Balancing Act, 9

"Unlimited growth increases the divide." Who said that? Uncle Google? I just had a glance on Google and that of course was the famous inscription over the entrance to the Del Mar hotel, a rundown rooming house near the Downtown Eastside. I don't know if the hotel is still standing, probably not. I think that BC Hydro wanted to expropriate and knock down the building in order to further expand their offices in the area, thus putting low-income renters out of having a place to live. But it was there, with its message, a warning about what happens in a society that fetishizes growth. This of course is the work of capitalism, which is based on unlimited growth. Not only is capitalism based on unlimited growth, and not only does capitalism thrive on unlimited growth. Capitalism IS unlimited growth. Its raison d'etre. These are the economic underpinnings of Western Society, unlimited, unchecked and often irresponsible growth, of business, of capital, of the quantities of often useless consumer goods, of wealth that is not equally distributed, and still more growth. It goes without saying that unlimited growth is unsustainable and that sooner or later something has to give and eventually collapse and this is the abyss over which we are now teetering. But there seems to be a kind of death-wish thrill to capitalism, or to the spirit of capitalism. Economic extreme sports, anyone? And of course, the language and terminology of capitalism has really infiltrated and corrupted our language and our way of thinking. I just had a brief email exchange yesterday with an individual (I cannot say he's a friend because there has been little indication of friendship between us for some time). He said he is committed to growing. This person is also a strong, right of centre neo-liberal capitalist. This doesn't mean that we couldn't be friends, but it has complicated things rather. But I have tried to cut him a little slack: he was born and raised in the privileged class of a historically conservative and right-of-centre country and therefore, like all of us, is just a victim of his environment, circumstances he has no control over. Personal growth, of course, is simply bastardized capitalist jargon. Making whatever improvements on ourselves and our lives to make us, not necessarily better persons, but more economically viable and productive entities. I remember one of the first times that someone asked me if I was growing. It was really belittling and patronizing, but I was still only what, 22? And I had still not cultivated the self-awareness to know when I was being talked down to by a pompous idiot, as was the case here. I was visiting some people who lived in a Christian community I would eventually be joining. The woman who asked the dumb inappropriate question simply assumed that her community was the best thing since the invention of the electric toaster and that any Christian or other spiritual experience away from her privileged little cocoon would be something inferior. And of course, they were based in American evangelical Pentecostalism which we all know to be indelibly wound up with American capitalism, hence this woman's very stupid assumption and her inappropriate question. Before that time, I hadn't really thought in terms of growth, but certainly of evolving, improving, healing, restoring and moving forward, but that is also the language of capitalism, which is kind of borrowed and bastardized Darwinism. This isn't to say that Darwin was wrong. He wasn't. And evolution and natural selection are pillars to the very existence of species and the biosphere. But Darwin was also fed and influenced by the zeitgeist of his day, which was the nascent but vicious and bitter economic capitalism of the Industrial Revolution and its equally bitter fruit: the global economic capitalism that is now rocking our planet. Growth is part of life. Seeds become trees, or flowers and fruit. Babies grow into adults. Our knowledge and awareness and compassion in life have to be growing qualities. But growth also has its limits and sooner or later we have to know and accept the word Enough. I will conclude with an account of a little photo essay a fellow in Costa Rica sent off to a lot of us. It was to justify capitalism and condemn communism and socialism. One example: a scene of Las Vegas at night. Everything was totally blinding and garishly lit up and there were cars everywhere. Next image: Havana at night. Everything was dark, no traffic. Of course the lens this fellow was seeing through was the lens of free market capitalism, so that Havana, the capital city of communist Cuba, must be a very poor, sad and dismal place. But change your lens. What do you see? One city shamelessly wastes energy resources and doesn't respect the natural rhythm of time, day or night, plus infesting its streets with polluting vehicles that are largely responsible for the kind of global environmental collapse that we are all facing. The other, a place that respects and stewards its resources, and is peaceful and quiet where you can actually enjoy a decent night's sleep. I am not saying which is better, or worse, Gentle Reader. I am only challenging us to reconsider the kind of lens through which we see and experience reality. I will conclude with this little challenge: that deplorable woman, Ayn Rand, is of course famous for her novels that favour the unlimited growth of capitalism, and the triumph of the strong over the weak, without any consideration or mercy for the human fallout, for the many who suffer and perish because of the unchecked greed and ambition of the strong. Can you imagine living in a society where no one is left behind, where the strong actually use their strength to help facilitate and protect the weak, who then will have a forum in which they can also contribute their many and beautiful gifts. When I was last in Monteverde, the famous and incredibly beautiful cloud forest in Costa Rica, I was struck and gobsmacked by the interdependence of life forms. The strong towering trees supported the weaker but all the more beautiful vines, ferns, mosses, orchids and bromeliads and other forms of life. Without the strength of the trees, this greater and more sublime beauty would never flourish. Without the weaker species this forest would have been a bleak and barren desolation. So it is with our human community. Comments?