In the 1980s through the late 1990s, my work was about “creating an economy for the living Earth”. I had 2 books published: Economics as if the Earth Really Mattered, and Invested in the Common Good. Both New Society Publishers, both with forewards by Thomas Berry, numerous articles, and I also worked on projects like community currency, corporate research looking into Earth destroyers (before computer data bases), fighting for the ancient forests in the Pacific Northwest and the tropics, educating people about genetic engineering, food irradiation, etc. etc.
I’m not an economist and had taken no courses either, but I looked to the Earth to create what I called Gaian Economics - one of the first people to use that term. It was all about, ultimately, local/regional (bioregional), grassroots, appropriate scale . . . To me, the most important thing is to integrate the reality of Earth into our economics. Not just in the sense of “resources” - which are, in truth, “gifts of nature” and not commodities or “things” to be extracted and somehow “valued” monetarily, as some are wanting to see happen as a way of, finally, integrating “resource” extraction and the resulting destruction, into the bottom line rather than treating them as externalities as is the current practice. I get why people want to do this, or think it’s a good idea (or at least a step in the right direction) but we cannot put a $ value on Life and Consciousness. All the money in the world cannot bring back extinct species or restore to their original conditions the places we have mined and clear cut and poisoned.
Right now what I see a lot of people struggling with is how to deal with/break up/bring down the current corporate controlled, global, market-based, extractive, etc. economic system. It seems to me that most feel transforming it is the key. Well, maybe it is, but we get stuck at that level because it has so much power and is controlled and maintained by greed, power-over - and this includes the so called “green new deal” stuff, the “great reset” - all that. While we need to transform energy, agriculture, education, infrastructure, all that, the solutions we need are not large scale, top down, billionaire controlled. So I feel we need to let that be for now and work where we live with those who live near and around us to recreate our economies from the bottom up, in ways that fit local places and human and nonhuman needs. There are ways to do this, processes people in communities can use to create plans and strategies to get there.
To me, the missing piece from pretty much all the discussions I’ve read recently on this subject, is the fact that Earth is Alive. Not just as a living system, but conscious, sentient - from the smallest microbe to fungi and glacial erratics and worms and trees and mountains . . . We are actually living within a living being as the cells of our body live within us. All of these modes of consciousness are part of the web we work and live within and all this wisdom and intelligence has a huge role to play that most people simply ignore if they are even aware of it. Yes, we talk about ecology and “healing Earth” and restoration, etc. but as if we are somehow doing it unto. When in fact we are doing it “with”. I hope this reality is part of what you will be sharing on this subject.
I, too, decided not to focus any more of my energy on the economy, yet I seem to be drawn into more and more conversations because of this very important issue, what to me is the actual foundation of the work that needs to be done, not something to add in at the end or mention in passing.
This right here is what, all too often, doesn't get brought to the table. Thank you so much for posting. Us humans need to figure out how we and our societies as we feed cloth and shelter ourselves can be agents of healing and transformation in support of the gaian, living earth paradigm. Thank you again!
Excellent post, thank you. To transform one’s thinking/belief system from "unto" to "with" is a paradigm shift. I try not to use that phrase glibly, because it is a huge, beyond belief, transformation. One critical belief which needs to shift is the continuing scarcity thinking such as, "cannot bring back extinct species or restore to their original conditions the places we have mined and clear cut and poisoned. " I believe that is incorrect and even more problematic is to even make it a negative goal. It belies the innate power and abundance of nature, including we humans. For me preservation is NOT the starting point, that is simplistic thinking and keeps us laboring on the surface. It reminds me of political activists whose mission is the "fight." I’m hoping Charle's essays will reach deeply into us and inspire a far more profound transformation. I may be wrong, we all begin where we are and preservation and the scarcity model may be the door opening for many. But ultimately we must stop fighting and commune with Nature and Self to find Truth.
Extinction is forever. I believe that is a fact. We cannot restore a destroyed ecosystem to its former pristine condition. We can, however, help the process of recovery and regeneration. I do agree with you about preservation. So often preserving has meant very negative impacts for indigenous/tribal people, plus now we have climate chaos happening very quickly and ecosystems are shifting, changing, transforming. We need to create wild life corridors, actively work to plant different species of trees and plants as native species are rendered extinct in places where they currently grow (extirpated). Trees cannot migrate fast enough for example. This is one of the issues I have with organizations committed to removing all invasive species as they migrate and, sometimes, over power natives. Keeping ecosystems healthy so natives can thrive is one thing. But we must realize that given climate chaos, the old rules of natives and invasives will not apply. I do not feel that my work, now or in the past, promotes "negative goals" or belies the power and abundance of nature. To the contrary, I believe that when we wake up to who we are as a species, to the truth of our innate power, and to the fact that Earth and all who live within Earth are alive, sentient, and have consciousness - well that is nothing short of magic. And with magic anything is possible.
Thankyou for your work and words - they marry with my long deeply held views. Extraction of the metals, minerals and oils from the body of the planet to be traded as commodities as though they have no intrinsic value to the structure and functioning of the planet - has always tormented me - I was so grateful to the late Polly Higgins for her fine work in bringing forth the concept of Ecocide - and now grateful to you also for your insights
I love this so much @Susan and resonate with your words deeply, thank you!
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To me, the missing piece from pretty much all the discussions I’ve read recently on this subject, is the fact that Earth is Alive. Not just as a living system, but conscious, sentient - from the smallest microbe to fungi and glacial erratics and worms and trees and mountains . . . We are actually living within a living being as the cells of our body live within us. All of these modes of consciousness are part of the web we work and live within and all this wisdom and intelligence has a huge role to play that most people simply ignore if they are even aware of it. Yes, we talk about ecology and “healing Earth” and restoration, etc. but as if we are somehow doing it unto. When in fact we are doing it “with”.
Love that comment and feel to add: We are doing it "within"!! As individuals, we are all drops of water in the ocean of the universe (and therefore Planet Earth). Or...... We are all grains of sand in the desert of the same universe (and therefore Planet Earth) again!! xxxxx
"We are actually living within a living being as the cells of our body live within us. " Exactly. That's the heart of it. Great little animated video expresses it well: "Powers of Ten."
I too am concerned at how people seem to want to package "Nature" and her resources, so that they can "own" her, and/or show off to increase their status and ultimately attract a mate. I think Nature's response to someone wanting to monetise or NFT a tree would be "Huh? WTF?"
For Nature rewards symbiosis, and it withdraws resources from those who are not symbiotic. In many ways this is what is currently happening to Homo sapiens when viewed on a larger timescale. Our task therefore should be to find our role as a symbiotic species, and find out what we can be integrating and giving back to our living, Natural world. Nature doesn't really need us, but my god we need her.
'How may I be of good use to you?' What a lovely invitation. Help me figure out how I may be of good use to others in these collapsing times. I want to serve. Something like that...
I’m super excited about this series. Been having a lot of conversation around economics lately, for the last 5 years that I’ve been “in business” and really since childhood, as I was raised in an open-discussion type family who basically discussed religion and politics (and economics, consequentially lol) at the dinner table, without any attempt to avoid the drama!
Currently I am seeking wisdom and advice on how to ethically operate business (or really just make money) in this culture, not from the classic standpoint of doing everything right by hipster standards, but just in dealing with money at all. I’ve got folks sharing opinions on all ends of the money-is-good/evil spectrum and it’s confusing. I’m not interested in binary positioning over much of anything any more. What matters is what’s practical, realistic and accessible, right here and now - and blending that with awareness of the more beautiful world we could breathe back into life, which is why I appreciate your work so much!
To get practical, I just entered a special contract with my sister to buy her old house which has positioned me perfectly down the road from my parents and other family and friends I’d been longing to be closer to, and I now have a tiny patch of land, in the woods, to tend and grow. But it’s a house, it’s monthky payments and huge utility bills and saving funds for large repairs. And it’s property and school tax, ontop of income tax (which I’m now reporting more heavily so I can get a mortgage eventually lol) - all huge new financial responsibilities that many folks balk at, or look down on me for, and many other folks congratulate me for lol (isn’t being human fun) but I’m grateful just to be here, with an artesian well and clean water running from my tap for the first time since I left home, which saves me fossil fuels from monthly spring water pick ups.
At almost 40 years old I’m ready for this kind of physical stability after living nearly 20 years in communal tight spots (as you’ve seen several times lol) which had other hidden costs emotionally, and otherwise. I don’t think my communal living days are over (currently we’re renting 3 of our 4 bedrooms out on airbnb to long term guests lol) as I still dream about building a one room cabin in the woods on a local farm with friends lol, but for now this is it and I am obligated to family and government to make more money than I’ve ever needed before, and it’s hurting. It’s a big new place for me, and it’s hard to figure out what to do that doesn’t conflict with my soul.
Everyone I want to serve and spend time with is relatively low income so I can’t just “know my value and charge higher rates” and nor do I even agree with that line of thinking (I’m worth infinite value lol) so… all this to say, I think there’s a lot of folks in my position with shared frustrations and values and I’d love to grow in my awareness of how to live in this new world!
Until now I always kept my expenses super low so I wasn’t under such pressure to extract money from everyone around me, or from an employer who could afford to pay me well but likely wasn’t doing work that mattered to me (which seems like the two options lol). But now things are way different. It’s even more intertwined with my core relationships. For instance, my “mortgage agreement” is with my sister (I couldn’t have qualified to buy a house otherwise) so I’m not interested in screwing her over like I’d consider doing to a bank! Lol.
How do we participate in a corrupt monetary system just enough to be responsible to our financial obligations, without crushing our soul in the chase for higher income? What are some acceptable mechanisms?
I'm definitely planning to visit some of these issues. Especially "Everyone I want to serve and spend time with is relatively low income so I can’t just “know my value and charge higher rates” and nor do I even agree with that line of thinking (I’m worth infinite value lol) " This issue does not just go away by invoking the proper new age mantra. It gets to the heart of the matter of right livelihood.
I am also interested in this particular conversation. I grow seeds on my farm and have been selling them wholesale to seed companies who resell them. But this year, I started my own retail line so that I could bring the particular seed i have been growing, which gains regional adaptability as I save it under local climatic conditions, into the hands of people in my local community and probably (in coming years) into the region as well. It has really been hard to become a retail business and have to sell these seeds that I would much prefer to just give away. I know that my work has value and that people are in fact happy to give me money for the seeds, but I wonder, is there a way that I can truly honor them and their intrinsic value by just giving them away and then knowing or trusting somehow that I will be taken care of vis-a-vis the "gift economy"? I dream of being able to offer all my seed for free, but how would I pay my bills? How can we create up-swellings of the gift economy so that individuals like myself don't have to take as big of a risk in stepping out into the gift economy?
You probably aren't going to make a lot of money from selling seeds anyway. You might actually receive more if you do it by donation, if you use the right language. Something like, "I don't charge money for seeds, but if you want to support this work, I will gratefully accept your donation."
I am interested in that approach, and it is actually not true that you cant make money selling seeds. I pay my bills and support my family growing seeds and selling them (as i said mostly wholesale before this year). Retail margins are better and with the right systems in place, one can make a living doing this. It actually does risk my financial security (and that of my employees) to shift to a gift exchange. The other concern is other members of the farming community. Organic farmers are ALWAYS in a position of wanting to maintian resonable price points for their crops to be able to continue to make a living in this marginal world of small organic growing. I feel that my collegues would feel undercut and disrespected if I (alone and in a bubble) decided to just start giving away my "product". Also, we are connected to the economic life of the town. We joined the chamber of commerce (!) partly because i want to stay connected to community without judgment, but I also want to do something radically different. Its tricky!
Wow that's awesome! (That you are successful in that business). Kudos. Yeah, I have seen this issue of undercutting come up before. I think it is important not to be a purist about gift. What is and is not a gift depends on circumstances. In traditional societies in the early days of money, the farther out from one's own clan or tribe or village one went, the more commercial the nature of the transactions. So maybe it is entirely appropriate to keep selling seeds as you do, but also give them sometimes based on impulse and relationship. Like, if you know someone is a poor single mom and they come a buy some and you say "It's on me" or you give them a bunch of bonus seeds. Or you share with neighbors and friends. You probably do this anyway. The question I usually ask is, "What is the natural next step toward gift economy that respects all those around me, as well as my own well-being?" That next step may, or may not, involve an alteration in your business model.
Kendra, I totally relate to what you so eloquently wrote. I have been 'in business' for 25 years and things have changed and changed and changed...driving everyone to the bottom of the pond. I have so many thoughts on all this from my experience 'fighting the battle' within the high tech sector (Microsoft/Salesforce) and dealing with companies who just bought the mantra ('can never be fired for buying IBM (insert your favorite brand name!')). Seems us humans get what we deserve in the end.
Bottom line: we need to find a way to support each other (small businesses) and stop trying to save a buck by buying from Walmart while watching your neighbours business die a slow death. Cannot just talk the talk but need to walk the walk.
I am very interested in what Charles has to say about the world of economics today.
My young homeschool students beg me to take them to Starbucks and cannot understand why I will only bring them to local coffee shops for a treat but it becomes an opportunity to speak of my choices and why.
Good points. Consider very seriously however that the money system is being Great Resetted into a techno-slavocracy. In my opinion people need to wake up from the fairy tale that there even is some good reason to believe one can attain a stable life within this civilization.
I do agree with you. I realized this about 6 years ago and it hit me hard in the head (without getting into the details) that all my years of effort & sacrifice would amount to very little and that that...was the plan after all. I would say most people have not had the opportunity to wake up to this realization yet. But the noose is tightening so realization will happen more broadly.
Very interesting post, I have travelled a similar path and empathise with what you say,
Kendra Hoffman. What matters in the end is how you feel about what you do, and I find that sharing the profits with the people who help generating them makes me feel good. For instance I own my house and I have a lodger; I charge them half the market rent, so if you see the rent as profit, I get half and they get half. Plus their share covers half the mortgage, which seems fair. To expand this possibility into other spheres or activities is what I suggest on my website: www.post-capitalism.org
Boris, I totally agree with your ideas and have signed up for your newsletter. I do hope your message is wide spread because I believe that we, as humans, only truly succeed in life when everyone else has the same opportunities. If for some reason we are more blessed, keeping the rewards all to ourselves I do not believe brings long term satisfaction in one's life. Good luck with your plans!
Thank you for bringing up these concerns. I agree. It can be very challenging to earn a living in an ethical way but it is possible and the more people become in alignment with their values and our earth the easier I think it will become. This is not meant as a judgement of you in any way. I have struggled with that myself.
Also, what I am discovering is that when we draw the line and live in accordance with these beliefs people feel threatened by them and defensive of their own choices even if one is not being argumentative. So many times I have been accused of being an idealist. What is wrong with that? Shouldn’t we all have ideals?
It is my understanding that the mechanism of blame (which is rooted in the oldest hatred- Anti-Semitism- an oppression which is the blueprint for many other oppressions) has for centuries been used to divert the rage of the working people away from those in power so that when the workers become dissatisfied with their living/working conditions and they revolt, their rage is directed to a scapegoat (historically the Jews, now many groups), instead of at the source of the difficulty (those in power), so that the legitimate upset never achieves lasting change. Workers revolt, Jews (and now others) are blamed, wash, rinse, repeat, and the structure of power never changes. First, how do we make this mechanism visible so that it can be dismantled? Second, how do you/we achieve accountability without blame (so that there can be real, lasting change)? Third, how do you achieve a broad base of unity needed to advocate for change when the mecahnism of blame (often in the form of anti-Semitism) is frequently used to divide political movements (think of what happened with the women's march after Trump was elected as one example)? Fourth, how do you achieve authentic unity without the authoritatian tendencies emerging as we have seen on the left with the Covid lock-downs, vax mandates, vax passports etc... when "the common good" becomes co-opted for authoritarian or totalitarian purposes? I suspect your answer(s) will include not using force or control in the approach, which is also a shift away from the mindset of domination, which has pervaded human relations with each other and with the planet for thousands of years, so I guess my last question (for now!) is if inter-being is the path forward how can it be more powerful than domination when domination has rendered it almost invisible all of this time? What has changed? What opening exists now to manifest that path that hasn't existed before? Or is it that the opening was always there but the incentive (ecological destabilization, economic collapse, etc...) has increased past a certain threshold making something possible now that was not before? I am deeply interested in how to shift from an economy of extraction to an economy of regeneration. I'm interested to know if it's possible to base an economy on carbon sequestration (in trees, buildings, etc...) which is not the same as cap and trade. If you want more currency, you need to retain and grow more trees. I wonder what you think about that concept.
Hey, no need to blame the anti-semites. Pretty sure blame is older than Jews by a longshot 😂 (not even sure why antisemitism is conflated with anti-Jewish tendencies)
Blame is instinctual. So is racism. Ingroup/outgroup dynamics are integral to every pack animal species' survival and evolution. Humans included.
The issue is not to get rid of blame, that's ridiculous. The point is that we live in societies which are too large to support mutual trust. Nobody knows anyone. 50-200 people is the limit of the brain in terms of having meaningful close relationships.
The world was considered flat. Instinctually. Or rationally. And humans have had a history of racism. Not sure that it was instinctual. And today- I believe that we are at the cusp of eradicating it.
Stereotypes are required for survival. If you don't stereotype lions, you're dead. Same for people. Stereotypes are born of experience. If the blacks you know are more violent than the whites you'll develop a stereotype which calls for greater caution around blacks. If you don't do that then you don't have survival programming. Which is fine, if you aren't interested in survival, since after all spirituality is about transcending physical survival.
I grew up in a rough neighborhood in Philadelphia. My parents taught me not to be racist. As a result I would walk thru North Philly as a white guy and blacks would either attack me or tell me I was stupid for assuming that I wouldn't be attacked. I wish every antiracist person would try this. They might learn something.
I just don't like it when people demonize racists. There is absolutely nothing wrong with racists. They are operating based on experience and conditioning just like everyone else. The greatest anti-racist on Earth agrees with me. His name is Daryl Davis, he is black, and he collects KKK robes. His method is simple. He befriends KKK members, invites them for dinner. This is the ONLY way to "undo" (actually, it just complexifies) racism, by adding new conditioning. People who want to end (complexify) racism need to stop talking about it and go have dinner with racists of other colors. And Respect their wisdom because it is just as instinctual as yours.
A stereotype doesn't need to be objectively accurate to have subjective value.
Even Buddha was a racist. He talked about India being the land of spirituality as opposed to other lands. He talked about some other cultures as being violent and animalistic. But he was far less racist than most brahmins in that epoch as he opposed the caste system. Taking him as a role model, i think we can agree that stereotypes are often accurate to some degree and we don't need to pretend we have none in order to be open to complexifying and re-evaluating them as we gain experience and knowledge.
This feels very timely. Thank you. I have been exploring agency and unity consciousness recently. How to flow in my activism when I am 'not in agreement' Am I 'othering' when I am not in agreement. I loved a recent newsletter by Dr Zach Bush about 'resolution through reverence' and it was beautifully aligned with NAAS. Can I be 'not in agreement' from a space of reverence. I am finding this a fruitful enquiry. Then I am interested in how your writing will support the clarity I am seeking to respond personally into a system that feels complex and at times triggers fear in me.
Sounds like essays I will look forward to reading. The illustration at the beginning of this one caught my attention. Will we ALL be able, some day, to sit and eat together as a large community?
Hi Charles - I’d like to see the deep influence of religion in your economic series, especially the pathology of “the love of money is the root of all evil” and Christ’s example of “ leave your families and give away all that you have to the poor” So many have grown up in fundamentalist Christian American churches who taught modesty, tithing and a deep suspicion (and yet, at times, a secret love) of money - and are still subconsciously controlled as adults by the schizophrenia of having money and yet fearing money/displeasing God by having too much - whether they flex or not.
Charles, I woke up to find your offering this morning and it met my heart's calling at such a precise, beautiful place of synchronicity that I simply had to write to say THANK YOU! All that you've shared thus far finds deep resonance and excitement in me. I well remember your early days of writing about Sacred Economics. And now, a decade later, you are revisiting from an even 'higher' order of wholeness (or at least it seems so to me.) I am so longing for this conversation!! I want to meet around a fire and discuss all of this with people finding and falling in love with each other so much that we blur and eliminate the lines between giving and receiving. I sense that this offering of yours will guide us towards new ways of realizing what we truly value and allow us to move forward ("right action") towards the more beautiful world...
I love the question "how may I be of good use to you?"
- First off, I sense it needs to be reciprocal, yes? Can we be of good use to you (and each other) as well? I'd love to sense into this as a collective.
- What feels so essential to me is the question of how economic choices impact community -- what creates the "tragedy of the commons" and what promotes prosocial, regenerative connections? In our hearts, I sense a deep longing for new answers about how we form strong communities that can withstand the winds of change that we both desire and yet fear.
- Could you/we please discuss what Elinor Ostrom delineated as the "eight core design principles" of sustainable communities? Her work, along with David Sloan Wilson, seems like a great place to start re-envisioning what's possible.
- Looking at key stories are something you do so well. I/we look forward to delving deeply into these, especially the archetypes, myths and cultural wisdom about money and exchange (eg Bernard Lietaer's work)
- Also, I/we may be able to add some benefit looking into the trauma surrounding money to unravel some of the reasons we often move back into ways that do not serve us (eg, my work on Money and Trauma with the Thomas Hubl community exploring collective trauma.)
- Lastly, my heart is longing to take the next step of envisioning a new future by doing the imaginal work you brought forward in the last chapter of The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible. I suspect we can come together to do much of this work through play, perhaps using role-playing games and imaginal connections with ALL that is wanting to serve humanity's leap forward right now (eg, Nature, Indigenous Wisdom, the Infinite).
Thank you, Charles -- I/we all need avenues towards hope and trust right now... Much love
I'm glad your tackling this Charles. I've long been thinking that we need a new and better economic system. Sacred Economics laid the groundwork for that, but I'm curious to see how you will build on that. Growth and acquisition of capital as aims for economic activity clearly have some serious flaws. Do we toss at the whole system, as the Marxists would have us do, or reform it, as Progressives would have us do? Or is there a third way? I believe that we need to replace the desire for growth and material security with a system based on values. Economics that don't reflect those values should be disposed of in a toxic waste disposal. These values have to do with the appreciation for all human life, for all other humans and for furthering the development of other humans on the spiritual value plane. We have been overly focussed in the history of civilization on material acquisitions, satisfying our appetites, and improving security and power. We need to move away from these and create a system that can enable everyone to flourish, but in different ways. Material acquisition needs to be demoted to its proper place, and replaced with higher values. The question I find hard to answer is how? Possibly you will have other ideas and possible answers to some of these questions. I look forward to your next article.
I agree Leonara. I think respect for all life, plant, animal and even mineral (yes, minerals can have an energy, even if it doesn't meet the usual definition of life) needs to be part of the value system. However, economic transactions are first and foremost human relational, and that is why I emphasized the need to come into a different kind of relationship with one another, one based on values, and not exploitation for material gain or from fear or insecurity about lack. I believe you are correct however, in saying that this kind of mutuality in economic relations must embrace the entire Gaia system, not just human interactions.
Everything here with us is alive. And sentient. Just not like humans. Even though we’re speaking of human-created economic systems, this impacts non-human life in a major, usually destructive, way. We need to bring All Species into the conversations and deliberations as I mentioned in another comment in this thread.
Agreed Mark. I believe there are various alternatives to the simple capital accumulation offered by capitalism: cooperative, gift economy, you name it. Also I am advocate of changing the way we distribute the profits of our investments by sharing them with the workers that helped creating them, or the tenants that helped paying the property they live in. This I explain on my website www.post-capitalism.org
As a parent of 3 in America, with 2 in college and 1 in high school, I am deeply concerned about the economic prospects of young adults today. I hope that you will provide some hope that I can share with them, it's pretty bleak when we talk politics and finances at the dinner table lately. My father is a baby boomer and he lives with us. He is an intelligent man but he simply cannot wrap his head around the reality these kids are facing, or maybe he just refuses to accept it. It would be great to gain some tools to help bridge the gap. Thanks Charles!
Yes, please Charles. As a 68 year old in Britain today I am feeling increasingly alienated from society. I remember a time when people could afford to buy a home (before property was viewed as an investment) and it only took one wage earner in the family to bring in enough money for a comfortable life. The 'convenience' that the public seems to value (without thinking of the consequences) when using plastic instead of cash will inevitably lead to centralised digital currency and complete control.
1. that the global economy makes us not need each other in concrete ways (our goods and services mostly come from strangers/impersonal institutions and our gifts mostly go to such if we're lucky, and usually remain unexpressed)
2. that the global economy mostly makes us not need the other creatures of nature except in cold utilitarian ways because they are far away from us, not interacting directly with us for mutual benefit
3. that the global economy makes the feedback from actions to consequences in production and use of goods and services too slow, too abstract (far away in space and time) and too noisy (I can't tell what my impact is because it's mixed in with all these other people's/corporations impacts)?
I’m really interested in how to transform healthcare from disease management and dependency to true healthcare when so many have become so out of touch with health, don’t know how to heal themselves, and are dependent on medical interventions. There are not enough traditional, integrative, alternative healers or mind-body practitioners around for the shift required.
Your insights are much needed and appreciated, Charles. I am interested in how to foster the transformative type of resilience in organisations. how to create the small and beautiful and local enterprises (especially when faced by the big and monstrous and global corporates). and how do we focus on local but also remain global. Looking forward to the essays! Big love from the Regenerative Economics students here at Schumacher College :-)
In the 1980s through the late 1990s, my work was about “creating an economy for the living Earth”. I had 2 books published: Economics as if the Earth Really Mattered, and Invested in the Common Good. Both New Society Publishers, both with forewards by Thomas Berry, numerous articles, and I also worked on projects like community currency, corporate research looking into Earth destroyers (before computer data bases), fighting for the ancient forests in the Pacific Northwest and the tropics, educating people about genetic engineering, food irradiation, etc. etc.
I’m not an economist and had taken no courses either, but I looked to the Earth to create what I called Gaian Economics - one of the first people to use that term. It was all about, ultimately, local/regional (bioregional), grassroots, appropriate scale . . . To me, the most important thing is to integrate the reality of Earth into our economics. Not just in the sense of “resources” - which are, in truth, “gifts of nature” and not commodities or “things” to be extracted and somehow “valued” monetarily, as some are wanting to see happen as a way of, finally, integrating “resource” extraction and the resulting destruction, into the bottom line rather than treating them as externalities as is the current practice. I get why people want to do this, or think it’s a good idea (or at least a step in the right direction) but we cannot put a $ value on Life and Consciousness. All the money in the world cannot bring back extinct species or restore to their original conditions the places we have mined and clear cut and poisoned.
Right now what I see a lot of people struggling with is how to deal with/break up/bring down the current corporate controlled, global, market-based, extractive, etc. economic system. It seems to me that most feel transforming it is the key. Well, maybe it is, but we get stuck at that level because it has so much power and is controlled and maintained by greed, power-over - and this includes the so called “green new deal” stuff, the “great reset” - all that. While we need to transform energy, agriculture, education, infrastructure, all that, the solutions we need are not large scale, top down, billionaire controlled. So I feel we need to let that be for now and work where we live with those who live near and around us to recreate our economies from the bottom up, in ways that fit local places and human and nonhuman needs. There are ways to do this, processes people in communities can use to create plans and strategies to get there.
To me, the missing piece from pretty much all the discussions I’ve read recently on this subject, is the fact that Earth is Alive. Not just as a living system, but conscious, sentient - from the smallest microbe to fungi and glacial erratics and worms and trees and mountains . . . We are actually living within a living being as the cells of our body live within us. All of these modes of consciousness are part of the web we work and live within and all this wisdom and intelligence has a huge role to play that most people simply ignore if they are even aware of it. Yes, we talk about ecology and “healing Earth” and restoration, etc. but as if we are somehow doing it unto. When in fact we are doing it “with”. I hope this reality is part of what you will be sharing on this subject.
I, too, decided not to focus any more of my energy on the economy, yet I seem to be drawn into more and more conversations because of this very important issue, what to me is the actual foundation of the work that needs to be done, not something to add in at the end or mention in passing.
This right here is what, all too often, doesn't get brought to the table. Thank you so much for posting. Us humans need to figure out how we and our societies as we feed cloth and shelter ourselves can be agents of healing and transformation in support of the gaian, living earth paradigm. Thank you again!
Didn’t the indigenous cultures do this? How can we learn from them?
Excellent post, thank you. To transform one’s thinking/belief system from "unto" to "with" is a paradigm shift. I try not to use that phrase glibly, because it is a huge, beyond belief, transformation. One critical belief which needs to shift is the continuing scarcity thinking such as, "cannot bring back extinct species or restore to their original conditions the places we have mined and clear cut and poisoned. " I believe that is incorrect and even more problematic is to even make it a negative goal. It belies the innate power and abundance of nature, including we humans. For me preservation is NOT the starting point, that is simplistic thinking and keeps us laboring on the surface. It reminds me of political activists whose mission is the "fight." I’m hoping Charle's essays will reach deeply into us and inspire a far more profound transformation. I may be wrong, we all begin where we are and preservation and the scarcity model may be the door opening for many. But ultimately we must stop fighting and commune with Nature and Self to find Truth.
Extinction is forever. I believe that is a fact. We cannot restore a destroyed ecosystem to its former pristine condition. We can, however, help the process of recovery and regeneration. I do agree with you about preservation. So often preserving has meant very negative impacts for indigenous/tribal people, plus now we have climate chaos happening very quickly and ecosystems are shifting, changing, transforming. We need to create wild life corridors, actively work to plant different species of trees and plants as native species are rendered extinct in places where they currently grow (extirpated). Trees cannot migrate fast enough for example. This is one of the issues I have with organizations committed to removing all invasive species as they migrate and, sometimes, over power natives. Keeping ecosystems healthy so natives can thrive is one thing. But we must realize that given climate chaos, the old rules of natives and invasives will not apply. I do not feel that my work, now or in the past, promotes "negative goals" or belies the power and abundance of nature. To the contrary, I believe that when we wake up to who we are as a species, to the truth of our innate power, and to the fact that Earth and all who live within Earth are alive, sentient, and have consciousness - well that is nothing short of magic. And with magic anything is possible.
"…. And with magic anything is possible" Exactly my point. 😉 including restoring destroyed ecosystems.
I love your conversation you two - inspiring
Me, too.
Restoring, yes. They will be different than before being destroyed though. Which is fine.
Thankyou for your work and words - they marry with my long deeply held views. Extraction of the metals, minerals and oils from the body of the planet to be traded as commodities as though they have no intrinsic value to the structure and functioning of the planet - has always tormented me - I was so grateful to the late Polly Higgins for her fine work in bringing forth the concept of Ecocide - and now grateful to you also for your insights
I’d love to read your books. Great conversation. Are they on Amazon?
I think they may be. They are out of print but still floating around out there.
How poignant and beautiful. I love your website, too!
I love this so much @Susan and resonate with your words deeply, thank you!
->
To me, the missing piece from pretty much all the discussions I’ve read recently on this subject, is the fact that Earth is Alive. Not just as a living system, but conscious, sentient - from the smallest microbe to fungi and glacial erratics and worms and trees and mountains . . . We are actually living within a living being as the cells of our body live within us. All of these modes of consciousness are part of the web we work and live within and all this wisdom and intelligence has a huge role to play that most people simply ignore if they are even aware of it. Yes, we talk about ecology and “healing Earth” and restoration, etc. but as if we are somehow doing it unto. When in fact we are doing it “with”.
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Love that comment and feel to add: We are doing it "within"!! As individuals, we are all drops of water in the ocean of the universe (and therefore Planet Earth). Or...... We are all grains of sand in the desert of the same universe (and therefore Planet Earth) again!! xxxxx
Beautiful!
Thank you Susan Meeker-Lowry for your articulate, heart-centred, practical wisdom. I hope to hear more from you.
"We are actually living within a living being as the cells of our body live within us. " Exactly. That's the heart of it. Great little animated video expresses it well: "Powers of Ten."
YES, the Powers of Ten video by the Eames Office! So simple and powerful, thank you for the reminder, here is a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0
Also: "Cosmic Zoom." Video.
Will look up you books exactly what I need to support my mission @SusanMeeker-Lowry do you have a blog or website I can check into? ❣️
My new website just went live today. I wasn’t sure but it’s up: www.gaiasvoices.com
I too am concerned at how people seem to want to package "Nature" and her resources, so that they can "own" her, and/or show off to increase their status and ultimately attract a mate. I think Nature's response to someone wanting to monetise or NFT a tree would be "Huh? WTF?"
For Nature rewards symbiosis, and it withdraws resources from those who are not symbiotic. In many ways this is what is currently happening to Homo sapiens when viewed on a larger timescale. Our task therefore should be to find our role as a symbiotic species, and find out what we can be integrating and giving back to our living, Natural world. Nature doesn't really need us, but my god we need her.
So Appreciate What You Conveyed Susan.
i So Look Forward To The Upcoming Series by you Charles...
i find myself Reduced To a Simplicity These Days...
Seeking a World Where Humanity is a Guardian & Caretaker of the Surrounding Life...
Within & Without.
i Have Absolutely No Idea how The Current World Leads to That World i Envision...
but i, with All My Heart, seek the Gateway/s which Lead To Where We Sense, Revere & Love The Life Below, The Life Above, All Life Surrounds...
The Enduring Wisdom, for me...Love One. Love An Other. Don't Judge. Love The Creative Wisdom & Intelligence Which Shapes & Forms The Infinite...
Blessings!
'How may I be of good use to you?' What a lovely invitation. Help me figure out how I may be of good use to others in these collapsing times. I want to serve. Something like that...
I’m super excited about this series. Been having a lot of conversation around economics lately, for the last 5 years that I’ve been “in business” and really since childhood, as I was raised in an open-discussion type family who basically discussed religion and politics (and economics, consequentially lol) at the dinner table, without any attempt to avoid the drama!
Currently I am seeking wisdom and advice on how to ethically operate business (or really just make money) in this culture, not from the classic standpoint of doing everything right by hipster standards, but just in dealing with money at all. I’ve got folks sharing opinions on all ends of the money-is-good/evil spectrum and it’s confusing. I’m not interested in binary positioning over much of anything any more. What matters is what’s practical, realistic and accessible, right here and now - and blending that with awareness of the more beautiful world we could breathe back into life, which is why I appreciate your work so much!
To get practical, I just entered a special contract with my sister to buy her old house which has positioned me perfectly down the road from my parents and other family and friends I’d been longing to be closer to, and I now have a tiny patch of land, in the woods, to tend and grow. But it’s a house, it’s monthky payments and huge utility bills and saving funds for large repairs. And it’s property and school tax, ontop of income tax (which I’m now reporting more heavily so I can get a mortgage eventually lol) - all huge new financial responsibilities that many folks balk at, or look down on me for, and many other folks congratulate me for lol (isn’t being human fun) but I’m grateful just to be here, with an artesian well and clean water running from my tap for the first time since I left home, which saves me fossil fuels from monthly spring water pick ups.
At almost 40 years old I’m ready for this kind of physical stability after living nearly 20 years in communal tight spots (as you’ve seen several times lol) which had other hidden costs emotionally, and otherwise. I don’t think my communal living days are over (currently we’re renting 3 of our 4 bedrooms out on airbnb to long term guests lol) as I still dream about building a one room cabin in the woods on a local farm with friends lol, but for now this is it and I am obligated to family and government to make more money than I’ve ever needed before, and it’s hurting. It’s a big new place for me, and it’s hard to figure out what to do that doesn’t conflict with my soul.
Everyone I want to serve and spend time with is relatively low income so I can’t just “know my value and charge higher rates” and nor do I even agree with that line of thinking (I’m worth infinite value lol) so… all this to say, I think there’s a lot of folks in my position with shared frustrations and values and I’d love to grow in my awareness of how to live in this new world!
Until now I always kept my expenses super low so I wasn’t under such pressure to extract money from everyone around me, or from an employer who could afford to pay me well but likely wasn’t doing work that mattered to me (which seems like the two options lol). But now things are way different. It’s even more intertwined with my core relationships. For instance, my “mortgage agreement” is with my sister (I couldn’t have qualified to buy a house otherwise) so I’m not interested in screwing her over like I’d consider doing to a bank! Lol.
How do we participate in a corrupt monetary system just enough to be responsible to our financial obligations, without crushing our soul in the chase for higher income? What are some acceptable mechanisms?
I'm definitely planning to visit some of these issues. Especially "Everyone I want to serve and spend time with is relatively low income so I can’t just “know my value and charge higher rates” and nor do I even agree with that line of thinking (I’m worth infinite value lol) " This issue does not just go away by invoking the proper new age mantra. It gets to the heart of the matter of right livelihood.
I am also interested in this particular conversation. I grow seeds on my farm and have been selling them wholesale to seed companies who resell them. But this year, I started my own retail line so that I could bring the particular seed i have been growing, which gains regional adaptability as I save it under local climatic conditions, into the hands of people in my local community and probably (in coming years) into the region as well. It has really been hard to become a retail business and have to sell these seeds that I would much prefer to just give away. I know that my work has value and that people are in fact happy to give me money for the seeds, but I wonder, is there a way that I can truly honor them and their intrinsic value by just giving them away and then knowing or trusting somehow that I will be taken care of vis-a-vis the "gift economy"? I dream of being able to offer all my seed for free, but how would I pay my bills? How can we create up-swellings of the gift economy so that individuals like myself don't have to take as big of a risk in stepping out into the gift economy?
You probably aren't going to make a lot of money from selling seeds anyway. You might actually receive more if you do it by donation, if you use the right language. Something like, "I don't charge money for seeds, but if you want to support this work, I will gratefully accept your donation."
I am interested in that approach, and it is actually not true that you cant make money selling seeds. I pay my bills and support my family growing seeds and selling them (as i said mostly wholesale before this year). Retail margins are better and with the right systems in place, one can make a living doing this. It actually does risk my financial security (and that of my employees) to shift to a gift exchange. The other concern is other members of the farming community. Organic farmers are ALWAYS in a position of wanting to maintian resonable price points for their crops to be able to continue to make a living in this marginal world of small organic growing. I feel that my collegues would feel undercut and disrespected if I (alone and in a bubble) decided to just start giving away my "product". Also, we are connected to the economic life of the town. We joined the chamber of commerce (!) partly because i want to stay connected to community without judgment, but I also want to do something radically different. Its tricky!
Wow that's awesome! (That you are successful in that business). Kudos. Yeah, I have seen this issue of undercutting come up before. I think it is important not to be a purist about gift. What is and is not a gift depends on circumstances. In traditional societies in the early days of money, the farther out from one's own clan or tribe or village one went, the more commercial the nature of the transactions. So maybe it is entirely appropriate to keep selling seeds as you do, but also give them sometimes based on impulse and relationship. Like, if you know someone is a poor single mom and they come a buy some and you say "It's on me" or you give them a bunch of bonus seeds. Or you share with neighbors and friends. You probably do this anyway. The question I usually ask is, "What is the natural next step toward gift economy that respects all those around me, as well as my own well-being?" That next step may, or may not, involve an alteration in your business model.
"right livelihood" is exactly where my curiousity and heart are taking me 💖
100%!! I’m eager to hear your thoughts :) thank you!!
Kendra, I totally relate to what you so eloquently wrote. I have been 'in business' for 25 years and things have changed and changed and changed...driving everyone to the bottom of the pond. I have so many thoughts on all this from my experience 'fighting the battle' within the high tech sector (Microsoft/Salesforce) and dealing with companies who just bought the mantra ('can never be fired for buying IBM (insert your favorite brand name!')). Seems us humans get what we deserve in the end.
Bottom line: we need to find a way to support each other (small businesses) and stop trying to save a buck by buying from Walmart while watching your neighbours business die a slow death. Cannot just talk the talk but need to walk the walk.
I am very interested in what Charles has to say about the world of economics today.
My young homeschool students beg me to take them to Starbucks and cannot understand why I will only bring them to local coffee shops for a treat but it becomes an opportunity to speak of my choices and why.
Good points. Consider very seriously however that the money system is being Great Resetted into a techno-slavocracy. In my opinion people need to wake up from the fairy tale that there even is some good reason to believe one can attain a stable life within this civilization.
I do agree with you. I realized this about 6 years ago and it hit me hard in the head (without getting into the details) that all my years of effort & sacrifice would amount to very little and that that...was the plan after all. I would say most people have not had the opportunity to wake up to this realization yet. But the noose is tightening so realization will happen more broadly.
Very interesting post, I have travelled a similar path and empathise with what you say,
Kendra Hoffman. What matters in the end is how you feel about what you do, and I find that sharing the profits with the people who help generating them makes me feel good. For instance I own my house and I have a lodger; I charge them half the market rent, so if you see the rent as profit, I get half and they get half. Plus their share covers half the mortgage, which seems fair. To expand this possibility into other spheres or activities is what I suggest on my website: www.post-capitalism.org
Boris, I totally agree with your ideas and have signed up for your newsletter. I do hope your message is wide spread because I believe that we, as humans, only truly succeed in life when everyone else has the same opportunities. If for some reason we are more blessed, keeping the rewards all to ourselves I do not believe brings long term satisfaction in one's life. Good luck with your plans!
Thank you for bringing up these concerns. I agree. It can be very challenging to earn a living in an ethical way but it is possible and the more people become in alignment with their values and our earth the easier I think it will become. This is not meant as a judgement of you in any way. I have struggled with that myself.
Also, what I am discovering is that when we draw the line and live in accordance with these beliefs people feel threatened by them and defensive of their own choices even if one is not being argumentative. So many times I have been accused of being an idealist. What is wrong with that? Shouldn’t we all have ideals?
It is my understanding that the mechanism of blame (which is rooted in the oldest hatred- Anti-Semitism- an oppression which is the blueprint for many other oppressions) has for centuries been used to divert the rage of the working people away from those in power so that when the workers become dissatisfied with their living/working conditions and they revolt, their rage is directed to a scapegoat (historically the Jews, now many groups), instead of at the source of the difficulty (those in power), so that the legitimate upset never achieves lasting change. Workers revolt, Jews (and now others) are blamed, wash, rinse, repeat, and the structure of power never changes. First, how do we make this mechanism visible so that it can be dismantled? Second, how do you/we achieve accountability without blame (so that there can be real, lasting change)? Third, how do you achieve a broad base of unity needed to advocate for change when the mecahnism of blame (often in the form of anti-Semitism) is frequently used to divide political movements (think of what happened with the women's march after Trump was elected as one example)? Fourth, how do you achieve authentic unity without the authoritatian tendencies emerging as we have seen on the left with the Covid lock-downs, vax mandates, vax passports etc... when "the common good" becomes co-opted for authoritarian or totalitarian purposes? I suspect your answer(s) will include not using force or control in the approach, which is also a shift away from the mindset of domination, which has pervaded human relations with each other and with the planet for thousands of years, so I guess my last question (for now!) is if inter-being is the path forward how can it be more powerful than domination when domination has rendered it almost invisible all of this time? What has changed? What opening exists now to manifest that path that hasn't existed before? Or is it that the opening was always there but the incentive (ecological destabilization, economic collapse, etc...) has increased past a certain threshold making something possible now that was not before? I am deeply interested in how to shift from an economy of extraction to an economy of regeneration. I'm interested to know if it's possible to base an economy on carbon sequestration (in trees, buildings, etc...) which is not the same as cap and trade. If you want more currency, you need to retain and grow more trees. I wonder what you think about that concept.
Great questions! Putting them in the hopper.
Hey, no need to blame the anti-semites. Pretty sure blame is older than Jews by a longshot 😂 (not even sure why antisemitism is conflated with anti-Jewish tendencies)
What is your point please? Can you expand?
Not sure which part is unclear?
Blame is instinctual. So is racism. Ingroup/outgroup dynamics are integral to every pack animal species' survival and evolution. Humans included.
The issue is not to get rid of blame, that's ridiculous. The point is that we live in societies which are too large to support mutual trust. Nobody knows anyone. 50-200 people is the limit of the brain in terms of having meaningful close relationships.
The world was considered flat. Instinctually. Or rationally. And humans have had a history of racism. Not sure that it was instinctual. And today- I believe that we are at the cusp of eradicating it.
Stereotypes are required for survival. If you don't stereotype lions, you're dead. Same for people. Stereotypes are born of experience. If the blacks you know are more violent than the whites you'll develop a stereotype which calls for greater caution around blacks. If you don't do that then you don't have survival programming. Which is fine, if you aren't interested in survival, since after all spirituality is about transcending physical survival.
I grew up in a rough neighborhood in Philadelphia. My parents taught me not to be racist. As a result I would walk thru North Philly as a white guy and blacks would either attack me or tell me I was stupid for assuming that I wouldn't be attacked. I wish every antiracist person would try this. They might learn something.
I just don't like it when people demonize racists. There is absolutely nothing wrong with racists. They are operating based on experience and conditioning just like everyone else. The greatest anti-racist on Earth agrees with me. His name is Daryl Davis, he is black, and he collects KKK robes. His method is simple. He befriends KKK members, invites them for dinner. This is the ONLY way to "undo" (actually, it just complexifies) racism, by adding new conditioning. People who want to end (complexify) racism need to stop talking about it and go have dinner with racists of other colors. And Respect their wisdom because it is just as instinctual as yours.
A stereotype doesn't need to be objectively accurate to have subjective value.
Even Buddha was a racist. He talked about India being the land of spirituality as opposed to other lands. He talked about some other cultures as being violent and animalistic. But he was far less racist than most brahmins in that epoch as he opposed the caste system. Taking him as a role model, i think we can agree that stereotypes are often accurate to some degree and we don't need to pretend we have none in order to be open to complexifying and re-evaluating them as we gain experience and knowledge.
Very well said. Thank you.
Thanks for suggesting Charles address this. I appreciate your insight and his on how to obviate this to minimize its probability of occurrence.
Ahh….”the oldest hatred — Anti-Semitism” Really? Do you have reason to believe this is the fact it’s stated as? I’d be curious…..
This feels very timely. Thank you. I have been exploring agency and unity consciousness recently. How to flow in my activism when I am 'not in agreement' Am I 'othering' when I am not in agreement. I loved a recent newsletter by Dr Zach Bush about 'resolution through reverence' and it was beautifully aligned with NAAS. Can I be 'not in agreement' from a space of reverence. I am finding this a fruitful enquiry. Then I am interested in how your writing will support the clarity I am seeking to respond personally into a system that feels complex and at times triggers fear in me.
Sounds like essays I will look forward to reading. The illustration at the beginning of this one caught my attention. Will we ALL be able, some day, to sit and eat together as a large community?
Hi Charles - I’d like to see the deep influence of religion in your economic series, especially the pathology of “the love of money is the root of all evil” and Christ’s example of “ leave your families and give away all that you have to the poor” So many have grown up in fundamentalist Christian American churches who taught modesty, tithing and a deep suspicion (and yet, at times, a secret love) of money - and are still subconsciously controlled as adults by the schizophrenia of having money and yet fearing money/displeasing God by having too much - whether they flex or not.
Charles, I woke up to find your offering this morning and it met my heart's calling at such a precise, beautiful place of synchronicity that I simply had to write to say THANK YOU! All that you've shared thus far finds deep resonance and excitement in me. I well remember your early days of writing about Sacred Economics. And now, a decade later, you are revisiting from an even 'higher' order of wholeness (or at least it seems so to me.) I am so longing for this conversation!! I want to meet around a fire and discuss all of this with people finding and falling in love with each other so much that we blur and eliminate the lines between giving and receiving. I sense that this offering of yours will guide us towards new ways of realizing what we truly value and allow us to move forward ("right action") towards the more beautiful world...
I love the question "how may I be of good use to you?"
- First off, I sense it needs to be reciprocal, yes? Can we be of good use to you (and each other) as well? I'd love to sense into this as a collective.
- What feels so essential to me is the question of how economic choices impact community -- what creates the "tragedy of the commons" and what promotes prosocial, regenerative connections? In our hearts, I sense a deep longing for new answers about how we form strong communities that can withstand the winds of change that we both desire and yet fear.
- Could you/we please discuss what Elinor Ostrom delineated as the "eight core design principles" of sustainable communities? Her work, along with David Sloan Wilson, seems like a great place to start re-envisioning what's possible.
- Looking at key stories are something you do so well. I/we look forward to delving deeply into these, especially the archetypes, myths and cultural wisdom about money and exchange (eg Bernard Lietaer's work)
- Also, I/we may be able to add some benefit looking into the trauma surrounding money to unravel some of the reasons we often move back into ways that do not serve us (eg, my work on Money and Trauma with the Thomas Hubl community exploring collective trauma.)
- Lastly, my heart is longing to take the next step of envisioning a new future by doing the imaginal work you brought forward in the last chapter of The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible. I suspect we can come together to do much of this work through play, perhaps using role-playing games and imaginal connections with ALL that is wanting to serve humanity's leap forward right now (eg, Nature, Indigenous Wisdom, the Infinite).
Thank you, Charles -- I/we all need avenues towards hope and trust right now... Much love
I'm glad your tackling this Charles. I've long been thinking that we need a new and better economic system. Sacred Economics laid the groundwork for that, but I'm curious to see how you will build on that. Growth and acquisition of capital as aims for economic activity clearly have some serious flaws. Do we toss at the whole system, as the Marxists would have us do, or reform it, as Progressives would have us do? Or is there a third way? I believe that we need to replace the desire for growth and material security with a system based on values. Economics that don't reflect those values should be disposed of in a toxic waste disposal. These values have to do with the appreciation for all human life, for all other humans and for furthering the development of other humans on the spiritual value plane. We have been overly focussed in the history of civilization on material acquisitions, satisfying our appetites, and improving security and power. We need to move away from these and create a system that can enable everyone to flourish, but in different ways. Material acquisition needs to be demoted to its proper place, and replaced with higher values. The question I find hard to answer is how? Possibly you will have other ideas and possible answers to some of these questions. I look forward to your next article.
We need to add: Appreciation for Nature, for ALL life - not only for human life.
I agree Leonara. I think respect for all life, plant, animal and even mineral (yes, minerals can have an energy, even if it doesn't meet the usual definition of life) needs to be part of the value system. However, economic transactions are first and foremost human relational, and that is why I emphasized the need to come into a different kind of relationship with one another, one based on values, and not exploitation for material gain or from fear or insecurity about lack. I believe you are correct however, in saying that this kind of mutuality in economic relations must embrace the entire Gaia system, not just human interactions.
Everything here with us is alive. And sentient. Just not like humans. Even though we’re speaking of human-created economic systems, this impacts non-human life in a major, usually destructive, way. We need to bring All Species into the conversations and deliberations as I mentioned in another comment in this thread.
Agreed Mark. I believe there are various alternatives to the simple capital accumulation offered by capitalism: cooperative, gift economy, you name it. Also I am advocate of changing the way we distribute the profits of our investments by sharing them with the workers that helped creating them, or the tenants that helped paying the property they live in. This I explain on my website www.post-capitalism.org
As a parent of 3 in America, with 2 in college and 1 in high school, I am deeply concerned about the economic prospects of young adults today. I hope that you will provide some hope that I can share with them, it's pretty bleak when we talk politics and finances at the dinner table lately. My father is a baby boomer and he lives with us. He is an intelligent man but he simply cannot wrap his head around the reality these kids are facing, or maybe he just refuses to accept it. It would be great to gain some tools to help bridge the gap. Thanks Charles!
Yes, please Charles. As a 68 year old in Britain today I am feeling increasingly alienated from society. I remember a time when people could afford to buy a home (before property was viewed as an investment) and it only took one wage earner in the family to bring in enough money for a comfortable life. The 'convenience' that the public seems to value (without thinking of the consequences) when using plastic instead of cash will inevitably lead to centralised digital currency and complete control.
This is a useful resource that is trying to set out a good alternative - https://www.lowimpact.org/categories/new-economy
How can we address:
1. that the global economy makes us not need each other in concrete ways (our goods and services mostly come from strangers/impersonal institutions and our gifts mostly go to such if we're lucky, and usually remain unexpressed)
2. that the global economy mostly makes us not need the other creatures of nature except in cold utilitarian ways because they are far away from us, not interacting directly with us for mutual benefit
3. that the global economy makes the feedback from actions to consequences in production and use of goods and services too slow, too abstract (far away in space and time) and too noisy (I can't tell what my impact is because it's mixed in with all these other people's/corporations impacts)?
Wow, you really nailed it!
I’m really interested in how to transform healthcare from disease management and dependency to true healthcare when so many have become so out of touch with health, don’t know how to heal themselves, and are dependent on medical interventions. There are not enough traditional, integrative, alternative healers or mind-body practitioners around for the shift required.
‘Our collective database’ indeed! Love that concept Charles. Takes Jungian Collective Conscience from metaphysics to ground floor.
THIS and all you propose is of GREAT use to me. Thank you as always.
Your insights are much needed and appreciated, Charles. I am interested in how to foster the transformative type of resilience in organisations. how to create the small and beautiful and local enterprises (especially when faced by the big and monstrous and global corporates). and how do we focus on local but also remain global. Looking forward to the essays! Big love from the Regenerative Economics students here at Schumacher College :-)
I am low-fixed income and disabled on benefits. Our perspective is often missing from these discussions. Please consider us in your thoughts.