The Right Way to Flourish

I know I have been absent, but I am trying to catch the last of the summer’s warmth and air. Today my inspiration comes from the Republican Party nominating convention. There’s plenty to write about, but I will focus on how the goings-on relate to my list of sustainability opposites. The pair I have selected is communitarian versus individualistic. I have recently written a couple of [posts](http://www.johnehrenfeld.com/2012/08/deluded-individualism.html) on this subject, but it is well worth adding to. There is a myriad of positions that were incorporated in all the rhetoric that is contrary to flourishing and, hence, to sustainability, but… Read More

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Mayor Bloomberg’s initiative to ban super-size, sugar-containing sodas has gotten a lot of press recently as it approaches a vote. Public opinion seems to be against it, according to a NYTimes story. The arguments against it follow a familiar pattern arising every time some governmental body attempts to regulate consumption in one way or another. It took years and years to put a warning on cigarettes and raise the taxes to act as a disincentive. But cigarettes are still out there. Some of the voices captured in the story railed against the “nanny” state, claiming that individuals can make better… Read More

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It’s reassuring to discover, from time to time, that I am in good company. One of the central ideas in my analysis of unsustainability and in my structure for sustainability is that of interconnectedness. Interconnectedness goes hand in hand with the key model of Being as manifest through caring. When we can recognize that our being depends on the way we take care of everything to which we are connected, that is, everything that becomes present in our world, then and only then can we act authentically and subsequently flourish. It’s rare to find a conversation in the mainstream media… Read More

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The last post on the contrasting sets of concepts, interconnected v. autonomous, drew a few comments. I find it very satisfying when my posts draw comments whether pro or con. Today, I will work on a similar pair, spiritual v. secular. Unlike the above pair, these are opposites; secular is defined as denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis. So secular has no meaning without a definition of spiritual. And this poses a serious problem for me. One online dictionary defines spiritual as 1. relating to the spirit or soul and not to physical… Read More

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I accompanied a couple of my grandchildren to a performance of an adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exup�ry’s, *The Little Prince*, this afternoon. Published in 1943, while Saint Exupery was living in the US while France was occupied by the Germans, his “children’s” story is as or more relevant today. One of the many scenes jumped right off of the stage, as it is so prescient of today’s greed and hedonism. I am putting it in the post in its entirety. > The fourth planet belonged to a businessman. This man was so much occupied that he did not even raise… Read More

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I cannot think of any better way to start a discussion of another pair of sustainability-related concepts, interconnected vs. autonomous, than John Donne’s memorable words. No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the… Read More

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The NYTimes carried a story today about new threats to the ozone layers. The last time this process was noticed, the threat was due to an “exotic” chemical class, chloroflourocarbons (CFCs). The new info points to plain old water as the chemical that may be thinning the protective ozone layer above North America. The severity of recent weather events has been carrying water into the stratosphere– to higher altitudes than usual–where the water molecules can interact with the ozone-producing mechanisms. But this is not what I saw as unusual. The following quote was buried in the text. The findings were… Read More

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In my last post, I introduced my list of the polarized beliefs that separate the world of sustainability from our current one, and began my discussion with two very important distinctions, authentic and inauthentic. All of these distinctions are important because sustainability-as-flourishing depends on having them all in place. But some do seem to rank higher on some scale than others. Today, I want to look at a pair of related items, intrinsic values and extrinsic values. First, a brief comment on values. Values are a particular set of beliefs that are tied to action. They are different from beliefs… Read More

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As anyone that follows my blog would notice, I am slowing down again. I have been busy on other things, many of which are simply the wonderful “distractions” of summer. At this stage of life more than in earlier years, these so-called distractions are the essence, rather than the activities that pull one away from connecting with the whole world, not just a small piece of it at a time. I am working hard to organize a course on pragmatism I will be leading at my geezers Institute for Learning in Retirement in the fall. Much of the early writings… Read More

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One of my favorite sources of ideas that trigger my own thinking is David Brooks. Today (7/10/12) he reported on some recent work by the eminent Harvard sociologist, Robert Putnam, perhaps best known for his book, *Bowling Alone*. The title suggested his thesis that “human capital,” the social resource that binds a society together was disappearing along with the evidence that people were spending less and less time in communal activities. Brooks picked up a recent announcement by Putnam of some of his findings about differences in the US. Here’s a brief [description](http://bigthink.com/ideafeed/class-overtakes-race-as-the-great-american-divide) of his key points. Speaking at the… Read More

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