Yes. Underneath all the faces of crisis is the simple question of happiness. Properly happy people don’t need to consume excessively to feed hungry ghosts, they don’t need to project their insecurities as far away as possible, or give away their power to take care of themselves to the unscrupulous few willing to take it from them.
What makes a human happy, in a long term sustainable sense? Basic needs being met is certainly a prerequisite – but one can be in prison and have most of that provided. And most people, most of the time, aren’t motivated (and aren’t voting or otherwise politically engaged) purely because of hunger, shelter warmth, etc, but by a much more complex mixture of drives. The deepest natures of which – emotional, psychological, spiritual, ecological – are kept invisible, so most people don’t even know they have them, so they are kept confused, and feeling deeply lacking somewhere in the soul, and not able to see the conceptual magic that hides even the possibility of this. A sense of self that has been cultivated to assume a certain powerlessness and vulnerability. All intermingled with the more concrete and measurable lacks and needs.
Meaning and belonging and self-determination are all closely related. The positive feedback loop of putting physical bodily effort directly into producing one’s own food, and taking care of one’s own environment, with others, and the feelings that helps create of interdependence across personal, generational, and species boundaries, of no longer feeling vulnerable to or dependent for one’s survival upon the vagaries of vastly complex systems of economics or even just food production that are sensitive to the whims of psychopaths, and that one knows harm ones own environment... these are prerequisites for happiness!
We know how much nature helps. We know how much healthy community interaction and healthy culture help. We know how to build these things – deep in our bones, for they are parts of being human we carried through all the billions of years of becoming us and have only started to forget pretty recently.
So let’s remember to focus on the here and now and cultivate radical happiness. Through each person’s own happiness, we offer those we meet the knowledge that it is available to them too. Hey, maybe we even have just a little capacity to welcome others on board. Word of mouth is always the most effective marketing.
I’m also not sure the message of happiness needs or can even that effectively be delivered by mass media, or memes, or any of that technology, because that all is at root such a large part of the system delivering fear and scarcity into our imaginations and bodies, used to influence and control, through addiction to drama. They come from and grew out of capitalism – like so much of the world’s culture that we have to be brave enough to prepare to let go of. Those channels are specifically designed to soften us into the weak consumers who prop up the capitalist pyramid. Perhaps those channels can help spread the message – but my feeling is that inasmuch as they are designed to steal our attention (perhaps our greatest gift), it’s best to return as much of our focus as possible to our physical here and now, and let the digital take care of itself somewhat. Or at least use those channels to keep reminding people to get off them.
It is radical to say no to that manufactured addiction to drama. It is radical to be patient and trust, to return to cycles of growth that are rooted in the embodied present, yet extend and intertwine in every direction – as Tyson Yunkaporta said, the seeds we plant now won’t be old-growth forests for 1000 years.
Cultivate patience, and peace, and understand that so much of the conditioning that has been put into our bodies is to rush, to react, to run away from fear, to steal from tomorrow. I’m not saying do nothing or don’t move fast to do what’s necessary right now – just that to master one’s own adrenal response, and the cycles of panic and anger and burn-out, is really vital. (Part of that peace might be to know that you are able to defend yourself, your people, your space physically – know that you are safe and that you can overcome challenges. Learn martial arts. Walk with your head high).
Yes, do everything needed to organise practically, at all levels of the political spectrum (at least where it feels efficacious or necessary). And at the same time make sure there is a strong focus on happiness at the heart of everything – and not just one’s own happiness, but that of one’s neighbours, and children, and children’s children, unto many generations
To be real, to look this reality in the face, and yet to be happy, is not only possible, but perhaps a duty. This is not an easy path. But it allows the imagination to be free, and gosh, with more humans with free imaginations around, well, anything’s possible...
This is a insightful statement. I have been involved with the co-op economy for decades and I see it as one path towards the radical happiness you mention. My experience in that sector led me to call for radical hedonism: the collective experience of joyful conviviality.
Are you sure it’s hedonism and not meaningful and embodied presence which precipitates liberation? For me, a means of prospering through CC2 is deepening autonomy, collective sustainability, friendship and art.
Thank you for this, it's very interesting. And heartening to see these ideas discussed. Towards a ludic society indeed!
And this, from your introduction, "to confront CC2 will require a cultural revolution that draws upon the core of what it means to satisfy individual human needs through pleasurable social relations," is very well put. I do agree with one aspect of pleasure activism that centres on the individual - I think a revolution of pleasurable relations (social and beyond) will have to be spread from the ground up, in person. That is, we will have the most influence by embodying this ourselves as fully as possible, and bringing people into our sphere of relationship, in person, in physical space. This work is grounded in the body, and spreads from the heart outwards - and it's very difficult to convey that through distance media. (I wrote 'work' then noticed... I wonder if workplay or playwork might be useful concepts to help start to bridge into this joyful convivial ludic future? " What do you do for playwork?")
I wonder about the correlation between 'reach' and disembodiment, at least on platforms that are designed to extract attention through diffuse dopamine addictions. Though I'm also sure that Poetry is a much more potent weapon than most realise (the Surrealists certainly did)...
Very good aspirations! I don't see the step by step guide, though. Most people don't know what steps to take right now. They know they want the better society as described, but they don't know how to get there.
Hey are any of you comrades in western Massachusetts? I'm not from this region originally and am having a really hard time getting people to connect and share what their greatest pain points are so sad to determine where to begin with mutual aid. My guess is food security, but when I propose a community garden and offer my own plot of undeveloped land as a place to found one for the whole community to use, I get told that anyone who wants a garden already has their own in their back yard, which is of course nonsense because there are renters up here in the hilltowns who don't HAVE yards, but that seems to be the aloof attitude that prevails. I don't know how to better connect to get to the marrow of this issue. Please feel free to DM me if you have thoughts!
Hey are any of you comrades in western Massachusetts? I'm not from this region originally and am having a really hard time getting people to connect and share what their greatest pain points are so sad to determine where to begin with mutual aid. My guess is food security, but when I propose a community garden and offer my own plot of undeveloped land as a place to found one for the whole community to use, I get told that anyone who wants a garden already has their own in their back yard, which is of course nonsense because there are renters up here in the hilltowns who don't HAVE yards, but that seems to be the aloof attitude that prevails. I don't know how to better connect to get to the marrow of this issue. Please feel free to DM me if you have thoughts!
Also, I want to add that I think an important footnote here is that Anarchism is, as Mao said, the soul of Communism. I am in the process of moving my needle from Anarchism to Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, and I feel that we CANNOT achieve a better world for the mass of people through Anarchism unless we are willing to wait for the full dissolution of Capitalism which will mean the continued suffering and death of hundreds of millions of people between now and then. Thus, we MUST have a hegemonic system that supplants Capitalism, but the danger is that anything monolithic enough to topple Capitalism can potentially become just as much of a cudgel to the most vulnerable. It is the role of those with Anarchist sympathies to see to it that the new Dictatorship of the Proletariat is held in check from wielding its power against individuals or people groups in a weaponized fashion.
Aleisteir Crowley was a real piece of shit, but he had a good quote: "Love shall be the whole of the law; love under will." I would echo that sentiment politically by saying "Proletariat Dictatorship shall be the goal of Socialism, but under the watchful eye of Anarchism."
I am 100% on board with this. My problem is, I find that time and time again in my life I'm the ONLY ONE who is ready to grab boards and nails and a hammer and start building stuff whereas everyone else wants to sit and talk and navel-gaze. I know there ARE other people out there, but I seem only to encounter them online and many hundreds of miles away from me.
If you're reading this and you're in the Western Massachusetts region, PLEASE hit me up!
I am scared. Most days I find myself literally shaking as I contend with the enormity of the task at hand. It's difficult to not feel regret and shame. But though I'm scared, here I am still. No more turning away, so to speak. Tomorrow will be built step by step.
In examples of "mutual aid" that I have seen locally, it always looks like plain old charity to me. There never seems to be mutuality. Nothing wrong with charity done in a respectful way! I have supported these organizations. But aid that is mutual? Seems uncommon.
I like all these ideas and will look for opportunities to work on them locally first. I wonder what sympathetic orgs are already doing similar work. The DSA?
Also, a gentle critique: the language near the end about “we must [such and such]” and “this is the only way” feels overconfident, overzealous. There might be other items to add to the agenda that you think of later. Or that others think of. Or that only become apparent as this path stars to be realized. Or who knows, maybe whole other approaches are possible.
This is so fucking where my mind is at right now. Thanks for putting the words out there
My pleasure, thanks for reading 🙏
Great assessment! I'm right here with you. Been writing about much the same thing.
thanks for this!
Thank you for this uplifting article!!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Yes. Underneath all the faces of crisis is the simple question of happiness. Properly happy people don’t need to consume excessively to feed hungry ghosts, they don’t need to project their insecurities as far away as possible, or give away their power to take care of themselves to the unscrupulous few willing to take it from them.
What makes a human happy, in a long term sustainable sense? Basic needs being met is certainly a prerequisite – but one can be in prison and have most of that provided. And most people, most of the time, aren’t motivated (and aren’t voting or otherwise politically engaged) purely because of hunger, shelter warmth, etc, but by a much more complex mixture of drives. The deepest natures of which – emotional, psychological, spiritual, ecological – are kept invisible, so most people don’t even know they have them, so they are kept confused, and feeling deeply lacking somewhere in the soul, and not able to see the conceptual magic that hides even the possibility of this. A sense of self that has been cultivated to assume a certain powerlessness and vulnerability. All intermingled with the more concrete and measurable lacks and needs.
Meaning and belonging and self-determination are all closely related. The positive feedback loop of putting physical bodily effort directly into producing one’s own food, and taking care of one’s own environment, with others, and the feelings that helps create of interdependence across personal, generational, and species boundaries, of no longer feeling vulnerable to or dependent for one’s survival upon the vagaries of vastly complex systems of economics or even just food production that are sensitive to the whims of psychopaths, and that one knows harm ones own environment... these are prerequisites for happiness!
We know how much nature helps. We know how much healthy community interaction and healthy culture help. We know how to build these things – deep in our bones, for they are parts of being human we carried through all the billions of years of becoming us and have only started to forget pretty recently.
So let’s remember to focus on the here and now and cultivate radical happiness. Through each person’s own happiness, we offer those we meet the knowledge that it is available to them too. Hey, maybe we even have just a little capacity to welcome others on board. Word of mouth is always the most effective marketing.
I’m also not sure the message of happiness needs or can even that effectively be delivered by mass media, or memes, or any of that technology, because that all is at root such a large part of the system delivering fear and scarcity into our imaginations and bodies, used to influence and control, through addiction to drama. They come from and grew out of capitalism – like so much of the world’s culture that we have to be brave enough to prepare to let go of. Those channels are specifically designed to soften us into the weak consumers who prop up the capitalist pyramid. Perhaps those channels can help spread the message – but my feeling is that inasmuch as they are designed to steal our attention (perhaps our greatest gift), it’s best to return as much of our focus as possible to our physical here and now, and let the digital take care of itself somewhat. Or at least use those channels to keep reminding people to get off them.
It is radical to say no to that manufactured addiction to drama. It is radical to be patient and trust, to return to cycles of growth that are rooted in the embodied present, yet extend and intertwine in every direction – as Tyson Yunkaporta said, the seeds we plant now won’t be old-growth forests for 1000 years.
Cultivate patience, and peace, and understand that so much of the conditioning that has been put into our bodies is to rush, to react, to run away from fear, to steal from tomorrow. I’m not saying do nothing or don’t move fast to do what’s necessary right now – just that to master one’s own adrenal response, and the cycles of panic and anger and burn-out, is really vital. (Part of that peace might be to know that you are able to defend yourself, your people, your space physically – know that you are safe and that you can overcome challenges. Learn martial arts. Walk with your head high).
Yes, do everything needed to organise practically, at all levels of the political spectrum (at least where it feels efficacious or necessary). And at the same time make sure there is a strong focus on happiness at the heart of everything – and not just one’s own happiness, but that of one’s neighbours, and children, and children’s children, unto many generations
To be real, to look this reality in the face, and yet to be happy, is not only possible, but perhaps a duty. This is not an easy path. But it allows the imagination to be free, and gosh, with more humans with free imaginations around, well, anything’s possible...
❤️
This is a insightful statement. I have been involved with the co-op economy for decades and I see it as one path towards the radical happiness you mention. My experience in that sector led me to call for radical hedonism: the collective experience of joyful conviviality.
For a fuller explanation--> https://www.ztangi.org/category/jobs-jive-and-joy/
Are you sure it’s hedonism and not meaningful and embodied presence which precipitates liberation? For me, a means of prospering through CC2 is deepening autonomy, collective sustainability, friendship and art.
Thank you for this, it's very interesting. And heartening to see these ideas discussed. Towards a ludic society indeed!
And this, from your introduction, "to confront CC2 will require a cultural revolution that draws upon the core of what it means to satisfy individual human needs through pleasurable social relations," is very well put. I do agree with one aspect of pleasure activism that centres on the individual - I think a revolution of pleasurable relations (social and beyond) will have to be spread from the ground up, in person. That is, we will have the most influence by embodying this ourselves as fully as possible, and bringing people into our sphere of relationship, in person, in physical space. This work is grounded in the body, and spreads from the heart outwards - and it's very difficult to convey that through distance media. (I wrote 'work' then noticed... I wonder if workplay or playwork might be useful concepts to help start to bridge into this joyful convivial ludic future? " What do you do for playwork?")
I wonder about the correlation between 'reach' and disembodiment, at least on platforms that are designed to extract attention through diffuse dopamine addictions. Though I'm also sure that Poetry is a much more potent weapon than most realise (the Surrealists certainly did)...
Very good aspirations! I don't see the step by step guide, though. Most people don't know what steps to take right now. They know they want the better society as described, but they don't know how to get there.
Hey are any of you comrades in western Massachusetts? I'm not from this region originally and am having a really hard time getting people to connect and share what their greatest pain points are so sad to determine where to begin with mutual aid. My guess is food security, but when I propose a community garden and offer my own plot of undeveloped land as a place to found one for the whole community to use, I get told that anyone who wants a garden already has their own in their back yard, which is of course nonsense because there are renters up here in the hilltowns who don't HAVE yards, but that seems to be the aloof attitude that prevails. I don't know how to better connect to get to the marrow of this issue. Please feel free to DM me if you have thoughts!
Hey are any of you comrades in western Massachusetts? I'm not from this region originally and am having a really hard time getting people to connect and share what their greatest pain points are so sad to determine where to begin with mutual aid. My guess is food security, but when I propose a community garden and offer my own plot of undeveloped land as a place to found one for the whole community to use, I get told that anyone who wants a garden already has their own in their back yard, which is of course nonsense because there are renters up here in the hilltowns who don't HAVE yards, but that seems to be the aloof attitude that prevails. I don't know how to better connect to get to the marrow of this issue. Please feel free to DM me if you have thoughts!
Also, I want to add that I think an important footnote here is that Anarchism is, as Mao said, the soul of Communism. I am in the process of moving my needle from Anarchism to Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, and I feel that we CANNOT achieve a better world for the mass of people through Anarchism unless we are willing to wait for the full dissolution of Capitalism which will mean the continued suffering and death of hundreds of millions of people between now and then. Thus, we MUST have a hegemonic system that supplants Capitalism, but the danger is that anything monolithic enough to topple Capitalism can potentially become just as much of a cudgel to the most vulnerable. It is the role of those with Anarchist sympathies to see to it that the new Dictatorship of the Proletariat is held in check from wielding its power against individuals or people groups in a weaponized fashion.
Aleisteir Crowley was a real piece of shit, but he had a good quote: "Love shall be the whole of the law; love under will." I would echo that sentiment politically by saying "Proletariat Dictatorship shall be the goal of Socialism, but under the watchful eye of Anarchism."
I am 100% on board with this. My problem is, I find that time and time again in my life I'm the ONLY ONE who is ready to grab boards and nails and a hammer and start building stuff whereas everyone else wants to sit and talk and navel-gaze. I know there ARE other people out there, but I seem only to encounter them online and many hundreds of miles away from me.
If you're reading this and you're in the Western Massachusetts region, PLEASE hit me up!
I am scared. Most days I find myself literally shaking as I contend with the enormity of the task at hand. It's difficult to not feel regret and shame. But though I'm scared, here I am still. No more turning away, so to speak. Tomorrow will be built step by step.
In examples of "mutual aid" that I have seen locally, it always looks like plain old charity to me. There never seems to be mutuality. Nothing wrong with charity done in a respectful way! I have supported these organizations. But aid that is mutual? Seems uncommon.
The linked essay on mutual aid addresses that very subject
Thanks - read it - very cogent.
Appreciate that!
I like all these ideas and will look for opportunities to work on them locally first. I wonder what sympathetic orgs are already doing similar work. The DSA?
Also, a gentle critique: the language near the end about “we must [such and such]” and “this is the only way” feels overconfident, overzealous. There might be other items to add to the agenda that you think of later. Or that others think of. Or that only become apparent as this path stars to be realized. Or who knows, maybe whole other approaches are possible.