Sumbiocriticism

A form of symbionist social, cultural and literary criticism that evaluates all contributions from the perspective of their awareness of:

• The degree of interconnectedness between the social world and the biological and ecological systems that support it
• The need to see interconnectedness between current and future generations of humans
• The ability to see the levels of exclusion and inclusion in the degree of interconnectedness in current generations
• The level of awareness of the interconnectedness between different types of beings on this planet
• The ability to convey the idea of a community of beings living together on this Earth
• The contribution to the idea of sumbiosic development and the goal of living within the symbionment and The Symbiocene.

From sumbiosic: 

Those cumulative types of active and purposive relationships and attributes created by humans that enhance mutual interdependence and mutual benefit for all living beings so as to conserve and maximise a state of sumbiosity.

{Greek sumbiosis, companionship, Greek sumbios = living together, Greek bios = life, Greek suffix ic = adjective form of sumbiosity, Pronunciation: ‘soom-bi-o-sic’}

A Symbionmentalist or perhaps, a symbionist?

A person who supports the idea of the Symbionment (the organic and symbiotic interconnections of life that we are active participants in), through active engagement with others and creative acts that promote sumbiosity in the form of ecoculture, ecoagriculture, ecotechnologies and ecodesign in all aspects of our lives. Through sumbiosic development, we maintain our connections within the symbionment and help create The Symbiocene.

We have now got rid of some very difficult concepts that are part of the reason why we have failed to achieve the end state we have historically called sustainability.

An environmentalist = no wonder it is a word that generates disagreement in people. There is no such thing as 'the environment' (see below) so there cannot be an environmentalist!

The environment = if it is defined as all that is outside us, then the fact that the environment is also inside us and that we are inside the environment invalidates its common use as a concept.

Sustainability = has always implied a degree of stability, even rigidity in the human-nature relationship. Sumbiosity by contrast implies process and creative change ... just as we see in natural systems governed by the rules of entropy, evolution and ecology.

Sustainable Development = yes, it was always a dangerous oxymoron. Sumbiosic Development, by contrast, only permits those forms of development that promote endlessly creative sumbiosity.

The Anthropocene = time for this era to end before we do ourselves and the rest of the Earth's biota in.

Symbionment

We do not only live in the environment ... the environment also lives in us. 

If the 'environment' is defined as that which surrounds us, then we do not live within it.

'Symbionment': [Greek sumbiosis, companionship, from sumbioun, to live together, from sumbios, living together : sun-, syn- + bios, life; http://www.thefreedictionary.com/symbiosis] [Ment - a process or condition.]

Therefore, we are all in the symbionment, not the environment.

Symbionment: that condition where we all live together and where companionship between ourselves and other beings is the norm and the basis of the normative.


Our language has evolved on the assumption that we are not in the environment but separate from it. Its time to redirect our language to reflect the reality of our total immersion in nature and natural processes.