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Home arrow EMC Blog arrow Introduction to the concepts behind Everything Must Change
Introduction to the concepts behind Everything Must Change
By Rick Bennett   
Thu, Mar.06.08
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Introduction to the concepts behind Everything Must Change
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Everything Must Change

The biggest problem in the world is the way we think about the biggest problems in the world.  

Some of us don’t think about the world and its problems at all. Some think about one or two of the world’s problems in isolation from others, not realizing the ways they are interrelated in one global system. Some look at a whole range of problems and become overwhelmed and paralyzed by their enormity. Some look through the lens of a particular ideology and become incapable of seeing problems or dealing with them outside of that framework. 

In his book Everything Must Change, author/activist Brian McLaren invited us to think in fresh ways about global crises and what we can do about them. Through this website, a group of readers decided to put their thinking into action. 

The Big Picture

To help us get a handle on global crises, author/activist Brian McLaren made a simple proposal in Everything Must Change: that we see global crises not as distinct, unrelated issues but as a connected and interrelated problems operating within a single system. He compared human society to a machine driven by human desire. He suggested that human societies always pursue three essential desires: a desire for prosperity (everything that contributes to human survival and thriving and happiness), a desire for security (everything that protects the prosperity we have attained), and a desire for equity (everything that makes for fairness and decency in the way people are treated).  

These three desires are directed or driven, he proposed, by a fourth desire: to have a coherent meaning or purpose to our individual and communal lives. We express this desire through framing stories … narratives that tell us who we are, where we’re from, what’s going on, and where we need to go.  When our framing stories are askew, he argues, they twist our societies and turn them toward dysfunction and even suicidal patterns of behavior.
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Comments (11)
1. 06-03-2008 21:06
The Economics of Less
I have a couple questions. Perhaps we could think out loud together. If there is poverty around the world in part because of the wealth that is concentrated in the U.S., and if the solution is less consumption by the U.S, what are the economic consequences of a move in this direction in the U.S.? If we export wealth, is it reasonable to expect that we will "import" increased poverty in the U.S.? I'm not saying that this is bad, but still, I wonder what is the vision of a wealthy nation that we should be casting. Is it logical to assume, as consumption drops, so will business income, and therefore we should expect layoffs, increased unemployment, and increased poverty in the U.S.?  
 
Or, should we expect that charitable organizations would become a growth industry, hiring more people to put the wealth-delivery structure in place as wealth is moved to more impovershed areas?
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2. 10-03-2008 10:01
The Economics of Less
I would say there is poverty around the world for a number of reasons (too complex for simple answers). Corruption, lack of resources, war, poor leadership, singleminded capitalism (concern for own pocketbook, no one else's), greed. the list could go on. 
 
The US is not the reason for poverty, but we have not always been part of the solution, which we can be (especially our great business minds). 
 
The recession we are in the midst of presently is based upon unsustainable consumer spending. If our model for consumption is unsustainable, the invisible hand (Adam Smith's idea) will come down to readjust. that is what is happening here.  
 
I think an ethical form of capitalism is what we need (look up B corporations). Adam Smith said that he believed in capitalism as an ideal, but the capitalists would be its downfall, due to greed. There are ways to buy the things we need and provide for the least of these at the same time. That is what we need to figure out.  
 
Still if our economy is based upon a flaw, it needs to be readjusted to continue in a healthy manner. Am I even speaking to what you are saying? Your question is so complex, it would take more than a comment to answer properly.
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