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What is “true”?
Facts are true. Feelings are true.
Feeling and fact coexist to create reality.
We co-create “true” nature.
We sense what is real. We interpret. We define what is “true”.
So, what is “true”?
Play the role of observer, for a moment. What comes to mind? There’s immediate object orientation– what’s around you that you can sense. Continue observing while you go about your day. At the grocery store, on the internet, in traffic, you may begin to sense a general feeling of exhaustion, burnout, and begrudging acceptance. What is that? It’s not grief. Grief is a natural part of life. Death and pain are what every human and creature can expect to experience.
Try to identify this mysterious feeling and you may stumble on a widespread strife for freedom, compassion, and non-violence. Subtle cues signal a pulse– no, a current. A shrug of the shoulders. A grit of the teeth. A smug grin. But other modalities aside from body language, like videos, stories, lived experiences equate to this universal feeling. “Jaded” is too weak a word to describe the painful bite evident in today’s culture. One word that comes to my mind is denial. We deny that unmistakable dose of angst, the quiet but always present scream from the void questioning, “why does it have to be this way”? Actually, WTF is going on with society?
When I ask others what they think this is all for, the answer I hear is never straightforward. Retirement is an often quoted one– a vague promise of leisure and security. This is the cognitive bias known as the certainty effect. I also hear, “this is the way it is, and always has been” usually along with some retort at my naivety. Ah yes, the generational divide card with a dash of another cognitive bias, the sunk cost fallacy. But most often when chatting about the world with people who are like-minded, I’ll hear a resounding, “what else would we do? Jobs and money are how we live.”
From my point of view, it seems human civilization is going through a major transformation. Others may agree by thinking “society is falling apart”, or “the apocalypse is approaching”. We may not have consensus as to why we’re falling apart, or where the pieces will fall. But what seems true right now is that the globalist empire, or at least the American economy is not sustainable.
Sustainability. Retirement. Investment. Long-term. Longevity. These are self-preservational words.
Sustainability, or the ability to be sustained, was a word first used to describe defense mechanisms in war, like a sustainable fort capable of withstanding attack. Then in the 70’s, sustainability began to be applied to economics, ecology, and agriculture. I believe this had much to do with the Earth Rise photo, that landmark media that revealed how we are A Collective. But Earth also became the proverbial fort that needed to be sustained— either from us, or from nature, regardless the relationship between us and Earth was rooted in competition. We saw our Earth from a new perspective which shifted what “truly” mattered, however it’s unclear if we ever figured it out.
Because since then, “sustainability” has been used across advertisements, packaging, and PR materials to signal that something possesses the condition of being “good” or “mindful” or “friendly” to the environment and society.
Sustainability is now run on a myth that we can somehow eliminate, neutralize, or even limit our impact. It begets a deeper misunderstanding that humans are not animals, or are separate from the biosphere. This myth feeds into a false dichotomy between humans and nature, where economic growth is central to our longevity, evident in the TBL or triple-bottom-line, 3 P people profit planet models.
Social responsibility’s been hijacked. It became ‘corporate’ social responsibility. It’s a huge money earner for the big management companies. They’re making shed-loads of money by doing a system of analysis about how you measure behavior. But it’s no good, it’s become an obsession with measurement. It never touches on the truth. The truth nobody wants to discuss. If it gets in the way of profit, businesses don’t want anything to do with it. Anita Roddrick, Founder of The Body Shop (video)
Before sustainability was a buzz word, it meant love and stewardship, but like many stories in history, sustainability became a word-tool hijacked by powerful individuals who used it to control the narrative. “Guilt-free” and “guilty” purchases feed a cycle of impacts to the environment, laborers, and consumers across the supply chain. Companies profit from manufacturing guilt in consumers, both to increase a desire to “do better” and a “f— it” mentality, both of which fuel consumerism.
Central to our economy, and by proxy humanity’s large-scale focus, is a promised future state. Greater comfort, convenience, agency, all in exchange for time. Retirement. Investment. Long-term. Longevity. Sustainability.
How our time is spent has been pre-determined by a long legacy of power. What does matter, and what does not matter, to me and to you, are not currently defined by us. We don’t have the agency to opt out of the cruelty, exploitation, and slavery that uphold our modern lifestyles, unless we fully renounce it all in favor of a wild luddite life in the woods or perhaps join a missionary organization. Most of all work goes towards saving the ego, the power, the patriarchy, the status quo.
Please understand that I mean all of this not to demonize sustainability. I believe in our ability to communicate and problem solve. Making sense of what we mean when we make promises like saying something is truly sustainable, is a process that requires deep listening, intelligent strategy, and patient execution.
I know humans are capable of great change. We are capable of collaboration on a massive scale. When we have a common goal founded in a belief that we feel is “true”, we reach new heights. There is a reason humans feel fulfillment and gratitude after achieving something powerful together. I believe this response has evolutionary ties, like nature’s whisper telling us to continue creating through cooperation.
Here is where I begin to present a paradox. Paradoxes are self-contradicting in nature and thus possess qualities of both truth and falsehood.
The paradox at the root of “sustainability” is: Life impacts, even as it evolves to improve efficiency.
There is no such thing as zero impact, or zero waste, or zero emissions. In nature, we see trees shed their leaves onto the forest floor, and their decaying buildup leads to new life. All animals eat, reproduce, and become a nutrient dense body that reintegrates with the Earth. Change is impactful, and change is a core mechanism to life.
If life always impacts, then there is no life without impact. If life always changes, there will always exist complex dynamics between more and less impact, pain, and nurturing. As long as I am alive I will leave impact. We will continue changing even after we die.
As long as humans are on the planet there will be other life as well, because we rely on the Earth and we are Earthly beings. This goes deeper than our dependence on planetary resources. The word resource paints a materialistic view passed down by patriarchal and Western views of dominion, colonization, and commodification.
But as humans continue to exist, along with all life, life will learn and innovate. We find tricks, ways to use our environment in our favor. Like the contestants of The Hunger Games we find cracks in the arena’s design– and build oil rigs, dams, and supply chains. This isn’t a human thing, it’s a Life Thing.
We rely on Earth, not because of what we take, but because life is nature. The separation between us and nature has never been true. It’s time to remove the wool from Our Eyes.
“Truth” coexists with consciousness and that which consciousness experiences. We decide what is true. Reality and perception. What manifests in our minds cannot exist without sensing the world. Could our world exist without us creating the dream within? Does the universe exist without consciousness? I believe the fact that I can ask that question and have it be understood points to no.
All 8 billion people have a different perspective on reality. We do not share the same pain or comforts, nor do we have a universal culture, economic circumstance, or educational background. This present moment is life. In a nutshell, you and I are what it means to be human.
Theoretically, if “true” sustainability were a reality, what would it be? I believe we all have our own unique image that comes to mind when we consider this.
So, we find ourselves at another paradox– if there is such a thing as “true” sustainability, it would be “untrue” for everyone, and yet must be “true” for everyone.
“True” sustainability embraces our innately unique lives and attempts to bridge the past, present, and future into common ground.
“True” sustainability exists, if only in our minds. After all, there is a such thing as “tomorrow”, even though it is always out of reach. The same is true, for “true” sustainability. The moment we feel we’ve entered “true” sustainability, the target moves. True sustainability is the application of quantum theory to well-being. It acknowledges certainty and uncertainty as being interwoven in the paradox of consciousness.
Yes, it is hard to think about or understand– that is actually the point.
When has life ever been at this moment of time? The answer is always never. The future is dependent on what we decide to create. Life is not a question we get right. It is not a point on a scale. It is a mysterious puzzle where the pieces and the picture are constantly changing.
I believe that honest dialogue and collective grassroots actions move the needle. I’ve watched community gardens form, I have seen safe houses built, I’ve helped clean beaches with friends. Things happen when we decide to do them. We decide to do things when we determine we truly need them.
Soularly uses “true” sustainability as a kind of North Star. We create space for people to openly discuss the future, design plans for the future, and immerse into the future. We don’t think ideas are too crazy because we see the writing on the walls, and we hear the calls from our ancestors. We never stray from journeying inward to discover how we can be better stewards.
It is in our nature to wonder, to yearn, to be curious for better. I believe this essence is not unique to humans. It is essential to life itself. Soularly is a business, an artwork, and a commitment. Soularly invites you to find your place in a new paradigm that is called the regenerative creator economy.
