We Need to Find Capital-R Reasons for What We Do
The logic of productivity or capitalism is not enough
Our addiction to expansion, growth, and transcendence derives from our hubris and need for control. We mistake colonizing a new region of the planet or dominating some aspect of nature for an expression of our creative power. We act as if we were gods, capable of creation and immune from the value systems that might otherwise restrain our will. And because this path is ultimately so unsatisfying, it is also addictive.
Like initiates in a 12-step program, those of us suffering from wettiko must turn to a higher power if we want to stop our destructive behavior. It’s difficult for many of us to believe in God, much less some divine wisdom or order to the universe. We may never accept the prehistoric sensibility that everything we do merely reenacts some archetypal gesture of a deity. But it’s probably necessary that we at least accept that humans are best guided by some higher, universal ideals. These ideals may be preexisting laws of reality or principles of life with which we resonate. They could be morals discovered or invented by human beings through some innate sense of good. Whatever their origins, we need these ideals to guide our choices.
If we’re not going to follow the commands of a king, a CEO, or an algorithm…
