This is one of the key questions facing humanity: "but do we have enough wealth in what materializes well-being?" The past four weeks or so I have been recognizing something I'd missed but makes enormous sense. Originally I thought our work was just a matter of moving people from fight or flight to tend and befriend, and we would automatically start making the "right" types of decisions as communities. But on the heels of learning from Julia Kim about Gross National Happiness, I am sitting with the maxim "there is no mindset shift without a consciousness shift." Therefore all of us climate coaches and others who seek to make change will be needing to spend more time than even we had recognized previously concentrating our efforts and helping others to concentrate their efforts on the inner work necessary to shift consciousness and thus mindsets, which then result in changed governmental, health, social and economic structures.
You rightly point out, "We have enough jam and airborne carbon dioxide, but not enough culture, language, nature, and belonging." Richard Strozzi and others in the Somatics field talk about the three things each human needs, as a plant needs water, soil and sunlight in order to thrive, we each need safety, belonging and dignity so we may also thrive. In this Somatic framework, all our conditioned tendencies and adaptive traits come from our childhood seeking for maximum access to those three things if they are not found plentifully in our family and society of origin. Frankly, few children find abundance of those safety, belonging, and dignity in Western/"developed" families and societies. So we have a lot of self-healing and wholing work to do (some of which is outlined in Bill Plotkin's Wild Mind) so that we can restore our sense of abundance.
Once this work is completed, we realize that as adults we are still running those old scarcity programs, when actually our responsibility in becoming adults is to self-generate safety, belonging, and dignity -- to the point we have a surplus and begin giving it away. As a consciousness and thus mindset shift, this results in an incredibly attractive and dynamic leadership presence. Who doesn't want to be near someone who is giving away safety, belonging and dignity? Because we all still don't know how to do that for ourselves. But those leaders who have reached that point are living light-houses demonstrating it is both possible and simply healthy to become so embodied. And we can do that with simple practices (see all of Somatics).
Appreciating all you outline and reference, almost all of which is new to me, including Max-Neef . This shift is towards a true sense of wealth - the universe per folks like Duane Elgin and Brian Swimme is absolutely and fundamentally abundant with energy. The sun and the Earth provide all we could possibly need and completely unconditionally. Kate Raworth rightly points out in Doughut Economics that the way we have set up economic systems in the past is to create a sense of scarcity so that wealth moves towards those in power, we need to discontinue that model for obvious reasons at this point. And we can revise, 'un-disrupt,' decolonize our conditioning, and re-indigenize ourselves around what we consider "wealth" and what is possible in terms of how to be in the world by reading and listening to authors you've already discussed at length, including Melanie Goodchild, Arkan Lushwala, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Sherri Mitchell, Tyson Yunkaporta etc. And that process of healing and wholing leads to all you outline in your concluding paragraphs.
How exciting to have you bend the line into a circle, as the teepee touches the earth at its base, sending smoke/enegy up to the sky. Seeing the first personal transformation as the basis, not the goal, of society. In our abundance and having no need to bind reality, we can be properly awestruck.
As always, Adam, you touch on the crux of the problem and source of the crisis of the biosphere: "what we value". And until that changes, little progress will be made. Your discourse reminds me of two books "The Real Wealth of Nations" (2007) by Dr. Riane Eisler and "Buddhist Economics" (2017) by Dr. Clair Brown. Each book argues the same point that you are making: From Dr Eisler's book: "The greatest problems of our time -poverty, inequality, war, and environmental degradation- can be traced to flawed economic systems that fail to value and support the most essential human work: caring for people and the planet". From Dr Brown's book 'Traditional economics measures the way in which we spend our income, but does not attribute worth to the crucial human interactions that give our lives meanings". I am wondering what examples we have of either nations (Bhutan? Costa Rica?) or companies (Patagonia? Eileen Fisher?) or communities that are examples of these principles being put to practice? And how can we leverage the success of these early adopters in our work? And as Peter comments below, the works starts with a shift in consciousness so how did these successful entities shift the consciousness of their constituents? Very much gratitude for your writing.
Thank you, Adam, for another soulful and truthful candle. I'd also suggest "Beyond The Limits - Update 2004" as an important read by Donnella and Denis Meadows, Jorgan Randers, published soon after Donnella's passing. In the Update, Meadows postulate that there are two root causes of the destructive nature of our "modern" cultures:
1. Extreme shortsightedness - as you point out, quarterly results ("better be more than last 1/4 or you're fired")
2. Extreme individualism - it's all about me and mine.
Moving from "accumulation to flow", from "me to we".
I believe that the key issue at this historic moment in all of human history is raising our consciousness and awareness of our actions, changing our behaviors as in making conscious choices every day, and in turn, cultural, economic and social transformation. There is no inherent reason to think we cannot do this. The only and obvious question is, will we.
We must move from awareness to action with great urgency if my baby granddaughter and our children are to have the opportunity of a good lifetime. It is time to gathering the "tribes" in a massive movement and begin writing the next chapter in the human story - "The Future We Choose". As is revealed in the Hopi Prophecy: Oraibi, Arizona June 8, 2000
You have been telling people that this is the Eleventh Hour, now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour. And there are things to be considered…
Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know your garden.
It is time to speak your truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for your leader.
Then he clasped his hands together, smiled, and said, “This could be a good time! There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly. Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water.
And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate. At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.
The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word ’struggle’ from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
This is one of the key questions facing humanity: "but do we have enough wealth in what materializes well-being?" The past four weeks or so I have been recognizing something I'd missed but makes enormous sense. Originally I thought our work was just a matter of moving people from fight or flight to tend and befriend, and we would automatically start making the "right" types of decisions as communities. But on the heels of learning from Julia Kim about Gross National Happiness, I am sitting with the maxim "there is no mindset shift without a consciousness shift." Therefore all of us climate coaches and others who seek to make change will be needing to spend more time than even we had recognized previously concentrating our efforts and helping others to concentrate their efforts on the inner work necessary to shift consciousness and thus mindsets, which then result in changed governmental, health, social and economic structures.
You rightly point out, "We have enough jam and airborne carbon dioxide, but not enough culture, language, nature, and belonging." Richard Strozzi and others in the Somatics field talk about the three things each human needs, as a plant needs water, soil and sunlight in order to thrive, we each need safety, belonging and dignity so we may also thrive. In this Somatic framework, all our conditioned tendencies and adaptive traits come from our childhood seeking for maximum access to those three things if they are not found plentifully in our family and society of origin. Frankly, few children find abundance of those safety, belonging, and dignity in Western/"developed" families and societies. So we have a lot of self-healing and wholing work to do (some of which is outlined in Bill Plotkin's Wild Mind) so that we can restore our sense of abundance.
Once this work is completed, we realize that as adults we are still running those old scarcity programs, when actually our responsibility in becoming adults is to self-generate safety, belonging, and dignity -- to the point we have a surplus and begin giving it away. As a consciousness and thus mindset shift, this results in an incredibly attractive and dynamic leadership presence. Who doesn't want to be near someone who is giving away safety, belonging and dignity? Because we all still don't know how to do that for ourselves. But those leaders who have reached that point are living light-houses demonstrating it is both possible and simply healthy to become so embodied. And we can do that with simple practices (see all of Somatics).
Appreciating all you outline and reference, almost all of which is new to me, including Max-Neef . This shift is towards a true sense of wealth - the universe per folks like Duane Elgin and Brian Swimme is absolutely and fundamentally abundant with energy. The sun and the Earth provide all we could possibly need and completely unconditionally. Kate Raworth rightly points out in Doughut Economics that the way we have set up economic systems in the past is to create a sense of scarcity so that wealth moves towards those in power, we need to discontinue that model for obvious reasons at this point. And we can revise, 'un-disrupt,' decolonize our conditioning, and re-indigenize ourselves around what we consider "wealth" and what is possible in terms of how to be in the world by reading and listening to authors you've already discussed at length, including Melanie Goodchild, Arkan Lushwala, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Sherri Mitchell, Tyson Yunkaporta etc. And that process of healing and wholing leads to all you outline in your concluding paragraphs.
How exciting to have you bend the line into a circle, as the teepee touches the earth at its base, sending smoke/enegy up to the sky. Seeing the first personal transformation as the basis, not the goal, of society. In our abundance and having no need to bind reality, we can be properly awestruck.
As always, Adam, you touch on the crux of the problem and source of the crisis of the biosphere: "what we value". And until that changes, little progress will be made. Your discourse reminds me of two books "The Real Wealth of Nations" (2007) by Dr. Riane Eisler and "Buddhist Economics" (2017) by Dr. Clair Brown. Each book argues the same point that you are making: From Dr Eisler's book: "The greatest problems of our time -poverty, inequality, war, and environmental degradation- can be traced to flawed economic systems that fail to value and support the most essential human work: caring for people and the planet". From Dr Brown's book 'Traditional economics measures the way in which we spend our income, but does not attribute worth to the crucial human interactions that give our lives meanings". I am wondering what examples we have of either nations (Bhutan? Costa Rica?) or companies (Patagonia? Eileen Fisher?) or communities that are examples of these principles being put to practice? And how can we leverage the success of these early adopters in our work? And as Peter comments below, the works starts with a shift in consciousness so how did these successful entities shift the consciousness of their constituents? Very much gratitude for your writing.
Thank you, Adam, for another soulful and truthful candle. I'd also suggest "Beyond The Limits - Update 2004" as an important read by Donnella and Denis Meadows, Jorgan Randers, published soon after Donnella's passing. In the Update, Meadows postulate that there are two root causes of the destructive nature of our "modern" cultures:
1. Extreme shortsightedness - as you point out, quarterly results ("better be more than last 1/4 or you're fired")
2. Extreme individualism - it's all about me and mine.
Moving from "accumulation to flow", from "me to we".
I believe that the key issue at this historic moment in all of human history is raising our consciousness and awareness of our actions, changing our behaviors as in making conscious choices every day, and in turn, cultural, economic and social transformation. There is no inherent reason to think we cannot do this. The only and obvious question is, will we.
We must move from awareness to action with great urgency if my baby granddaughter and our children are to have the opportunity of a good lifetime. It is time to gathering the "tribes" in a massive movement and begin writing the next chapter in the human story - "The Future We Choose". As is revealed in the Hopi Prophecy: Oraibi, Arizona June 8, 2000
You have been telling people that this is the Eleventh Hour, now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour. And there are things to be considered…
Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know your garden.
It is time to speak your truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for your leader.
Then he clasped his hands together, smiled, and said, “This could be a good time! There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly. Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water.
And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate. At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.
The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word ’struggle’ from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
--Hopi Elders' Prophecy, June 8, 2000
Hee, hee, wheee!