With our first post of the new year, we thought we might post a piece that offers some hope in these times of economic and agricultural crisis. Daniel Pinchbeck just penned an article for CommonGround in which he calls for a new approach to addressing the many problems facing the world right now. Intentionality is the core of this approach, and one that will require some drastic re-arranging of the thought processes of the powers that be. Still, it begins to talk to the central issue - that a change in approach to government and economics is needed to avoid further meltdown and collapse. From the article: Over the last decades, the international financial elite manipulated the markets to create obscene rewards for themselves at the expense of poor and middle class people across the world.Opportunities such as this one don’t come along very often and should be seized once they appear. When the edifice of mainstream society suddenly collapses, as is happening now, it is a fantastic time for artists, visionaries, mad scientists and seers to step forward and present a well-defined alternative.the breakdown of our financial system has not altered the amount of tangible resources available on our planet. Rather than trying to re-jigger an unjust debt-based system that artificially maintains inequity and scarcity, we could make a new start.
While some of his proposal seems a bit naive - that people can simply grow food and make art for instance - bringing this discussion to the table is the most valuable thing about the article.
and Happy New Year!
Interesting, but odd choice of wording with "leisure society":
ReplyDelete'To a very great extent, the possibilities we choose to realize in the future will be a result of our individual and collective intention. For instance, if we maintain a Puritanical belief that work is somehow good in and of itself, then we will keep striving to create a society of full employment, even if those jobs become “green collar.” A more radical viewpoint perceives most labor as something that could become essentially voluntary in the future. The proper use of technology could allow us to transition to a post-scarcity leisure society, where the global populace spends its time growing food, building community, making art, making love, learning new skills and deepening self-development through spiritual disciplines such as yoga, tantra, shamanism and meditation.'
That part in particular was what I referred to as a bit naive. He equates growing food with leisure, and while I agree it can be very rewarding, it is still difficult and time-consuming work that has more importance than "making art and making love."
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