Capitalism feeds us mixed messages

We’re made to feel that we should shrink, that other voices are more important, that our body is ‘too much’ in some way.

When it comes to the economy, there is only one gospel – unlimited growth is what we should pursue as a society. That’s measured by production, profit to shareholders, and GDP.  

Capitalism sees the planet as one big resource to extract from. It’s obvious that when an economy based on unending expansion meets an ecosystem that regenerates at a slower pace, there are natural limits to what’s possible to take. A child could understand this.

Clinging to the idea of growth – especially businesses in the West, which have taken the most – is delusional. Kate Raworth proposed much sounder principles in ‘Doughnut Economics’, which is beginning to be taken seriously by some experimental policy-makers and planners. A ring space between too much and not enough. A floor of decent living and a ceiling that protects the Earth.

We can safely apply the concept of limitless growth to our minds

‘I am somehow less interested in the weight… of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.’  – Stephen Jay Gould, biologist

Humans imagining collectively can together create solutions to massive challenges. The question is – how to free us up to reach that potential? So much wisdom has already been lost to the crushing drudgery and anxiety of toiling for a pittance wage.