Flourishing over profits
Nearly everything in our world today has been designed to maximize the profits of a few. We tend to believe that money = surviving, so playing the money game is the only game to play. But what if we took money and surviving off the top line and replaced them with dignity and flourishing? What if, instead, we designed places to maximize the flourishing of all?
When we get clear about where we’re trying to go, we can get more creative about how we get there.
We’ve actually gotten pretty clear about what humans need to flourish—which includes a flourishing natural world—but if you look closely, money isn’t on the list. Money is the main way we currently acquire a lot of the things we need but it isn’t money itself that we need. So maybe there are other ways to help us get to better outcomes.
Better is Possible
So what would a place designed for flourishing look like? Now we’re getting somewhere. Just asking the question takes us in a whole new direction. Our questions have been mainly limited to: What does the market demand? How can we maximize profits in this market? These old questions have taken us to a plethora of systems to exploit, oppress, and dominate people and nature. Similarly, asking better questions can take us to a plethora of ways to create systems of flourishing.
Better Questions:
What do the people here need to flourish?
What does the ecosystem here need to flourish?
How can we design systems that get the entire job done?
Would I be willing to step into the life of any person in my society despite their race, gender, orientation, wealth, age, etc.?
Can everyone play? Does everyone have the time, energy, resources, and emotional safety to be able to play and enjoy life?
An Early Model: Monasteries?
Ok, now this is where it starts to get interesting, so hear us out. Don’t get hung up on the religion part just yet… For now, let’s just think about monasteries simply as a model of community.
If you were trying to build a complete and flourishing community from scratch right now, there are some significant challenges you’d face.
Cost — How much would it cost? Where would the money come from? Who benefits the most from the project? What’s the smallest and most affordable unit it could be built (like the MVP, minimum viable product)?
Scale — How big should you make it? Smaller keeps you nimble and able to operate more like prototyping, but too small and there aren’t enough inputs to create closed-looped, sustainable systems.
Zoning — How do you find a way to get this new model approved by zoning? In most places, it’s actually against the law to build in the most sustainable ways. The zoning and building codes require us to keep building in ways that are literally destroying the planet. While some of us need to work on changing the rules, unquestionably, we’ve been looking for a way to get to work within the current system…and we think we’ve found a way!
Monasteries are a form of community that already exist in code books everywhere. If you just look at the core elements, the pieces we need are all there: affordable co-housing, agriculture, gathering spaces, and even provision for commerce. And there is some expectation that it will be a beautiful place that people want to and can visit, so that greatly eases concerns zoning committees and neighbors may have.
As for the religion piece, legally, a resident at a monastery has to take a religious vow. There’s no reason the “religious vow” has to be anything more complicated than: “While I am here, I commit to the healing, connection, & flourishing of myself, my community, the natural world.” Legally, it’s quite easy to start a religion.
Transitioning
In the short term we will need money to get these new models going. But over time, money can become far less of a thing as we design places that are contributing toward our flourishing rather than against our ability to even survive.