3 New Beliefs

Last weeks blogpost suggested that if we were to achieve a just and sustainable world then those of us in the rich, Western nations had to dispense with four beliefs: economic growth, techno-fixes, consumerism, and representative democracy.  What beliefs should we replace these with?  Just three.

1. Sufficiency

We have all we need, already.  We know, from countless studies and research, that once we reach a certain level of material comfort then our happiness levels tend to plateau.  We don’t get happier from having or gaining more.

We passed that level of material comfort decades ago.

Indeed, gaining more and more is likely to lead to acts of violence (war and terrorism) and/or degradation of the very biosphere within which we live and interact.

A belief in sufficiency would enable us to slow down, have more time for each other, put less stress on the environment, and, quite possibly, generate greater individual and social well-being.

2. Demosphia

This is a recently coined word (possibly not used before the 1970s) made up of two Greek words: demos meaning the common people, and sophia meaning wisdom.  Thus, it can be translated as the wisdom of the common people.

Today, our world is a complex and chaotic place.  Decision-making in such an environment requires inputs from throughout the system.  We require the inputs that diversity offers.

Experiments and examples of using the wisdom of common people are many within the world.  Google any of these terms and you will find many references: sortition, world cafe, wisdom council, people’s jury, demarchy.

A belief in demosphia can take democracy on its next and important step; a step that takes us from un-representativeness to something more inclusive and is more likely to result in wise public decisions being made.

3. We Can

Perhaps the most important belief that we need to encourage, tend and work with is a belief that we can: that we can change our beliefs, that we can change our institutions, that we can build a just and sustainable world.

In believing that we can comes an acceptance of our place in the world, an understanding that we are part of a bigger picture, that everyone and everything is connected.

We can recognise and acknowledge our individual skills, experience and intelligence, but more importantly, we can work with our collective wisdom.