Comments on: Places to Intervene in a System (Restated for Bernanke and Geithner)

By: Adam Gordon

Adam Gordon — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:28:51 +0000

Isn’t “traditional” also “natural” in human behavior? But good application of Meadows 12. I’m currently reviewing her posthumous book “Thinking in Systems,” which I recommend. The radicalism is there, but muted, sort of ;)

By: andrew

andrew — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:12:12 +0000

0. The power to transcend paradigms.Sorry, but to be truthful and complete, I have to add this kicker.The highest leverage of all is to keep oneself unattached in the arena of paradigms, to realize that NO paradigmis “true,” that even the one that sweetly shapes one’s comfortable worldview is a tremendously limitedunderstanding of an immense and amazing universe.It is to “get” at a gut level the paradigm that there are paradigms, and to see that that itself is a paradigm, and toregard that whole realization as devastatingly funny. It is to let go into Not Knowing.People who cling to paradigms (just about all of us) take one look at the spacious possibility that everything wethink is guaranteed to be nonsense and pedal rapidly in the opposite direction. Surely there is no power, nocontrol, not even a reason for being, much less acting, in the experience that there is no certainty in anyworldview. But everyone who has managed to entertain that idea, for a moment or for a lifetime, has found it abasis for radical empowerment. If no paradigm is right, you can choose one that will help achieve your purpose.If you have no idea where to get a purpose, you can listen to the universe (or put in the name of your favoritedeity here) and do his, her, its will, which is a lot better informed than your will.It is in the space of mastery over paradigms that people throw off addictions, live in constant joy, bring downempires, get locked up or burned at the stake or crucified or shot, and have impacts that last for millennia.Back from the sublime to the ridiculous, from enlightenment to caveats. There is so much that has to be said toqualify this list. It is tentative and its order is slithery. There are exceptions to every item on it. Having the listpercolating in my subconscious for years has not transformed me into a Superwoman. I seem to spend my timerunning up and down the list, trying out leverage points wherever I can find them. The higher the leverage point,themore the system resists changing it-that’s why societies rub out truly enlightened beings.I don’t think there are cheap tickets to system change. You have to work at it, whether that means rigorouslyanalyzing a system or rigorously casting off paradigms. In the end, it seems that leverage has less to do withpushing levers than it does with disciplined thinking combined with strategically, profoundly, madly letting go.

By: Bart Ragusa

Bart Ragusa — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:19:01 +0000

Dave: Your web site is my start page. I love the way you have approached the questions which face us. You arehonest and you have a lot of heart. And I think you are on the right track in terms of evaluating our present quandry. With regard to Dana Meadows last ideas,3,2,&1;Do you really think human nature will perform up to its optimum level on some other basis than self-interest? The issue I have is, making a profit is the basis of capitalism. That is how the game is played except it is no game. The truth is humans must act out of self interest. But we must have rules. What is missing and has always been missing from our corporate capitalism is a sense of oneness with our world. Our view is myoptic because we have narrowly defined the “good”. You must first understand the Big picture. As long as good men make moral decisions, any system is tempered and moderated by a consciousness of God. Once we forget our world is holy, then any vice can enter.