Conventional thinking versus revolutionary thinking

Albert Einstein - the thinking that brought
us here, will not take us into the future.

Continuing with business as usual is similar to maintaining the status quo, needing only conventional thinking.

Switching to and understanding how we could be fulfilled and content by working fewer hours, demands revolutionary thinking.

Such innovative thinking begins with the abandonment of cherished, but seriously dated concepts and then their replacement with something new; something that sits comfortably with our evolving world.

Agile, athletic and energetic thinking will help us understand the advantages of that new paradigm; a paradigm that without option we have to theoretically, politically and practically understand, and adopt, because of the damage we have inflicted on the equilibrium of our climate.

Fulfilment in life for all thrives more on co-operation than competition and as Thomas H. Greco writes in “The End of Money and the Future of Civilization”  ….”to recognize that we all have fundamental interests in common; and to organize and co-ordinate our actions to achieve common goals”.

Working a four-hour day is about common goals and co-operation, but it is a concept that is unquestionably beyond the comprehension of most and being wholly disruptive it will end, without question, life as we know it.

Disturbing as that might sound it is in fact a good thing for life as it is abounds with inequity; an inequity resulting from a globalized economy being forced upon on a world-society still fundamentally driven by localism.

We have a globalized economy – money travels uninhibited by national borders, but even in the relatively economically tiny Australia we, in Tony Abbott’s words, “must turn back the boats”, illustrating resistance to a globalized civilization.

The growth mandate of the globalized economy clearly puts profit ahead of people and even a cursory look at world circumstances illustrates that many have been brutalized and plunged into poverty through pursuit of that tumour-like ideal.

Greco's book explains
the difference between
co-operation and
competition.

That unrelenting quest for growth is exactly what has brought us to this position and that causes me to think of Albert Einstein’s observation that the thinking that has led to this will not be adequate to take us beyond it.

Considering Greco’s observation about the importance of co-operation ahead of competition and Einstein’s suggestion that we need to refresh and invigorate our thinking, it appears obvious, at least to me, that we must willingly surrender many of modern life’s trappings.

Many draw their optimism from technology and human ingenuity pointing to our magical modern life as justification of their faith, but embedded in that conviction is a disturbing indifference to the science on which that celebrated technology and equally acclaimed ingenuity depend.

Most everything we enjoy in our modern world depends on science and yet we ignore that science at our peril; a science that unequivocally declares that we, because of our behaviour, have wounded earth’s atmosphere.

Achieving the Four-Hour Work Day will be chaotic and divisive, but absolutely worth it

The most remote inhabitated island on earth,
 Easter Island, collapsed for reasons not dissimiliar
to those presently facing existing civilizations.

The journey to a Four-Hour Work Day will not be easy; it will be chaotic, socially and politically divisive and viewed from the present paradigm, impossible.

Of course we don’t have much to compare it to, and to consider it from within the restrictions of what exists makes it appear dysfunctional and wholly irresponsible. It is neither of those.

Of course, the idea of a Four-Hour Work Day did not emerge in isolation as it has a few implacable allies; among them a dramatically changing climate, an imploding world economy, and the rapid depletion of finite and irreplaceable resources.

Good sense, even in the face of an imminent world catastrophe, is surprisingly rare and it appears that our blind addiction to what exists has obliterated our reason, and fear, of inevitable difficulties.

What is happening is an echo of the collapse of earlier societies, one being Easter Island, the most remote inhabited island on earth.

The idea of building large stone statues for the deified dead, whom the islanders believed provided for the living, was an obsession that equates with today’s equal obsessional-mandate that argues our quality of live hinges entirely on growth.

About 15 000 people worked tirelessly to build the statues and although aware of what they were doing and the inevitable consequences, cut down the island’s trees, one by one, to move the stone giants about on until the late 16^th century, they had totally deforested their home.

The environmental degradation they had brought upon themselves in pursuit of superstition is being played out again and, interestingly, the similarities are striking.

Easter Island was isolated leaving those living there with no retreat – our earth is absolutely isolated in the universe and despite the fancies of some, we have no escape and yet we continue to use and exhaust the resources upon which modern life is built.

Despite the enthusiasms of some who point to technological solutions, we are travelling with enthusiasm, laughing and smiling and we rush blindly toward the abyss aware, but not paying any attention to the inadequacy of those ideas and a chaotic outcome that will decimate life on earth.

What do we do? First, we accept that nature cannot be negotiated with and so understand that we must learn to life with it; second, use less of everything; third, use the extensive and intricate knowledge we presently have to soften the emerging difficulties.

How do we do that? Ensure an economic equity among all, that is making many poorer and many more people richer and to do that we consider implementing the Four-Hour Work Day.

In all that, it is worth remembering that existing market driven economic processes did not arrive trouble free – its birth was damnable, chaotic and decidedly troublesome as we went about investing society with the present and existing market system.

In fact, if we knew then what we know now, we would not have gone down this path at all, but of course it is easy to be intelligent after the event.

The challenge now is to simply be intelligent and within that understand that fewer working hours will, after a period of adjustment and difficulty, make life better for all.

A lost job and a confusing vision

Nicholas Sarkozy proposed austerity to save France and it cost him his job.

Oddly it was a Socialist Francois Hollande who is now France's new president after winning a majority of votes in his defeat Sarkozy last week.

The new leader of France, Socialist
Francois Hollande.

Sarkozy, from the conservative Union for a Popular Movement and had been the president since 2007, had gone into the election arguing for severe austerity measures to enable France to endure the tribulations of a tumbling economy.

Hollande, by contrast, had promised to re-negotiate the European Union’s "fiscal pact," which had set tight budget rules.

Sounding a little like most of the world’s conservative thinkers, Mr Hollande had gone the polls calling for a "growth pact", which he argued would stimulate stagnant economies and add new jobs.

Maybe French politics are different from those of other developed western nations and maybe they are not.

Just like here, for argument’s sake, they are inherently confusing – Sarkozy, who had been derided by many for his allegiance to the wealthy has worked to protect those of his social class – something he felt could be achieved through national austerity, instructing his key ministries to create appropriate plans. 

Mr. Hollande equipped with a sharper understanding of the French electorate, celebrated victory, saying a change was coming that would answer the desires of people with an end to austerity and the repair of “broken and burnt” France.

The intelligence of the masses is mostly a cause for celebration, but in this instance, it sadly reflects what author Charles Mackay discusses in his 19^th century book, “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds”.

Austerity measures that simply solidify circumstances that favour a few and ignore the majority are distasteful and deserve punishment at the polls; a punishment handed out to Mr. Sarkozy.

Mackay's 19th
century book.

However, the platform of Mr. Hollande that promised a “growth pact” to stimulate the economy and create new jobs is a wonderful idea, but one which overlooks the reality that the world of tomorrow will not need growth, a stronger economy or jobs, rather the reverse.

A visionary leader able to stand comparison with history’s greats is urgently needed; a leader able to stand aside from those who, despite their protestations, are not able to rid themselves of the growth and consumption mindset.

That leader, whoever he or she might be, will help the people of the world understand and with charisma demonstrate the need to slow down global warming, we'll either have to put the brakes on economic growth or transform the way the world's economies work.

The solutions are not of the Hollande-type rather, they arise from understanding countless studies and undeniable scientific fact indicating we need to untangle the complexity of life and embrace a simpler and slower life.

by Robert McLean

Skeptics locked into seeing life through the prism of the present

Skeptics of the Four-Hour Work Day are unable to escape the mindset that limits their gaze to what the can see through the prism of the present.

Life tomorrow will be decidedly different from life as it is, and so looking at it, and considering our response, then it quickly becomes apparent that in having such a limited view is pointless in the extreme.

Complications, diverse in impact, but common in root cause all spring from our abuse of our planet’s life support systems and beyond, and within that, our irresponsible access to, and use of, the earth’s finite resources.

The Four-Hour Work Day is little more than a beginning, a first step in fracturing the nexus between population, consumption, wants and needs and rampant individualistic egos.

Introduction of the Four-Hour Work Day would undoubtedly be difficult, challenging and almost beyond the comprehension of a society that originally evolved at almost at a geological pace.

That was, however, until man discovered how to unlock earth’s ancient sunlight resource (fossil fuels) a couple of centuries ago and the pace of life accelerated significantly.

Those activities, as is the case with everything we do, had unintended consequences.

Behaving as if the resource constantly replaced itself, we lived with a rather loose abandon and so have nearly exhausted those resources and to really complicate matters, have changed earth’s atmosphere bringing upon us unpredictable and destructive extreme weather events.

We now need to change how we go about things at what in modern terms might be called “warp” speed.

The time for negotiation is long past; our resources are drying up, our funds are drying up and as we stand in what could easily become a wasteland unless we act, we need to exercise the human spirit before it too dries up.

Rather than devote scarce time, energy and funds trying to protect the comforts we once had, it is time to apply those resources to creating a world that will provide succour to all.

That drive to achieve a degree of cheer, bolstered by the reassurance that the broad interest of society is not in growth or profit, but the general wellbeing of all.

The first move, demanding generous and athletic thinking, is the introduction of a Four-Hour Work Day. 

Growing from a weed to a beautiful flower

The idea for a Four-Hour Work Day sprung from a bed of concerns, almost like a weed, but it now has a certain richness and urgency that demands careful and attentive husbandry.

The Four-Hour Work Day - from a weed
 to a beautiful flower.

That richness and urgency stems from human-induced changes to our climate; the prevalence of putting the economy ahead of human welfare; a blatant disinterest in the state of the earth (at least in keeping it habitable for humans); and equally seeming disinterest in the welfare of the other; an inability to see past, or care about what happens beyond the life of our grandchildren; the embrace of superstition and the inordinate rejection of reason and reality; the adoption of gigantism at the expense of what is small, simple and local; and a apathy toward, or at least a misunderstanding of, what is simply good for people.

A Four-Hour Work Day will not directly resolve any of those difficulties, but it will encourage a restructuring and rethinking of how we live.

Humans have walked the earth for about 200 000 years and we evolved to a point at which, about 200 years ago, we discovered how to unlock the secrets of ancient sunlight, that is fossil fuels, and in that blink of geological time we have understood complexity to such an extent that now have the capacity to end life, as we know it, on the planet.

Interestingly, we have shown sufficient restraint to avoid blowing ourselves up, but appear to be walking blindly into another trap about which many are aware, but with our natural inclination to multiply unabated and eagerness to exploit fossil fuels not being interrupted in any way, we are rapidly depleting the earth’s finite resources and along the way causing irreparable damage, at least on time-scale that matters to humans, to earth’s atmosphere.

A Four-Hour Work Day will simply slow that damage and, in concert, enable us time to recreate a sense of community and along with that build a five-minute life style – a life that puts all that is important on a day-to-day basis  (food, work, leisure, and various services, friends and family) all within five minutes walking or cycling.

Corporations will be replaced by community, growth by generosity, profit by a neighbourhood sense of pleasure and the urgency of the contemporary understanding of work by the more leisurely concept of the artisan who draws comfort from perfecting individual items, rather than being chained to the endlessly grind of the production line.

The sense of camaraderie, frequently cultivated with the purpose in existing workplaces with the prime purpose of ensuring growth, will naturally arise in tight-knit communities that work together to enable the building of resilience, endurance and a deep sense of caring.

We have tried living on the premise that growth will resolve human challenges: it has not and so not we must look toward a different way of doing things, a way that revolve around limiting the number of hours we devote each day to the sustenance of that hypothesis.

Understanding and embracing a 'civil society'

A society that understands and embraces the idea of the Four-Hour Work Day is one that is also cognizant of the concept of a “civil society”.

What is painted today as “democracy” is a reality remote from demotic behaviour and if honesty were to prevail, it should really have another name that in some way reflected the realities of totalitarianism.

"Managed Democracy" by
 Sheldon S. Wolin.

It was author, Sheldon S. Wolin, writing in “Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism” discussed the control corporations have over society; a society in which democracy is portrayed, but rarely genuinely enacted.

Although most societies have the infrequent breakout of groups intent on securing equity and a certain civility, they are rare and without the backing of the majority, which because of what Wolin has described as “managed democracy”, is predominantly passive and submissive, and so cause little trouble for the powerful lobby of the military/industrial/growth complex.

Life is not meant to be lived with your “shoulder-to-the-wheel” to ensure the survival of a way of life guaranteeing days of ease and comfort for a few and endless toil for most.

The idea of a civil society is, in a popular sense, considered irrelevant and unneeded as most have been convinced that we already live with freedom and equity, but even a glance beyond the façade constructed by the corporate world we will see it is a house of cards resting on what are portrayed as firm foundations, but which are nothing more than a shaky superstructure whose fidelity depends upon ever-more growth and profit reliant on the endless consumption of finite resources.

The Four-Hour Work Day would begin to restore to some equity and begin a conversation about the importance of shifting to a way of living in which the emphasis is on people rather than growth and profit.