Dear reader,

In this article the metaphor of the ‘house’ will be used for the purpose of thinking about yourself as vast and wide construction project. Many aspects need to be addressed in this construction project to assist in building a holistic and grounded foundation to grow the rest of your life from. This universal of self-determination can be seen all around the globe and stating that we do not have a sense or level of control in our lives will be saying that we all should live in the wilderness of nature basically. The general notion is that we as agents do have a level of influence in our lives and by developing ourselves on multiple layers similar to the multiple intelligence theory we make sure that we grow into well-rounded characters and stewards of this planet. Ideally making sure that we leave the planet behind better then we found it obviously.. You can find the visual model in the picture below this article.

So hereby saying that we have a level of freedom in our lives we all can use. That we have a ‘domain’ our ‘ground’ were one can attain a sense of ownership through taking the ability to respond in any given life situation. In that regard each individual that is using their agency in executing more free will through taking care of ones living and sleeping environment owns their right to live, breath and create a life of their own. This universal in which individuals seek to build or have a life of their own is even seen in cultures like China by which the founding ancients were much like Celt communities with a more democratic decision making process (Henk Schulte – China en de barbaren)

So the model is formed by the inspiration from Lean Kaizen which teaches organisations, mostly on a structural level, how to be more effective and efficient. However, in this model I also wanna touch upon certain differences in paradigms and perhaps making those that aren’t serving the people or agents using them anymore obsolete. Considering the trajectory of postmodern capitalism, which is hard to outline cause one can only think in probabilities due to the complexity of it. However, the arguments for degrowth, green growth, decoupling etc can be made as can be show in this article; The challenges of decoupling the carbon lock in effect – The Concept within a concept getting more tangible. (keesbergsol.nl)

So the likely situation is that our socioeconomic systems will greatly shift around. Despite these uncertainties, I wanted to do my best to provide some sort of framework, even though this still is just a perspective to understand things better. This model is, therefore, created in a way that it could ‘fit’ within that sort of a ‘ chaotic/transitional landscape’ for socioeconomic systems in post-modern society. However, it does not have to be that chaotic during transition phases if you educate yourself in a.e. the jobs AI can’t do better. Studying the markets is just as important as spending time in your inner garden to know what you like to do often. It could very well turn out that if your passions are found in the fine arts then it is simply a matter of capitalising on your talents at some point in your life. By focusing on developing your skills in your free time nor ditch your income job to really commit to your excitements depends on your personality, willpower and courage. Most people simply refuge to dare to dream and focus upon skills they actually like to develop. Thereby saying, most people settle for a false sense of safety rather then simple happiness in finding joy in building their own ‘house’.

The same theory can be applied in movements like Ubuntu which requires individuals to contribute and explore their individuality in following their path of honest excitement in what they do on a daily base. It does not imply you can take it easy in an Ubuntu village, which I would like to study in Africa someday. I can imagine that a certain level of communal tasks need to be done, and on top of that you would wanna master your crafts intrinsically which also takes 10.000 hours. There is basically no time to sell your soul to something below yourself like just doing customer service, a job AI will take over anyway. Instead the better rational is realising that life is short, and, therefore, grind those precious hours in a skill set you get energy from doing.

So just like any other house, there are certain underlying principles/foundations and guidelines one can use as a ‘life thread’ so to speak in experiencing some form of stability within oneself without needing the comforts of (post)modern societies perse in order to execute or unfold their life task. Thereby saying, use it as a tool, not in an end of thyself, meaning that being completely ‘developed’ or ‘educated’ is a comfortable lie to tell oneself in the face of ones owns cycling off. Imagine other worlds, other realms to explore and learn. Perhaps way more difficult and complex then the School Of Life itself. in the great span of the universe, we are simply ants.

In the feat. image of this article I have created an overlap of what I think are the foundations and building blocks that can represent ones house. I use this metaphor to help you in getting an overview and perhaps it will spark common ground in your own life experience somehow.

This diagram is not meant to be a one way ticket to mastery or ‘road to success’, whatever that might look like for you. It is what I believe is useful in contemporary society. We have a lot of technology and possibilities to move in a creative way in order to develop ourselves. This is the time to become active and motivated to make good use of all our inventive endeavours.

In the model we first work in the foundation, your inner garden, the passive phase of getting to know yourself and aligning your skills around your deepest desires/life tasks, your purposes of being alive basically. So first comes character, with that character we act in the open world to advance our skills and lastly we share these skills by using new ways of communication and sharing, like this blog. Ideally we then receive some form of income to sustain this development. Another approach is that now the cycle is finalised after being able to share some of our skills already. This typically means you are mature, maturare, fruitful, which is a blessing in and of itself. Even though people might not give you money for example in the fine arts, you do it for the sake of art itself, to feel mature, to be able to express something profound for you or someone else. These are also rewards. However what I would like to continue studying upon is not so much the issue of lack of education and self-knowledge but also the challenge of capitalising our honest contributions in current economic systems.

So if there are questions or more practical oriented wishes then I can do my best to explain certain things.

Cheers,

Kees