Book Update #7 – Introduction Chapter
In book one of my guidebook series, I am writing about how we can develop our intellectual, ethical, and emotional resources to embrace ecological and social limits and advance the transition towards sustainable, democratic, and secure societies.
This latest writing update is a reflection on finishing the introduction chapter of the book, which lays out the crises we face and offers a vision of root-level solutions.
Human societies face multiple crises. We’re consuming resources and emitting waste faster than the planet can accommodate, a path that will end in the collapse of our societies unless we change course. Even societies called “democratic” have been run primarily for the benefit of the wealthiest and most powerful minority of their population, and in recent years many have elected authoritarian figures who actively seek to eliminate the rights of everyday people. Various kinds of insecurity have been growing, including both economic insecurity that has left more and more of us deprived of basic needs, and psychological insecurity that leaves us feeling unsafe in our community or lacking in value as a person. Increasingly prevalent mental health issues, loneliness, and despair may suggest that many of us are struggling to maintain a sense of meaning in life, while more and more people are finding meaning in unhealthy ways (e.g. supporting authoritarian movements, buying into conspiracy theories, etc.).
In the introduction chapter of my book, which I recently finished, I trace these crises back to two roots in particular:
- Unbalanced institutions that force us to consume beyond ecological limits, deliver wealth and decision-making power to a small portion of the population, and push us all towards insecurity and away from healthy sources of meaning. (By “institutions,” I am referring to economic institutions like corporations and business laws, education/information institutions like schools and media, and political decision-making institutions like governments.)
- A culture of passivity in which it is normal to accept things as they currently are, to not ask and pursue deep questions, and to remain isolated rather than joining together in social movements to create a flourishing society for all.
To transform our institutions so that they promote balance rather than undermine it, I believe we must create a culture in which the norm is to be intellectually and civically active. I envision large numbers of people actively learning about the nature of their society and its problems and working together to address them. How can we establish this kind of culture? At the most fundamental level, I believe it begins to expand when we commit to a more conscious and conscientious approach to the development of our worldview, the set of mental maps that we use to make sense of our experiences, make predictions, and make decisions.
Too often we let our worldview develop without enough conscious scrutiny, and I believe this “autopilot” approach is the deepest root of our societal crises; our schools and media institutions don’t prepare us with the kind of holistic and actionable analysis we need, and we’re not accustomed to rigorously exploring and revising our mental maps, so these knowledge deficits tend to persist. Democracy doesn’t function if we don’t understand the causes of our collective problems and strategies to address them, or even what those problems are. To create societies that are sustainable and democratic, and that thoroughly promote security and meaning among all of their members, we need enough of the public to be well-informed, actively engaged, and emotionally prepared for the struggle that change often requires. When most members of a society take an autopilot approach, that society will have an intellectually and civically passive culture, and the number of people actively trying to address their collective problems will be a small minority.
But if we take the opposite approach and consciously scrutinize the development of our worldview, we can build more reliable mental maps and the healthier habits that flow from them. It means asking well-thought-out questions, pursuing answers fairly and thoroughly, and using the information and perspectives we find to update our beliefs and behaviors. I refer to this process as cultivating our autonomy. An autonomous citizenry would be more likely to seek a nuanced understanding of its society and our collective problems, participate in campaigns to elect champions of public interests, and have the resilience to overcome the challenges involved.
The skillsets of autonomous people
There are several components of our mental maps: fact judgments (beliefs about what is true or false), value judgments (beliefs about what is good or bad or important), assumptions (pre-judgments about matters of fact or value), and emotions (our feelings about our fact and value judgments). We cultivate our autonomy by exploring the realms of facts, values, and emotions, and learning how to successfully navigate them. When we explore the realm of facts to figure out what was, what is, what can be, or what will be and why, and learn how to learn better, we are building our capacity as critical thinkers. When we explore the realm of values to figure out what should be and why, and learn how to align our actions with the answers we find, we are developing our capacity as moral agents. When we explore the realm of emotions to figure out how we feel and why we feel the way we do about beliefs we currently hold, and learn how to accept (or even embrace) the discomfort of change, we are developing our capacity as emotion regulators.
The skillsets of critical thinking, moral agency, and emotional regulation make us more autonomous, empowering us to rethink and restructure the way things currently are. Addressing our crises involves becoming the kind of people who can embrace sustainable lifestyles, who join together with others in social movements to transform their society, and who persist even when it is difficult. I think we become these kinds of people as we practice these skillsets and incorporate them more deeply into our identity.
How did the vision for the book change over time?
When I began writing this book in 2022, I was thinking about all of the knowledge one would need to support the transition towards sustainable societies. Beforehand, I had spent years reading about and reflecting on climate breakdown and other societal crises, and two things became clear: there is a lot of context required for taking thoughtful action on these issues, and I had learned very little of it as a student in school or as a casual reader of mainstream media. For instance, we don’t learn in depth about our dependence on the Earth and the harsh consequences of consuming beyond ecological limits; the way that energy sources and technology enable the lifestyles we take for granted as “normal;” how the current economy produces overconsumption and vast economic inequality; how much citizen participation is required to have a democracy and the perils of authoritarianism; or how core cultural concepts like “freedom” that shape our aspirations can be seen from very different perspectives. Without this kind of holistic understanding, a person will not see why fundamental changes to our lifestyles are justified or be equipped to make the best decisions for their long-term well-being.
Eventually I began to think about the qualities that would lead someone to seek out this knowledge, to appreciate its significance, and to accept the changes it points towards. In my essays, I often spoke about the crucial nature of autonomy. In my system change curriculum article, I argued that the qualities that make us autonomous are the most important topics for educators to teach, because they motivate our pursuit of deeper understanding and empower us to rethink old beliefs and habits when we encounter new and compelling perspectives. My essay on the need for a new Enlightenment argued that these qualities are the cultural foundation of an ecological transition. In many ways, I simply returned to thoughts I’d been having throughout my own intellectual journey towards the book. But it took me a while to realize that these qualities should be the focus of this book (and that holistic knowledge for system change would need to be the focus of a second book).
Another vital question loomed: how many people are currently looking for an “ecological transition guidebook?” How many people would see that topic as relevant to them? Very few, unfortunately but understandably. It became clear that we must build bridges between who we are today and who we must become if we’re to address our crises.
Thinking about this question helped me realize that the qualities that make us autonomous allow us to more successfully navigate complex problems, regardless of whether they arise at the societal level or within our personal life. Take a moment to think about the complex questions and issues that arise when trying to be a good parent or a good friend, or when choosing a career, or when dealing with a setback. If our habit is to act on assumptions or impulses rather than consciously examining them and weighing our options, we’ll often find ourselves responding in ways that aren’t aligned with our long-term well-being or others.’ But if our habit is to collect more information, question our biases, come to better-reasoned conclusions, and learn how to be our best self even when circumstances are difficult, we’ll find that we handle this complexity better. These are some of the same habits we would rely on to learn about and become open to an ecological transition. One doesn’t need to already be motivated to help address societal crises to commit to cultivating these building blocks of autonomy.
I used these insights as I wrote the introduction chapter, trying to put myself in the shoes of a reader who is only seeking personal growth. I wanted to speak to people who are looking for deeper meaning or greater security in who they are, for greater freedom, or for stronger relationships. I tried to highlight how autonomy allows us to achieve these goals while also describing the societal crises we face and how an autonomous public can address them. In thinking about this kind of reader, I was simply reconnecting with my younger self—someone not yet thinking about the state of society, but who was drawn to this work by a desire to live a meaningful life. I would still describe what I’m writing as an “ecological transition guidebook” to someone who is already concerned about or working to address our sustainability crises. But to the majority of people who are not currently focused on that topic, I might describe it as a program for developing our inner freedom, gaining greater control over our circumstances, and crafting more fulfilling lives.
Combining inner and outer transformation
In the chapter, I envision two distinct but interdependent social movements that I intend to help organize after the book is published. They are vehicles for turning words on a page into a new reality. One movement would be aimed at inner transformation, in that all members would be committed to cultivating their autonomy. It has an individual action component in which we actively practice critical thinking, moral agency, and emotional regulation in our everyday life, and a collective action component in which we discuss our efforts and collaborate with others on the same self-development journey. It would also include education programs based on a holistic curriculum—the key takeaways about ecological systems, technology and energy sources, economics, power structures, and culture that I believe we must know if we’re to make informed decisions in this time of multiple crises. This movement could build a bridge between activists working to address our societal crises and non-activists whose current motivation is to create a flourishing life, with everyone working towards the same qualities. As it grows, so would a more intellectually and civically active culture.
The other movement would be aimed at transforming our institutions so that they promote long-term well-being for all rather than unbalanced relationships between different parts of ourselves, between ourselves and others, and between humanity and the natural world. Participants would pursue a broad policy platform that, among many other things, would establish a floor and a ceiling on our resource consumption, so that everyone can meet their basic needs within ecological limits. We would actively support political candidates who champion this platform. This movement would be rooted in our recognition that we depend on healthy ecosystems and on each other to survive and to thrive. A broad policy platform would build another kind of bridge, linking action on the crises that present the most immediate threat to our well-being (e.g. economic insecurity), which is the primary focus for most people, with action on the crises that threaten to foreclose our future.
Almost ready to share
I’ll conclude by highlighting another reason I’m excited to have finished the draft of this introduction chapter: I have prepared nearly enough of the book to begin sharing it with everyone who has graciously signed up to offer feedback. First, I need to go back to my chapter on critical thinking, which I finished in 2023, to add a few ideas and make sure I spend enough time highlighting the benefits of the associated habits for our personal life (like I try to do in the introduction). But soon I will announce the start of the sharing process to all those who have signed up.
If you’re interested in reading a draft of this book and providing feedback, please subscribe here at freedomsurvival.org.
Check out the previous post, which highlighted a few takeaways from my chapter on cultivating moral agency—our habits of introspecting about our values and learning to live in greater alignment with them.
