THE FINAL EMPIRE: THE COLLAPSE OF CIVILIZATION AND THE SEED OF THE FUTURE

by WM. H. KÖTKE

If you would like to further the creation of this work, please send donations to William Kötke 785 Barton Road Glendale, Oregon 97442 or emailquery to wmkotke@gmail.com . Telephone 1-541-832-2886. The first chapter of The Final Empire is freely made available below. It is not to be reproduced for profit.

William H. Kotke's new book, Garden Planet, is available in both paperback and as an electronic book for downloading! See details, a review, and pricing here.

William H. Kötke is author of Garden Planet: The Present Phase Change of the Human Species, available at www.gardenplanetbook.com Amazon, Barnes and Noble and retail bookstores. He is also the author of the newly reprinted underground classic, The Final Empire: The Collapse of Civilization and the Seed of the Future, which may be seen at www.thefinalempirebook.com or can be purchased at your local bookstore.

Table of Contents:The Final Empire

THE COLLAPSE OF CIVILIZATION

Pt. 1: THE HISTORY OF DISINTEGRATION

Collapse on the Periphery 1

Collapse From the Center 9

The Record of Empire 12

Chapter 2. The End of Civilization 17

An Inheritance of Destruction 19

China 20

Indus River Valley 21

The Indo-Europeans of Central Asia 21

The Empires of Greece and Rome 22

Pt. 2:THE COLLAPSE OF THE ECOSYSTEM

Chapter 3. Soil: The Basis of Life

The Organic Rights

The Soil 26

The Process of Soil Collapse 28

Exhaustion 29

Soil Compaction 31

Soil Erosion 33

Soil Abuse by Grazing: Herding, The Hooved Locusts 35

Desertification 40

Irrigation Projects: Green Today, Gone Tomorrow 41

The Damn Dams 44

Chapter 4. The Forest 49

How the Forests Went Down 51

Deforestation Follows the March of Empire 54

The Poison Air, The Poison Rain 54

The Vanishing Tropical Rainforest 55

The Planetary Greenhouse 56

The Failing Ozone Layer 57

Chapter 5. The Phantom Agriculture 59

Industrial Agriculture 62

Living on Oil-The Green Revolution 66

The Monocultural Instability 67

The Seeds of Monoculture 69

The Starvation that is Called Progress 71

The Inventory 76

Chapter 6. The Dying Oceans 79

Ocean Pollution 80

Ecological Sinks are the Sores of the Earth 83

Chapter 7. Extinction of Life by Species Increment 85

Pt. 3: THE EXHAUSTION OF THE INDUSTRIAL EMPIRE

Chapter 8. Population, Poisons, and Resources 91

The Human Population Disaster 91

The European Population Explosion 93

The Industrial Poisons 94

The Case of Poland 98

Modern Living Environments are Toxic 100

Municipal Waste 101

Toxic Industrial Waste 102

Radioactive Waste 103

The Profits and Losses of Empire 106

Poison and the Morality of Empire 107

The Fuels of Empire 108

The Minerals of Empire 111

Elite Control of the Industrial Process 112

Pt. 4:THE ANALYSIS OF EMPIRE CULTURE

Chapter 9. The Cultural Dynamics of Empire 120

The Cultural Inversion 122

The Dynamic Cultural Factors 124

The Cosmology of Empire 127

Chapter 10. The Psychology of Empire 133

Human Life is Severed From its Source 134

Disorder in the Society of Cells 134

The Failure of Bonding 139

Free Floating Anxiety: The Negative Psychological State of "Civilization" 141

The Crisis of Identity 144

The Anguish of Sexual Love in the Empire 146

A Culture of Violence 148

Institutionalizing the Masses 149

The Social Isolate Becomes An "Individualist" 152

The End of Empire 154

Chapter 11. The History of Modern Colonialism 159

The Invasion of The Americas 160

The Onset of Machine Culture 164

The End of Peasant Subsistence Culture 165

The Conquest of Rationalism 168

Europe Explodes Across the Earth 170

Slavery and Empire 174

The World-Wide Extermination of Natural Culture 178

Opium and Empire 179

The Rubber Boom 183

Chapter 12. Colonialism In the Modern World 189

Zaire: The Congo Atrocity Evolves 189

Antarctica: Empire at the End of the World 191

Empire in the Modern World: Managed Opinion 193

Controlling the Colony 194

Creation of the "Internationalist" Empire 196

Booklist for Volume I

Volume II: THE SEED OF THE FUTURE

Vol.II Pt. 1: CREATING A WHOLE LIFE

Chapter 13. The Principles of Life 205

The Moral Basis of the Life of the Earth 205

Balance is the Foundation of Life 206

The Cycles of Life 209

Life Cooperates 211

The Consciousness of Life is Creative 212

The Psychobiological Perspective 213

The Cult of Science 214

All Is Mind 215

From the Unseen to the Seen: The Manifestation of Material Reality in the Hopi View 216

The Illusion of Matter 219

What is it that Creates Forms? 220

The Creation of Form-Morphic Resonance 223

Does the Life of the Earth Have a Plan? 227

The Social Conditioning of Human Health 228

The Medical Question of Identity 233

Chapter 14. Culture As Organism 237

The Cultivated Life 237

Culture is an Energy Code 241

Human Culture is the Womb that Bears the Individual 243

The Birthright of Identity 244

The Morality of the Cell (Our Ancestor) 245

Vol. 2 - PT. 2: LIVING ON THE EARTH

Chapter 15. The Life of The Tribe 247

Living in Harmony 248

The Tukano: A Primal Adaptation 248

Peace With the Earth 252

Non-Hierarchical Self-Government of Natural Societies 256

The Essene Community: An Example of an Integrative Womb 260

Integrating Ourselves and the New Culture 262

The Security of Children in the Extended Family 266

Awareness is Power 267

Reality Conditioning 268

Communication is Relationship 270

The Pleasure of Life 272

Healthy Culture: Glimpses From the Past 274

Chapter 16. The Restoration of the Life of the Earth 279

The Simplicity 280

The Adaptation of the Most Ancient Ancestors: Rainforest Permaculture 281

The Complexity 282

Beyond the European Row-Crop Garden: A Look at Some Recent Methods 284

Food From Trees 285

Spirulina: The Sunlight and Water Food 286

The Ecological Health Garden 287

The 'Do Nothing' Farmer 288

European Mystic Gardening 290

Findhorn: Communication With the Spirit of Life 291

Chapter 17. Permanent Desert Culture

The Forager Example 295

Sedentary Example 299

Chapter 18. Choosing Reality

Claiming Our Birthright 309

The Civilized Alien 310

Gaia's History 312

The Moment of Opportunity 314

Vol. 2 - PT. 3: ON THE WATERSHED

Chapter 19. The Natural History of the Watershed of the San Francisco River 319

The Elevational Life Zones 321

The Moisture 323

Life Before Empire 325

The Fire Regime 327

The Human History 328

Transition to Sedentariness: The Kiva People 331

True Forager/Hunters: The Apache 335

The Arrival of Empire: The Story of the Last Native People on the Watershed 344

The Ecological Effects of Colonization 348

Chapter 20. Planetary-Watershed Restoration 359

Forage Farming: A Permaculture of the San Francisco River Watershed 359

Specific Water Retention Strategies 363

The Trees 365

Placing the Tree 367

A Walk Up the Watershed 369

The Habitation 378

The Mattole Watershed: One Example of Restoration 381

On the Watershed: Some Practical Considerations 384

Time To Move 385

Creating the Future 386

On to Chapter 1

About the author, WM. H. KÖTKE

William H. Kotke's new book, Garden Planet, is fresh off the presses available both in paperback and as an electronic book for down;oading! See details, a review, and pricing here.

Garden Planet: The Present Phase Change of the Human Species, is also available at www.gardenplanetbook.com Amazon, Barnes and Noble and retail bookstores. He is also the author of the newly reprinted underground classic, The Final Empire: The Collapse of Civilization and the Seed of the Future, which may be seen at www.thefinalempirebook.com or purchased from your favorite bookstore.



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