I’m continuing my reporting on the current installment of Conservative Estimate, the recently founded website that is devoted to demolishing Conservatism.
On Friday, Alfred George showed how the baby-boom is deluded by the Major Myths of conservatism, so much so that even those who oppose the Myths tend to talk and think in terms of the Myths. He also explained that the world would owe its salvation, if it is to be saved, to the younger generation, because the older generation seems to be too deluded by the Myths of conservative thought.
Before beginning to make concrete suggestions for change, however, Mr. George takes today’s post to explain the nature of the transformation that today’s young people need to bring about.
Let us take ourselves to the other side of the orange separator to see what he has to say.
Mr. George begins by telling us that the principal change needed in world view is to move away from a conception of human activity based on Production, and toward one based on Creation. He opens his discussion of this topic by trying to answer the question, Why does abandoning self-interest enhance creativity and dynamism?
First, he says, that all seven of the Major Myths are inextricably intertwined, and none moreso than the Myth of Scarcity and the Myth of Self-interest.
Acting in a self-interested way is a response to the fear of shortages and the fear of others. Since we fear that necessities of life may become hard to find, and that other people will try to take what we need for themselves, we try to protect ourselves by acting selfishly. We try to grab what we need before someone else gets it. We try to hold on to everything we have. We try to put up barriers that will scare others off. We adopt defensive postures that project both confidence and strength, in an effort to ward off predators.
All this, he points out, is unnecessary. As he showed in his discussion of the Myth of Scarcity, there is no rational reason why we need to fear scarcity or the bad behavior of people under conditions of scarcity. And there is much to be gained from abandoning our fears:
Letting go of this posture frees up energy and time. You don’t have waste time plotting and planning how to beat back others, how to take what you want away from others, and how to protect what you have from others. You don’t have to create a zone of negativity and exclusion around you, which takes a lot of psychic energy to maintain.
And along with this freeing up of energy and time comes a breaking free from the tyranny of the zero-sum mindset. What is the zero-sum mindset? It is imagining that all or much of life is like a zero-sum game—that is, a situation in which whatever is gained by one player is lost by another.
A Myther, however, cannot see beyond his fears,
preferring his fear-based zero-sum illusion to the reality that there may be many solutions that lie outside the zero-sum perspective. He cannot see a world of other possibilities because his attachment to his fear has boxed him in and limited his perspective. . . .
From the viewpoint of the boxed-in person, the unboxed person looks impossibly creative—that is, the free person can bring into being acceptable outcomes that elude the boxed-in person. Unboxed people are able to do this not only because they see more new possibilities, but also, as we said before, because they have more energy to devote to bringing these new possibilities into being. Unboxed people can use this extra energy to pursue positive goals that will be satisfying to themselves, and may also be satisfying to others. They can enjoy the companionship of friends and the collaboration of colleagues who are trying to attain the same goals. They can produce things that never were, reshape things that need renovation, generate things that no one ever imagined.
This is Creation.
At this point, Mr. George introduces the move that young people must make to prevent the disaster that their parents have foisted upon them, the mover from Production to Creation.
Boxed in people produce, but unboxed people create. Production is generally lifeless, soulless, joyless. Its extreme symbol is, not surprisingly, the production line—no human spirit required. But humans can also produce soullessly without a production line. Most office work is like this: shuffling paper, filing forms, answering phones. And indeed, any kind of work to which you feel no inner connection is production for you.
Creation, on the contrary, is vital, energizing, joyful. You can’t wait to get started on it in the morning, can hardly pull yourself away in the evening, and keep thinking about it in your free time. It’s absorbing and fun, and the result—whether it’s a painting or a book or an expertly completed mortgage application or a well-solved plumbing problem—is the answer to a unique challenge.
Mr. George then tells us that the current state of society is in desperate need of creative people to cut the gordian knots that have been tied by earlier generations. Only by creation are today’s young people going to be able to reshape the world out of the shape its been molded into by the perverting influence of the conservative Myths.
Creation can only take place in freedom, and no one is free who is hemmed in by fear of scarcity and fear of other people. If you can just let those go, a wide-open new expanse of choices will emerge in the midst of your life. Once you drop the shackles of fear, you can finally devote yourself to the joy of creating. And among the things you can finally begin to create is—your own life.
You can read the whole post
here.
Having shown the direction in which young people must move, Mr. George will go on tomorrow to discuss the changes in world view that must be made in order to stamp out the distorting influences of conservatism, and make a decent future for young people and their children.
I’ll be reporting back each day as a new installment appears.