Ancient Futures

Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh

by Helena Norberg-Hodge

Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, California, 1991    240 pages

Ladakh is an ancient culture near Tibet, unspoiled by Western civilization - right?  Yes and no is more like it. This Swedish author spent much time living in Ladakh during the 1970s and 1980s. She describes for us experiences of this culture’s successful practical lifestyle in which needs were met locally, extended families provided support, and people were mostly happy.

She next expresses her dismay at witnessing the early exposure to Western ideals and the tendency among the younger generation to desire its symbols (such as blue jeans) and to feel shame about their “backwardness.” Her observations cover the migration of many to the cities for jobs to buy these symbols and the march of “progress” into every corner of the society, aiming to dismantle it and the roots, so to speak.

The true “learning from Ladakh” that Norbert-Hodge offers comes from the project in which she is cooperatively involved. Together with other Westerners, she has been instrumental in educating Ladakhis about environmental, social, financial, health and other problems created in the west by its consumption-oriented lifestyle. In describing the search for practical, sustainable lifestyles, the project has demonstrated that Ladakh was actually at the cutting edge, having much to offer the developed world. This realization is helping to increase the self-esteem of the younger generations and is somewhat resuscitating their belief in their own values. While not a total reversal, it has slowed the dismantling of traditional society and provides an ongoing experiment in sustainable change. Mine is the simplistic description, but the book is sophisticated in the treasure that it offers.

-- submitted by Dawn Kurzka

To visit the blog and see more reviews and quotes from books in the collection of Center for Sacred Sciences' Library, click here https://centerforsacredscienceslibrary.blogspot.com