My rants and speculations about how relocalization works and can work |
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How Fool's Progress Relocalization looks and feels like stepping into the unknown. That's hard for us. Luckily the Fool has no problem with it! Living the New Story Two stories run through the culture. One's about continual growth and ascendancy. It's mainstream culture's story, the everyday world we're familiar with. The other is the as yet little known tale of radical change and descent as we enter the time of necessary simplification - reskilling, retooling, relocalizing. The two stories compete out there in the public conversation of course but also in us and our personal relationships. I'm often struck by how deep a hold the status quo's got. We're pretty much wired into it in our daily routines of shopping, speaking, working and living. It's current reality and it's everywhere and hard to see for that reason. The Evolutionary Choice What to do? You're in an organization or process you see isn't working, but you suspect or know that people involved are assuming that change is impossible. Not an abstract question by any measure. Like me, you may frequently find yourself there. Out of our Ego Houses, into the Collective Intelligence Communal life - our tribal past - valued the group over the individual. We left our communal past to put the individual's benefit (and especially material benefit) before the common good, in the process losing much of our memory of community. What to do? You're in an organization or process you see isn't working, but you suspect or know that people involved are assuming that change is impossible. Not an abstract question by any measure. Like me, you may frequently find yourself there. In this time of rapidly approaching limits we need the gifts of both community and individuality to deal with what we're facing. There's a taboo against experiencing this, one that consciousness rapidly surmounts. Bridging the Activist-Spiritual Divide We'll need to bridge the divide between the activist and the interior / personal side of ourselves if we're to deal with the pressing problems we now face. A Relocalizer's Manifesto! Evolutionary Relocalization A planeload of seekers who fly to see the Great Pyramid and admire its mystical wonders will spend more energy getting there than it took to build the thing. Reflections on modern spirituality meeting the "limits to growth." Small groups make it real Groups and conversations work best when they:
Originally written for young people thinking of their future in a time of approaching limits . . . Some elements of what security means in a faltering economy with a future that includes peak oil, other resource shortages, climate change and more. Suggestions include creating a community of people you can trust, relying less on government and big business, not putting wealth first, being an activist for changes you want, and more. Take the Test We're not turning into Cosmo here, but here's a lens to look at how you're relocalizing efforts are doing. You could also think of the "test" as a way to evaluate risk. Highway Sign Collaborative "Art" Project Hmmmm, if your relocalizing / transitioning community put a sign on the highway with your website on it, you'd know you're home, and when people pass through, they'd know someone was there . . . What would happen if lots of communities did it . . . |
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