Civilisation's sell-by date

A learned professor who is glorified by the title of Professor of Complementary Medicine seems to have a mission to destroy the practice of homoeopathy. His zeal is fuelled by a belief that his chosen understanding of medicine is truer than that of homoeopaths. Meanwhile an old man carrying a fisherman's crook, strange hat and lomg, flowing purple robes and shoes, white simar with fringed fascia, pectoral cross and white     zucchetto gestures to a huge crowd in Rome. And nearer to home, I find fascination for a small group of once-hippies known as the Twelve Tribes, previosuly known as Messianic Communities who bake the most wonderful bread.
Where is the common thread in all this? It lies in the various myths that all these individuals respect, even in the face of much ridicule from the wider populace. The learned professor clearly feels his myth, that of "progress" and reductionist science trumps that of the homoeopath; the Pope is respected by those who follow his understanding of what God is and the Twelve Tribes have their own myth which bonds their communities together. 
So what about our myth- the prevalent myth of 21st century civilisation, the Myth of Progress? Why should this be any different from any of these other myths? And what role do these myths play in our lives?. 
The first thing to understand is that they ARE myths. And modern "man" unfortunately falls at this first hurdle, because we don't see the Myth of Progress as being a myth at all. We cloak it in robes of "science", "modernity" and "reality" and we feed our young children on this myth at institutions we call schools. 
And of course, all myths share the same fate. They all get destroyed by other people who don't share the same myth. The British have done their bit at destroying myths. When we "discovered" America, we realised we had to destroy the indigenouis peoples' belief structure and culture in order to pacify and "civilise" them. We stuffed them into schools and uniforms.
And today globalisation has taken over the role of chief myth debunker. Whether you are in Africa or China the Western model of "progress" is the only dish on the menu, and the eating place is called McDonalds or Burger King. The victims of course are all the local dishes that never get served. But we justify this vandalism in the name of efficiency, modernisation and a multitude of other constructs.
Wade Davis, in the film "Schooling the World" explains how myths shape the way we behave in our societies and that what is important is how we behave in response to these myths. Native Americans survived with their belief structures without damaging their environment. Does it matter what their myths are if they enable them to live in harmony with their environment and each other? And is our myth of "progress" any truer than theirs was? Does the reality of life in downtown Chicago or East London provide evidence to support this?
The role therefore of those of us seeking a post-civilsation model is surely to craft a new myth which can better enable us to live happily within our means and within our resource base.