Choose Thriving over Growth
This article first appeared in the Minden Times in November 2023.
I’m not opposed to accepting that mankind needs periodically to be brought to its knees. In Judeo-Christian mythology (and perhaps in other monotheistic cultures) we have the story of the Flood. In polytheistic mythology we have relentless god-against-god battle in a universe that exceeds the earth, which gives them an exit ramp when things get extreme. In pantheistic mythology the tension between growth and decline is natural, and disaster happens when the connections between components become corroded or corrupted.
Life has no meaning if we don’t believe that actions have consequences. The tricky bit is figuring out what actions/consequences are ours to own. The limits of agency. How big can we get before we get too big for our britches and get taken down a notch or two? And on the other hand, how responsible are we as individuals to be active players in our society? Marx offered ‘from each according to his ability, to each according to his need’: it may not have worked well at the macro level, but it’s the way small groups thrive. Think family. Think community.
Perhaps the vulnerability in Marx’s formula is how we define ‘ability’ and how we define ‘need’.
The problem with defining need is easily evident: we have collectively become greedy at every level of civic organization, black holes of consumption, great gobblers of anything and everything. This was never so evident as during the pandemic when money flew up the economic scale at unprecedented rates and stayed there. The run on toilet paper was emblematic (as well as an embarrassing reflection of our values). We never did get around to sharing our extraneous vaccines with the developing world.
We know that in smaller social groupings, like a family, we define what is needed within some consideration of what’s available. We accept that only one person at a time can ride shot-gun.
We don’t presume that the last scoop of mashed potatoes or extra slice of apple pie is needed by whoever gobbles their food most quickly. We acknowledge that the family car can’t be two places at once. Out of this need for sharing comes the fine art of negotiating.
We also know that when there is not enough of essentials to meet basic need, sharing and negotiating go out the window: we act like pigs at the trough, doing what’s necessary to get what we can, more than we need this time because next time what we need might not be available. I understand this dynamic when essentials are inadequate, but the greed of capitalism is different. Capitalism is a zombie that walks among us, pretending to be human but lacking ethics or morality, at the mercy of its id-like DNA – what sneaky anthropomorphizing is that!! -- which is to make a profit.
The problem with defining ‘ability’ is more nuanced because the value of what one does is determined in context. President Roosevelt was able to govern pretty well even though he was in a wheelchair. Stephen Hawking made a significant contribution to science even as ALS rendered pretty much all but his brain non-functioning. Women have been told they have few / irrelevant / no abilities for much of historical times; ownership of the unique abilities they possess (eg having babies, although the race is on to replace that uniqueness) has been a battle ground since time immemorial.
I think the way forward is that we reconsider what we need. Put ourselves on a materialism diet, really think about every single expenditure, start bragging about what we didn’t buy. Taking seriously the invitation to slay inflation by spending less. Especially with necessities at ridiculous prices, we could begin to practice how to redefine need, rein in greed, take baby steps leading to the equivalent of stomach stapling our material appetite.
And the other thing we could do, well within our ambit, is overtly, publicly, naming and claiming ability that is unvalued or undervalued. Volunteer work. Neighbouring. Parenting. Caregiving. Stewardship. Putting civil into civic – minding our manners. Bearing witness.
This will not grow the GDP. It will not make us rich. But. It will cause us to thrive. Individually. As small groups. As collectives of small groups. As community in the old fashioned sense of the word, those with whom we share something in common – a physical space, a belief, a value, an interest, a cause. As with correcting unwanted behaviour in children, we should learn to accentuate the positive, celebrate the good whenever the opportunity presents itself, be your best self as often as you can.
In itself this is not much, but if enough of us do it, it will turn this ship around.
