27 September 2006
When less is more
by Matthew, onboard the Esperanza
©Greenpeace/Alex Hofford
Doing the night watch in Pohnpei Harbour gave time for my mind to think about the big lofty issues around the Defending Our Oceans campaign.
Time to think about all we imagine we can't change - the desperate grip economic rationalism (blind greed and the ability to boil life down to balance sheets and words that do not have any descriptive qualities) has over our lives, over science, over perception.
I'm listening to some dub and the line: "Wicked men are sitting in the seat of judgment" goes through my head. But nothing is that simple, especially if you're in the business of making change. Even if it is that simple; yelling till you lose your voice doesn't seem to work.
As much as I would like to I cannot distil reality into black and white, right and wrong. That won't change the mind of someone who has a different value set to me, and it won't change their actions.
I'm on an island in the middle of the Pacific, it should be an easier place to see all points of view. So what is the value of subsistence? What is the price of the good life? What is the good life? Can less be more? What is the price of being able to collect clean, nutritious food, whenever you want it? What price would you have to pay to obtain that for your children? I don't know. Do the fishing companies know? Do governments know? Do the peoples who have been managing their fish stocks for thousands of years know?
If people knew that price, we wouldn't be able to buy it off them. It would be impossible to sell something no company could afford! That's the difference when thinking gets long term, inter-generational and the full cost of exploiting natural resources is taken into account.
What would less be? Less money, less profits, less concentration of the western idea of wealth?
What would more be? More food, food security, more community, more local autonomy, more of the encompassing idea of wealth (nutrition, health, education or whatever indicators show true wealth.
If we could truly comprehend the value of all life, of food, of people all the margins might look a touch stupid.
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Comments
How I wish i could once more share that same empathical circumstancial lifeworld experience that has led you to these musings. It makes you want to stop and think that once, not so long ago, this same idea has brought you to the doors of the organisation. Thanks for this.
Posted by: Mr. Sea Turtle at September 27, 2006 7:52 AM
Matty, I think it's fair to say that you're the hottest philosopher onboard the Espy at this moment in time.
Posted by: El Bizarro at September 27, 2006 8:41 AM
How to be ruthless enough to get into positions of power, and at the same time be ethical and responsible...always tricky one.
Posted by: Matthew at September 28, 2006 2:56 AM
The link between Mind and Social / Environmental-Issues.
The fast-paced, consumerist lifestyle of Industrial Society is causing exponential rise in psychological problems besides destroying the environment. All issues are interlinked. Our Minds cannot be peaceful when attention-spans are down to nanoseconds, microseconds and milliseconds. Our Minds cannot be peaceful if we destroy Nature.
Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment.
Subject : In a fast society slow emotions become extinct.
Subject : A thinking mind cannot feel.
Subject : Scientific/ Industrial/ Financial thinking destroys the planet.
Subject : Environment can never be saved as long as cities exist.
Emotion is what we experience during gaps in our thinking.
If there are no gaps there is no emotion.
Today people are thinking all the time and are mistaking thought (words/ language) for emotion.
When society switches-over from physical work (agriculture) to mental work (scientific/ industrial/ financial/ fast visuals/ fast words ) the speed of thinking keeps on accelerating and the gaps between thinking go on decreasing.
There comes a time when there are almost no gaps.
People become incapable of experiencing/ tolerating gaps.
Emotion ends.
Man becomes machine.
A society that speeds up mentally experiences every mental slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.
A ( travelling )society that speeds up physically experiences every physical slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.
A society that entertains itself daily experiences every non-entertaining moment as Depression / Anxiety.
FAST VISUALS /WORDS MAKE SLOW EMOTIONS EXTINCT.
SCIENTIFIC /INDUSTRIAL /FINANCIAL THINKING DESTROYS EMOTIONAL CIRCUITS.
A FAST (LARGE) SOCIETY CANNOT FEEL PAIN / REMORSE / EMPATHY.
A FAST (LARGE) SOCIETY WILL ALWAYS BE CRUEL TO ANIMALS/ TREES/ AIR/ WATER/ LAND AND TO ITSELF.
To read the complete article please follow either of these links :
sushil_yadav
Posted by: sushil_yadav at September 29, 2006 3:39 PM
Beyond psychology - which at some critical points become irrelevant even in the most basic articulations about power and social responsibility - there, i think, lies the issue of our poor recognition of the connection of all these things to our sociological imagination. We dont, of course, intend to look at this in the monochromatic lense of the so-called academic argumentation and i promise from here on to simplify these musings. In my country, as in every developing country, we are unaware of the malady we have and the end result is that we all fall victims to the 'reality' that the main handlers of power submit to us. This malady, a cancer if you may call it, blurs out from our vision the larger picture of our situation right now. I hope to be understood regarding this matter.
Sociological imagination: makes us understand our position within social circumstances and therefore, bestows upon us the power to change our 'realities'. We have gone past cosmopolitan existence and are situated in a position wherein a number of people are showing to us how we can change things. Ideas are now beyond written words and at present poses a force so powerful it can either save us or destroy us.
What is the key then to pry open the doors for change? My friend, as you are reading this, you know that the voice that silently rebukes the mind and beseeches the soul will lead you to understand that you can change the circumstances and direct it to what is socially just and fair. Teach this knowledge to everyone, one at a time, and we can change the world for the better.
"In the annals of human adversity, there is etched a cancer, of a breed so malignant that the least contact exacerbates it and stirs in it the sharpest of pains... I will lift part of the shroud that conceals your illness, sacrificing to the truth everything, even my own self-respect, for, as your son, I also suffer from your defects and failings. - Jose P. Rizal, 1886"
Posted by: Mr. Sea Turtle at October 1, 2006 2:54 AM
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