Now that the fantastic adventure begun in the 15th century has come to an end, the shout of Columbus’ lookout man takes on at last a planetary meaning: Land! Land!1  Even up to 1950-1960, we were living on a misapprehended Earth, on an abstract Earth. We were living on the Earth as object. By the end of this century, we discovered Earth as system, as Gaia, as biosphere, a cosmic speck—Homeland Earth. Each one of us has a pedigree, a terrestrial identity card. We are from, in, and on the Earth. We belong to the Earth which belongs to us

Morin, Edgar

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Journal of Conscious EvolutionVolume 1Issue 1 Issue 01/2005 Article 10May 2018From Homeland Earth; A New Manifesto For TheNew MillenniumMorin, EdgarFollow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/cejournalPart of the Anthropology Commons, Cognition and Perception Commons, CognitivePsychology Commons, Developmental Psychology Commons, and the Philosophy of MindCommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals and Newsletters at Digital Commons @ CIIS. It has been accepted for inclusionin Journal of Conscious Evolution by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ CIIS. For more information, please contactdigitalcommons@ciis.edu.Recommended CitationMorin, Edgar (2018) "From Homeland Earth; A New Manifesto For The New Millennium," Journal of Conscious Evolution: Vol. 1 : Iss.1 , Article 10.Available at: https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/cejournal/vol1/iss1/10 HOMELAND EARTHEdgar MorinFrom Homeland Earth; A New Manifesto For The NewMillenniumNow that the fantastic adventure begun in the 15th century hascome to an end, the shout of Columbus’ lookout man takes onat last a planetary meaning: Land! Land!1Even up to 1950-1960, we were living on a misapprehendedEarth, on an abstract Earth. We were living on the Earth asobject. By the end of this century, we discovered Earth assystem, as Gaia, as biosphere, a cosmic speck—HomelandEarth. Each one of us has a pedigree, a terrestrial identity card.We are from, in, and on the Earth. We belong to the Earthwhich belongs to us.THE GREAT CONFLUENCEAt this turn of the millennium, we have reached almostsimultaneously a point at which many complementary forms ofawareness have become possible:• The awareness that Earth is one (telluric consciousness)• The awareness that the biosphere is unified/diversified(ecological consciousness)• The awareness that humankind is one/many (anthropologicalconsciousness)• The awareness of our Dasein, of "being there," withoutknowing why• The awareness of the Planetary Era• The awareness of the Damoclean threatMorin http://cejournal.org/GRD/Morin.htm1 of 9 5/30/18, 12:57 AM1: HOMELAND EARTHPublished by Digital Commons @ CIIS, 2018• The awareness of the doom that looms at the horizon of ourlives, of all life, of every planet, of every sun• The awareness of our terrestrial fate.Thanks to these modes of awareness, messages coming from themost diverse directions can henceforth converge; some of themreligious, others ethical, humanist, romantic, or scientific, andothers still relating to the Planetary Iron Age.In this way, the humanist conception of the Enlightenment, thateveryone has the same essence, can merge with a romanticfeeling for nature, a feeling that rediscovered the umbilicalrelation to Mother Earth. At the same time, we can join ourlove of those both near and far—a love that has its distantorigin in the great universalist religions, whether as Buddhistcommiseration for all living beings, or as evangelicalbrotherliness, of which internationalist brotherliness has beenbut a lay socialist heir—to the emerging planetaryconsciousness, which links humans together and all to ourcommon terrestrial nature.All these messages have been obscured and have deterioratedover time, sometimes even turning into the opposite, throughinteraction with various institutions. They stand in need ofunceasing regeneration, and perhaps they can regenerate eachother through the gospel of doom. They are as so manydisjointed fragments of a puzzle which, once completed, revealsthe form of an anthropo-ethic.HOMELAND EARTHMastery over nature? We are unable as yet to control our ownnature, whose madness impels us to mastery over nature whilelosing our own self-control.Morin http://cejournal.org/GRD/Morin.htm2 of 9 5/30/18, 12:57 AM2Journal of Conscious Evolution, Vol. 1 [2018], Iss. 1, Art. 10https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/cejournal/vol1/iss1/10Master the world? We are as microbes in the gigantic andenigmatic cosmos. Mastery over life? Even if one day we couldmake a bacterium, we would have only copied an organism thatforever leaves us dumbfounded. Would we know how to make aswallow, a buffalo, a sea lion, or an orchid? We can massacrebillions of bacteria, but we cannot prevent resistant bacteriafrom propagating. We can kill viruses, but we are defenseless infront of new viruses that taunt us, undergo mutations andrenewals. Even as far as bacteria and viruses are concerned, weare compelled to strike a deal with life and nature.We have transformed the Earth, domesticated its vegetalsurfaces, and gained mastery over its animals. We are not for allthat masters of the cosmos, not even of the Earth.To be gypsies of the cosmos, vagabonds of the unknownadventure, such is the anthropological destiny that comes tolight from the depths of the fifth century of the Planetary Era, adestiny that follows on a multi-millennial limitation to therepetitive cycle of traditional civilizations, to beliefs in eternityand supernatural myths. Such is our Dasein, to be, as it were,thrown on this Earth, wandering, treading untrodden paths,worried, anxious, but also full of dash, poetry, ecstasies. Such isHomo sapiens demens, an unbelievable “chimera,” a newinvention, a monster, a chaos, a subject of contradictions, ofwonder—judge of all things, trustee of the truth and cesspool ofdoubt and errors; the "glory and rubbish of the universe," inthe words of Pascal (1670/1931, p. 184), and such is homo, asalready seen by Heraclitus, Eschylus, Sophocles, Shakespeareand, undoubtedly, many others in other cultures.We must relearn our terrestrial finiteness and renounce thefalse infinite of technical omnipotence, of mental omnipotence,of our own yearning for omnipotence, so that we may bow toMorin http://cejournal.org/GRD/Morin.htm3 of 9 5/30/18, 12:57 AM3: HOMELAND EARTHPublished by Digital Commons @ CIIS, 2018the true infinite that is unnamable and inconceivable. Ourtechnical powers, thought, and consciousness must henceforthbe devoted to fitting up, improving, and understanding, not tomastering. We must learn to "be there" (dasein), on theplanet—to be, to live, to share, to communicate and communewith one another. Self-enclosed cultures always knew andtaught that wisdom. From now on, we must learn to be, to live,to share, to communicate and commune as human beings ofplanet Earth. We must transcend, without excluding, our localcultural identities, and awaken to our being as citizens of theEarth.A COMMON EARTHLY FATEOur homeland a planet? Such is our place in the cosmos. Weknow now that this small, lost planet is more than a placejointly owned by humans. It is our home, maison, Heimat; it isour motherland, our Homeland. Neither suns nor space wouldprovide us with a home: We would burn in the one place andturn into ice in the other. We might indeed someday leave theplanet, whether to explore or to settle other worlds. Thesetorrid or ice-cold worlds, however, are lifeless. It is here, athome, that are to be found our plants, our animals, our dead,our lives, and our children. We must preserve, we must save ourHomeland.Our "common earthly fate," then, proves to be singularly deep,vast, and timely. We all share a common destiny. We all live inthe common garden of living beings and dwell in the commonhouse of human beings. We are all drawn into the commonadventure of the Pla netary Era, all threatened by nuclear andecological death. We are all subject to the struggles attendingthe turn of the millennium.We must base human fellowship on the realization that we areMorin http://cejournal.org/GRD/Morin.htm4 of 9 5/30/18, 12:57 AM4Journal of Conscious Evolution, Vol. 1 [2018], Iss. 1, Art. 10https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/cejournal/vol1/iss1/10lost, not on the illusion of salvation, but on the awareness of ourparticipation in the complex web of the Planetary Era, on theawareness of our common death and life predicament, on theperception of the struggles attending this turn of themillennium.The realization of our common earthly fate ought to be the keyto this turn of the millennium: We are answerable for thisplanet; our life is bound to its life. We must put our householdaffairs in order. We are citizens of the Earth and, thus, we sharethe same fate as the Earth.CO-PILOTS OF THE EARTHThis shared destiny imposes a telluric responsibility onhumankind. We must henceforth forsake the conqueringagenda spelled out by Descartes, Buffon, and Marx. We must nolonger strive to master the Earth, but to nurse it through itssickness, and learn how properly to dwell on it, to manage andcultivate it.We humans must work toward a partnership with theterrestrial biosphere. To be sure, this will involve an unceasinglystrenuous effort. In the process, we should not seek to pilot, butto co-pilot the Earth. A partnership is required: a partnershipof humanity and nature, of technology and ecology, of conscious and unconscious intelligence. The Earth commandsthrough life, humankind through consciousness.To come through the Planetary Iron Age, to save humankind, tobe co-pilots of the biosphere, to civilize the Earth--these fourconcepts are linked in a recursive loop, with each beingnecessary to the three others. The deadly sickness of the planetcould then possibly mean rebirth—the emergence of a newhumanity. Politics could be grounded anew. The old struggle forMorin http://cejournal.org/GRD/Morin.htm5 of 9 5/30/18, 12:57 AM5: HOMELAND EARTHPublished by Digital Commons @ CIIS, 2018the survival of humankind would be absorbed into the strugglefor the birth of humanity.EARLY STAGESThe times are, to say the least, very harsh. Looking at the past,nothing is certain. The present is breaking apart. The future hascollapsed. How is it possible not to doubt? The events of1989-1990, which we took for a splendid sunrise, were nothingafter all but the dazzling sight of an exploding supernova. Butwas it really an accident? Evolutionary processes, when speededup, become explosions. As if moonstruck, the world is driven toa debacle as yet unseen. Homeland Earth, already so close, isstill beyond reach. Disasters follow on disasters.Civilize the Earth? Go from humankind to humanity? Whatcan we expect of Homo sapiens demens? How can we ignore thegigantic and terrifying problem of human deficiencies? Alwaysand everywhere, domination and exploitation have prevailed over mutual assistance and fellowship. Always and everywhere,hatred and contempt have prevailed over friendship andunderstanding. Until now, religions of love and ideologies ofbrotherhood have brought more hatred and disagreement thanlove and fellowship.Throughout history, madness and unconsciousness have moreoften than not swept away reason and consciousness. Whyshould folly and unconsciousness, one more time, not settle ourdestiny? Today, indeed, how blind seem traditionalists,modernists, and postmodernists. How fragmented is people'sthinking. How unrecognized is planetary complexity. Suchgeneral unconsciousness of key issues. Such barbarousness inhuman relations. Such slackness of spirit and soul. There are somany misunderstandings.Morin http://cejournal.org/GRD/Morin.htm6 of 9 5/30/18, 12:57 AM6Journal of Conscious Evolution, Vol. 1 [2018], Iss. 1, Art. 10https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/cejournal/vol1/iss1/10Progress in the wake of culture? Not so long ago Nazism madebarbarous the most cultured country of the world. Saint-Germain- des-Prés or the Sorbonne providing a standard forhumankind? Would that quell meanness, envy, or wickedness?Would that procure clear-headedness and the knowledge of oursituation in the world? Progress in the wake of civilization?Civilization is only a thin crust, cracked and defective, bringingabout as many new problems as it solves. Freud's diagnosis ofthe disease of civilization (that civilizations have becomeneurotic owing to the civilizations themselves) applies also andespecially to our own. When excessi vely civilized, a civilizationfosters a craving for barbarism, as John Boorman has shown inZardoz.What does it mean, then, to civilize the Earth, if culture andcivilization themselves are part of the problem? It means—andwe are thus brought back to our main argument—that cultureand civilization do not procure salvation. Nonetheless, throughthe very discontent brought on by its contentment, civilizationfeeds anthropological discontent all over again, and with it thepursuit of hominization. The discontent of contentment that hasarisen in our civilization, and that undermines it, is preciselywhat may pave the way for its further evolution.Once again, we meet with the principle of resistance. Finally, wehave at our disposal the principles of hope within hopelessness.The first has to do with life itself: As every living beingregenerates itself through being non-coercively directed towardits future, so do all human beings renew their hope whileregenerating their life. Not that hope builds up life, because it israther life that builds hope, but the best formula is thefollowing: life builds up hope that builds up life.The second principle has to do with foreknowledge: All theMorin http://cejournal.org/GRD/Morin.htm7 of 9 5/30/18, 12:57 AM7: HOMELAND EARTHPublished by Digital Commons @ CIIS, 2018great transformations or creations have been unthinkable untilthey actually came to pass.The third principle has to do with probability: All the happyevents of history have always been a priori improbable.The fourth principle is that of the mole that digs undergroundand transforms the substratum before anything is changed onthe surface.The fifth principle has to do with the possibility of rescuethrough the awareness of danger. In the words of Hölderlin(1980): “...where danger threatens/That which saves from it alsogrows” (p. 463).The sixth principle is anthropological: We know that Homosapiens has thus far made use only of a very small portion of itsmind/brain potential, so that we are far from having exhaustedthe intellectual, emotional, cultural, civilizational, social, andpolitical capabilities of humankind. The point is that ourcurrent culture is on a par with the still-present prehistory ofthe human mind, and that our current civilization is on a parwith the still-present Planetary Iron Age. What this especiallymeans is that, barring a possible catastrophe, we have notreached the limit of human brain/mind potential, of societies'historical possibilities, or of human evolution's anthropologicalcapability. We may well be disillusioned and envisagenonetheless a new stage of hominization, which would also be anew stage of culture and civilization.These six principles apply equally in the worst-case scenario.They give no assurance. Life may accidentally meet with death.The unthinkable will not necessarily come to pass. Theimprobable is not necessarily felicitous. The mole may destroyMorin http://cejournal.org/GRD/Morin.htm8 of 9 5/30/18, 12:57 AM8Journal of Conscious Evolution, Vol. 1 [2018], Iss. 1, Art. 10https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/cejournal/vol1/iss1/10what ought to have been preserved. Rescue may be unequal tothe peril.The adventure remains unknown. The Planetary Era maypossibly come to naught before it has even begun to bloom.Perhaps humankind's struggles may lead only to death andruin. However, the worst is not yet certain, and the game is notyet over. In the absence of any certainty or even probability,there is the possibility of a better world.The task is huge and unassured. We cannot eschew either hopeor despair. Both holding of and resignation from office seemequally impossible. We must have a “passionate patience.” Westand on the threshold, not of the last, but of the early stages ofthe battle.–––––––––––––Excerpted with permission from Homeland Earth; A New Manifesto For The New Millennium, by Edgar Morin withAnne Brigitte Kern. (trans; Sean M. Kelly and Roger LaPointe). New Jersey: Hampton Press, Inc. Copyright 1999 byHampton Press, Inc. All rights reserved.ReferencesHölderlin, F. (1980). Patmos (M. Hamburger, trans.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Pascal, B. (1931). Pensées [Thoughts]. (L. Brunschwicg, ed.). Paris: Hachette. (Original published 1670).1 In French, the same word: terre/Terre means both land and Earth.Morin http://cejournal.org/GRD/Morin.htm9 of 9 5/30/18, 12:57 AM9: HOMELAND EARTHPublished by Digital Commons @ CIIS, 2018

From Homeland Earth; A New Manifesto For The New Millennium

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From Homeland Earth; A New Manifesto For The New Millennium

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