Our collapsing civilization has been shedding its core beliefs by the dozens for decades now. Concepts such as civic duty, ethical behavior, the greater good, compassion and selflessness litter our wake through history like discarded snake skins cast off as we swelled up from our relentless pursuit of money, luxury and power. Oddly, while we seem eager to shed these essential qualities — traits that made us prosperous in the first place — we still cling to, and loudly profess, other beliefs that assure our downfall.

These articles of faith cut across party lines, ideological differences, racial and economic strata. Among them the most deeply revered, and increasingly the most problematic, is the notion of the sanctity of life.

Preserving and extending life at all costs makes less and less sense in a world that is increasingly overcrowded and depleted. I make that statement knowing that it is deeply offensive to almost every ideology, and heretical to every religion. I will try to make the argument amid the rising chorus of boos that I imagine coming from just outside my locked and barricaded office door.

First let me tell you where this argument is NOT going. It is NOT headed toward any form of population control by any government entity. I would suggest some changes in government policy, religious edicts, and above all societal norms, not because I think they will save our world — it’s too late for that — but in the name of rationality, harmony, and doing a better job next time.

Okay? Here, breathe into this paper bag for a minute and we’ll continue.

Reverence for life at any cost is knitted into the fabric of every religion. Now, while I am not going to favor the repeal of the commandment against murder — the social and spiritual benefits of that one are undeniable — we would do well to look askance at the imprecations against suicide. Cursing suicide with eternal damnation, forbidding doctors (or anyone else) to ease and assist the process, and using every public relations channel available to rail against it — these things work to assure that people by the thousands who would just as soon end their life, do not get the chance to do so.

It is universally accepted that death is the worst thing that can happen to a person. It is not. Not for the person, and not for the society. It is widely believed that suicides are mentally ill. Not so. The decision often makes perfect sense.

If we were a smart society, we would use our resources to affirm the decision of rational people to end their lives, to make it easy and comfortable for them, and thus lighten not only their burden but the increasingly crushing burdens on our civilization. Instead, we bemoan rising suicide rates — they have increased by 25% in the US in 17 years — and pay for more hotlines and more interventions in what may be sensible personal choices.

As our government, and governments around the world, fight to prevent death even when it is the choice of the person concerned, so they battle to encourage birth, even when it is not the choice of the parents involved. I would just as soon not get into the sulfurous fires of the abortion disputation here, but talk instead about more general policies about family size.

Birth rates are declining everywhere, especially in developed countries, and those countries are panic-stricken by the trend. While ignoring rising seas, spreading deserts, teeming slums and burning forests, governments everywhere are desperate to raise the birth rate, thus increasing the demands that cause all of the above. The reason they give, every time, is that we have to breed enough workers to support the rising number of retired people needing benefits funded by payroll taxes.

Meanwhile society spends billions developing products and medical practices that can claim to increase our life expectancy, thus — if they worked — making sure that more and more of us will spend more and more time sucking benefits from the bloodstream of the nation. Yet despite their efforts, like expectancy in the United States has declined for two years running.

Permaculture teaches us to observe nature closely, to try to understand what nature is doing, before we intervene. Human nature, worldwide and in America, is tending toward lower birth rates and shorter lives — in sum, fewer people. Maybe human nature knows something we have not yet grasped.