil in place. Without trees, top soil blows away and is replaced by sand. Deforestation is turning millions of acres of land every year into sterile desert, especially in China and Africa, where there is no sense of working with the Mother, Earth, only of wresting from Her what one wants. The results are visible. Selfishness is the operative environmental dysfunctionality. So in conclusion, population density is not a problem. The problem we have in this Kali Yuga, when wickedness declares itself good and good cowers in despair, is discriminating and then practicing Dharmic behaviour. Not the being but the doing is the problem. Dharma supports those who support Dharma.
Adwaitha Hermitage
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