A review of "The Path Through Infinity's Rainbow: Your Guide To
Personal Survival and Spiritual Transformation In A World Gone Mad, By
Mike Byron, (2008, IUniverse Inc.)
We must leave the old left/right, liberal/conservative paradigm behind
us. Smaller government under local control—as will be the case in the
Renewal communities—could actually be considered a “conservative”
idea….We are creating a new tomorrow from what will soon become
antiquity; we are not rehashing petty divisions or reaffirming old
prejudices.
~Mike Byron~
I can’t remember exactly how I met Mike Byron, but we encountered each
other online a few years ago and immediately sensed that we were
intellectual and political allies. Mike generously wrote an endorsement
for the back of my book U.S. History Uncensored: What Your High School
Textbook Didn’t Tell You, and shortly thereafter, he sent me a copy of
his first book, Infinity’s Rainbow. After finishing it, as I
recommended it and attempted to describe it, I found that I could best
do so by calling it a catalog of the planetary emergency in which the
earth community finds itself. Then Mike requested an endorsement from
me for his next book, The Path Through Infinity’s Rainbow which I was
delighted to provide because it takes Infinity’s Rainbow many steps
further and offers options for individuals and communities in the wake
of civilization’s collapse.
Lest the reader erroneously infer from the words “infinity’s rainbow”
that either of these books are pieces of abstract, airy-fairy fluff, I
hasten to assure you that they are not. Mike Byron is a professor of
political science and history and in my opinion, has critically
analyzed the complex relationships between the monumental issues of our
time: Peak Oil, climate chaos, and the economic sea changes that “a
world gone mad” is forcing us to address. In his words, The Path
Through Infinity’s Rainbow offers a guide to: “Navigating the coming
years of crisis; surviving and transforming our world; and
participating in the creation of a new, sustainable economy.”
In this review, I’d like to share how the book skillfully does this
along with my experience of immersing myself in the pages of its
sobering information and compassionate wisdom. Dedicated to his wife
and partner, Ramona, her presence enhances the book with several
stories which provide a delightful right-brain complement to Mike’s
analytical research and commentary.
The Path Through Infinity’s Rainbow is a blending of reality and
vision. While it’s true that the first page of the introduction states
that “…the patient effort of five hundred human generations and the
struggles of ten momentous millennia are in the process of being
obliterated forever, as though they never occurred,” it is also true
that the very first paragraph states:
This book is intended to empower you to navigate through the coming
years of crisis, to survive and transform, and to participate in the
creation of a new and sustainable political economy. It is a guide for
thoughtful, knowledge-based action. (xiii)
Fortunately, Mike doesn’t convey any feel-good “hopeful, happy endings”
but rather encourages the reader to seize her own opportunities for
empowerment in the face of what some like Bill McKibben have called
“the end of nature”.
In Chapter 2, Byron states that “While learning is always continuing on
an incremental basis, it is existential crisis alone that actually
compels fundamental change if collapse is to be avoided.” (20) I would
argue, as does Byron in a later chapter, that collapse cannot be
avoided because it is well underway, and I would also argue that
collapse itself will produce monumental existential crises that will
manifest the “memes” or “fundamental units of information that are
linked schematically in an associative manner.” (21) The example the
author gives of a meme is the sight or thought of a rose leading to
recalling by association “the scent of the flower, romantic occasions,
walking hand-in-hand on a beach”. Memes lead to a common view of
reality that results in a common culture. Thus,
it seems to me that one of the basic causes of the collapse of Western
civilization lies in the commonly accepted memes which have engendered
stories that have brought us to where we are: that humans are superior
to the other-than human world; that our survival depends on
unrestricted, indiscriminate growth; that profit is more important than
people and the earth community; that nature’s abundance—which we have
come to call “resources” are infinite and that humans have a
fundamental right to privatize, use, control, and squander them.
Collapse will unequivocally alter these assumptions and cause humans to
create very different stories from the ones that have formed the
underpinnings of empire.
But not only must the stories be changed, according to Byron, so must
how we do things, and most importantly, “we must also fundamentally
change ourselves.” (23) Out of the ashes, he believes, could rise a
sustainable civilization. While I agree, I also cannot imagine this
happening in the short span of a few decades but rather requiring at
least centuries. Humans are now visiting ecological trauma on planet
earth that will take millennia, if not millions of years to eradicate.
Those who appreciate systems theory may revel in Chapter 2, “Concepts.”
As one whose eyes begin to glaze when delving too deeply into these
principles, the most meaty portion of the chapter was the last page in
which Byron combines both harsh reality with the promise of
transformation.
“It is now far too late,” he says, “to prevent our looming
petro-collapse and all of its environmental consequences. Like the
Titanic approaching the iceberg, collision with our attractor is now
both inevitable and imminent. The difference is that, unlike the
Titanic, we are actually speeding up as we approach our ‘iceberg’.”
(34)
This paragraph is so momentous, so poignant that the reader must ponder
it carefully. Please let it sink in: We cannot prevent catastrophe, and
the pace with which we are plummeting toward it is accelerating. When
the impact of these two statements sinks in, how can anyone reading
these words assume that his/her own or the planet’s “business as usual”
can continue?
But the author does not leave us there because he quickly adds:
However, it is possible for many of us to survive the catastrophe and
to sow the seeds for civilization to be renewed with all of the
learning of past ages relatively intact. This is because at the very
center of it all are the ordered patterns of memes from which our minds
emerge and interact with the minds of others. We can ensure that the
lessons learned from this impending collapse are firmly incorporated
into the minds and culture of our successor civilization’s citizens and
into their institutions and laws. (34)
At the risk of sounding nit-picky, I must add that I personally do not
want civilization to be renewed. I want it to be eradicated and
relegated to the dustbin of human history as quickly as possible. I do
have a vision, as I have written about repeatedly on this website, of
what humans might create as an alternative to civilization, and I
believe that this is also Byron’s intention in writing this paragraph.
No doubt this is a semantic issue, but I need to emphasize my
repudiation of civilization and my commitment to the development of
localized niches of eco-centric habitation and functioning which will
do whatever it takes to ensure that civilization does not re-emerge on
planet earth.
In Chapters 3 through 5, Byron takes us on a sobering journey through
current reality, and I suppose that since I am already so familiar with
its content, I most appreciated the opening quote of Chapter 3 by A.H.
Almaas: If you haven’t struggled with a question, you cannot digest the
answer even if it is handed to you.
Each time I’m asked “so what do we do about collapse and its attendant
catastrophes?” the essence of the Almaas quote leaps to mind. The
current presidential election charade is nothing if not the antithesis
of what these words assert. The culture of empire is one in which
individuals refuse to think or feel
deeply about anything unpleasant or that challenges them to venture
beyond the bounds of narcissistic consumerism. Thus, the intolerance of
the overwhelming majority of Americans for being present with the
dilemma without immediately jettisoning into “solutions.” And as my
friend, Tim Bennett, writer of “What A Way To Go: Life At The End Of
Empire”, says, when people ask for “solutions”, they fundamentally
don’t want an answer because an honest answer will require them to
change everything about their lives down to their toenails. What the
citizens of civilization desire instead, is some soporific, like a
political candidate or a mass movement that will allow them to continue
to live their lives exactly as they have been living them with the
exception of perhaps a few minor changes that cause minimal discomfort.
I was relieved when I discovered that Byron ends his three-chapter
analysis with a repudiation of national electoral politics by asserting
that they “cannot be an effective means for regaining control over our
corporate hijacked civilization.” Here, I would want of Byron only one
thing more--to lose the word “civilization” and perhaps replace it with
“planet” because I believe that the fundamental assumptions and
constructs of civilization must be questioned and eradicated. In fact,
“industrial civilization” is itself a corporate hijack, and on one
level or another, it always has been, even before the corporation
existed. I define civilization as Derrick Jensen does, “stories,
institutions, and artifacts—that both leads to and emerges from the
growth of cities.” Industrial civilization has exploited and defiled
the earth for the past 6000 years and is inherently based on hierarchy,
inequality, environmental and human degradation, and as a result of a
fundamental split between humans and nature in the European psyche,
skillfully analyzed by psychologist and author Ralph Metzner, has
developed a “use” relationship with the more-than-human world.
With this in mind it was reassuring to read Byron’s unequivocal
emphasis on the pivotal issue of values:
I can’t stress this point enough: the ultimate source of civilization’s
crises arises from our own deepest values. If these are not changed—if
we do not change—then no technology can do any more than briefly delay
civilizational Collapse—at the cost of making the Collapse of even
greater magnitude than would otherwise have been the case. (131)
From Chapter 8 (“Strategies For Survival”) onward until the book’s end,
Byron offers options for those who are willing to stare down collapse
and allow it to transform every aspect of their lives. Consistent with
the above quote regarding values, Chapter 8 begins with a section on
knowing oneself and the assertion that individual survival first begins
with critical thinking. “Clear critical-thinking abilities,” Byron
says, “in conjunction with physical health and robustness are the two
fundamental essentials for individual and family survival. Hard times
require sound minds and healthy bodies.” (140)
But it is not enough to merely think; one must become an agent of
change. Byron opens this section with a personal admission that he has
reluctantly come to the conclusion that political change is not an
effective means for bringing about the radical alteration of
civilization’s trajectory—this from a former Democratic candidate for
Congress in 2004! In fact, he states that change at the top could only
be brought about by revolution and that the only meaningful change that
can occur must happen in local communities. Following his outline of
Saul Alinsky’s “Rules For Radicals,” Byron emphasizes that revolution
must begin within the existing political system, by which he means a
local political system and that people must be willing to give up the
existing system “before they will become receptive to fundamental
change.” (144)
As I ponder the last sentence, I feel nothing but pessimism about the
facility with which the ruling elite has manipulated the masses into
the national election chimera. In my opinion, until Americans
have bought out of that delusion, it will be impossible for them to
give up on the existing system and therefore comprehend that all
solutions are local, and that if the “solution” isn’t local, it isn’t a
solution. In fact, Byron states in a later chapter that “Simply
engaging in politics as usual is an almost certain recipe for death
during the Collapse—or, at the very least, impoverishment and curtailed
freedom or outright serfdom for most of us.” (179)
Consistent with similar advice offered by Dmitry Orlov in his new book
Re-Inventing Collapse, recently reviewed by me at this site, Byron
suggests residing in an intermediate-sized community that has adequate
resources for food and water and that is detached from large urban
centers. Although extreme isolation in a rural area may at first feel
safer, both Byron and Orlov note the “safety in numbers” factor of
which those attempting to navigate collapse must be aware.
A fabulous “Be Prepared” section (149-151) offers specific advice for
survival and sustainability in real time, life-threatening situations.
This section is a no-nonsense regimen that would make any seasoned Boy
Scout proud and that one would want to post on one’s refrigerator prior
to collapse and carry in one’s pocket afterward. Subsequent sections of
the chapter include planting a victory garden, studying and
implementing permaculture techniques, and familiarizing oneself with
When Technology Fails: A Manual For Self-Reliance And Planetary
Survival.
In Byron’s “World Reborn” chapter, he states that he has come to
believe that the universe is not without purpose and that
civilization’s collapse and renewal have great meaning. What I’d like
to have read here, and I hope Mike will consider writing it, is an
entire book that elucidates his sense of that meaning. My forthcoming
book, The Spirituality Of Collapse: Restoring Life On A Dying Planet,
attempts to do just that, but because Mike and I have similar, yet
differing perspectives on this, I’m exceedingly curious to hear the
details of his. In his “Letter From The Future” he summarizes the
planetary initiation that collapse will provide which will transform
the human species and allow it to realize its fullest potential,
including the likelihood that the evolutionary leap produced over time
by collapse will qualify earthlings to join the cosmic community of
highly organized, vast intelligences—a community which pre-collapse
earthlings are not yet equipped intellectually, emotionally, or
spiritually to encounter.
In the book’s final chapter “A New Direction”, Byron envisions “a very
quiet secession from a political economy that is dying, in conjunction
with simultaneous alliance to another that is being born”—a process
which he calls “the Renewal.” In the section “Shackled Feet Can’t Jump:
The Human Rights of Women Are Essential”, Mike emphasizes that the
Collapse will eradicate the last vestiges of patriarchal oppression of
both genders so that all human beings can make the greatest possible
contributions to the Renewal. In this section I was humbled and honored
to find a segment of my 2006 article “Post-Petroleum Woman” quoted in
which I added from my perspective what may be a more gender-balanced
approach to the Peak Oil issue than is generally offered by the
preponderance of male researchers who overwhelmingly inform the
conversation about that issue. To this I must also add an excellent
blog post by Sally Erickson, producer of “What A Way To Go: Life At The
End Of Empire” in which she takes to task the white male “man-date” of
fixing the world in order to avoid collapse. The words of her very
latest post “Orlov And The Wonderful, Terrible, Radical
Simplification”, resonate with Byron’s with respect to the “meaning”
inherent in the Collapse:
I see the collapse as a piece of the story of the human, a real live
myth, a very big and very profound story. I see this time and these
events in ways that I imagine Gaia or Mother Earth may see them. What
all of this represents is a vitally necessary process of cleansing and
balancing. At its best, what we
are involved in, and witness to, is a spiritual initiation rite of the
highest order for an adolescent species in sore need of such an
initiation.
Borrowing from Timothy Leary, Byron offers a twenty-first century
maxim, asking us to tune in to ourselves, turn on or against corporate
deceptivists, and drop out and create a new reality. In this section he
speaks of “quiet defections” from the dying milieu, but I have to
wonder if in the throes of the most chaotic stages of collapse, “quiet
defections” or “quiet secessions” will be tolerated. I suppose this
depends on how much petroleum and other resources the regime will have
at its disposal to track dissenters and round them up. My guess is that
the sooner one begins the defection process, the better for him/herself
and the sooner the Collapse/Renewal that is trying to unfold can do so.
It is important to add, I believe, that even now, we are seeing signs
of the complete collapse of state and local governments as the global
economic meltdown that is well underway is already imperiling the
financial resources necessary to maintain and develop local
infrastructures and essential services. Thus, as Byron emphasizes, it
will be essential to be “prepared to spring into action at the local
level as that happens.” (189)
In his “Letter From The Future”, mentioned above, Byron offered a
sketch of what a post-Collapse government might look like—a
subsidarity, as he names it, which would function at the level closest
to the people affected, meaning that countless subsidarities might
evolve. For these, Byron offers five indispensable principles for just
and humane government founded on two underlying principles: “A
transcendent belief in cooperative interdependence and an
all-encompassing structure that spreads this belief: the Renewal.”(195)
The so-called transcendent belief simply means taking responsibility to
leave the world livable for one’s children, reusing and renewing
everything, and living our lives according to the principle of doing
unto others as we would have them do unto us. (196)
This then, is the “path through Infinity’s Rainbow”, and it’s a path
with which I feel delightfully familiar. It’s also a path about which I
am quite certain Mike Byron will elaborate in future volumes of what he
calls the Infinity’s Rainbow series. As the unraveling continues, those
of us who have been tracking it for months and years will benefit from
reading The Path Through Infinity’s Rainbow, and we will undoubtedly
await Byron’s forthcoming insights as we journey up and down, in and
out of our personal and collective rainbows of Collapse and Renewal.
Mike Byron, Ph.D., is a professor of political science in the San Diego
area and has published and presented many papers on politics and
computer simulation. He was the Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress
in California’s 49th Congressional District in 2004. Visit his website.