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Economic Growth |
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Written by Peter Cowman
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Wednesday, 01 December 2004 |
How are success and that of the world economy are closely related
In the developed world Economic Growth is regarded as a true measure of hope and
success. Economic Growth is fuelled by the spending of money that is earned or
borrowed. The most common form of borrowing is ‘mortgaging’ which
is the practice of borrowing money to buy a Home.
Modern Economic Systems are underpinned by the value ascribed to mortgaged property.
So critical is this to the perceived health of Economies that governments and
their executive agencies strenuously encourage people to become Home Owners. They
also do their utmost to maintain a steady rise in Property Values. Property has,
in fact, become the new Fort Knox where Bricks ‘n Mortar are watched over,
not by armed guards, but by people protecting [the value of] their Homes.
The use of the Home as ‘security’ for borrowings has tied people to
the success and failure of the Global Economy and to strategies for Economic Growth.
Where the Home also provides emotional security for its occupants, people have
become emotionally enmeshed in these strategies as well. Where decisions about
Economic Growth are inevitably head-centred, bottom-line-driven and oftentimes
threatening to Life, the linkage of these to peoples’ emotional security
has resulted in people being embroiled in a system that seems to threaten their
very survival!
The reliance of the Modern Economy on Credit, Growth and [notional] Property Values
is a consequence of the changes wrought by Industrialisation. The roots of environmental
breakdown can be traced to the same origins. In general, the departure from traditional
pre-Industrial Revolution economies has spawned a range of Life-threatening consequences.
It has also overseen the cessation of vernacular sheltermaking, the abandonment
of traditional values and religious belief systems as well as the demise of local
food production and marketing. These changes are further marked by the commodification
of peoples’ Time. The accumulated effects of these changes largely contribute
to the negative feelings many people have about Modern Life. The Fear that surfaces
as a result of this is oftentimes so great that the majority of people blot it
out, feel overwhelmed or simply give in and indulge in the material excess that
is considered a right in a Modern Economy.
The relinquishment of traditional belief systems has considerably diminished peoples’
emotional rapport with Life and has left a void formerly occupied by discredited
deities. This has resulted in the repression of peoples’ intuitive faculties
- leaving matters entirely to The Head. This is a job which The Head relishes,
programmed as it is to follow a rational and logical path that diminishes the
importance of emotions. This results in Material Success being accorded God-like
status.
Without the critical balance provided by intuition - The Heart - Head-centred
decisions pass themselves off as being in our best interest and ‘the right
thing to do.’ When this type of decision-making is applied to the acquisition
of Property the role of The Home in providing physical and emotional security
is subject to The Head’s ascendancy, and, as described previously, people
become embroiled in the perpetuation of a system which, in essence, is Life-threatening.
Where this also threatens peoples’ emotional security the further repression
of the intuitive faculty is required, a task which The Head relishes immensely.
The effort to satisfy the human demand for physical and emotional security in
the ‘one package’ as it were - The Modern Home - critically lacks
the type of frisson characteristic of Life where everything is matched by a dynamic
opposite. So, hot is balanced by cold; dark by light; action by reaction. Without
the stimulus of such dynamic opposition The Modern Home can be more accurately
described as being ‘dead’ rather than being ‘alive.’ The
‘aliveness’ of a Home is critical in that it encourages its occupants
to connect to the deeper aspects of Life and facilitates a harmony with the natural
world.
If one looks closely at the most advanced example of the Modern Economy - that
of the United States - much is revealed in regards to where the Material Path
leads. Selfishness, arrogance, inequity, conservatism and an obsession with longevity.
This latter aspect could just as easily be expressed as a Fear of Dying. This
is hardly surprising given that so much attention is paid to physical existence
and none at all to emotional well-being. This is the nature of the Fear cited
earlier - people are threatened by the notion of their own mortality and by the
absence of emotional stimuli which connect them to a deeper reality. This is a
consequence of the absence of The Heart from decision-making processes and of
the deification of the physical.
The discreditation of The Heart as an everyday tool for living has compromised
peoples’ decision-making ability and has emphasised Material Values over
Emotional Satisfaction. It has defined Life as a material phenomenon and has ascribed
the deeper meaning that many seek to the acquisition and consumption of material
goods rather than to the attainment of higher consciousness and awareness. The
Value of such awareness cannot be ‘capitalised’ as part of the Modern
Economy. In fact, adherence to such Values distract the consumer sufficiently
to affect a reduction in consumption, something that strategies for Economic Growth
abhor. Consequently, all those with a vested interest in Growth - government;
financial institutions, big business and the media - regularly discredit such
Values and claim the Modern Market Economy to be the one true path.
Mortgages are rapidly becoming the sole means for many of acquiring a Home. It
behoves people to make themselves fully aware of how being tied into the Global
Economy affects their psychological well-being. Also we need to understand how
Fearmongering is used as a means of perpetuating a Head-centred system which,
quite literally, is destroying itself. Without the dynamic balance provided by
Head-Heart ‘opposition’ the Modern Home cannot facilitate peoples’
emotional expression and cannot allow them to connect to a deeper reality. As
a consequence Life takes on the characteristics of a compulsory, dull, lifeless,
self-consuming and monotonous pay-per-view TV serial.
Where The Home is critical to peoples’ physical and emotional wellbeing
the move towards a Sustainable Lifestyle must by facilitated by Homes that nurture
all aspects of human Life - body, mind and spirit. Clearly these must be created
and financed on a scale and in a manner which allows independence from the Global
Economy. Where this is hardly going to promote Economic Growth those drawn to
Live Sustainably will find themselves open to vilification, threat and ridicule
as a consequence of their choices. If these aspects of the move towards a Sustainable
Lifestyle are ignored the current definition of ‘Sustainable’ as -
Sustaining [Economic] Growth - will prevail. In the context of Natural Building,
this manifests as a range of expensive and [supposedly] Green products, whose
assembly into a building is also costly. While this might appear to be good for
Economic Growth it is disastrous for people seeking a more Sustainable Way of
Life if for no other reason than it locks them deeper into the wider Economy in
order to pay for the building and to support its [notional] Value.
The move towards a Sustainable Life is first and foremost an emotional one. This
requires that people repossess these repressed aspects of their Lives and re-integrate
them into the decision-making process. This is a consciousness-raising exercise,
a move towards a heightened awareness. This is the real challenge of the Sustainable
Life - the acceptance that Sustainability is not something you can buy, it is
something which you feel and live.
As a consequence of embracing this new Way of Life one can begin to see everything
differently. The hegemony of the Financial Institutions, the Planning Authorities,
the Construction Industry and the Media can then be viewed from a new perspective.
The challenge of designing and constructing Sustainable Shelter and of Living
Sustainably can then be tackled outside of the barriers so carefully erected by
The System.
A word of caution however. One should not be fooled that The System wishes to
dally with the truly Sustainable except, perhaps to enclose it in a Death Embrace.
© Peter Cowman 2004
Peter Cowman is Director of the Living Architecture Centre which provides
‘Sheltermaking Information’ to those wishing to create sustainable
and affordable dwellings. The Centre runs the popular ‘Course In Sustainable
House Design & Construction.’
Web: www.livingarchitecturecentre.com
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