Business-as-usual vs. Regenerative

Economic recession is bringing about culture changes that will help us progress from business-as-usual toward regenerative work or as Joanna Macy terms it, “the work that reconnects.” Don’t be discouraged if you notice you are at an early level in the table below. It's likely that most of us spend a long portion of life in phase 1 thru 3, and some people there still make amazing contributions to culture in various ways, such as artistic work, inventions, or intellectual contribution. Also, you might be in different levels for the various categories. You might think of it as level 4 being the elders who are keen to teach the coming generations. Cultures get in trouble when—as a metaphor—teens think they know everything important and only listen to each other. Similarly, many in positions of power listen to and support only those who affirm what they want to hear. They will be the last to admit the level of economic crisis and societal distress experienced by the majority. The following are levels of moving toward increased capacity for living in the new world (i.e., game B, the great turning, post-consumer economy, paradise). Those in each phase can act as (a) a teacher or resource for those who are in prior phases or (b) act as peer mentors. The following chart helps clarify the "space" from which or to which the listed thought leaders are speaking.

There are many thinkers to be commended for bringing ethics into the exiting economic model. This list could be incredibly long, because there are many writers with excellent ideas and admirable ethics. This is not the place to catalog these writers. Many advocate non-exploitative work but apparently do not recognize the inherent fragility and exploitative nature of the neoliberal economy as it is currently structured. As this site focuses on those who criticize the neoliberal economy as driving us to ruin and/or emphasize the current instability of traditional institutions will be included here. Few at the extractive level discuss a post-consumer economy because they are making a living telling you how to succeed in that economy, but one has a message of how to survive and possibly make gains in a tanking economy.

Chris Martenson's free educational course has “provided millions of viewers with the context for the massive changes now underway, as economic growth as we’ve known it is ending due to depleting resources. But it also offers real hope. Those individuals who take informed action today, while we still have time, can lower their exposure to these coming trends—and even discover a better way of life in the process” (para. 1). 

"Change happens when the cost of the status quo is greater than the risk of change. We really need to focus on raising the costs of the unsustainable systems that represent the unsustainable status quo. Unsustainable failed educational systems, obesity-producing systems, energy systems, transportation systems, health care systems. Each and every one is unsustainable. It’s more 'innovative' to talk about bright, shiny, new sustainable systems, but before we can even work on the right side of the change equation, we need to drive up the costs of the unsustainable systems that represent the dead weight of the past."

—Seth Godin in What Matters Now (sec. 24)

“Income inequality in America isn't just unethical or immoral; it is unsustainable” (para. 15).

—Marianne Williamson in Marianne Williamson's 25 Wildest Tweets

"The End of Big in business represents one of the greatest hopes for saving our civilization from the environmental dangers that threaten to sink it. Our current, big economy is unsustainable—almost everyone in business realizes that today. A more fragmented economy comprising primarily small, dynamic firms has the potential to lead us to more sustainability while also fostering community and continued wealth generation (p. 243). We must make sure that we openly and collectively recommit ourselves to the values our nation was built on and to the building of new or updated institutions to replace old-style institutions in turmoil (p. 30)…We have to discipline and inspire ourselves not merely to burn it all down but also to build it back up (p. 31)."

—Nico Mele in The End of Big (2013)

The level 4 writers are separated from the "do good" category mainly by their conviction that we need more than the right party in power or the right laws put in place. Evolution of society requires systemic overhaul.

These writers promote an entirely different model of society and have shown willingness to step outside the confines of what mainstream culture and/or their academic peers consider acceptable.

The accomplished scholar, Lewis Keizer, details his process:

“a critical evaluation of sayings, parables, and other first- and second-century aspects of the Jesus tradition transmitted through the redactional and theological biases of all early sources, whether Jewish Christian, Pauline, proto-orthodox gentile Christian, or Gnostic. There is a great deposit of early teachings attributed to Jesus not only in the Q material and the Aramaic Core of the Gospel of Thomas—the basic sources for what was declared authentic by the Jesus Seminar” (p. 10). 

He provides his interpretation of Matthew 13:24-30 and Thomas logion 57: 

“The existential condition of the spiritually reborn until the advent of the messianic age is that they must share their world with the old humanity, just as the [spiritually enlightened] must share the heart with the [spiritually ignorant]. The new humanity cannot inherit the earth and exercise full divine sovereignty and stewardship over it until they have grown into spiritual maturity over many incarnations and have finally prevailed (p. 112).

—Lewis Keizer. The pre-Christian teachings of Yeshua

“When we have a sense of meaninglessness, we’ll substitute that for…what we can obtain, what we can possess, what successes we can achieve, in other words all the false substitutes which cannot possibly compensate us for the lack of genuine meaning. And of course what this society does is sell us a lot of products….Much of the economy is based on a loss of meaning in our culture” (26:30). 

—Gabor Maté, Toxic Culture