The Coulmbia River Bar

Ten miles west of Astoria, the Columbia River’s leisurely 5 knots collide with the wind-driven breakers and punishing currents of the Pacific Ocean. 265,000 cf/s of fresh water push against the incoming swell, generating a frightful bar of lawless, ship-wrecking waves. Two of the world’s greatest natural forces clash 24/7. In the graveyard of the Pacific, there is never peace.

Humans cross a cultural bar now, an evolutionary bar. Evidence for it is to be found in political turmoil here, as well as in disruptions worldwide and at all levels, from mass migrations to #MeToo, from genocide to the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to campaigners against sexual violence. Humankind is in the throes of monumental transformation.

Having filled the Earth, we have no choice but to reinvent ourselves. Behaviors and institutions that served us when our population was small and when entire societies were vulnerable to Nature now threaten our well-being. Over-population alone inflicts irreparable damage to other species, their habitats and resources we and our children need.

So, we’re in the push-and-pull of metamorphosis. Squabbles and fights are normal. War is to be avoided. Everyone searches for a light to guide us through the torturous eddies, to give us insights and easy solutions to global problems, like the rising seas and horrific storms, like the arms buildup and male belligerence.

But no one can help us cross this bar because humans have never filled the Earth before. We must find our own way. The only accounts that may help are from peoples who filled large islands. Did they manage to live within the limits of their resources? Or did they fight over scraps until civilization collapsed?

Crete and Easter are large islands with enough resources to be self-sustaining. In their day, they were far enough from other lands to be invulnerable to attack. Defensive armies and weapons became superfluous. Men, whose main justifications for leadership and dominance had been to protect society, lost their power and importance.

Earth has filled-up. No aliens attack. Male leadership and male dominance threaten our survival.

Take the Rapa Nui of Easter Island, who retained their male-dominated culture. A high chief ruled over 15,000 inhabitants divided into seven tribes. The tribes competed endlessly, building the famous standing heads, the Moai. Winning was all that mattered. They bred irresponsibly and consumed resources recklessly – anything for status. Soon denuded of trees, the soil eroded and couldn’t support a large population. Fights over resources led to war and cannibalism. Population plummeted to a few thousand hopelessly impoverished survivors.

The Minoans on Crete took a different path. Women assumed leadership, and for the next 1,100 years, civilization prospered. Arts and culture thrived. The friezes of battles and statues of warriors that are common in male dominated societies were absent. Peace prevailed. Social and economic inequalities were minor. Life was rich and women were safe.

Throughout our long existence, humans automatically deferred to the warriors and conquerors. Men captained the ship that got us to prosperity . . . and now to the bar. But we look beyond the bar, toward a new land, one we never imagined, to opportunities for freedom and creativity that could never exist inside a male-dominate economy. We just need to get this behemoth across the bar, to get out of its confining hold, to escape the captain’s lash so we can dive into the challenges of building a peaceful, sustainable society.