Chapter 8
Beginning
“When an old culture is dying, the new culture is created by those people who are not afraid to be insecure ”Rudolph Bahro
To end, a simple invitation to begin…
Begin spotting, revealing and dropping the harmful ‘horror’ stories.
Begin spotting, sharing, creating and carrying the healthy ‘love’ stories.
Begin holding space for the marginalised and oppressed voices who already carry them.
Begin helping each other let go of our deeply ingrained ‘horror’ stories, knowing how hard that is to do.
Begin healing the divides to unite us as members of that same natural family.
Begin unravelling the narrative of separation and weaving the narrative of interconnection.
Begin designing the Economy in Service to Life.
“Begin Anywhere”
“The times are urgent let us slow down, the times are urgent let us weird up, the times are urgent, let us play.”
Below are a few sparks and shifts, in both stories and principles, implied by the evolution from the narrative of separation to the narrative of interconnection.
The stories are examples of other horror and love stories, that emerge from the two we’ve focused on so far.
The principles reflect the work done in so many places to help us think about what should matter in an Economy In Service To Life.
We hope they help to spark further questions, further examples, and further stories.
Stories
| Productivity is Success | → | Wellbeing is Success |
|---|---|---|
| The strongest survive | → | We’re all in this together |
| Race to the top | → | Smell the roses |
| Get ahead | → | Get along |
| Greed is good | → | Givers get lucky |
| More More More | → | Do more with less |
| Push it to the max | → | Enough is enough |
| Nature is our slave | → | Nature is our family |
|---|---|---|
| Nature is dangerous | → | Nature feels good |
| Nature is for us | → | Nature is us |
| Nature is a commodity | → | Nature is our community |
| Nature is our property | → | Nature is a gift |
| We must consume | → | We must regenerate |
| Conquering hero | → | Stewarding hero |
Principles
| Productivity is Success | → | Wellbeing is Success |
|---|---|---|
| Grow | → | Thrive |
| Short-term | → | Long-time |
| Maximise | → | Optimise |
| Competitive | → | Cooperative |
| Efficient | → | Resilient |
| Scarce | → | Abundant |
| Nature is our slave | → | Nature is our family |
|---|---|---|
| Extract | → | Exchange |
| Pollute | → | Relate |
| Useful matter | → | Living creatures |
| Monoculture | → | Diversity |
| Isolation | → | Belonging |
| Individual | → | Ecosystem |
“The plain fact is that the planet does not need more successful people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. And these qualities have little to do with success as we have defined it.”
“Make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological damage or disadvantage to anyone”
“If the world is to be healed through human efforts, I am convinced it will be by ordinary people, people whose love for this life is even greater than their fear.”
Thank you for spending your time here.
We hope you have questions, and ideas, and challenges – find us if you do.
This is just the beginning…
