Be like water – Laozi

Glittering palaces;
Fields overgrown with thorns;
Empty barns;
Dressing the regalia;
Wearing a sharp chain;
Eating in saturated;
The accumulation of wealth -
These are the highlights of the robbery.
This is not the way.
That really drive people act in accord with nature.
Laozi

In order to fathom the heterogeneous essence of Environmentalism, we have to focus our mind on two opposite dimensions of this new philosophical, practical, lifestyle and worldview paradigm:
as a new misanthropy, on the one hand; and on the other: on ‘green paradigm’ as a new type of humanism.

The new green misanthropy considers the human species as a major danger for all life on earth: the main enemy of the human species is the human species itself. This leads to an absurd conclusion: to save humankind, we must destroy humankind.

Ecce Homo: scene from the movie “The Gods must be crazy”

The opposite face, that of ‘green paradigm’ as a new humanism, and especially the fact that eco-humanism is not anthropocentric, because its fundamental value is diversity, are still not well understood. According to eco-humanists, the human species is not perceived as valuable in isolation, per se, but as part of the diversity of life in general. This view does not devalue women and men but gives a different type of value to humanity: human beings are not valuable as dictators dominating over everything else, but as part of a large family of interdependent organisms, symbiotically interconnected in a complex living system – the Earth, which is our only homeland: a common home of all people and all other life forms, an extended family, where the health of each member is important in its own way, mainly in its difference from others.

There are many environmentalist myths, but most of them are inconsistent, contradictory and mutually exclusive.

The main reason for their popularity is the lack of understanding of the value system of eco-humanism as a new paradigm that is based not on confrontation of ideas and judgments but on their paradoxical combination. Green values do not exclude anything: rather, they incorporate it into a new reading of the entire heritage of Western modernity and all other human cultures. New environmental logic is based on polycentrism and dynamic interconnection, which allows it to reconcile the irreconcilable in certain unexpected new ways within which emerges a new humanism of diversity and relationship.

And nature is not only a thing to use and to eat flesh, but spirit. Not only itself, but also ecology, or as one might say Old forgotten genius from the tenth century John Bulgarian Exarch, even – the relationship between creations. A link is also the spirit and soul of every living thing, life itself.
So let us remember … the nature of the humanity is the humanisim of loving each other, of loving each living creature.

 

 

Under the surface of society has begun invisible battle – a battle between two different Europas – the living alternative culture of the XXI century and the dead official cultural forms inherited from the XIX century. In this point of view we can observe two opposite faces of the New Modernity – two opposite Modernities – Τέχνη and Фιλία – the official Europe of Technocratic Obsession and the Unofficial Europe of Loving.

We can observe several important aspects of the expression of alternative informal culture in modern Bulgaria:

1: Alternative public aesthetics is actually esprit and the esprit is spirituality: witty paintings, drawings and graffiti on the facades of buildings in the city center of Sofia:

2: Alternative public aesthetics is actually ethics

Eco Rock Festival “Save Ruse” 21 years later:

3:The public’s aesthetic is also human nature and a new connection between the humans and the nature

The scandal caused by the index case of restructuring of the Soviet troops from the statue of the Soviet Army in Sofia and ‘magicaly turning them in symbols of Americanism (» with the times») could be also interpreted as an invisible battle between two cultures, between two ethical and aesthetical paradigms, between two worlds.

This is a battle between informal beauty against legitimate ugliness, battle between small and giant, which is actually a battle between the human and the inhuman, an invisible cultural battle between David and Goliath.

See also:

New Generation: Alternative Culture in Bulgaria

and

Eco Rock Festival “Save Ruse” 21 years later:

dedicated to Dimitar Voev (1965-1992)

series of events of Shtastlivetsa Association and Place for Future Educational Networkand partners Red House and the “Dimitar Voev – New Generation” FoundationDecember 2012

dedicated to Dimitar Voev (1965-1992)

Eco Rock Festival “Save Ruse” 21 years late