adjusting the volume
adjusting the volume
a colleague recommended 'the great simplification' podcast hosted by nate hagens, to me and…
I, in turn, recommend it to you.
Note: listen to the podcast version here (which includes excerpts from my soundscape composition Arbre)
It really is a great simplification, both in style and content.
This podcast explores :
the systems science underpinning the human predicament in order to inform more humans about the path ahead and inspire people to play a role in our collective future.
I can relate to Nate’s work and his conclusion that humanity will soon experience a great simplification, beginning with the onset of financial and economic turbulence, which is already underway, followed by contraction and one can speculate what happens after that? We do not know, but need to pay attention.
I appreciate that his research looks at how :
a systems lens can serve as early visionaries of a simpler life with new ways of relating to technology, to consumption, to each other and to Earth’s ecosystems.
For example, episode 130 ‘Living Your Questions: A Pathway Through the Unanswerable’, features Krista Tippett of the On Being podcast:
How can we learn to hold, love, and live into the questions themselves when their answers may not exist yet?
How could ‘moral imagination’, intentional conversation, and slowing down the pace of change lead to a longer lasting, sustainable evolution in human society?
What would it take for us to finally grow up as a species and step up to face some of the most existential challenges in the history of our existence?
Holding into question. Moral imagination. Finally growing up….
The Great Simplification, like say the Green Dreamer, Outrage and Optimism, On Being, Reseed and so on, offer us conversations that invite us to dream, rethink, imagine, meditate, grieve, take refuge and most importantly to engage but also sometimes to do next to nothing, while listening.
Listen. Just listen.
Nate Hagens also publishes a weekly Youtube video and audio blog called Frankly and quite frankly, it’s very good.
The June 26 2024 episode of Frankly is The 20 Control Knobs for a Post-Growth Future, where Nate shares twenty different things to expect in the future, some which will be extremely difficult to influence but others, thankfully, are well within our control to change.
And this change. This ability to change, is empowering.
Nate asks us to consider in this posting of Frankly:
What might happen if we purposefully turn the ‘control knobs’ in our own lives to shift how we approach a post-growth future by embracing reality - instead of unrealistic tech solutions - and redirecting our focus towards deeper interconnection with community and local systems? Which control knobs might we turn to fill our hearts and lives with goodness, awe and wonder?
Goodness. Awe. Wonder.
Sounds like art to me.
I keep hearing about simplification, slowing down, localism, resilience in my conversations with artists and cultural workers on my conscient podcast.
Simplify. Slow down. Localise.
At the end of this 25 minute The 20 Control Knobs for a Post-Growth Future posting Hagens gives us an example from his own life on how he plans to use those 10 ‘volume knobs in our lives’, so I decided to share what I plan to do as well.
from isolation to interconnectedness
more conscient podcast conversations and a calm presence postings about new ways of relating, more local art and ecology gatherings, more presence in virtual networks
from money to real capital (health, knowledge, friends, networks, ecology, etc)
more time being in and protecting nature, more support to family, friends, more-than-humans, etc. deeper connection to the cosmos through listening
from consumption to regeneration
give away more stuff, volunteer more in communities of need, share infrastructure, more gardening and tree planting, more disinvestment
from narrow to wide
deepen daily chaoyi fanhuan qi gong, focus conscientand a calm presence on the big picture, more quiet and listening time to let go of the small stuff
from baseload to intermittence
more light fasts, limit access to technology to reduce dopamine addiction, fewer ego driven activities, even more quiet and listening time
from technology to reality
use technology more wisely, embrace reality, allow relations and awareness to deepen
from critique to awe
more gratitude, appreciating the healing from my daily chaoyi fanhuan qi gong, more quiet and listening time that seems possible, reciprocate, enjoy, love
from apathy to goodness
(Processed)
awe
from shallow to deep
awe
from power to life
awe