I wonder if Emmanuel Macron made the same mistake as Premier Campbell when trying to impose a fuel price hike to support clean air vehicles which created the Gilets Jaunes movement? And it's clear that the Gilets Jaunes were unwilling and mostly unable to "sacrifice" anything as they certainly feel the pressure of social inequality. And what comes to mind when you use the term "sacrifice" is the islamic version of the term where the affluent sacrifices for the benefit of the needy in the community. And may be this is where we should be starting in regards to the Climate? For the ones that have enough, to start reducing their way of life so others can have enough and not feel like they are unfairly burdened. And may be, in this situation, the prevailing sense of scarcity most people have will diminish and be replaced by generosity? As Gandhi said "May I live simply, so others can simply live".
One other thought: the behavior of the American population in regards to COVID-19 is not making me helpful that as a country, the US is prepared to sacrifice anything and that self-interest prevails, unfortunately. Adam, thank you for your thought-provoking newsletter.
The question posed by Adam in this issue of The Understory, “What Are You Willing To Sacrifice?” necessarily presumes choice. I would argue that we have become chained and shackled by a culture of greed, masquerading as prosperity, opportunity and the holy grail of them all - the Good Life. The links of our chain are familiar and our willing submission to them is forged by a market-world system that subtly enslaves us through want, comfort, conformity and fear. I challenge that Sacrifice is possible, but only once we emancipate ourselves from the chains that make our choices seem impossible.
Am I suggesting that those of privilege are akin to slaves or even begin to know the harsh realities of colonial enslavement? Or course not. However, we are complaisant participants in a capitalistic system that binds us and blinds us, regardless of our prosperity or because of it, in ways that seem impossible to free ourselves from - without significant personal sacrifice. I ask that readers forgive me the metaphor.
First world upbringing is underpinned on the elements of capitalism; education to make us better workers, wage earners to make us better consumers, consumers to make us productive and successful members of society. Perhaps we follow this pattern because it’s what our parents and grandparents did. Perhaps it’s because our friends and peers are committed to the same end. Likely fear plays a part for who are we if we fail to conform? Conformity becomes culture. Maybe we even think we are choosing this path; by the time we are educated, employed, mortgaged, married, parents, etc, the weight of our chains feels a part of us.
We live in a world of plenty, where the technocratic horizon assures us that the solutions to humanities biggest problems are just a few innovations away. Our governments, even in the face of today’s pandemic, trumpet the need to restart the economy for the sake of growth and GDP. Modern monetary policy allows the printing presses to run without hesitation; the eventual payback surely a small portion of the future prosperity that our market-world echo chamber assures us is inevitable. With the cumulative messaging of our media, government, educational institutions, think-tanks and capitalistic influencers all suggesting that we can have our cake and eat it too, is it even surprising that too few feel a personal responsibility to sacrifice? In fact, much of the messaging from both government and market-world suggest that our responsibility is to keep consuming - for the sake of the economy and the return to our comfortable “normal”. It seems this chain is shackled to us all.
Even those who believe that the future of humanity is threatened by climate change seem hard pressed to extend that concern across all areas of their lives. Rampant consumerism requires continued resource extraction. Unnecessary production of disposable consumer goods, many by-products of petro-chemical plastics, directly contributes to GHG emissions. And yet, knowing all of this, many concerned citizens still find themselves caught in the trap of want, convenience and affordability; Amazon and Walmart seem a small concession if I drive my Tesla and be sure to recycle; choices that still require a consumption first approach. A longer lead perhaps, but still trapped by the chain.
Sitting on vacation, how many people lament the return to the “real world” as if they have no choice? They dream of a beach side life in Mexico, the Caribbean or a small Italian village as if it were unattainable- despite their real world financial realities. What are we not willing to sacrifice? Or what are we too scared to sacrifice because of how others might see us and how we might lose our preconceived notions of self in the carefully scripted market world culture. Who are we without our chains?
I too am shackled by prosperity, comfort, conformity and my choices; I live the Good Life. I love our planet and it’s multitudes of beauty, wonder, awe and connection and consider myself a concerned citizen. In reading Adam’s article I appreciated his reasoned, research and well presented expression of Sacrifice in our lives. But I felt it failed to challenge us - at an emotional, visceral, slap in the face level that might make it hard to look in the mirror and question why we allow ourselves to be chained at all.
Looking back at my reflection, I ask, “What Are You Willing To Sacrifice?”. The scary truth is that the answer might still be, “Not Enough”.
Yes on all this, specifically "Sacrifice creates a values hierarchy where something else has greater worth than what is being surrendered." How do we get to (or rather, return to) the post-individualist society? There is a fundamental missing piece implied in your mention of the crisis of meaning, which raises the question of sequencing. Will individuals who still feel disconnected from themselves, each other, and their environment be able to feel the impacts of their choices and thus be motivated to change those choices? I may sound like a broken record but from my standpoint step one has to be healing the disconnection, helping people recognize radical interdependence, that we live in a participatory universe, and the choices will then take care of themselves -- because we won't be able to choose otherwise without recognizing the harm to ourselves as part of the integral whole.
We will each have to also work through the moral injury that will become conscious once we fully recognize and account for the invisible sacrifices that have been made and are being made by so many over the past several hundred years, and horrific violence done to our fellow humans, our "other than human" brothers and sisters, and to the Earth herself. There will need to be a process of atonement and healing there as well.
At the suggestion of a colleague who is a somatic coach, I've been reading _In the Time of the Black Jaguar_ which gets to many of the principles of reciprocity, continuous flow of energy, and gift economy/gratitude way of life. One of the points he makes is that our economies are fundamentally sick, because we allow wealth to collect in stagnant pools. The point of the gift economy is that for life (and economic health) to be vibrant and clean like a flowing stream, value must be in continuous motion, exchanged from that fundamental outlook of deepest gratitude and reciprocal generosity, including the recognition by every individual that we each are responsible for stewardship and renewal of all resources, people, and any of the "other than human world" that we interact with and with whom we are in relationship.
In the essay you sent me which I read over the weekend I kept waiting for Litfin to move from "the eater is being eaten" and "that which consumes is in turn consumed" to the simple principle of reciprocity. She got there within a few more paragraphs!
Finally, what needs to be continually lifted up is that sacrifice no longer feels like what we might feel is a buren, but as Litfin points out, it becomes a sacrament - something done in recognition of fundamental sacredness, and as a celebration, an act of joy and reciprocity. "Sacrifice = sacre (sacred) + facere (to make)"
Thanks for the deep reading and filling in some of the blanks, Peter. The issue you bring up about staging is vital. Without healing the disconnection through greater interconnectivity, the sacrifices, gifts, behaviours, etc. are untethered. This crisis of meaning is beautifully articulated and inflected by Karen Litfin in her writing. More to share on the reflections post this weekend :)
I wonder if Emmanuel Macron made the same mistake as Premier Campbell when trying to impose a fuel price hike to support clean air vehicles which created the Gilets Jaunes movement? And it's clear that the Gilets Jaunes were unwilling and mostly unable to "sacrifice" anything as they certainly feel the pressure of social inequality. And what comes to mind when you use the term "sacrifice" is the islamic version of the term where the affluent sacrifices for the benefit of the needy in the community. And may be this is where we should be starting in regards to the Climate? For the ones that have enough, to start reducing their way of life so others can have enough and not feel like they are unfairly burdened. And may be, in this situation, the prevailing sense of scarcity most people have will diminish and be replaced by generosity? As Gandhi said "May I live simply, so others can simply live".
One other thought: the behavior of the American population in regards to COVID-19 is not making me helpful that as a country, the US is prepared to sacrifice anything and that self-interest prevails, unfortunately. Adam, thank you for your thought-provoking newsletter.
The question posed by Adam in this issue of The Understory, “What Are You Willing To Sacrifice?” necessarily presumes choice. I would argue that we have become chained and shackled by a culture of greed, masquerading as prosperity, opportunity and the holy grail of them all - the Good Life. The links of our chain are familiar and our willing submission to them is forged by a market-world system that subtly enslaves us through want, comfort, conformity and fear. I challenge that Sacrifice is possible, but only once we emancipate ourselves from the chains that make our choices seem impossible.
Am I suggesting that those of privilege are akin to slaves or even begin to know the harsh realities of colonial enslavement? Or course not. However, we are complaisant participants in a capitalistic system that binds us and blinds us, regardless of our prosperity or because of it, in ways that seem impossible to free ourselves from - without significant personal sacrifice. I ask that readers forgive me the metaphor.
First world upbringing is underpinned on the elements of capitalism; education to make us better workers, wage earners to make us better consumers, consumers to make us productive and successful members of society. Perhaps we follow this pattern because it’s what our parents and grandparents did. Perhaps it’s because our friends and peers are committed to the same end. Likely fear plays a part for who are we if we fail to conform? Conformity becomes culture. Maybe we even think we are choosing this path; by the time we are educated, employed, mortgaged, married, parents, etc, the weight of our chains feels a part of us.
We live in a world of plenty, where the technocratic horizon assures us that the solutions to humanities biggest problems are just a few innovations away. Our governments, even in the face of today’s pandemic, trumpet the need to restart the economy for the sake of growth and GDP. Modern monetary policy allows the printing presses to run without hesitation; the eventual payback surely a small portion of the future prosperity that our market-world echo chamber assures us is inevitable. With the cumulative messaging of our media, government, educational institutions, think-tanks and capitalistic influencers all suggesting that we can have our cake and eat it too, is it even surprising that too few feel a personal responsibility to sacrifice? In fact, much of the messaging from both government and market-world suggest that our responsibility is to keep consuming - for the sake of the economy and the return to our comfortable “normal”. It seems this chain is shackled to us all.
Even those who believe that the future of humanity is threatened by climate change seem hard pressed to extend that concern across all areas of their lives. Rampant consumerism requires continued resource extraction. Unnecessary production of disposable consumer goods, many by-products of petro-chemical plastics, directly contributes to GHG emissions. And yet, knowing all of this, many concerned citizens still find themselves caught in the trap of want, convenience and affordability; Amazon and Walmart seem a small concession if I drive my Tesla and be sure to recycle; choices that still require a consumption first approach. A longer lead perhaps, but still trapped by the chain.
Sitting on vacation, how many people lament the return to the “real world” as if they have no choice? They dream of a beach side life in Mexico, the Caribbean or a small Italian village as if it were unattainable- despite their real world financial realities. What are we not willing to sacrifice? Or what are we too scared to sacrifice because of how others might see us and how we might lose our preconceived notions of self in the carefully scripted market world culture. Who are we without our chains?
I too am shackled by prosperity, comfort, conformity and my choices; I live the Good Life. I love our planet and it’s multitudes of beauty, wonder, awe and connection and consider myself a concerned citizen. In reading Adam’s article I appreciated his reasoned, research and well presented expression of Sacrifice in our lives. But I felt it failed to challenge us - at an emotional, visceral, slap in the face level that might make it hard to look in the mirror and question why we allow ourselves to be chained at all.
Looking back at my reflection, I ask, “What Are You Willing To Sacrifice?”. The scary truth is that the answer might still be, “Not Enough”.
Yes on all this, specifically "Sacrifice creates a values hierarchy where something else has greater worth than what is being surrendered." How do we get to (or rather, return to) the post-individualist society? There is a fundamental missing piece implied in your mention of the crisis of meaning, which raises the question of sequencing. Will individuals who still feel disconnected from themselves, each other, and their environment be able to feel the impacts of their choices and thus be motivated to change those choices? I may sound like a broken record but from my standpoint step one has to be healing the disconnection, helping people recognize radical interdependence, that we live in a participatory universe, and the choices will then take care of themselves -- because we won't be able to choose otherwise without recognizing the harm to ourselves as part of the integral whole.
We will each have to also work through the moral injury that will become conscious once we fully recognize and account for the invisible sacrifices that have been made and are being made by so many over the past several hundred years, and horrific violence done to our fellow humans, our "other than human" brothers and sisters, and to the Earth herself. There will need to be a process of atonement and healing there as well.
At the suggestion of a colleague who is a somatic coach, I've been reading _In the Time of the Black Jaguar_ which gets to many of the principles of reciprocity, continuous flow of energy, and gift economy/gratitude way of life. One of the points he makes is that our economies are fundamentally sick, because we allow wealth to collect in stagnant pools. The point of the gift economy is that for life (and economic health) to be vibrant and clean like a flowing stream, value must be in continuous motion, exchanged from that fundamental outlook of deepest gratitude and reciprocal generosity, including the recognition by every individual that we each are responsible for stewardship and renewal of all resources, people, and any of the "other than human world" that we interact with and with whom we are in relationship.
In the essay you sent me which I read over the weekend I kept waiting for Litfin to move from "the eater is being eaten" and "that which consumes is in turn consumed" to the simple principle of reciprocity. She got there within a few more paragraphs!
Finally, what needs to be continually lifted up is that sacrifice no longer feels like what we might feel is a buren, but as Litfin points out, it becomes a sacrament - something done in recognition of fundamental sacredness, and as a celebration, an act of joy and reciprocity. "Sacrifice = sacre (sacred) + facere (to make)"
Thank you for the article and comments. Sacrificial giving has great power to shift the conversation and action.
Here is a link to The Time of the Black Jaguar that Peter referenced https://amzn.to/35jSABd
Thanks for the deep reading and filling in some of the blanks, Peter. The issue you bring up about staging is vital. Without healing the disconnection through greater interconnectivity, the sacrifices, gifts, behaviours, etc. are untethered. This crisis of meaning is beautifully articulated and inflected by Karen Litfin in her writing. More to share on the reflections post this weekend :)