The globally imposed extractivist Economy-Law-Governance-Education (ELGE) system obliterates community autonomy, self-reliance, and self-sufficiency, which causes community members to become dependent on the system for everything, including basic needs (food, shelter, plant-based healthcare, essential commodities/ services) and other needs.^[1]  For communities who are no longer self-reliant, they become dependent on the system for livelihoods, food, healthcare, shelter, clothing, resource access, and knowledge transmission (education). This dependence, in turn, enables the system to control and debilitate not only communities through oppressive and disenfranchising laws but also the ecological resources we all rely on for our wellbeing.^[2]

In short, through misappropriation, control, ecocide, and inequity, the extractivist ELGE system severs individuals and communities from their own ecoselves^[3], leading to severe ill-being for humans, other living beings, and the planet.

So, how do we counter this system?

First, it is necessary to understand why and how the system obliterates community self-reliance and self-sufficiency.

Humans living autonomously in self-reliant and/or self-sufficient communities, i.e., communities in which members live ecosymbiotically with each other and within the ecological webs (ecowebs) of which they are a part, are able to make their own food, plant-based medicines, clothes, accommodations, and other essential commodities from the biodiverse resources available in their ecowebs (see [2] and [4]). These communities thus generally create their own livelihoods and Knowledge-Technologies-Practices (Knowtep)^[2] transmission paradigms through autonomous decision-making, without needing to rely on external people or systems. Such community members are creators, not consumers; these communities are ecosymbiotic communities.

Conversely, the extractivist ELGE system is a non-symbiotic system purposely built to exploit human and ecological resources without replenishing them (i.e., an extractivist system), so that a handful of individuals can make unbridled profits. However, unmitigated profit-making by profit-makers, such as corporations, can only occur if the commodities and services they sell become necessary for humans, so that they are obliged to buy these from the profit-makers. In other words, profit-makers can amass wealth only if they turn autonomous, self-sufficient creators into controlled, dependent consumers. Thus, profit-makers sever self-sufficient communities from their ecowebs and misappropriate and privatize these ecowebs for the profit-makers’ exclusive use, so that community members can no longer access their ecoweb resources for self-reliance or autonomously make decisions about resource use and access.^[5] As a result, community members must turn to the extractivist ELGE system for all their needs; they become dependent, controlled consumers.

Given an understanding of how and why the extractivist ELGE system works, how do we do counteract it?

We need to restore community autonomy, self-sufficiency, and self-reliance, which requires that communities be reconnected to their ancestral and/or adoptive ecowebs. One way to accomplish this is through land-based FiveBecomings (Pañchabhūmi) projects.

FiveBecomings is both a framework^[6] and a project component of the Ecosymbionts Regenerate initiative of the Śramani Institute. FiveBecomings  projects are land-based projects with the objective of (re)establishing integrated self-reliant wellbeing for communities by:

1. restoring their ancestral and/or adopted ecowebs;
2. reconnecting them to their ancestral and/or adopted ecowebs; and
3. revitalizing their own local/ Indigenous ecoweb-rooted Knowtep, along with integrating other regenerative Knowtep (together, ecoliving system)^[7].

FiveBecomings projects aspire to be practical demonstrations of how to transform the centralized extractivist ELGE system into decentralized transitional and regenerative systems, in which all aspects of a community’s wellbeing are restored/established in an integrated ecoself- and ecoweb-rooted manner for the community, including:

• living in (ecosymbiosis with) safe and healthy biodiverse ecowebs;
• sustainably accessing culturally relevant biodiverse food and medicines;
• engaging in innovative livelihoods and socioeconomic systems catalyzing dignified self-reliance;
• having (and practicing) autonomous decision-making capability over their own ecowebs and ecoselves;
• implementing ecoliving systems that approach ELGE in ways that are ecoself- and ecoweb-rooted, including circular and local economies;
• enjoying inclusive gender and socioeconomic equity; and
• fulfilling creative and inspiring ecoself expression^[8].

The general site plan of a land-based FiveBecomings project is illustrated in the figure above. In rural contexts, a FiveBecomings commons^[5] lies at the center of surrounding villages that are within an accessible distance (optimally, within 5-15 km). Together, the inhabitants of the villages served by a FiveBecomings project form a Community.

The objectives of a FiveBecomings commons include the following:

• Serve as the center of an ecoself- and ecoweb-rooted integrated Community self-reliance system that anchors and connects surrounding villages of the Community
• Use the quantitative principles of the FiveBecomings framework^[6]  to transform the land into a mostly (if not fully) regenerative biodiverse ecoweb-based system for optimizing integrated self-reliant community wellbeing (ecosymbiotic self-reliance)
• Use the qualitative principles of the FiveBecomings framework to set up modules (Establishings or sectors) on the land that enable community members to understand and express all aspects of their ecoselves in a manner that progressively leads to optimized Community wellbeing
• Revitalize and implement local/ Indigenous Knowtep (while concomitantly restoring biodiverse ecowebs) of the Community where possible, and if/when these are not available supplement with the nearest culturally relevant regenerative Knowtep
• Implement innovative ecoliving systems that approach ELGE in ways that are ecoself- and ecoweb-rooted, including creating a novel model, LivingConfluence^[7], i.e., an income-generating, resource-sharing, co-working, co-learning ELGE entity involving village households, nonprofit cooperatives/ organizations, and outside investors
• Ensure that local/ Indigenous Knowtep-based intergenerational, interpersonal, and intrapersonal learning for children and adults is naturally woven into every aspect of a FiveBecomings project

A FiveBecomings project is spatially divided into five Establishings (sectors), each corresponding to one of the Five Great Evolvers, namely:

• Earth (differentiation)
• Water (cohesion)
• Fire (transformation)
• Air (agitation)
• Ākāś (potential)

To optimize progressive ecoself-rooting of individuals and the Community, the physical nature of and activities undertaken in each Establishing are generally based on both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of each Great Evolver.

Each FiveBecomings project is customized to the ecoweb in which it is anchored and the Community that it serves. In other words, while the general principles underlying the concept of all FiveBecomings projects are the same, each project is implemented in a manner that caters to the particular cultural, ecological, and socioeconomic context and needs of a specific Community, their local/ Indigenous Knowtep, and their ecoweb.

If you or your organization are/is interested in creating a FiveBecomings project for your community or a community near you, please contact us.

1. K. Mitra, 424 Years and Counting: the Global System of Corporate Extractivism, Ecosymbionts all Regenerate Together (EaRTh): DOI-EaRTh092024-010a (24 Sep., 2024) (https://ecosymbiont.org/earth/content/systems/systems-reform/424-years-and-counting-the-global-system-of-corporate-extractivism-1-of-3)

2. K. Mitra, Ecosymbiotic Self-Reliance: Implementing FiveBecomings through Knowtep and Women’s Councils, Ecosymbionts all Regenerate Together (EaRTh): DOI-EaRTh052025-002 (6 May, 2025) (https://ecosymbiont.org/earth/content/regenerative/human-ecoweb-integration/ecosymbiotic-self-reliance-implementing-fivebecomings-through-knowtep-and-womens-councils).

3. K. Mitra, Ecoself: Restoring Our Wellbeing Rooted in Nature and Humanity, Ecosymbionts all Regenerate Together (EaRTh): DOI-EaRTh122024-001 (12 Dec., 2024) (https://ecosymbiont.org/earth/content/systems/ecoweb-rooted-framing/ecoself-restoring-our-wellbeing-rooted-in-nature-and-humanity).

4. K. Mitra, Local-Global Benefits of Rural FiveBecomings Projects Designed for Community Self-Reliance, Ecosymbionts all Regenerate Together (EaRTh): DOI-EaRTh032025-023 (18 Mar., 2025) (https://ecosymbiont.org/earth/content/systems/ecoweb-rooted-framing/local-global-benefits-of-rural-fivebecomings-projects-designed-for-community-self-reliance-2-of-2).

5. K. Mitra, Reversing the Enclosure of the Commons through FiveBecomings, Ecosymbionts all Regenerate Together (EaRTh): DOI-EaRTh042025-042 (13 Apr., 2025) (https://ecosymbiont.org/earth/content/systems/extractivism-alternatives/reversing-the-enclosure-of-the-commons-through-fivebecomings).

6. K. Mitra, FiveBecomings: A Reimagined Ancient Indigenous Framework for Ecoself-Rooted Wellbeing, Ecosymbionts all Regenerate Together (EaRTh): DOI-EaRTh122024-004 (15 Dec., 2024) (https://ecosymbiont.org/earth/content/systems/ecoweb-rooted-framing/fivebecomings-a-reimagined-ancient-indigenous-framework-for-ecoself-rooted-wellbeing).

7. K. Mitra, LivingConfluence: Community Wellbeing-Rooted Economics, Law, Governance, and Education (ELGE), Ecosymbionts all Regenerate Together (EaRTh): DOI-EaRTh012025-002 (10 Jan., 2025) (https://ecosymbiont.org/earth/content/systems/extractivism-alternatives/livingconfluence-community-wellbeing-rooted-economics-law-governance-and-education-elge).

8. K. Mitra, Realizing the Ecoself through Personal Evolution (Ākāś): Importance in FiveBecomings, Ecosymbionts all Regenerate Together (EaRTh): DOI-EaRTh052025-003 (11 May, 2025) (https://ecosymbiont.org/earth/content/regenerative/human-ecoweb-integration/realizing-the-ecoself-through-personal-evolution-akas-importance-in-fivebecomings).