building a new world

freedom doesn't become real just because it's written into founding documents. It has to be experienced — in neighborhoods, schools, libraries, and local digital spaces. It's in the daily work of building trust, solving problems together, and showing up for one another that we bring life to our universal ideals. That's the work of local community.

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I’m reminded of what Spencer R. Scott describes as ‘becoming a person of place’ – the idea that rooting yourself somewhere makes the future feel more valuable because its wellbeing becomes intertwined with your own. It’s a beautiful and necessary reframing of commitment as expansion rather than limitation.

I don’t have any answers because I don’t think there are any. But I’m fond of Margaret Wheatley’s framing of creating “islands of sanity,” which a kind reader reminded me of in the lovely comments of my last post. These islands are crucially not places of retreat, but rather of contribution — hyperlocal, small in scale, yet deeply meaningful. To re... See more

The next stage of human economy will parallel what we are beginning to understand about nature. It will call for the gifts of each of us; it will emphasize cooperation over competition; it will encourage circulation over hoarding; and it will be cyclical, not linear. Money may not disappear anytime soon, but it will serve a diminished role even as ... See more

“Our friends broaden our field of concern; they get us involved in the world, and they build the trust that human beings appear to require to open up to new ideas. Their indirect influence achieves more than arguments, especially from strangers, ever could. In other words: when it comes to persuasion, it’s not the conversation, it’s the relationshi... See more

A bunch of studies show that when we witness acts of kindness and pro-social cooperation by others we experience something called “moral elevation” - we are lifted into optimism and altruism and feel inclined to spread kindness onwards. I referred to the way awe works to connect us into our humanity a few chapters back. A global study showed that 9... See more

I’ve been comforted and energized by this idea — which I first heard in this interview with the novelist Zadie Smith — that caretaking is a kind of liberation.

It’s liberation from the idea that we can self-optimize ourselves to the point of not needing anyone else. That if we work hard enough to survive in a competitive economy, we’ll be able to b... See more

If it’s not abundantly obvious by now, what I find so thought-provoking and why I think it’s so important to keep talking about this, is the reality that so many (read: almost all of us) cannot, don’t want, don’t even know how to imagine alternate ways of living.