https://flipboard.com/@axiosnews/a-look-back-at-the-march-on-washington-in-1963-u0rdsc85n4koblra
The case for limiting human population in order to maintain the natural resources upon which it depends was powerfully made for the public by the Club of Rome’s 1972 report The Limits to Growth. Yet forty years earlier French philosopher Henri Bergson promoted the same idea along with returning to simpler living centered on agriculture in his final major work Two Sources of Morality and Religion. That position is remarkable as evolution is a central theme in his work in which the human species is portrayed as the supreme product of natural history. Growing up in France during the Franco-Prussian War and then living through World War I however made Bergson realize that something had gone wrong.
His philosophy is not a unified system but rather in his last three books represents the world and human experience in terms of four sciences as they existed in his time: neuropsychology, evolutionary biology, anthropology and sociology. Accordingly Bergson successively defines the universe first as Becoming, then creative evolution and finally spirit, all of which are in fact facets of the same absolutely creative universal life. Having arrived at the extreme point of evolution with the application of intelligence to material nature, he advocated that we next turn to the scientific study of spirituality. I consider this an absolute Hail Mary move that can be replaced with a much more practical program.
Before concluding with this disappointing prescription Two Sources of Morality and Religion makes some currently valuable points. Following the social science of his day it asserts that human society is instinctively small and local – essentially tribal. Humanity overcomes the character of this “closed” society when the force of creative evolution, the élan vital, produces an individual animated by universal life and love who then disseminates this spirit to the rest of the population. Bergson thus explains Christian religion minus the myths of incarnation and salvation – relics of closed society – which clothe it. The spirit of Christianity, which is the love of all men, animates the open society in which creative evolution continues on its course.
Bergson’s élan vital creates the universe, but not uniformly, for most of what it creates proceeds to lose force, repeating its past in every new present moment of time. Such static entities are matter which form hurdles for the life force to surmount. The philosopher’s metaphor for this process is a fist pushing through a mass of metal filings, acting as a separate force that determines their arrangement.
Animal evolution has proceeded on two paths – instinct in the lower ones and intelligence in humans which has become ever-more technological, bringing us to the present moment. Human evolution has been on a tear, so to speak, making relentless technological “progress.” The universal spirit has solidified into established Christian religion with parallels in some Eastern spiritualities. These two varieties, Bergson asserts, are based in mysticism, with the major difference being that Western mysticism is dedicated to action while Eastern forms are more passively inner-oriented. He asserts that true mystics are intensely active, being fully animated by the universal spirit that is the élan vital. Now, despite the historical emergence of universal spirituality and its spread, people are increasingly drawing together into closed societies whose very nature it is to exclude and even wage war against outsiders.
Bergson published Two Sources of Morality and Religion in 1932 as Nazis were coming into dominance in Germany. The U.S. is facing a similar threat today plus growing climate breakdown. As in past major historical upheavals, a spiritual revival is underway, but it is evident that Bergson’s answer to our material challenges is no solution at all.
Although each of his books examines the world from different angles like the blind men describing the elephant, there is a whole animal that all of his works reveal to us and which furnish a sounder response. His principal theme is freedom, and he explains how the apparatus of human consciousness has evolved to progressively increase the scope of our freedom which is nevertheless subject to abuse. In his works prior to Two Sources he denied evolutionary teleology, stressing that the myriad lines of evolution often come to a halt with some even reversing direction. Still, as the past accumulates and is carried forward into the present, remnants of past forms of life are always preserved as potential resources for later ones. This notion is shared by the systems theory of evolutionary biology’s view of DNA transmission.
Conscious life for Bergson is a matter of projecting virtual past actions onto external objects which create images that reflect the subject’s potential action on those objects. Ultimately the past of our individual lives and that of our species provides the material for our consciousness and the actions which proceed from it. In the present crisis we need to make optimum use of this gold mine of resources.
The Enlightenment’s myth of progress rests on Newton’s First Law of inertia – that bodies ceaselessly move in a rectilinear path unless deflected from it by an external force. With his later teleological thinking Bergson assumes this basic concept, but his earlier view was the correct one. Progress through time is not continual improvement, rather there are also standstills, backtracking and regression.
Many of our ills are attributed to the modern culture of the last four centuries, but another very significant historical development was the earlier shift away from the ancient Greek principle of the right measure that is neither too much nor too little. For Aristotle determining the right measure was the goal of his practical wisdom and political wisdom which ideally select the golden mean. For Plato the right measure was the harmonious ratio between things which constitutes justice. Therefore health, the properly coordinated functioning of all the parts, is the justice of the body, virtue the justice of the soul and harmony of its parts the justice of the state.
Bergson stresses that the universe and consciousness are temporally and spatially continuous, containing an infinite multitude of different but not discrete qualities. Distinct perception consists of a series of memory images laid over the continuum, creating a cinematographic-like experience of rapid succession of still images. Everything related to quantities in our experience is derived from this function which is external to the fundamental nature of Becoming and life. The philosopher’s account of these consequently excludes consideration of quantity.
Elsewhere I have described freedom in service to the world as consisting of maximum use of past experience to identify and fulfill opportunities for positive action in the present. However, one major thing was missing from it: right measure. Thus I look out into my garden and see that my foxgloves are wilted, so I fill the can with water to pour on them. But how much? In the climate change-induced heat wave and drought mandatory water conservation has been ordered; some precipitation is forecast for later in the day; the roots are shallow, and jumping worms have destroyed the organic material in the soil. So I have to make a decision: how much water should I pour on my foxgloves? In nearly everything we do we make a decision as to how much – How high do we set the oven? How long do we cook the food? How much clothing do we put on? and so on. In all of these decisions we seek the right measure.
I have contrasted the Enlightenment notion of inertia with the Greeks’ principle of right measure or justice. Surveying our historical resources, it’s clear that it’s time to revive the last. Natural history isn’t linear; organisms just make the most of their resources to sustain their lives. Bergson emphasized care for all humanity, but equal regard for the environment is implicit in his work as he affirms the continuity of nature.
In past works I have urged acting with the intention of advancing the ecological civilization. However, as we desperately resist the “flood the zone” strategy, we must deal with immediate matters, prioritizing justice – peacefully protesting against injustice, contributing to mutual aid and upholding the principle of right measure.
Extreme wealth inequality is a great factor in all of our troubles. The motto for our movement should be Bernie Sanders’ “Enough is enough.” At the 2025 May Day rally in Philadelphia he said that the oligarchs weren’t satisfied with their billions. “They want it all!” One of the most effective Resistance tactics so far has been the boycott of ABC over Jimmy Kimmel’s firing which supports Arundhati Roy’s claim “The system will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling.” Engaging in the Resistance is hard, but one thing we can all do that will serve it and the planet is to double down on conserving resources, especially energy. Limit car trips; eat less or no meat; replace the lawn with a garden; buy much less stuff and finally, have conversations with people about how we must act now.
Phila Back 