ECOLOGIC

By Bruce Baugh (bruceab@teleport.com)

What do Verbena, Celestial Choristers, Virtual Adepts, and Void Engineers have in common? In some cases, it's membership in EcoLogic, a faction within the World of Darkness dedicated to ignoring the usual limits.

EcoLogic has its roots in the late 19th century, when a number of mages in different traditions all had the same vision of humanity's place in the world. Carefully, they sought each other out and banded together for mutual support. The heart of the vision is this:

- Human society is subject to the same rules as every other ecosystem.

This may seem obvious - lots of people give it lip service these days - but few have ever attempted to seriously work out its implications. Members of EcoLogic identify four primary consequences. The phrasing changes over time (EcoLogic's organization is in constant flux), but the ideas are pretty steady:

- The present exists for its own sake; the future is only potential. Members of EcoLogic commit themselves to the overthrow of every group which imposes present misery for the sake of any future end. They don't mind people choosing to do that for themselves, just imposing it on others. They're agnostic about Ascension, and tend not to care much about it. Most members figure that Ascension, if it's real, will emerge naturally out of an environment that's in good shape in the present moment.

- There is no center. Healthy food webs have no top; even the toughest predators are brought down by disease and decay. Members commit themselves to the overthrow of every group which claims the right to rule all others, whether calling itself a government, a church, or anything else.

- Only change is constant. Nothing lasts, and trying to fight change leads to (at best) stagnation and (at worst) metastasis and death. Members commit themselves to the overthrow of every group which puts the needs of the group ahead of the needs of its members. They encourage the creation of groups designed to serve a particular purpose and then disband, and they constantly reshuffle their own organization to avoid the trap of stasis.

- Nobody is outside the system. Every member of EcoLogic looks for the time when EcoLogic itself becomes part of the problem. Values endure, but institutions decay. They claim no special position as a result of the vision.

Major elements of EcoLogic membership include:

- Celestial Choristers who believe that Unity emerges only from perfect diversity.

- Cultists of Ecstasy willing to take the long-term view of how best to maximize their fun.

- Euthanatos who see themselves as serving that vital function of bringing the top of the food web down.

- Sons of Ether with an interest in Lamarck, Sheldrake, and other fringe biological thinkers.

- Verbena, who form the "heart" of EcoLogic in some respects.

- Virtual Adepts who see the move to digital reality on humanity's part as part of Gaia's active homeostasis

- Iteration Xists who (besides appreciating the Sub-Genius reference in that handle) aim to use cybernetics to lighten the load on the environment

- Progenitors who believe that their work is the next level of complexity (in Prigogine's terms) or the next phase of evolution

- Void Engineers who believe that moving humanity out there is a desirable part of a cycle of recovery for Gaia

Yes, both Traditions and Conventions are included in EcoLogic. Naturally enough, this means that some people are _not_ keen on the group.

Major opponents include:

- Akashic Brothers, who tend to see EcoLogic's emphasis on dynamic systems as the antithesis of the calm they seek

- most Celestial Choristers, who aren't keen on diversity

- Dreamspeakers, who tend to have a fairly tight vision of how humanity should best interact with Gaia and who aren't much open to revision of it

- Hermetics, who have no use for the idea that humanity should learn its lessons from nature that way

- Virtual Adepts who don't give a hoot about the natural world

- Iteration Xists who want to subjugate nature, not vice versa

- The New World Order, who didn't want to hear Hayek and von Mises tell them about uncontrollable systems and don't want to hear it from EcoLogic, either

- Progenitors who want to subjugate nature, not vice versa

EcoLogic organization is built to self-destruct, more or less. The basic unit is the five-person cell (allowing for "interesting" interactions without becoming too bogged down). Every two years, all the EcoLogicians on a continent gather for a conclave. Existing cells are dissolved and new ones formed, and no two members can be in the same cell twice in a row. Each cell picks a delegate, however its members choose, to the Council for that continent. The Counsellors each pick a delegate, again by any means deemed appropriate, to the Senior Council. No person can be a counsellor twice in a row, and it's considered good form to let everyone do it once in a while.

[Still working on numbers for the group; thinking of about 500 active members and some more or less inactive ones]

EcoLogic is active on several fronts:

- Direct action. When cells think it necessary, they'll strike out at the enemy. This is most usually done to bring down too-powerful groups trying to rule a society.

- Propaganda. EcoLogic funds all kinds of challenges to dominant paradigms, including anarchist groups, communitarian movements, and so forth. They also work to undermine efforts to make science and philosophy serve what they regard as unnatural aims (socialism, corporatism and fascism, and the like).

- Research. Since the whole point is to be in accord with nature's rules, many EcoLogicians do active research.

- Back-door efforts. EcoLogician Void Engineers tinker with the solar system to provide new homes for life. EcoLogician Sons of Ether look for biological ways to replace mechanical processes. EcoLogician Verbena create ecological enclaves where life can flourish outside the dominant paradigms. Many Ecologicians regard as very important to be creating present-moment alternatives as well as working to improve the future.