The Economical Unit As western newscasts continuously flash, India’s economy is in extreme distress! Caution here though, I would say. “...is in distress,” by whose measure? This question is of utmost importance because any house painter whose favorite color happens to be blue will assess buildings of any other color as in desperate need of a paint job. In the example of India, it evidently is the Judeo-Christian model of a growth-based business economy who alleges the presence of deficiencies. And one does not have to have been there to observe that India’s population most likely survives much the same way as it did for millennia in the past. Given the dead-end situation western civilization with all its maladies finds itself in, we should look very carefully at what is beneficial, what is not, and what is ideal – a practical implementation of the scientific method. To sufficiently and sustainably accommodate human needs, people formed groups exceeding their immediate family unit so to encompass an effective scope of specializations, of goods and services. But why do we have to keep millions of people in the smallest possible space, as we do in mega-metropli? No sense in doing so can be detected other than servitude to a faulty principle. Sure, people flock to urban developments upon difficulties in rural life styles, but why is such hoarding desirable? And what difficulties might there be on the countryside forcing such rural flight? As far as visible, the problems are often manmade, such as monopolizing of farming-, hunting-, and culturization methods. Many people living in one place primarily serves the purpose of centralized control. Where money is the driving factor, it pays to have many people with many incomes and with much purchasing power as tensely housed as possible. It is not difficult to imagine that this will bring about severe psychological difficulties to the individual, sociological problems to communities, and ecological devastations to the environment. In concert with such urban herding, maintenance of a sufficient level of ignorance is obviously necessary, because what would happen if those profitable sheep were suddenly to re-discover the ease and pleasure of living of the land or directly from hand-to-mouth? Of course, to “good Christian ears” this sounds destitute and desperate, but –and let me laugh out loudly – although on the very opposite side of the scope of possible life styles, such a minimalistic approach to life eliminates nearly all sources of psychological and physiological ailment! The problem with this however is, if everyone would subscribe to such a life style, nobody would supply the masses of un- or barely utilized food- and clothing items that can consistently be recovered from a consume-societies waste piles. What we then need to establish is the ideal middle in size and scope of a human organizational unit. To start such an assessment, we could simply begin by listing what an individual’s needs in terms of sustenance, services, and social interaction are. Although items such as entertainment and excitement are currently no looked upon as “human needs” the extended context of psychological welfare has long suggested according presumptions. So, what we need is a diverse group of individuals, optimally scaled so to be ecologically self-sufficient and – simultaneously – small enough to remain manageable. Does this mean we are going back to small tribes of fishermen, goat herders, or forest-dwellers? The answer is: we could! For those who’d like to live like this, we could provide such opportunities. But, we need not necessarily abandon our technological treasury entirely. And we could adopt agricultural units sized to supply small cities of more intellectually inclined, artistic or handy-skilled individuals. The point is that an individual should know as many people as possible! If one knows all two thousand folks in his/her village and has regular contact with them, he/she obtains entertainment and excitement of quality and quantity no soap opera can supply!
Posted on: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 17:57:46 +0000
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