The League

LoMEP: Humany in Better Harmony

We believe humanity and Earth could be getting along a whole lot better. It's time to stop treating this planet like an unlimited buffet.

Deep down, everyone knows this. That's why everyone is already a LoMEP member, it's just that many are too anxious to even peek at the truth.

All we want is to help people become better acquainted with reality. Not by scaring them, but by welcoming them as they are and offering the quiet joy of companionship.

Change is brewing. With 8 billion potential butterflies, each capable of flapping their wings, we think hope is more than justified.

There is no catch.

Nothing needs to be surrendered.

We are not after your beliefs or your money.

There is no plan, other than a plan to make a million plans. Maybe one of them will be good enough to tip the balance.

Everyone is a tiny bit special and if you add the help within you, at least you can say you tried.

Plan 1/1,000,000

Sow a thought, reap an action. 

Sow an action, reap a habit. 

Sow a habit, reap a character. 

Sow a character, reap a destiny.

The Great Un-Knowing

The Enlightenment was a remarkable thing. It lit up the world with reason, with method, with progress. And somewhere along the way, it put mystery in a box and sealed the lid.

We are not here to fight that. We don't fight things. We're mildly eccentric, not angry.

We simply notice that something has been lost. That wonder got quietly shuffled off the stage while no one was watching. That the humanities,  art, philosophy, the awkward questions with no clean answers,  have been made to sit at the back of the room, embarrassed, while technology takes all the chairs.

If you measure a life by the number of bedrooms and cars you possess, then technology is indeed the way forward. We have no quarrel with bedrooms or cars.

But we notice the cost.

We notice that communities have come apart. That certainty has become a kind of prison, and its bars are made of the toughest metal. That the juggernaut of progress, gathering pace for two hundred years now, is charging a price we never agreed to pay.

We propose?

Nothing dramatic. A gentle process. A subtle shift in perspective. We are not here to tear down science or resurrect religion. We are here to notice that mystery never actually went away,  we just stopped paying attention to it.

We would like, very quietly, to remove a few obstacles. The ones that stop ordinary people from finding their own path through the fog. The veils that prevent us from functioning naturally in an increasingly unnatural world.

We believe that ambiguity is a virtue. That curiosity is a virtue. That even hypocrisy,  the honest admission that we hold contradictory truths,  might be a virtue too.

We believe the edge of chaos is the one true path, and that it's a surprisingly pleasant place to walk.

We hold that truth and beauty are both in the eye of the beholder, but one is easier to break.

Our highest aspiration is probable maybe. On ambitious days, we reach the dizzying height of I don't know.

We do not wish to conquer uncertainty. We wish to sit with it. To buy it a cup of tea and see what it has to say.

The Great Un-Knowing will not arrive with trumpets. It will arrive the way all real change arrives, so gently that most people won't notice it happened until afterwards.

And that suits us perfectly.

“Oh, if only it were possible to find understanding,” Joseph exclaimed. “If only there were a dogma to believe in. Everything is contradictory, everything tangential; there are no certainties anywhere. Everything can be interpreted one way and then again interpreted in the opposite sense. The whole of world history can be explained as development and progress and can also be seen as nothing but decadence and meaninglessness. Isn’t there any truth? Is there no real and valid doctrine?”

The master had never heard him speak so fervently. He walked on in silence for a little, then said: “There is truth, my boy. But the doctrine you desire, absolute, perfect dogma that alone provides wisdom, does not exist. Nor should you long for a perfect doctrine, my friend. Rather, you should long for the perfection of yourself. The deity is within you, not in ideas and books. Truth is lived, not taught. Be prepared for conflicts, Joseph Knecht - I can see that they already have begun.”

― Hermann Hesse, The Glass Bead Game

Frequently Asked Questions 

1. How do I join this movement? 

You first need to pass the gruelling entrance exam!

Ready? 

Answer this question: Are you human? 

If you answered YES, then welcome aboard.

2. Why have you excluded the vast majority of species on this planet from joining? That is a fair point, and it is currently under consideration. Who do you think we should invite first: cats, dolphins, or octopuses?

3. Are there secret levels of membership? Absolutely. We love categorizing things. If you take our Eccentricity Test, you'll be able to see exactly what level you land on. The only trouble is, I can't quite remember if a high score is better than a low one. What do you think?

4. I've read the website, but I still don't quite understand what this society is about. Can you enlighten me? Certainly not, mostly because I'm still working it out myself! We are an emerging network of diverse people trying to figure this one out together. What I can say is that we are certain of our uncertainty. We aren't a religion, a political party, a hierarchy, a scam, or a rebellion. We define ourselves by not being "against" anything; we are something new, and we contain multitudes.

5. Are you the leader? I don't think so, and I certainly don't want to be. You're welcome to follow me if you like, but be warned: I haven't a clue where I'm going, which is, of course, the best destination of all. Don't assume I have any wisdom you don't already possess. Your best bet is to follow your own path. Open your mind and crack on with it. And if that sounds like too much effort? Just keep an eye out and keep the potential alive.

6. In the unlikely event of this succeeding, what's to stop it morphing into the opposite of what you wanted? Nothing. Don't assume I "want" any specific thing; it depends on the time of day. Grand declarations about what is "good" can only be made through the lens of history. Now is definitely not the time for that.

7. What is to stop this league from splintering into a thousand different pieces, each thinking they have the best way to save the world? What a beautiful vision! If that happens, I'd consider it an awesome success. There is no single "right" way. It's only by leveraging the power of many smart, dedicated, and mildly eccentric groups that we have a chance of transcending our current mess. There are a lot of options out there, and let's face it, most of them are dead ends.

8. Hasn't someone already created a template for the "novel approach" the league is promoting? People have come close, but I don't think anyone has done it quite like this. Plus, I'm fairly certain they didn't have AI at the time! If you have a brilliant idea, let me know, or better yet, start your own venture.

9. What makes you so certain that your idea is so good, or even different from anything else? The short answer? I'm not certain. In fact, certainty is exactly what we're trying to avoid. Most "great ideas" fail because they become too rigid, too sure of their own brilliance. What makes this different is our willingness to admit we're making it up as we go. We aren't selling a polished solution; we're offering a space to experiment.

10. Is this serious? Or is it a "piss-take"? Because it's getting on my nerves. You've nailed it. It is entirely both. If you're feeling frustrated, I'm starting to suspect you might be suffering from a slight case of being "too normal." Don't worry; it's a communicable disease, but it isn't a chronic condition. I suggest taking the appropriate hygiene measures: take a break, step away, and come back later. Chances are, once you've had some air, you'll find you've gotten over it.

11. You seem to have a downer on leaders. But to succeed, don't you actually need them? Well, yes, you've caught me there. We do need leaders, but they have to be "Goldilocks Leaders." This means they need to be "just right": leaders who don't come in and spoil the party. Usually, this means they are the type of people who don't actually want to be leaders in the first place. I believe they're out there, and hopefully, we'll attract the right ones. Fingers crossed, eh?

12. Have you really thought this through? There are a million ways this could fail. How do you plan to counter that? There is a lot of hard work involved, work I'd honestly rather have someone else do! But looking at previous movements, they usually fail because they become too extreme or get in too much of a hurry. They end up putting a target on their own foreheads, and the "system" inevitably tries to eliminate them. Putting a target on your head is never a good idea.

The other hurdle is inertia, the feeling that problems are too big and complicated for one person to make a difference. That is the hardest nut to crack. Our strategy? Make it fun. If people can play, then perhaps, as a beneficial side effect, something truly good might happen.

13. So, what are your next moves? Besides trying to save the planet? Currently, we are exploring several promising avenues to make the League seem simultaneously more pretentious and more ineffectual, its an exciting challenge If anyone has a brilliant idea along those lines, I'd be delighted to hear it, it is bound to be tremendous fun.

14. I've heard you have ideas for tackling inertia. Can you give me one concrete example of how to help, without a lot of reading? I'll give it a go. Think of the story of the Emperor's New Clothes. You have a powerful person surrounded by people bowing and scraping, and he's wearing nothing at all. The only one with the courage and curiosity to point that out is a child.

In some situations, it just takes the right person. They don't have to be a genius; they just need a solid connection with reality. Everyone has that in them, but don't underestimate how hard it is to go against the grain. Speaking out when everyone else wants you to stay quiet is extremely difficult, but it's where the change begins. 

I don't care to belong to any club that will have me as a member