April 9, 2020
In this interview, Geoffrey Holland of the Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere (MAHB) speaks with Douglas P. Fry, co-author, with Riane Eisler, of Nurturing Our Humanity: How Domination and Partnership Shape Our Brains, Lives, and Future. Holland and Fry discuss the human continuum between violent domination cultural systems, and a more humane partnership system. In the book, Fry and Eisler stress that ??in the course of evolution, humans developed a brain primed more to living in partnership-oriented societies?.
Why did domination systems become central to shaping human history, and how is domination linked to the historically entrenched oppression of women and the exploitation of nature?
Fry explains that ??the view of superiority over nature, as opposed to humans being a part of nature, tends to be manifested in domination systems. We?re seeing domination wreaking havoc with the environment at an alarming rate right now. Many indigenous cultures have cosmologies, where humans, animals, and nature are seen as essential interwoven parts of a system. So, if you think about where we need to go on this planet today, we must realize that the world ecosystem is in jeopardy, and we can no longer go forward with a domination view where the resources are just there to for us to extract, every river is a toilet, and the ocean a cesspool. Partnership is about living in balance. We need to stop promoting domination. We need to send cultural signals that encourage a partnership narrative?.
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