Non-Self, the Commons and the Circular Economy
The following two video follow, in a sense, on Krishnamurti’s proposition about the cessation of the individual self, a fundamentally Buddhist idea. An economy that has as its foundation non-individual selves could work completely differently. The first, “Commoning,” by Daniel Bollier, speaks about governance of the Commons as a process of mutually concerned and democratic decision-making. The video does not address the issue of social inequality, based primarily on gender, race and ability. Social equality, incorporated as an ongoing process, is essential if “commoning” as a process is going to work.
The second video is about the Circular Economy. Similar models have talked about”no growth” and the “steady-state” economy. But those static ideas fail to capture the inherent dynamism and energy of a functioning economy. The circular economy proposes that we model our economy and use of material resources on the cycles of nature: everything produced must be capable of being broken down into components that can be reused to make new products, or completely broken down into nutritive materials that enrich the soil for agriculture. (No mention is made of the nutritional biota necessary for other animal and plant species.) The circular economy is similar to William McDonough’s Cradle to Cradle, although here again, using the term “circular” conveys the ecological meaning more directly.
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