Sufficiency Step No. 2

The title of this and subsequent posts about Sufficiency are presented as a series of numbered steps in order to create the impression of a walk forward in time as I wish to impress upon the reader the transitional nature of this dialog.

Sufficiency is great news to a species like ours that doesn't know how to measure its social and environmental needs. Yet, still, it can be as foreign to us as shoes are to a fish, as some of you may have found out in the last post.

That particular difficulty is one that has bedeviled our species throughout history when it comes to the way we respond to new ideas, especially when they're introduced at about the time when the old ideas have settled into the cultural norm. Consider the idea that the Earth turns on its axis as proposed by Herakleides in 350 B.C. This fact was missed by Aristotle and Pythagoras. Or, better yet, consider the case of Aristarchus of Samos who in 340 B.C. proposed the idea that the Earth goes around the Sun.

Of course, my point is that it was not until the Renaissance nearly 1,800 years later that we decided to catch up with their vision and make a go of astronomy. That pattern of missed opportunities literally paves human history all the way up to now as I write these words.

At first glance there was nothing wrong with that since humanity had 1,800 years to spare. But today this point becomes frightfully relevant. Based upon the state of our world and even the most optimistic of forecasts the reality is that there is almost no time left to waste for us to come around to finally see the light of reason anymore.

It is at this point that Sufficiency becomes paramount to the survival of humanity and to the resolution of the crisis regarding life on Earth. Consider Sufficiency as a survival companion to natural processes as they unfold through time. As an idea, Sufficiency allows us to sift data for its "net survival advantage" (meaning the remaining best operative objective) so that survival coefficients of Sufficiency can be established. What I mean is that unless we utilize an organizing principle like Sufficiency we are doomed to buy more of the same old wisdom that got us here and to be obliged to pay for it with our lives.

Sufficiency is not an easy concept to grasp. In fact, it is a complex idea whose depths we are just beginning to discover. But, it is here now. As I mentioned in the last post, its presence now is probably very much like it was when the discovery and use of controlled fire was first encountered in prehistoric times.

Therefore Sufficiency requires use and the passage of time before the content of its many layers begins to reveal itself. I'm saying here that, because it is a root precursor of a new culture, Sufficiency will naturally develop alongside this new culture where its consequences and peculiarities are at home with its practitioners.

This is where the difficulty we've had with new ideas in the past comes into play. And, that is the wisdom behind my insistence in treating our current culture as the culture of Planet Earth 1.0 and our emergent culture as the culture of Planet Earth 2.0. In this scenario we can see that Sufficiency is the upgrade to the former and that we (those of us who choose to embrace Sufficiency) will be part of the transition to the latter.

That is why I suggest that, if we choose this survival strategy, we will have entered and age of transition. Some of the qualities inherent in Sufficiency will provide the transitional rhythm or procedure whereby the character of one culture is transposed to the next, retaining its origin but manifesting its upgrade in actual practice.

We have a lot to learn and relatively little time to do so. Fortunately, we are not alone in this quest. Great strides have been made that have placed the idea of Sufficiency well within the academic community where the hard numbers needed for its eventual success will be crunched by able minds.

There is a book written by Thomas Princen titled "The Logic of Sufficiency" (Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, 2005). Professor Princen is an Associate Professor of Natural Resource and Environmental Policy with tenure, 1991-present, at the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan.

I became aware of his book on March 16, 2009 during a Google search. I rushed to my local library for a copy. Mind you, I had hung much of my life's work on the word Sufficiency and was oblivious to the notion that anyone else might be working on the idea too. I was not only astonished by the remarkable coincidence of Professor Princen's choice of the word for his title but, upon reading his book, completely gratified that I finally met a fellow traveler on what had been for me a long, lonely trail.

Professor Princen presents Sufficiency as an idea that, in his words, is "...straightforward, indeed simple and intuitive, arguably "rational." It is the sense that, as one does more and more of an activity, there can be enough and there can be too much." He takes these considerations deeper until they reach a sense that he articulates as "Sufficiency is a broad social organizing principle in an ecologically constrained world."

Allow me to share with you an excerpt from his book that gave me shivers because in a peculiar way it validates our work in creating a model of world peace. The Worldwide Peace Marker Project is an example of Sufficiency applied at a global scale. In his final chapter "Making Ecological Sense" there is a section that reads as follows:

If it Exists, It's Possible

"If it exists, it's possible, Kenneth Boulding, economist, poet and peace activist once said. The context then was international conflict, which seemed pervasive, and the "it" was peace. In this book, the context is global ecological crisis and the "it" is Sufficiency, acting on a sense of enoughness and "too muchness." Sufficiency is, I have argued, a necessary condition, a set of decision criteria, a set of principles critical for reversing the biophysical trends and re-organizing society for sustainable resource use. The resource status of the past was abundance, an ever present frontier, unending resources and sinks, now it is scarcity. And not just the relative scarcity of economic reasoning where there is always a trade-off, always a transformation function, always a substitute, but an absolute scarcity in the sense that, with biophysical irreversibilities--species loss, climate destabilization, topsoil erosion, aquifer drawdown--humans cannot just move on to level another forest, plow another grassland, drill another well; they cannot run the conveyor belt faster and expect the disease to go away."

My remarks here about Professor Princen are mostly to express my joy to the presence of his work at this critical junction for humanity and selfishly because I had been waiting for a voice like his from academia. I certainly endorse that you read his book and explore first-hand with him the complexity of the sustainability challenge and, well, the logic of Sufficiency.

Professor Princen urges for our reach for a theory, for a defined and organized principle behind Sufficiency. He admits that "unfortunately, with current understanding, we are far from such a theory."

When I read that I was astounded to realize that is no longer the case. Unbeknown to him, I had already ironed out many of the problems that lead to a formal theory of Sufficiency.

I'm confident that my contributions will help to trim some of that distance in a short amount of time. What I mean to say is that my contribution to Sufficiency comes from Nature where it has resided for eons and where Sufficiency can be seen everywhere once you know where to look.

I will continue to share Sufficiency with you as an artist's vision of a gift from Nature or, as it is closer to my heart, as an emissary on behalf of all of the other creatures in the world whose survival depends on how fast humanity can learn to practice Sufficiency so that the human species can rejoin Nature in their new role as co-creators of life on Earth.

There is really no question that we must begin in earnest to react to the survival challenges that lie ahead. Nor is there much doubt about the limited time remaining in which to react. The big question that remains unanswered is, "Will we react in time?" or, what is even scarier, "Will we react at all?"

I'm an optimist. Therefore, I will accept the fact that we, the few, have undeniably embraced the concept of Planet Earth 2.0 as a transitional destination where an idea like Sufficiency can take hold as the organizing principle of the new culture that is to inhabit Planet Earth 2.0. This is the new world that future generations can sustain and the planet that can sustain future generations.

For your own copy of "Sufficiency Step No. 2" click here or on the image above. For a copy of Professor Princen's book click here.

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The S-word Sufficiency

If you can honestly agree that we, humanity, are (overall) the sum total of our cultural upbringing as a species, a process which occurred over the thousands of years of successive overlapping of cultural development, then it will not be difficult for you to accept that the real culprit of our social and environmental crisis is our human culture as transmitted from generation to generation.

No amount of denial can rationally reject this fact and still cling to a disassociated reality that paints a different image of what is going on outside of our window in the real world. Therefore, accepting the fact that what is needed is a fundamental upgrade of human culture is not so difficult. In fact, most people do and we have known that for over a century.

The big deal has been the questions of "what" can do the job and "how" can such an upgrade take place without creating a disruption that is as bad as the effect of our activities at present time without it.

The "what" needed to be an idea. The trouble was that it needed to be an idea that had never existed before in the context of human culture. Otherwise it will just amount to more of the same. The "how" also needed to be exterior to human culture because it is already obvious that we do not know how to do it. There is, however, only one other authority in the world with undeniable success in dealing with survival problems in interrelated multi-level complex systems and that is Nature. Therefore, the "how" needed to come from Nature.

The challenge was to discover the pattern, understand it somewhat, translate it to suit human patterns and incorporate the patch into human culture. I say patch because it will take several generations before the upgrade becomes its own true new culture. Anyway, all of this will become more evident if not altogether clear as this story unravels.

Today's post in this blog is a definite treat for your eyes and mind, as obscure and strange or even naive as it may seem, although glorious to me. Today, we get to share a moment in history whereby a new cultural "root precursor" or a harbinger of real transformation and hope for humanity and our world formally enters the landscape of human intelligence neatly packaged within the boundaries of a single word.

You are free to laugh, rejoice, reject, accept or ignore it. All that and more will happen anyway because that is our nature. However, I can safely predict that when the dust settles down a bit, Sufficiency will be the most important contribution made in the 21st century towards a favorable future for humanity and a sustainable continuity for life on Earth.

Well, that is a fairly large claim. Now, let me begin to back it up.

First, let's get on the same page about what I mean by a cultural "root precursor." I'm using "root" as the source or origin of a thing and "precursor" as the forerunner or predecessor of a more stable or mature form.

For comparison let's examine "fire" as a cultural root precursor or more precisely the "idea of using fire" (controlled fire) for our own purposes as we have for, say, the last 30,000 years. It becomes very easy to see the effect of that cultural root precursor on the development of our species to where modern civilization, like the small controlled fire in the cave of early Homo sapiens groups, still is powered by the idea of using fire to do the work.

That's how powerful a cultural root precursor is. So much that the idea to use fire was and remains the main driver behind Planet Earth 1.0. There are other precursors in the Planet Earth 1.0 history. But, on close inspection most if not all are fire dependant. Therefore, it is easy to see that (a) cultural root precursors of that kind are very rare indeed, and that (b) the introduction of a new one of similar magnitude is no small feat. At the least it is a valid cause to stop and take notice.

Dear friends, you read the papers and watch the news, too. Some of you may have done so for decades or long enough to notice that things have not changed (for the better that is). Try as we do with the tools that we have, we are just not going to be able to fix things, at least in time before it is too late for our kids to have their turn for something other than the same worsening routine.

What I'm presenting to you today encapsulated in a single word is the sum total of a lifetime of meticulous observation. Sufficiency, however, is above all an idea which similarly to the analogy of the use of fire is an idea so unique that it qualifies as a "root precursor" to a new cultural paradigm (ideal) for humanity.

Let's begin to look at it. I suggest that you keep a contact thread to what was written in previous postings in this blog which were really an introduction to this conversation.

The word "Sufficiency" is a word which historically has been (as far as words go) perhaps as uninteresting as the word (or sound) used for "fire" might have been to early humans before someone came up with the idea to use fire to cook raw meat and to keep an otherwise cold cave warm.

The analogy is truer than you might expect because Sufficiency or the idea of what to do with the word Sufficiency, is also new. But, as I said before, it is new in its truest sense as in never, ever present in the history of humanity.

To illustrate that sentiment, consider that at the time that the idea of fire for cooking was introduced by someone to the other cave dwellers thousands of years ago, all that was there to greet the idea was a persistent condition of tough raw meat and grains and a cold cave. It follows that the idea of using fire to cook food and generate warmth fulfilled an old need by solving the problem while setting off the species on a new course.

Let's assume then that what is really needed by humanity at this critical junction is a powerful idea to solve a problem like the one that the use of fire solved and which can, subsequently, generate a cultural shift in the direction of human development. Let's see what kind of use Sufficiency is good for, initially, that can cause a shift of the kind we need in order to get out of the mess we are in.

If you look in closely at the root of all human problems there is a void in our ability to measure the significance (the importance and consequence) of our ideas. I mean "measure" in the same sense as we measure the extent, dimension and quantity of things against a standard of which we can all agree as we do in the case of 60 seconds to a minute and 60 minutes to an hour and all of the other measuring standards that we all agree upon without any fuzziness.

It sounds crazy at first. But, it's true. We do not have a principle that allows us to measure the value of the ideas that structure human consciousness. Because of that deficiency we cannot agree on much of anything save to agree to disagree.

The story of why this is so is complicated because its history is embedded in so many cultural layers and goes so far back in time. But for now, it suffices to say that Nature does have a mechanism that constrains survival strategies for all creatures with a peculiar measuring scheme, or principle, whose intimation I have been interpreting and have ultimately attached to the word "Sufficiency" thereby incorporating its use into human culture in order to begin to deal with this pesky cultural void.

Let's experience the void together so that you know what I'm talking about.

What principle would you say we reach for when humanity finds itself (ourselves) in between two extremes of a problem (one is favorable the other unfavorable) and we wish to ascertain the comfort of a "middle ground" between them? While you think about it, try recalling some recent news headlines where leaders the world over invoke the need to find a "middle ground" between this and that to solve a given crisis.

The answer is that, up until now, we know of no principle that we may summon to produce such comfort, particularly no principle such as Sufficiency that can yield the comfort of a "middle ground" that is adaptable to variable conditions over time or as time moves forward. (This is a key point of enormous significance)

But, why is this so?

The short answer is that the cultural model in which we developed as a species outside of Nature never included the cultural root precursor for such principle. Therefore, we developed this far without it. That is why we do not have such a principle to fall back on to mediate our out-of-control problems.

There isn't an area of human activity that at present doesn't suffer from the inability to find a middle ground (or point of Sufficiency) where its operative recovery wouldn't greatly improve if a middle ground was found.

Sufficiency comes into the human realm at a time in which its cultural fabric has so many patches that it is hard to tell the difference between the original fabric and all of the patches. Moreover, in recent times there is the tendency where each patch wants to operate as if it was the entire original fabric.

Sufficiency is like a key that unlocks the next door in our development as a creature. You may think of it as a kind of pleasant and timely graduation present for our species. In that view, however, our past becomes no more than an essential prerequisite. After all, something wonderful needed to come out of all this. Otherwise, Homo sapiens (humanity) would have made a long and arduous trip for nothing.

It is important that we visualize what is happening here. Planet Earth 2.0 is a conception of humanity that upgrades an earlier version just as Planet Earth 1.0, Homo sapiens, was an upgrade to Homo heidelbergensis whose cultural development was upgraded by our better idea in the use of fire.

Are you familiar with "Russian nested dolls" also called "matryoshka dolls," a set of dolls of decreasing sizes placed one inside the other? If you are, you will instantly see in that analogy the simplicity of our transition from where we are to where we need to be. All of the evidence points to the unavoidable conclusion that we have just outgrown our cultural design and that the state of everything around us is telling us to transition to the next size up. Yet, the wonderful thing is that in a very real sense our former "we" will still be in there with the other versions of ourselves going all the way back. Nothing is lost. We will simply begin the transition to the design that suits us and the world. In taking that step, humanity enters a cultural path which will eventually define such culture as the new representative of our species.

Therefore, Sufficiency as a root precursor opens a door of opportunity for our species to inaugurate and enter the future as the very first representative of a whole new layer or level on the web of life. We will become, finally, distinct from all other creatures (which is what we always wanted) not because of our arrogance, superiority and technical know-how, but because we grew wise enough to step into the role of co-creators with Nature in a partnership to sustain the web of life in mutual Sufficiency and oversee the beginning of a new world.

Next, we get deeper into the word. Remember, folks, if it doesn't get created it doesn't exist.

For your own copy of "The S-word Sufficiency" click here or on the image above.

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Cause Course & Consequence

"Cause"

"Course"

"Consequence"

These three words carry a huge punch when it comes to providing a corollary to the net result of all activity in our world. Look at those words a little deeper and you will discover that they can apply to the activity of the rest of the universe too.

Culturally, humanity has the tendency to deal with problems by focusing on the elements of cause, course and consequence separately and, very seldom, focusing on the value of their collective effect as part of the sequence of events that frame the actual history of the problem.

Clearly, the results obtained in the handling of problems ranging from poverty to global warming, from conflict resolution to the economic crisis, suggests that this approach to problem solving doesn't work too well.

Consequently, we are obliged to live with the effect of that cultural deficiency the best way that we can.

Planet Earth 1.0 is the way it is because thousands of years ago we established a cultural direction and a purpose for it based upon our ideals at the time. But, in doing so we established (unknowingly) the "cause" that set in motion the course of events that have led to the set of circumstances we have today. As it turned out, Planet Earth 1.0 is the overlapping consequence of that initial choice.

The mood of resignation to our intractable condition is so pervasive that we are becoming accustomed to the outcome that our world as we know it will be destroyed and we seem to be fine with that. We even flock to the theaters to watch the many different projections of end-of-the-world outcomes. We marvel at the special effects and at the "realism" of these presentations. In a peculiar way, by doing so, we may be perpetuating the "course" needed to achieve a similar outcome in the real world.

As an artist I also dramatize these concerns. In doing so, I endeavor to present them at their ultimate scale and drive them to their obvious conclusion, as with the works that illustrate this blog.

Unlike the movies, my motive is to establish the character of what is happening in the world today. But, I also want to establish another vital point of contrast between Planet Earth 1.0 and Planet Earth 2.0 that leads to something much better.

In my last blog entry I suggested that government, science, mysticism, media and Nature are our derivative interpretation for one whole recipe for survival. I described it as a recipe whose interactions are mediated by a principle that is new to us but that is old news to Nature in its application.

Similarly, "cause, course and consequence" are dynamic elements of a progression or a sequence of events that are tightly related to each other and whose ultimate expression is the outcome of their combined effect.

Take a moment to reflect on our landscape of social ills. Naming a few --poverty, disease, corruption, crime, abuse of power and environmental disregard --should be enough for you to know what I'm talking about.

The cultural deficiency that allowed these problems to grow is simply that we have never known better. In the absence of the knowledge of a different approach, we just became committed to dealing with the effects. All we knew to do was to try to curb their ever expanding reach (the thousands of laws in effect testify to that cultural deficiency) instead of tapping in at the roots or point of origin and moving upwards from there to address the whole problem.

That is a compelling reason to why we seem to be stuck repeating the same mistakes over and over. About the only things that change is that each time we make the same mistake we do it bigger, more creatively and more costlier than before. But, why is this so?

Well, the answer can be found in our response to the cause, course and consequence of our activity and the culture that drives it. In the absence of something different or better our response becomes a vicious cycle that perpetuates the problem.

Just dealing with the deficiency that way becomes a matter of survival for those involved. In this scenario, the preservation of the various agencies that have been created to address the dislocated problem becomes more important than the problems that they are created to address. Health care is a classic example of this phenomenon.

It follows then that since populations grow exponentially the situation gets worse. So, here we are going down the creek without a paddle. Or are we?

I think it doesn't have to be this way.

There is more than plenty of things for all of us to do to fix this situation under the proper conditions. We only need to begin to manage whole problems and to find a lot less necessity to preserve the systems that are dependent on the problems for their existence.

Planet Earth 2.0 has more to offer because of its partnership with Nature. We now know what are the global effects of our poor management. We know that "cause, course and consequence" carried out over thousands of years on our own, away from Nature and without the understanding of their interactions doesn't work. The key to the mediation of their separate and combined effect requires a new partnership with Nature plus the use of a (still undisclosed) mediating principle that points the way to the winning recipe.

The illustrations above give us a cold perspective of the cause of our present course and a view into the logical outcome. But Nature's cause, course and consequence, as I have mentioned before, is to sponsor (create) conditions conducive to life. That outcome, after 3.8 billion years, is what is left of this beautiful world. It is our opportunity to use Nature's recipe and do the only thing that makes sense. We can begin to co-create a new world with our genius, together with Nature's tried and tested recipes and our courage to begin the transition from here to there.

For my next posting in this blog, I will drop the "S" word. I will begin to tell you why it took me half of a century to find it, to become familiar with it and then to bring its notion to you from Nature. I will begin to share why I spent so much time operating as an outsider of human nature and how my exile led to my return with the "S" word. I will begin to explain how I accomplished this on behalf of our children's children, but equally on behalf of all other life on our planet whose future also depends on whether humanity learns to make use of the "S" word or decides to stay the course that I illustrated above.

For your own copy of "Cause Course & Consequence" click on any of the images above.

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