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Written by: Kamran Mofid

Published: 14 September 2018

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14th GCGI International Conference

And

The Fourth GCGI and SES Joint Conference, Lucca, Tuscany, Italy

‘OUR SACRED EARTH: Spiritual Ecology, Values-led Economics, Education and Society Responding to Ecological Crisis’

Villa Boccella, Tuscany, Italy, 28 August-1 September 2018

A Reflection from John Thompson*

Group Photo-GCGI-SES Lucca 2018. Photo Credit: Angela Bowman

I arrived at the conference with some uncertainty but left full of gratitude. I had been invited to be part of a panel where I was to be a voice for the earth, and also to provide an individual presentation later in the program. When I received this invitation I did not want to undertake the journey from Perth Western Australia to Lucca Italy because of time constraints. A strong intuitive sense of needing to be there overcame any resistance I had and I accepted the invitation.

From the very beginning of my involvement with the organisers of the Lucca conference I was impressed with the welcoming attitude and willingness to provide information for orientation towards the conference outcome. Once the program was prepared I checked out who the other presenters were and discovered that many had academic backgrounds. This was always going to make it interesting for me because I had previous experience of presenting alongside academics. My work is about releasing and moving beyond the constraints of conditioned intellectual mind for full connection with mother Earth and our nature family as sentient beings. It is my view that to re-establish relationship with mother Earth in nature in this way is essential to the shift in psychology necessary for a sustainable future. When I present this work, particularly among academics, I am never sure how it will be received. Hence the uncertainty I arrived with.

I need not have worried as I was made exceptionally welcome by the organisers and other participants I met upon my arrival. Politeness and warmth was abundant and I was inducted into the venue and conference in such a way that I quickly became comfortable and settled into the accommodation. Exploration of the grounds revealed the extent of the natural environment and walk trails available, of which I was most appreciative. Being a systems thinker I am aware of how important initial conditions are in creating a suitable information-processing dynamic and was impressed with the obvious attention given to these types of detail. The warmth of the welcome, the facilities available, the induction into the conference and the setting were all conducive to an exceptional experience emerging for all. I was not disappointed.

The conference was well structured with presentations in the morning, long periods of free time in the afternoon and then additional presentations in the evening. The presentations were not rushed and speakers were given suitable lengths of time to share their wisdom and understandings, and to take questions. I particularly appreciated this as it allowed for processing and deep listening during the presentations rather than being overwhelmed with information. The free time in the afternoon enabled extended exploratory conversations, relationships to be formed and networking to take place. During conference I met some exceptional people, was given the privilege to hear their ideas and had the opportunity to engage in conversation with them. I came away from these relationships encouraged, supported and with additional information and insight that will contribute to the success of my work.

There were many things that impressed me about this conference in comparison to other conferences I have attended. Foremost was the integrity of the presenters and attendees. Everyone I met, without exception, was there because of their concern for planet Earth and humanity. They were open, willing to share information and keen to collaborate with each other to bring about outcomes. A collaborative and heart centred ethic such as this is rare in the conference environment. Another feature of the conference was the range in age of attendees and presenters. I am 63 years of age and in the society I come from it is difficult to gain access to elders with more experience and wisdom. For me this was a rare opportunity to hear what they had to say and to engage in discussion with people whom were open and easy to respect. The attendance of younger people at the conference as presenters and participants was similarly enriching. It was clear in hearing their presentations and talking to them that they are well progressed in embracing a new world view with the commitment to bringing about change. Overall the integration of academic with the social and spiritual was most rewarding.

There were several themes covered and of interest to me was the material on the economic restructuring that will be necessary for a sustainable future and I could see how systems thinking could bring a lot to this. Others presented on projects they were engaged in. I delighted in hearing the information on the work with leadership taking place with the emerging young leaders. Also, the projects that were focused on facilitating healing and transformation from past trauma to assist others to release and reorient toward a better future were inspiring. Overall it was apparent how all of the presenters and participants were contributing their knowledge and wisdom to provide material from which an integrated and necessary new world view could emerge for a better future. A worldview such as this must include all aspects including social, governance, economic, philosophical, psychological, environmental and spiritual and they were present at the conference in very thoughtful and considered ways.

In reflection, I think the challenge remaining is how to make the ideas and wisdom for a better future there were present at this conference available to the emerging younger generations who are in a position to enact change. I would love to see an exploration of how this could take place in a way that is consistent with the emerging philosophy underlying the new world view. Perhaps this involves bringing systems thinking to the establishment and support of self-organising global networks for free exchange of ideas and resources. Whatever this comes to be I can see that information, ideas and wisdom present at this conference will make a valuable contribution.

I thoroughly enjoyed being part of the panel and the opportunity to make a subsequent individual presentation. My work is framed within a transformational process approach and I utilise story and metaphor along with spiritual language to share what I have uncovered in my explorations. It was apparent immediately this approach was welcome and respected by fellow presenters and attendees.

It was with gratitude to the organisers and participants of the conference that I left to make my way back to Australia. Gratitude for the opportunity to be among like-minded respectful and supportive people; the hospitality and warmth offered; the free sharing of wisdom and ideas; the acceptance of difference; the generation of new ideas; the friendships I made that will endure beyond the conference and the opportunity to join with others in this important work for a better future. I arrived back in Australia with a great deal of intellectual, energetic, emotional and spiritual fuel that I am sure will empower my work and bring a great deal to it.

I encourage anyone who recognises the need for collaborative and emergent solutions for a better future to attend conferences such as these that provide such an ideal container held by encouragement and support. In particular I would like to thank Kamran for his initiative that brought these conferences into being and the School of Economics Science for bringing their philosophical and spiritual resources to ‘our sacred earth’.

John Thompson, GCGI Senior Ambassador, is a Transformational psychologist, Perth, Australia. During an extended period of nature immersion in the 1980’s John responded to Mother Earth’s call to be a voice for ‘those who could not yet hear.’ He went on to study psychology, transformational systems, various wisdom traditions, and continued his exploration of earth connection. His work as a transformational psychologist is directed toward reconnection with Mother Earth and understanding the powerful creative and transformational processes at work. These processes enable us to step into our roles as co-creators with Mother Earth and each other. John points towards a peaceful collaborative pathway for a sustainable and just future.

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Written by: Kamran Mofid

Published: 08 September 2018

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Photo: clearitwaste.co.uk

Just think for a moment: What are the consequences of no garbage men and no garbage collection to the society, community and our health?

Stinking rubbish lines the road in Birmingham (UK), when the bin men went on strike in 2017

What are the bankers doing today? Creating Value or Shifting Wealth?
Bankers today: Rich without Lifting a Finger
'Why Garbagemen Should Earn More Than Bankers'
‘How more and more people are making money without contributing anything of value’

Photo:burqabanker.wordpress.com

Below are a few excerpts from a fascinating article by Rutger Bregman, via Evonomics*

…’In other words, the fact that something is difficult does not automatically make it valuable.

In recent decades those clever minds have concocted all manner of complex financial products that don’t create wealth, but destroy it. These products are, essentially, like a tax on the rest of the population. Who do you think is paying for all those custom-tailored suits, mansions, and luxury yachts? If bankers aren’t generating the underlying value themselves, then it has to come from somewhere – or someone – else. The government isn’t the only one redistributing wealth. The financial sector does it, too, but without a democratic mandate.

The bottom line is that wealth can be concentrated somewhere, but that doesn’t also mean that’s where it’s being created. This is just as true for your former feudal landowner as it is for the current CEO of Goldman Sachs. The only difference is that bankers sometimes have a momentary lapse and imagine themselves the great creators of all this wealth. The lord who was proud to live off his peasants’ labor suffered no such delusions.

Bullshit Jobs

David Graeber, an anthropologist at the London School of Economics, believes there’s something else going on. A few years ago he wrote a fascinating piece that pinned the blame not on the stuff we buy but on the work we do. It is titled, aptly, “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs.”

In Graeber’s analysis, innumerable people spend their entire working lives doing jobs they consider to be pointless, jobs like telemarketer, HR manager, social media strategist, PR advisor, and a whole host of administrative positions at hospitals, universities, and government offices. “Bullshit jobs,” Graeber calls them. They’re the jobs that even the people doing them admit are, in essence, superfluous.

And to think that things could have been so different.

Nearly a century ago, economist John Maynard Keynes famously predicted that we would work fifteen-hour weeks by the year 2030. He thought that our wealth and prosperity would increase dramatically and that we would convert much of that wealth into leisure. Keynes was certainly not the only one to believe that it was just a matter of time before we solved the “economic problem.” Well into the 1970s, economists and sociologists forecasted that “the End of Work” was near.

In reality, that’s not at all what has happened. We’re plenty more prosperous, but we’re not exactly swimming in a sea of free time. Quite the reverse. We’re all working harder than ever. Many people explain these circumstances by assuming we use money we don’t have to buy stuff we don’t need to impress people we don’t like. In other words: we sacrificed our free time on the altar of consumerism.

In a world that’s getting ever richer, where cows produce more milk and robots produce more stuff, there’s more room for friends, family, community service, science, art, sports, and all the other things that make life worthwhile. But there’s also more room for bullshit. As long as we continue to be obsessed with work, work, and more work (even as useful activities are further automated or outsourced), the number of superfluous jobs will only continue to grow. Much like the number of managers in the developed world, which has grown over the last 30 years without making us a dime richer. On the contrary, studies show that countries with more managers are actually less productive and innovative. In a survey of 12,000 professionals by the Harvard Business Review, half said they felt their job had no “meaning and significance,” and an equal number were unable to relate to their company’s mission. Another recent poll revealed that as many as 37% of British workers think they have a bullshit job.

By no means are all these new service sector jobs pointless – far from it. Look at healthcare, education, fire services, and the police and you’ll find lots of people who go home every day knowing, despite their modest paychecks, they’ve made the world a better place. “It’s as if they are being told,” Graeber writes, “You get to have real jobs! And on top of that you have the nerve to also expect middle-class pensions and health care?”

The modern marketplace is equally uninterested in usefulness, quality, and innovation. All that really matters is profit. Sometimes that leads to marvelous contributions, sometimes not. From telemarketers to tax consultants, there’s a rock-solid rationale for creating one bullshit job after another: You can net a fortune without ever producing a thing.

In this situation, inequality only exacerbates the problem. The more wealth is concentrated at the top, the greater the demand for corporate attorneys, lobbyists, and high-frequency traders. Demand doesn’t exist in a vacuum, after all; it’s the product of a constant negotiation, determined by a country’s laws and institutions, and, of course, by the people who control the purse strings.

Maybe this is also a clue as to why the innovations of the past 30 years – a time of spiraling inequality – haven’t quite lived up to our expectations. “We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters,” mocks Peter Thiel, Silicon Valley’s resident intellectual. If the postwar era gave us fabulous inventions like the washing machine, the refrigerator, the space shuttle, and the pill, lately it’s been slightly improved iterations of the same phone we bought a couple years ago.

In fact, it has become increasingly profitable not to innovate. Imagine just how much progress we’ve missed out on because thousands of bright minds have frittered away their time dreaming up hypercomplex financial products that are ultimately only destructive. Or spent the best years of their lives duplicating existing pharmaceuticals in a way that’s infinitesimally different enough to warrant a new patent application by a brainy lawyer so a brilliant PR department can launch a brand-new marketing campaign for the not-so-brand-new drug.

Imagine that all this talent were to be invested not in shifting wealth around, but in creating it. Who knows, we might already have had jetpacks, built submarine cities, or cured cancer.

Friedrich Engels, a close friend of Karl Marx, described the “false consciousness” to which the working classes of his day – the “proletariat” – had fallen victim. According to Engels, the 19th-century factory worker didn’t rise up against the landed elite because his worldview was clouded by religion and nationalism. Maybe society is stuck in a comparable rut today, except this time at the very top of the pyramid. Maybe some of those people have had their vision clouded by all the zeros on their paychecks, the hefty bonuses, and the cushy retirement plans. Maybe a fat billfold triggers a similar false consciousness: the conviction that you’re producing something of great value because you earn so much.

Whatever the case, the way things are is not the way they have to be. Our economy, our taxes, and our universities can all be reinvented to make real innovation and creativity pay off. “We do not have to wait patiently for slow cultural change,” the maverick economist William Baumol challenged more than 20 years ago. We don’t have to wait until gambling with other people’s money is no longer profitable; until sanitation workers, police agents, and nurses earn a decent wage; and until math whizzes once again start dreaming of building colonies on Mars instead of starting their own hedge funds.

In the end, it’s not the market or technology that decides what has real value, but society. If we want this century to be one in which all of us get richer, then we’ll need to free ourselves of the dogma that all work is meaningful. And, while we’re at it, let’s also get rid of the fallacy that a higher salary is automatically a reflection of societal value.

Then we might realize that in terms of value creation, it just doesn’t pay to be a banker.

*Read the original article here

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