The Abundance Site: Blog Action Day 2008 - Abundance and Poverty

Blog Action Day 2008 - Abundance and Poverty

15. October 2008

I happened to discover this morning that today is Blog Action Day 2008 and the subject is poverty. A worthy subject indeed for a web site based around themes of abundance so here I go.

On this planet of ours it appears to me that there is a huge media focus on what is wrong with the place and humanity. A massive sense of lack is indeed abundant. There is not enough of all manner of things; we are rapidly running out of resources, apparently.

However I maintain that the real problem is more one of consciousness, distribution and fear. Our lack mentality perceives only more lack, more poverty and more problems, its doom laden. However that is not to say that there are not big problems and inequities in the world, there surely are, but there are surely solutions also.

People, corporations and governments caught in a lack mentality behave in very short sighted and often selfish ways. There is frantic competition for “scarce” resources and the continued control of those resources because the belief is simply that there is not enough, so you have to fight for survival. This is the model prevalent at the current time that has the world, trading, speculating and fighting for the rights to control all manner of commodities.

People or organisations with a more abundant consciousness, however, see things a little differently in that they are looking for ways to contribute and collaborate for the greater good. They know intuitively that they are part of the solution and are willing and happy to look “outside of the box” for such solutions.

For instance the architect Michael Reynolds, whose excellent film Garbage Warrior I recently saw, has spent the last 30 something years designing Earthship sustainable housing that is fully integrated and self sufficient. Now in part it would seem that he was / is also motivated by a fear of future lack he has an abundant vision and has made a tremendous contribution towards creating balanced, saner accommodation.

The Zero Emissions Research Initiative is another organisation thinking outside the box and viewing waste a resource:

The common vision shared by the members of the ZERI family is to view waste as resource and seek solutions using nature’s design principles as inspiration.

The blanket term for this kind of innovation is Biomimicry. and I find it a highly inspiring and positive approach.

I think one important thing to consider when it comes to the amount of global resources is this:

All the resources ever taken from planet earth are still here. All the resources we are using now are here. Nobody is shipping food and oil to other planets. It is all still here! The food and water is still here, BUT converted to pollution and wastes that we currently do not have a use for. The only lack is that which we have created by the way we conduct ourselves as a species; other than the temporary hardships caused by major localised climatic events.

Some may say that the planet cannot support us all in the manner in which we live now, in the so called developed world, but it does not have to. This is now not then, we get to create the future.

What is to be done?

The term poverty conjures images of starvation and suffering in Africa, for instance, yet there is enough food to feel them all but not the will and therefore the means to do that. Around 982 million people are living (and dying) on a dollar a day or less. Poverty is abundant.

I suggest the cure starts with each one of us. Governments, businesses, corporations, schools, councils and the like are created and staffed by people such as you or I, they are not all bad or all good. I believe that there is an increasing number of people who want to make a difference who wish to contribute to meaningful work and are finding that working in a “negative” organisation or environment to be increasingly hard to do. Wealthy people are increasingly discovering that money and possessions are not the fix all they believed and are downsizing etc.. I like to think that many of the bankers and financiers struggling just now are seriously questioning the wisdom of lending money to people with no means to pay it back. Maybe not… some surely?

A big brash bully of an organisation only exists because it is held in place by the collective mindset of the people within it. It may be led by a powerful dominant character or board of directors but they are only kept there because of the staff beneath them. When enough people within a country or organisation want change, change comes.

So ultimately it is up to us as individuals to improve ourselves and thus improve the society in which we live. A society of caring, happy, conscious people will be a happy, caring, conscious society.

It starts with you and I first. Where are you bullying, judging and manipulating yourself, family and friends? Where are you denying all that is good in your life, complaining and fighting? Where are you undernourishing your body through poor diet and exercise? Where are you mean with your money, time and affection? Where is your creative spirit, your life, starving and poverty stricken? Where are you denying your needs?

As they tell you on an aeroplane; put on your oxygen mask before you help your children or the passenger next to you. Positive selfishness, clean up our act and we clean up the world. We become the solution.

Using the model of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as a basic guide of what we “need” in order to feel “fulfilled” it can be recognised that it is only when we’ve got our low level needs met that we have the ability or even real opportunity to get our upper level needs met. When looking at the pyramid above it is no surprise humanity is so split between have’s and have not’s because most of us, “the have’s”, are still preoccupied with getting these needs met for themselves, even if they are billionaires.

Reducing our planetary poverty will result naturally as we solve our own problems and grow wise. You might like to visit the Wise Turtle“s interesting and more encompassing version of this pyramid..

I suggest that to varying degrees none of us are really being authentic or true to ourselves and that it is only when we are that we shall build fully abundant, healthy systems and societies. Here are few things I suggest we need to learn along the way.

We need to learn to be authentic, to be aware of our inner selves and to hear our inner-feeling voices. To feel our place within the grand scheme of it All.
We need to learn to transcend our conditioning and become world citizens.
We should seek out our true vocation in life, our calling, fate or destiny. This is especially focused on finding the right career expression and the right mate.
We need to recognise that life is precious, that there is joy to be experienced in life, and that when we open to seeing the good and joyous in all kinds of situations, it makes life worth living.
We must accept ourselves as we are and learn our inner nature. From real knowledge of our aptitudes and limitations we can know what to build upon, what potentials are really there.
We must see that our basic needs are satisfied. This includes safety, our sense of belonging, and esteem needs.
We should refreshen our consciousness and learn gratitude, to appreciate the beauty and other fine things in nature and in living.
We should learn self control and recognise that complete abandon is unhelpful. It takes control to improve the quality of life in all areas.
We should transcend the trifling problems, trivia, gossips and distractions of our days and grapple with the serious challenges in life. These include the problems of injustice, of pain, suffering, and poverty.
We must learn to be good choosers. We must practice making good choices and so become ever wiser.

We can each help with reducing poverty along the way and this could be a fine, empowering, direct way to make a difference ~ Kiva – loans that change lives