16th January 2023:
Philosopher: The prevailing religious dogma of our age is materialism, and materialism is the direct cause of climate change and ecological destruction. If you want to do something about climate change, then you need to do something about materialism. Nothing else matters, put everything else aside, and deal with materialism, and if you are successful, then you will have made the biggest contribution you can to solving these systemic crises.
Climate Activist: Not so. Materialism is just a philosophy, in order to deal with the climate and ecological crisis we need political change, and that means focusing on politics, and not on philosophy, which is irrelevant. I mean what the hell - are you crazy? The world is burning and you want us all to study philosophy??
Philosopher: Is the objectification of women irrelevant to feminism?
Climate activist: No, it is perhaps the central issue of feminism. If there was no objectification of women, then women would be treated as human beings, and not chattel, or people whose lives are less important. The objectification of women is central to feminism and the treatment of women.
Philosopher: Is it not the case that we objectify the earth, and treat the earth like the patriarch treats a woman: as though she is one of his assets to do with as he pleases?
Climate Activist: It's certainly the case that we treat the earth as a resource that we exploit at will. I'm not sure that you can call that objectification, and compare that to the objectification of women, because women are living beings, they are persons, and the earth isn't.
Philosopher: The point of objectifying something, such as a woman, or a human being considered as a slave, is that you no longer treat it as something that has any rights of its own. It either has no rights, or limited rights. It becomes simply an object to be bought, sold, used and abused or looked after and loved. A bit like a cuddly toy. You have basically denied that individual full personhood. You want to say that you cannot objectify the earth because the earth is not alive, it is not a person, and so objectification does not apply, yet the earth contains countless living beings, and the whole point about objectification is that those living beings are granted zero, or limited, rights. They are not treated as living beings who have just as much right to autonomy as we do, they are treated as objects who belong to us and who we can do as we please with.
Climate Activist: Okay, yes, we do not grant the other beings that live on the earth any rights or status as beings, and that is certainly a form of objectification, where they are treated as objects without any personhood and so lacking in any rights or say, so yes, on that basis I can accept that the earth is objectified. And I can accept that it is on that basis that all environmental exploitation occurs, because if we granted the other beings rights, we wouldn't be able to do as we please, so it is vital for the purposes of resource extraction for profit to be able to dismiss the rights of all other living beings, even other human cultures that we deem less valuable, such as indigenous cultures. So yes, okay, I can accept the use of the word objectification when applied to the beings that live on the earth.
Philosopher: And isn't it the case that it is only materialists - that is, those who objectify the earth as a non-living thing - who claim that the earth itself, or the ecosystems of the earth, a thing distinct from the plants and animals, isn't it the case that only materialists claim that this earth is not alive, does not have personhood, does not have autonomy and intelligence?
Climate Activist: I'm not sure, but it is certainly the case that we do treat the earth as though it is not alive, and as though it is a dead thing on which some living beings happen to live.
Philosopher: I must insist that you acknowledge the point: under materialism, the earth is treated as a dead thing, and not a living thing, and that is the basis of objectification.
Climate Activist: I acknowledge that that is the case, that is what materialism is. Treating the earth as though it is a dead and inanimate object is materialism. I don't think that is objectification though, because the earth isn't a person, you can't speak to the earth, or take it to dinner, so it's a bit meaningless to me to talk about materialism as objectifying the earth. I accept that materialism objectifies the plants and animals that live on the earth, and treats them as objects in the same way that patriarchs treat women as chattel, or the way colonialists treat the peoples of other cultures as slaves, but I don't accept that that equates to objectifying the earth itself, because the earth itself is not a living thing.
Philosopher: In other words, you are a materialist, because you treat the earth as though it is a dead, inanimate object with no voice and no thoughts and no feelings, no purpose of its own, no intelligence?
Climate Activist: I guess I have no experience of the earth as a person, and so I have trouble with the idea of saying that the earth has 'feelings' or anything like that. That seems like nonsense and not anything scientific.
Philosopher: So as a result you treat the earth as a dead, inanimate object with no voice and no thoughts and no feelings, no purpose of its own, no intelligence?
Climate Activist: Yes, I guess that is true.
Philosopher: And you dismiss the experiences of your ancestors, and of 90% of other cultures and human experiences around the world and throughout time, that state the complete opposite?
Climate Activist: If you want me to be honest, then yes, I guess I do. I guess I adopt the scientific viewpoint, which asserts that the earth is a dead and inanimate object, and not a living thing.
Philosopher: Why do you call such a viewpoint scientific? It is true that many (so-called) scientists hold such views, but it is not true that such a view is scientific. In fact, the totality of human experience points to the complete opposite. Our bodies are made of the earth, for example, and they are conscious and alive and filled with thoughts and feelings and purpose. So one could say that the scientific evidence is totally overwhelming, and that the view that the earth is not alive is proved wrong by direct experience, and we have not even considered all the other evidence.
Climate Activist: What you say is true. Our bodies are made of the earth and they are alive, so it is totally untenable to assert that the earth is a dead and inanimate thing, when our immediate experience of the earth is that of our own bodies, and those are certainly not dead and inanimate. I had never thought of it like that before.
Philosopher: Perhaps now you see the central importance of philosophy in dealing with this crisis, and how the dogmatic materialism of our age is its foundation?
Climate Activist: Yes, it has definitely made me think of things in a different way. I mean, I'm not aware of your feelings, or your thoughts, but I have no doubt you have them. I am not aware of the feelings of the worms in the soil, but I have no doubt they have them. In a similar manner, if the earth has feelings, thoughts, intentions, intelligence, then in a similar manner I wouldn't necessarily know about them.
Philosopher: You accept your materialism is unscientific then?
Climate Activist: Yes, I do. In fact, now that I think about it, it is totally unscientific, and flies in the face of direct evidence.
Philosopher: And isn't it arrogance, and not science, that dismisses the experiences of all the other human beings and cultures who have lived, and who tell us that the earth is alive, and that you can speak to it?
Climate Activist: Yes, that is arrogance.
Philosopher: An arrogance rooted in a superiority complex, the same or similar superiority complex that justifies colonialism on the basis that the settler peoples are the superior peoples and the masters of the (so-called) inferior races?
Climate Activist: Yes.
Philosopher: So these objectification-superiority complexes seem to be the very foundation of the exploitation not only of the earth, but of women, of other races, of other classes of people, the lot?
Climate Activist: You do seem to have hit the nail on the head there, I have to admit.
Philosopher: Then I return you to my starting assertion, and I repeat it again:
The prevailing religious dogma of our age is materialism, and materialism is the direct cause of climate change and ecological destruction. If you want to do something about climate change, then you need to do something about materialism. Nothing else matters, put everything else aside, and deal with materialism, and if you are successful, then you will have made the biggest contribution you can to solving these systemic crises.
Climate Activist: I guess initially it sounded far fetched, but after everything you have said, I have to admit, that is the central issue here, just as the objectification of women is the central issue in feminism. If men (and women) can overcome the tendency to objectify women, to consider women and the traditional sphere of women's activities as second class, and not as equals, then feminism can pack up and go home, job done. Similarly, if we can overcome the tendency to objectify the earth, to treat the earth as second class, as a non living thing, then environmentalism, and climate activism, can pack up and go home, job done, because if that mindset is gone then there is no basis anymore on which the earth can be exploited as it currently is. I think you've got it totally right.
The other thing is I never thought of materialism as a 'complex', something that is within me and that drives my thoughts, my behaviours, my attitudes, and everything I do. I guess I dismissed it as a boring subject within philosophy, but in fact, it is far more than that: we are all sort of programmed into it, and it effects everything that we do, to the point where we just take it for granted, and don't even see it and what it is doing to us.
Philosopher: Exactly right. So you can see, then, that as long as you are driven by this materialist complex, that as long as it has the dominant sway over your thoughts, feelings, and your actions, that you are 100% part of the problem, and not the solution? That anyone who is under the sway of materialism is the problem, is the driver of climate change and ecological destruction, regardless of anything else?
Climate Activist: Hmmm, I'm not sure I would agree with that. I would definitely consider myself, up until now that is, a materialist, but I wouldn't consider that I am equally to blame for climate change and ecological destruction. I mean, I don't drive or fly, and I don't eat meat, and I am trying to change things through my activism, so I don't think I contribute as much as other people do.
Philosopher: But wouldn't it be fair to say that you are less of a materialist, that you are not as hardened a materialist as other people? After all, you have given up many material things, so you are not so obsessed with them, and you have respected other animals as living beings with their own autonomy, all of which suggests that you are less of a materialist, and so less of a problem?
Climate Activist: Yes I think that is fair to say.
Philosopher: But less of a problem is still a problem, isn't it? It's the same problem, but there is just less of it. Better to get rid of the problem altogether, no?
Climate Activist: Yes, I get what you're saying. How then, do I get rid of materialism altogether?
Philosopher: Now you are asking the right question! At last, we can really begin to deal with this problem. Before, you were operating within the framework of materialism, but now you are looking to escape materialism altogether, and to join the real, living world.
Climate Activist: The real living world?
Philosopher: Yes, the world of real, living things, as opposed to the world of dead inanimate things that is the mind of the materialist. Materialism is a mind, it affects the way you think, the way you feel, the way you behave, everything you do. A materialist mind can write about materialism as a philosophy, but we are not dealing with words, we are dealing with a mind that blocks the person from experiencing the world as it really is.
Climate Activist: Yes you said it was a complex, one that develops as we grow up without us really noticing, and that effects us in ways that we don't really know. I guess you use the word 'complex' to refer to a mind?
Philosopher: Yes, a mind. We see the world through the lens of our minds, do we not?
Climate Activist: We do.
Philosopher: And those minds inform how we behave and how we treat others, and what we listen to and what we dismiss, who we look up to and who we don't, and a myriad other things. Those minds even block out things that they don't like, and prevent us from seeing or perceiving things that we otherwise might. Those minds produce our dreams and our inspirations, and much else. it is important to subject our minds to the greatest scrutiny, and that is especially so when our minds are driving behaviours in us that are destroying all life on earth, is it not?
Climate Activist: When you put it like that, I have to agree with you.
Philosopher: More important than protesting or trying to convince politician's of the need to act, or locking on to fuel tankers to disrupt their activities?
Climate Activist: If it is our minds that drive our behaviours and actions, the very behaviours and actions which are causing this problem in the first place, then I have to admit, before I act or do anything I need to subject my mind to great scrutiny, and to root out the problem minds. If I don't do that, then those problem minds may be the very things that are driving my behaviour, and if they are, then I'm not going to be doing any good by allowing them to influence me in this way, as I will only be making things worse, despite how it may look to me.
Philosopher: Exactly, well done, you got it spot on. It may look and feel like you are doing the right thing, but in fact, if you are under the influence of materialist minds, then you most certainly won't be. I mean, the European colonisers thought they were doing the will of some mythical deity, some of them they thought they were in the right and doing the right thing. The world is full of people under the sway of delusional minds and thinking that they are doing the right thing, when they are actually causing problems and making matters a great deal worse. We must subject our minds to greater scrutiny, and we must root out the materialist mindset, as this is the root of all objectification and oppression. Without materialism, there is no objectification, and without objectification, there is no exploitation. Materialism is the enemy of all.
Climate Activist: I have to admit, you have given me a lot to think about.
Philosopher: Those problem minds that you need to root out, in the Patanjali system of yoga, they are called 'kleshas'. Yoga is an ancient discipline for rooting out materialism from our minds, and thereby freeing us and others from the causes of oppression. The root of yoga, the core practice, is the study of detailed teachings on the nature of reality that can eliminate all materialist minds from our body-mind-consciousness. This is a feat known as direct seeing, and the corresponding yoga is called The Yoga of Direct Seeing. I am not suggesting to you that you stop your activism, as an embodied ethical practice is a key element in the yoga of direct seeing, but I am suggesting to you that you need to take direct steps to root out those materialist minds that are the direct cause of all the problems that you are seeking to address. If you do not root those out from within you, then you will continue to be part of the problem. You must apply yourself to this yoga if you really want to be effective at solving the problems of climate change and ecological devastation, or any other form of oppression.
Climate Activist: I'm guessing by yoga you do not mean that stuff they do in the gyms?
Philosopher: Those are physical postures known as asanas. You do not need to perform any asanas in yoga, and performing asanas in and of itself is not yoga. They can be useful, and help to clear the mind-body-consciousness of problems, or they can just be a form of relaxation and exercise. But they do not form a part of the yoga that I teach.
Climate Activist: Are you going to teach me yoga then?
Philosopher: Have a read of The Yoga of Direct Seeing, study it, and carry on with your activism. When you are ready, talk to me, and let's see. Now, I must go, I have dinner to prepare. It's been fun!
Climate Activist: Good to talk, see you soon I hope.