All about Consciousness

Lately I've been doing a lot of reading about the concept of degrowth and the potential for transitioning to a steady-state economy.  The ideas are so refreshing to read.  They focus around what's fundamentally flawed with the current economic model and how degrowth can address these issues.  These documents contain mostly policy advice for what governments (namely the UK government) can do in order to begin this transition.  Of course, they also acknowledge that before a government can make a fair and democratic transition to another economic model, it must have the support of its people.  But people are so completely stuck in the current model, that it seems almost hopeless to wait for a cultural revolution of the people, to move beyond the mentality of "more, more, more" to "enough".

How the Economic Crisis is Changing the World

There are many different theories, ideas and approaches that deal with how to "change the world".  Awareness-raising, direct action and lobbying are some of the main ways practiced in society today.  However, they are usually not so effective.

Us Against Them! : "Fighting" for the Environment

There is such a feeling of separation in this world these days that even universal causes, such as trying to conserve a safe environment, have been converted into an "us versus them" mentality.  It's incredible.  Two videos that I've watched in the past couple of days clearly illustrate this phenomenon.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis: We are zombies.

Addicted to the Drama

Confusing love with attachment.  Confusing need with dependence.  Confusing joy of having someone in your life with fear of being alone.  

Voluntary Simplicity

There is a movement that started a short while ago called the Voluntary Simplicity Movement.  It has branched out into all kinds of sub-movements.  The fact that movements like Voluntary Simplicity are spreading like wildfires and are even making national and international headlines once in a while, is a sign that we, mostly in Western societies, are moving quickly into what is somewhat ridiculously referred to as post-post-modernism.  Or, as I like to call it, Post-Consumerism.  So, what is all this Post?  What are these people up to and why?

Great Transitions Scenarios

In 1995 an international group of people was convened to look at the state of the world, analyze the social, economic and environmental conditions, create a set of indicators and, using those indicators, make some projections about the potential paths that human development could take in the future.  They were called the Global Scenarios Group.

Power

A few months ago, I asked my dad why he thought that everybody wants money so badly.  It sounds like a ridiculously simple question for an adult to be consulting her father about.  However, as an adult, I find that I'm constantly being led by my experiences back to the most fundamental questions.  At this point, I was feeling quite confused about why we are all scrambling around, pushing each other out of the way and ruining the natural environment that provides for our livelihoods in order to simply accumulate more money.  What's the meaning of it?

Love and Fear

In my master's program once a friend interviewed me to see why I was studying sustainability issues, why I was concerned.  At the end of an hour long interview or so, he pointed out that my answers to his questions showed that I was studying sustainability out of fear.  I was baffled.  It didn't make any sense to me and, yet, logically, I couldn't argue with it.  So, I just dismissed it.

Measuring Quality of Life

In an earlier post called "Why Economic Growth?", I followed a line of logic that led me to some big questions that lie at the very foundation of our civilization:

It's not what you do, but why you do it

We humans are in a stage of our development, as a collective, in which we are very much concerned about what others think of us.  In light of this fact, it goes without saying that actions are extremely important to us.  The way I behave and act has a major influence on how people will see me.  So, it is essential that I act in a way that reflects the kind of person I am.  Right?

Growth-Addicted?

A large portion of the headlines that we read in the papers and see on the news everyday refers to economic growth.  It is worded in a variety of ways.  "We will find a way to jump-start the economy".  "China's economy is growing faster than that of any other country".  "The economy is on an up-turn".  "Hope for a growing economy".  All of these kinds of headlines are so ubiquitous and have been for such a long time that most of us never even give it a second thought. 


I had never questioned the idea of economic growth until I was 26 years old. It had always just been a given in my mind. That's what makes the world go around, right? How could the world go around without economic growth? How could we progress without it? How could we develop without it? Our very definitions of progress and development hinge on economic growth.

Functional-Service Economy

One of the main issues that is constantly being discussed in the sustainability realm and more and more in the mainstream economic circles these days, is the idea that our economic growth is running into natural limits.  The most obvious reason for this is that economic growth is completely dependent on our exploitation of raw materials.  It always has been this way up to this point in time.  So, many researchers, policy makers and corporations alike are starting to ask the question, "How can we maintain economic growth while staying within the physical limitations that our natural world presents?"  One answer to this question is the closed-loop economy.

A Lesson about Identity

It might sound quite ironic, but I have learned the most I've ever learned by doing nothing. Or this might sound quite right and sensible to those of you who have studied and/or experienced the words of ancient sages. As many of them profess that non-doing is just as important, and sometimes more important, than doing.

The Integral Approach

Recently, in my independent studies of the world, its issues and potential solutions, I bumped into the Integral Approach (aka- Integral Theory). 

I have had my own growing belief, based on what I've studied and what I see happening around me, that not only are humans still very much evolving, but that we are evolving extremely rapidly.  This is not to say that I expect to see webbed feet or an extra eye in the next generation.  What I'm talking about here is an evolution of consciousness.  And I think it's happening exponentially.  This is because evolution, itself, is evolving. 

Zeitgeist Movement- interesting, but fundamentally flawed

The Zeitgeist Movement is rapidly gaining popularity and momentum around the globe.  I've heard about it in Sweden, Greece and the US.  So, of course, I had to check out the newest film, Zeitgeist Addendum.  If you'd like to watch it, click here.

I first watched the movie a few months ago and have watched it once more since. The first time I watched it, most of its main points rang true for me. But at the end, I had this nagging feeling that something about it wasn't quite right. What exactly was missing wasn't clear to me until I watched it the second time.

Connected

I live in a big city.  I live in a big, crowded, polluted city, overflowing with frustrated strangers who don't want to be here.  Each day, loud, hot-blooded, Mediterranean-pitched arguments break out on the street, three stories below my window.  The shouts echo, bouncing back and forth between all of the concrete walls that surround the pavement.

An Empowered Passion

My whole life, I've had this passion for writing.  I've had a thirst for exploration and a craving to learn about everything around me.  Luckily, this fascinating place has provided me with more than my fair share of opportunities to gain understanding and insights.