The Sad Story of How Humanity Became Sad

Hi Everyone,

This is the first article in a series on Kincentricity. It is mirrored at: https://kincentricmeditation.com which will take you to the Bromley Mindfulness website. As that is a new redirect, you may have to visit it here: https://bromleymindfulness.org.uk/kincentric-meditation I will post on here and there simultaneously.

Our Ancestral Connection to Nature

For millions of years, our ancestors lived in small family groups in nature.

We know this because our nearest relatives, Chimpanzees and Bonobos, from whom we split evolutionarily about 5 million years ago, still live this way. Similarly, humans who have never encountered civilization which we call hunter-gatherers, also live this way.

The Principle of Kincentricity

We have evolved as creatures that live in small family groups immersed in nature, with a deep and intimate connection to the natural world. Our ancestors believed that all living things are part of one family. We can see this from the hunter-gatherers that still exist. Wherever they are in the world, there is the belief that all living things are related. This belief is known as Kincentricity.

The Birth of the Cities

Over time, the human skill of collaboration led to a collective intelligence which allowed us to become the predominant species on planet Earth. Humans aren't born with intelligence; it is passed down through the generations as education. Our close cooperation made us so successful that we overpopulated our natural environment, formed larger and larger groups, and eventually cities came about. This all happened in what is the blink of an eye in evolutionary terms.

If 5 million years were a single day, our ancestors from the time of the split from the other primates would have lived in cities for only 90 seconds.

Forgetting our Natural Roots

During the growth of civilization, we somehow managed to forget our deep connection through kinship to the natural world. We've lost our Kincentric worldview. This knowledge was lost in the same way as many other things that make us human, such as our collaboration and compassion, which have been replaced with competition and hoarding.

The Suffering of Disconnection

We now find ourselves in a difficult place, both personally and as a species. To end this suffering we're creating, we must rediscover our true place in nature. Rather than viewing nature as something external to us that is there for our use, we must reconnect to nature. If we don't, and if we continue to treat nature as a resource to be consumed and discarded, our time on this planet becomes limited.

This disconnection also underpins our personal suffering.

The Power of Connection

By losing our natural sense of connection to nature, we've lost one of the most important components of our humanity. The end result is sadness. We can feel alone, rejected, isolated, and lonely because we believe we are separate. Even if we don't feel lonely or fear isolation, we fear it may become our future.

We may have the knowledge of being related to all living things, while at the same time not truly believing it. The difference between knowing and believing is huge. Just because you can recall a piece of information doesn’t mean you believe it. You will only know that you believe something if you are *acting as though it is true*.

The Path to Reconnection Through Kincentricity

Like all of the greatest secrets, the key to releasing our suffering is in plain view. It's all around us, but we don’t see it because we are not taught to look in the right place. We don't realise that it's there, much like a fish doesn't see water.

We have experienced collective amnesia after becoming immersed in a task-driven life.

It's time to remember and reconnect.

Kincentricity is the answer to our sadness.