As we enter the seventh season of madness in mainstream society, it’s become clear that life and business as a sovereign being is becoming increasingly difficult.
Instead of submitting to the pressure or struggling to change these systems from within, it’s time to think outside the box we’ve been given, and to create a conscious economy within a conscious world.
Arguably, we’ve been participating in an economy that’s senseless and disconnected up to this point.
We may have the freedom to choose from 60 different brands of dish detergent at the grocery store…but nobody questions the “fact” that we all have to buy prepackaged solutions to our every problem.
How will a truly free and conscious economy benefit us?
Think back to the 1970’s, where a popular phrase among environmental activists was “think global, act local”. At the time, this was applied to concepts like neighbourhood watch groups, bartering garden surplus, and organizing book clubs.
This concept has since been co-opted by massive corporate interests who wish to divert blame for massive mismanagement of resources onto the individual. They dump incomprehensible amounts of pollution into our oceans and skies daily, and hope we are too preoccupied with our shame over using drinking straws to notice who the real culprit is.
Does that mean we shouldn’t try to recycle, or reduce our use of plastic? No – but it does mean that if we listen to the experts, we’ll be spending our precious creative energy worrying over things that are largely beyond our scope, and won’t move the needle in any discernible way.
Acting local is not the same as becoming hyper-critical of our (and others’) personal choices. Instead of fretting over your neighbour’s recycling habits, we can spend time and energy connecting with our community and organizing grassroots projects that will make a real and direct impact on the lives of all involved.
The benefits of a community garden or composting program, for example, will make an immediate and measurable difference in creating a different type of economy – on a focused, micro-level.
Instead of expending our energy trying to move boulders, we can aim pebbles into the pond, and watch the ripples echo outward with beautiful, sweeping effects.
We must not underestimate our power when we start small and stay consistent, and we may find ourselves in awe of what we can create with micro, targeted actions.
Our efforts multiply when we share them with a small, in-person group – not when we hide in our homes alone, in shame, stress, and fear.
Consider what we can accomplish in our local community or neighbourhood when we refuse to spiral into guilt and fear over the state of the world, and instead, apply solution-oriented thinking to our immediate surroundings.
Building a conscious economy starts locally – but its power grows exponentially as we come to strengthen the bonds of humanity with our neighbours and friends, and realize that many of our problems can be solved outside of the profit-driven, unscrupulous systems that keep us indebted to the corporate matrix.
Our goal is to minimize dependency on big banks, big box stores, school-as-childcare, media, entertainment, and more – and it all starts with rethinking the faceless, linear economy of endless consumption.
Instead, we can gather in small groups and re-evaluate our needs and wants through the lens of self-sovereignty and collaborative action. Don’t worry if you don’t have a large group yet – just start. Even three people together can accomplish exponentially more than one person acting alone.
Independence has long been championed as the pinnacle of human success – but a society of solo actors breeds weakness and shame. Since the dawn of humanity, we have thrived within interdependent communities that meet multiple needs and offer support on many levels.
The need for individuation used to be perceived as a threat to the tribal collective – but we are entering a new era of consciousness now – where we are able to discern between individual expressions of joy in humanity, and those selfish actions which only serve as a threat to the potential of one’s community.
How can we begin to create conscious economies in our own lives?
Start by reaching out, in person, to your neighbours and friends. It’s time to gather, to speak freely, and to shed any fear of being judged. If you are judged or shamed by anyone, thank them, because they are telling you clearly that they are not for you – and you can then refocus your efforts on those who do resonate with your bid for connection.
Reassess your needs from the perspective of community-building. Your surplus may be someone’s treasure – and your natural talents may be a sought-after resource to share with your community.
What do you have an abundance of? What are you naturally good at? How can you leverage those things to get your own needs met? In permaculture, we learn that solution-oriented thinking means that you start with the solution in mind…and often, what we perceive as a problem also offers the solution within it.
For example, if you have snails destroying your garden…and a neighbor has ducks that he’s buying feed for – a simple collaboration will provide a solution for both of you. Ducks love eating snails. Invite your neighbour and his ducks over to roam freely in your garden for a few hours, and you will both benefit from this arrangement – plus, you’ll learn priceless lessons in community support, and may discover even more creative solutions for other problems that you can solve together.
The time of buying corporate, boxed solutions to our every problem is roaring to its demise.
It’s time for conscious economies to spring forth, alongside a deepening of our relationships within community. As consciousness guide Inelia Benz says, the time of the lone wolf is over.
In the conscious economies of tomorrow, individuals will be celebrated as unique beings with solo contributions to share, within the framework and understanding that being an active and productive member of their in-person community is truly necessary to thrive. What a beautiful world that will be.
