THE SYNERMERGENCY: A Clarion Call to Anything but Arms

By James Pacifico

Is there a super-crisis?

" The problems of the world total something greater than their sum"

(Juan Fuentes 1992)

THE SYNERMERGENCY, a state of supercriticality, or "synergistic emergency" existing between all crises on Earth, known and unknown. In response to this potential of total global super-crisis, this clarion call to anything but arms is the first to discuss the problems of totally interrelated crises, and sound a call to harmony for the Rainbow Warriors everywhere.

Global citizen Juan Fuentes creates a new philosophical system that inspires the twentysomething generation into world-saving global evolution, moving dramatically beyond all previous ideologies and into the cyber age of holistic ecology. A paradigm for the 1990s, and for futurity, this brilliant novel's very positive message of rational understanding succeeds in bridging technology and nature, competition and cooperation, rights, and human responsibilities.

Not merely concerned with environmental crises, THE SYNERMERGENCY focuses on eight global problem areas called holons, which include basic survival; economics; politics; education, technology, and nature; religion; spirituality and metaphysics; style, the arts, and aesthetics. ese holons, systems within systems, combine in synergy, building toward the collapse of systems, as people are forced to respond by literally making everything better everywhere for everyone in a total planet-healing process. All things considered, James Pacifico presents a new worldview unlike any suggested before. We are quite fortunate to have THE SYNERMERGENCY, the ultimate in utopian thought.

*****

An Ecotopian Philosophical Novel by James Pacifico

Because you accept the truth, others shall lie about you and slander your reputation. Because you seek light, others shall keep you in the darkness and hide what little truth they have from you. Because you love life and live love, others shall hate you and try to hurt you. You are Rainbow Warriors. You shall conquer the foe, Babylon, and your children shall solve all the problems of the Earth. You are glorious brothers and sisters in your battle with death and evil. You all shall be victorious!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685171483

Book preview

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THE SYNERMERGENCY

A Clarion Call to Anything but Arms

James Pacifico

Copyright © 2021 by James Pacifico

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Kayo’s Journal: Segment 1

Kayo’s Journal: Segment 2

Kayo’s Journal: Segment 3

Kayo’s Journal: Segment 4

Kayo’s Journal: Segment 5

Kayo’s Journal: Segment 6

Philosophy/New Age

Prologue

We are entering a fantasy world, a realm of beauty and peace. In this world, human beings live together in harmony and coopetition. Individuality and social responsibility merge to form a dynamic and evolving society. This world is the planet Earth—the Earth of the late twenty-first century. The human beings of the Earth have survived a great and complex global crisis, and now they are beginning to forget what it was like before the crisis and how catastrophe was averted.

This fantasy world is a reality of dreams and dream images. The filter we view this world through is the matrix of our own experience. We can’t anticipate what this future will be like. We can hardly imagine what the nature of the world crisis is, even today. Conceptualizing the solution is going to be a whole new challenge.

We’re going to leave all of our prejudices here at the door. Additionally, we’re going to put on our thinking caps and open up our imaginations all the way. We’re only tourists here, humble visitors from the Dark Ages; we really can’t relate to what’s going down, but if we keep quiet and keep our eyes open, we might learn something. Perhaps without knowing it.

Our host, whom we’ll meet soon, is Kayo Stone Eagle, a post-SYNERMERGENCY individual working to build a life in the last quarter of the twenty-first century. His partner is Cassana Rain Child, lover and friend. She is our hostess. They live in the fictitious town of Alpine Vista, Colorado, in ecopod housing. This is where eight couples and their families (or seventy-five individuals) dwell in ultraefficient, ecologically-interfacing habitats. These units are basically self-contained and recycle nearly everything on-site. Ecopod communities are waste-free and environmentally appropriate.

Within one of the dwelling units of the ecopod, Kayo and Cassana make their home. They are a young couple, as of yet childless. With their neighbors and friends, they form a tightly interactive community of men, women, and children. They meet once a week for council, and there is a constant interactive mail system in use on the computers for council issues. These bulletin board and message systems are the basis of exchange for most communications in the ecopod. The community does what is best for its members, not merely what is supposedly best for the so-called leaders.

This clan or tribal way of living is the most ancient way that people have formed societies. It’s also the most effective, providing for the care of children, orphans, the sick, and the old. This way of living together also eliminates much of the greed and competition often associated with societies where the individual is the basic social component. Kayo and Cassana are not leaders of their community, but members.

Each dwelling unit is different. Some are like caves, some like jungles, some resemble the mountains. Others seem like the desert; a few are like swamps. Some are Japanese gardens, others cottages. Some dwelling units appear to be luxurious homes with the fine furnishings. Others look like castles. Each unit is uniquely constructed and ecoscaped.

One of Kayo’s occupations is that of an educator. As part of this career, he has been instructed to lend his talents to a course on THE SYNERMERGENCY. This is something he knows very little about and can hardly relate to. This task is very challenging for Kayo. He tries to simplify the history of the crisis, but it is actually very complex. Why did people get together like they did in the 1990s? Why was the turn of the millennium such a profound time in the history of the world? Why did the situation get so bad in the first place?

Kayo has a hard time understanding all of this information. He has average intelligence—no more, no less. Still, the complexities and subtleties seem to add up to a total that’s greater than the sum total of the basic elements involved. Herein lies the key principle of synergy. We learn that the Super-crisis itself and the solutions to it were all holistic. Suddenly, nothing’s as simple as it seemed, and everything affected everything else. During the Super-crisis itself, we learn, very few people understood this.

One evening, soon, we’ll find Kayo beginning a SYNERMERGENCY journal. The journal is being recorded onto a laserdisc from an interactive video/computer terminal. Kayo’s character is one glimpse of the future of man. Cassana is one vision of future woman. Kids, of course, are always what they’re allowed to be. We’ll meet Kayo, who’s preparing his notes in a brief period of time. First, though, we’ll find out a bit more about this place we’re visiting.

Kayo and Cassana’s ecopod is located in a beautiful alpine valley in Northern Colorado. Majestic Mt. Kessly and Mt. Kujala, with their glaciers, dominate the small, steep valley. Clouds often press down from the sky, enshrouding the massive peaks and travelling rapidly, dispensing precipitation. This valley is Kegoshinawana Hoti Bejusanaka, the sacred valley of perpetual protection and excellent acoustics, in the ancient language of the fictional Ungown tribe, which inhabited the area seven centuries ago. The White Man (who was not fictional) first called the place Devil’s Valley.

Nearly five thousand human beings now inhabit this valley. They have their fair share of problems but are directed toward solving them in a positive way. For example, the place is too crowded. With no airport, access to Alpine Vista is often difficult or impossible. Supply shortages encourage boarding of all commodities. Winters are laced with periods of being snowed in, with no access in or out of town. The roads become so blocked with snow, sleds and snowmobiles are used for transportation.

The people of Alpine Vista, like people everywhere in the world, solve their problems cybernetically. They do so without arguing, without fighting. They accomplish this by sharing their thoughts and feelings about issues, honestly, with everyone. And by becoming aware of everyone’s thoughts and feelings on the issues before passing judgment and laying blame. That’s just one technique of keeping the peace and order, of fostering progress in OmniHumanity. THE SYNERMERGENCY gave the world so many, many more.

Every year, on August 10, the good people of Alpine Vista get outside in the warm summer sun and celebrate Juan Fuentes Day. Of course, Juan Fuentes was the author of THE SYNERMERGENCY. He and his famous book changed the course of history. Everyone in this world knows these facts. Juan was an ordinary human being. Some had said he had no potential; others had said worse. He was never educated formally, and he had no money. Few took him seriously at first. Yet those who did were the True Rainbow Warriors of the Super-crisis, those who did were destined to change the world. Those who were destined to save the planet—the catalysts.

On August 10, the day that THE SYNERMERGENCY was supposedly first published, Kayo and Cassana hit the streets of Alpine Vista and party with the entire town, because it’s a day of celebration and community fellowship. All kinds of folks show up, the party lasts all day and all night; it’s beautiful and the stars are out, the moon is a waxing crescent, and before it vanishes behind Mt. Kujala, there is the soft echo of a flute reverberating through the valley, accentuating the firm rhythms of conga drums and steel drums. In this moment, the incense burns and the bonfires rage upon the hillsides and the people, who may hide from each other or do whatever the rest of the year, reassert themselves on a tribal basis.

On Juan Fuentes Day (or SYNERMERGENCY Day), the world dances. People allow themselves to do whatever it is exactly that they want to do. A true celebration of freedom, a ritual of indulgence. For some, the day is for partying and rowdiness. For others, SYNERMERGENCY Day has deep spiritual implications and is seen as a religious occasion. Still others perceive the day as merely traditional, like Armed Forces Day or President’s Day. A few don’t think much about it, except for the fact that the post offices are closed and the mail doesn’t get through. Everyone, though, gets the day off from working, and nearly all the people come out and socialize with the other members of their community.

And on this night, at this particular moment, there is a sense of unity and togetherness and love that is nothing short of magic. The ancients did not realize that this experience—the experience of the OmniHuman family—was the goal, not the means to the end. During the battle of THE SYNERMERGENCY, peace and love were code words and attitudes that were striven for. Not necessarily weapons against tyranny.

Yet here we have peace and love worldwide, on this night, and it’s a really beautiful thing. And there are no fireworks because the night is Livicated to nature. The gathering is happening as a natural communal event rather that a commemoration of a war. The emphasis is on the community rather than the struggle of THE SYNERGENCY.

We are hovering a few hundred meters above the ecopod community where Kayo and Cassana dwell together. The air is fresh and clean, but thin. Remember, we’re almost five kilometers above sea level here in the Rockies. The wind is crisp and feels cold against the skin. The sun has set hours ago behind the massif of Mt. Kujala, giving welcome relief to the sunburned revelers. Now they bundle up in sweaters or cloaks or thin jackets and tend to stay close to the bonfires. The summer nights of Alpine Vista are like the winter nights in Fiji or the Kona coast.

The people of the town are diverse. The community boasts an eclectic variety of cultures, subcultures, and countercultures. This diversity and expressiveness of the people is reflected in their styles of dress, mannerisms, and attitudes. As in the whole of later twenty-first century Earth, freedom reigns. Down in the streets below our lofty perspective are the citizens and inhabitants of Alpine Vista. They are each unique—no two look the same. Many are bizarre or rakish or eccentric. Many more are subdued and bland in their attitudes and appearance. Most are calm; some are excited.

There is no racial tension in Alpine Vista. Representatives of all Earth racial groups are present in Alpine Vista, though there are more Euro-Americans and Hispanics than other races here. The people on the whole accept that they are all brothers and sisters genetically sharing a common bloodline back to an African Eve who was the mitochondrial progenitor of all contemporary human beings. The rainbow of the races shines brightly in Alpine Vista.

Directly below us is the ecopod community we’ll be visiting within the course of our visit here in Alpine Vista, Colorado. The place looks like a cluster of geodesic domes. Each dome is dozens of meters in diameter and proportionate height. Lights are visible upon the outside of some of the domes. These domes are the community living areas, the water bath gardens, engineered marsh, library/media center, workshops, and council center.

Surrounding the larger middle dome are eight somewhat smaller domes. These domes are two levels high and house ten persons. Each are separated by several meters of space yet connected (at several levels) by enclosed walkways with transparent roofs. Surrounding the entire community, which houses seventy-five persons is a most approximately five meter in width, used as a reservoir for fresh water and as part of a system to catch rainwater. The area between the center dome and the most is masterfully xeriscaped, featuring dozens of species of plants, rock gardens, and tasteful fountain that actually wastes much less water than it appears to, by using compressed air.

Each of the smaller domes, called pods, contain wrap-around outdoor decks on two stories. These decks are accessible from solariums within the domes, visible sliding glass doors. A few people are out barbecuing on the higher deck of one of the pods, laughing and enjoying the evening. The delicious scent of teriyaki chicken, minestrone soup, and fresh bread wafts upward to tantalize us as we survey the area, floating here above the town.

On the western and northern exposures of the community are erected a five-kilometer-long row of huge posts. These posts are within ten meters of the other ecopods. In late September, these will become snow fences to block the thousands of tons of snow that drift through the valley and threaten the domes in winter. The posts are decorated and carved by chainsaws like totem poles, each a work of art and an expression of the townfolk’s sense of beauty and awe of nature. Each post has a name.

Several outbuildings are visible around the perimeter of the ecopods. It is now obvious that there are several domes, which are apparently used for vehicles and machinery. These are all communally owned. One dome appears to be an aircraft hangar, with a runway leading from it. Another serves as a boathouse, for the ecopod community lies adjacent to a lake. Mystic Vision Lake, it is called. Several other ecopod communities are nearby to this one, and each are slightly different. In fact, the one we’ll be visiting is one of the less fancy examples of ecopod living. It’s also one of the smaller communities.

A magnificent domed community adorns the center of the lake, with two high, gracefully-arching bridges providing access. This community is called Villa Bonita and contains 350 residents. Villa Bonita appears to be carved from jade and emeralds for the domes and crystalline spires are of a deep and natural shade of green. Fountains, lights, and delightful aromas surround the island. Villa Bonita is the centerpiece of the town, the site of most of the hotels and restaurants, the seat of the town government.

Each ecopod home, in general, is shared by eight persons or can be divided into groups of two-to-four-person apartments. Each of these home units accesses a semiprivate water bath garden, which is used in processing and cleansing the (continuously recycled) water supply. Each also has its own laundry facility, greenhouse dome, and outdoor balcony desk. Each apartment unit typically has a kitchen, two or three bedrooms, extra toilet room, dining hall, office, storage room, and a main living area.

Energy is harvested from the sun, wind, and water and is stored in batteries. Additional electricity is generated from biogas-powered generators. Most food is grown on site. Water is distilled and recycled through the water bath garden’s engineered marshes. Waste and waste products are used to cultivate edible plants and animals, flowers, and to feed pets. The air is filtered, ionized, and temperature controlled. Insects are controlled by strategic use of plants, other organisms, and high-frequency sound.

Since we are visitors from about one hundred years ago (and the Darkest Ages at that!), we must exercise a certain sense of caution as to the opinions we develop and the judgments we make in this tour. All that we know to be correct may be in a sense incorrect. All that we imagine is right may be in a sense wrong. What gets life along to the next generation is more important than dearly and sentimentally-held beliefs, opinions, and philosophies. This is something we should all remember. We’re in this together to survive. That’s what counts, much more than what our grandparents told us was right and wrong.

And look at where we’re coming from! The last decade of the twentieth century as measured by the calendar of Pope Gregory. The 1990s, people call the nineties. Even though we’re up here above the town of Alpine Vista, Colorado, our heads are still in the nineties. Our world view is from the nineties, and our paradigms are twentieth-century paradigms. We can’t relate to these futuristic people and their futuristic world. Half of us are broke or in debt. Hey, in forty years, it’s estimated that the planet itself will become unlivable. In a decade or two, we’ll reach the point of no return, then no matter what we do, it’s eco-catastrophe. We’ll probably be hiding from nature in totally sealed dome habitats under and ozoneless sky. Global warming will cause the flooding of the major coastal cities, and millions will become refugees. All this because of gasoline-burning cars, greed-induced rainforest destruction, the omni-greedy petrochemical industry, mis-, dis-, and noncommunication, and a few other by-products of anti-OmniHumanity.

Some, enraged, will want to make the guilty anti-OmniHumanitarians pay now in their own lifetimes. What price for the crime of ruining the Earth? What penalty for those who led the rape the Earth movement? Capital crimes, readers; we’re considering capital crimes.

But we don’t know this yet, because we’re from the nineties, and we are way out of touch as to what is going down. This is an important item to remember as we journey through this scenario. We should not forget that it is we who have nearly killed the Earth. We have paid the corporations to do it, and so we don’t have a clue as to how on Earth to fix the goddess-forsaken mess that we’re experiencing, being from the nineties. We’re clueless, truly arrogant. Our minds must be open to take this trip to catch this tiny glimpse of a future world we may be able to build for our grandkids. Our minds must disregard the Old World ways if we are to learn.

This visit will be what we make of it, to be sure. Since we’re from the twentieth century, it will be tempting to criticize everything we see, perhaps even make a big joke out of it. This type of reaction is partly what got us into THE SYNERGENCY to begin with. Remember, this is a glimpse of the future, not an analysis or a critical report. Kayo and Cassana are typical individuals, no more and no less. They are merely average citizens—prosaic, rooted in the mundane.

Since we’re up here floating above Alpine Vista, the reader may be wondering what we may expect to happen next. The answer is, nothing. This is our glimpse of the future—fleeting, all-too-brief. This journey is a reconnaissance mission into the future. A fight of fancy, a vortex of ideas and concepts that crystalize somehow into a world of what we see as a strange reality. We can expect nothing from this expedition except the certainty of our inevitable return. A return to the problems we’ve left behind in the twentieth century. A return to THE SYNERMERGENCY.

As we view the town, time begins to accelerate. Night turns to morning, and the activity of the town begins for another day. From our perspective, the people below move in fast motion, now becoming a blur. Night falls once again, the lights of the town illuminating the domes and other structures of Alpine Vista Day, and the sun tracks rapidly across the sky, setting behind Mt. Kujala in the west.

Night passes in the blink of an eye. Almost instantaneously now, the sun reappears in the east, as the western hemisphere faces toward the solar orb. Sunset again.

Days become seconds as we moved rapidly into the future. Helicopters and other aircraft move across the sky like mosquitos. Clouds appear and are gone in a magic dance of swirling vapor. The moon, illuminating the sky every night, wanes over the course of several day flashes and reappears as a month goes by in a moment’s time. It’s now September, and the leaves of the aspen trees are beginning to turn gold. The clouds become more frequent and denser as they deposit their Colorado monsoon rains. Now October, the air becomes scented with the incense of burning aspen, pine, and fir.

Suddenly, the ecopod community of Kayo and Cassana catches fire. The flames spread from the center out and are contained by the moat. A few seconds later, the debris is cleared away. People can’t even be seen coming or going as time becomes a blur. Snow falls as November arrives. A new ecopod community is erected where the old one had stood. Snow falls again and again, blanketing the small mountain town in a thick layer. Dense clouds dominate the sky, reducing the light and making the days seem dark and somewhat gloomy. The air is bitter cold.

Several blizzards blow through the town, when nothing moves. It takes a few days to dig out after one of these snowstorms. By the moon, it’s December, and the days are becoming sunnier. As we move into January, then February, the snow begins to melt but in March, more blizzards move through and the town, which hasn’t quite thawed out yet, is once again buried by the snow. Through April, the snow begins to melt off, but the rains return and fog covers the land in the mornings.

The landscape begins to awaken from its winter hibernation. The sun once again fills the sky with light and warmth. The moon shines brightly through clear skies, and rainbows may be seen after storms. In June, it gets warm enough to call pleasant. Now summer, the more direct sunlight threatens to burn us, appearing as it does like a strobe light. The air smells like pine trees and rain as the moon takes us through July and into August once again. A year has passed by in a few breaths.

Time suddenly stops. It’s a kind day in August. Very few clouds in the sky. People coming and going beneath us, a hand glider sails by us, nearly at the same altitude. As the glider passes, the pilot seems not to notice us as she passes within a dozen meters, heading south, looking for a thermal updraft. She finds one and begins to spiral upward, taking her farther and farther away as she climbs out of sight.

It’s tiresome to stay up here. For me it is anyway. Let’s go back down and relax maybe get a drink.

As we descend, we see clearly that there is no litter or pollution in Alpine Vista. Back down to Earth, we can now more fully appreciate the beauty of this nice little mountain town. The streets are no different from city streets in the twentieth century, except for all the colorful, hand-painted robots out cleaning up, and the variety of two-, three-, and four-wheeled motor vehicles. From electrics to classic muscle cars burning methanol, trucks, motorcycles. and all-terrain vehicles are all the same type and are apparently driverless taxis, vending machines on eight wheels that allow the traveler to pay by the mile to drive the taxi around town.

We walk to a street corner and ask an electronic sign about nearby restaurants. A voice replies, and a video screen