Mother Cultural teaches that a savior is what we need--some giant St. Arnold Schwarzenegger who is a sort of combination of Jesus, Jefferson, Dali Lama, Pope, Gandhi, Gorbachev, Napoleon, Hitler, and Stalin all roled into one. The other six billion of us, according to Mother Culture, are helpless to do anything. We must wait quietly until St. Aronld arrives.

Daniel Quinn teaches that no single person is going to save the world. Rather (if it's saved at all), it will be saved by millions (and ultimately billions) of us living in a new way. A thousand living in a new way won't cause the dominant world order to topple.. But a thousand will inspire a hundred thousand, who will inspire a million, who will inspire a billion--and then that world order will begin to look a little shaky!

I say again that, because we don't expect to overthrow governments, abolish world capitalism, make civilization vanish, turn everyone in the world into walking buddhas, or cure all social and economic ills, we don't have to wait for anything. If ten people walk beyond civilization and build a new sort of life for themselves, then those ten are already living in the new paradigm, from the first day. They don't need the support of an organization. They don't need to belong to a party or a movement. They don't need new laws to be passed. They don't need permits. They don't need a constitution. They don't need tax exempt status. For those ten, the revolution will have succeeded.

-Beyond Civilization, by Daniel Quinn, published in 1999