SPACE
Fixing Our Position in Space
Although the Nation State model is still the primary way we're enculturated to fix our position in non-local space, this conceptual framework has already reached its zenith of influence and is now being replaced by a newer model, one based on globalization. Globalization has made significant strides in laying the foundation for the dismantling of the Nation-State, although the Nation State is still the predominant conceptual framework, or filter, through which most people fix their position in non-local space.
"The conceptual framework is the determinant of our reality."
Christopher Hills
Because so much of Planetization involves expanding and evolving how we 'fix our position' in non-local space up to and including the Planetary/Cosmic scale, it might be helpful to show just how our non-local spatial grounding has evolved over time. 'Spatial grounding' in this context refers to our non-local sense of The World', or where we perceive ourselves to be beyond the bounds of what our senses can determine. It's how we fix our position in the larger spatial milieu that contains us beyond our local environment. It's really more accurate to call this perception of non-local space a 'reality construct' rather than our larger 'spatial grounding' because what we've historically projected to be out there beyond what our senses could validate has more often than not been a product of our human imagination... a collective projection of our deepest hopes and fears; rather than any true reflection of the larger Planetary/Cosmic spatial matrix we are embedded in - but which lay beyond our senses.
"Mankind must elect to adopt a general perspective and habit of mind appropriate to its participation in a Universe of convergent consciousness."
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
The Future of Humanity
Spatial Myths of the Past
Throughout our history, arbitrary, culture-laden, and subjective abstractions determined our perception of the non-local space we existed within. These abstractions of 'The World' amounted to no more than consensually agreed upon myths, not to be confused with the literal objective truth of our planetary and Cosmic existence. These myths filled the void of humankind's not really knowing just where we fit into the pattern of stars that filled the night sky, the true shape, scale and dimensions of the Earth under our feet, or our true relation to the heavenly bodies that showed up at regular intervals in the sky above us. Early man often incorporated whatever non-local Planetary/Cosmic phenomenon he perceived into his local spatial frame of reference. He didn't doubt his senses when they told him that the Sun came to rest every evening below a familiar mountain, or that at daybreak each morning the Sun rose from a nearly lake. To primitive people everywhere it did look as if the Sun was going to 'rest' at dusk below a certain mountain, or that it rose every morning from its home 'under' a local lake.
Many ancient people believed they were spatially situated between an Upper World of spirits, gods, and goddesses, and a Lower World inhabited by the dead or demons. At the height of the Roman Empire, many people's sense of 'The World' was that "all roads lead to Rome" even if they lived far from the administrative center of the empire. Centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire, ‘The World’ was conceived of by Europeans as “The King’s Realm” where various small kingdoms and duchies were regarded as outposts of civilization surrounded by a less significant wilderness filled with barbarians. Medieval Europeans believed they lived on a flat surface of land surrounded by a watery abyss filled with sea monsters.
"One is always contemporaneous with a myth."
Mircea Elliade
Anthropologist
Many Native Americans believed they lived on the back of a giant turtle surrounded by water. Until almost the middle of the 20th century, most maps and atlases placed Jerusalem at the center of the world because Christianity was a major influence in how people in the West conceptualized "The World'. Our societies have since become largely secular. Christianity no longer has the power it once held over how we orient ourselves in the non-local space we inhabit. What has largely come to take the place of this religio-centric sense of "The World' is a more regional and secular nationalism.
Our Strange Situation
Unlike all previous generations, today we're in a very strange situation. Our space explorations have provided us the irrefutable truth of the larger non-local spatial milieu we exist within. We now know the exact nature of the larger space that contains us beyond what our senses can determine. We're aware of the true vastness and intricacy of our Universe. We've all seen satellite images of our Earth free-floating in space. Yet our present conceptual framework of 'The World' is still as mythic as that of all earlier generations of people who had no idea of the true nature of the larger spatial reality they existed within, but which lay beyond their senses. Psychologists call this state of holding two distinct and separate beliefs about reality that can't be reconciled 'cognitive dissonance'.