The world is changing around us at an alarmingly fast rate. 20 years ago, I was drawn to landscape architecture because I believed through this discipline, I could help protect nature and connect people to the environment and each other. Lately I’m realizing that change doesn’t readily come from what we do or what we make. It comes from how we live, how we think and how we approach our relationships with all other beings.
It’s not the Doing, it’s the Being!
We’ve all heard that change comes from within, but how do we access that type of fundamental change? To start, we need to change how we think, becoming aware of, and then questioning our perspectives, values, and our fundamental dualistic understanding of reality.
Landscape architecture can do a lot of great things, but in the realm of inner change, it is limited. So, in looking for new ways to reach people and affect change, I found using Feldenkrais® based movement to be a practical and concrete way to practice the art of self- inquiry and start thinking differently.
The internal work mirrors the communal, and we can’t fully do one without the other. How we think and feel influences how we respond and act. Particularly in the landscape architecture profession, there currently is not enough emphasis on the internal work.
The profession is organized around “Hustle Culture” where speed of output is paramount, even sacrificing quality. It’s not our fault - it’s the system. The capitalist business structure of billable hours demands that time itself is a commodity. Hustle culture overvalues the culture of ambition and perfectionism, where working long hours and self sacrifice are not just condoned, but expected and valorized. I’ve heard it described as rigor, or commitment to the work. What it ends up being is unhealthy and ultimately under-productive, as the quality of the work is diminished and folks burnout and leave.
The only gain here is a small minority’s profit margin. Capitalism isn’t working anymore folks!
Or maybe that’s exactly how it’s designed to work… the accumulation of capital in the hands of a few. Profit, by definition, requires a company to get back more than it spends, commodifying resources including time and labor and continually hunting for cheaper ways of getting things done. This mindset sounds like maximum productivity, cost effectiveness, value engineering, etc.
We need new models of how to work in a post capitalist world. This is going to take a lot if creative thinking!
Options include experimenting with the gift economy, pushing back against the addiction to urgency, changing how you think and what you value, becoming aware of our cultural assumptions and reconsidering our human and non-human relationships.
So, because I still want to help protect nature and connect people to the environment and each other, I’m attempting to challenge the capitalist culture of separation, domination and othering by experimenting with some of the suggestions below which I copied from a class called Systems Change, given by an international alternative community in Portugal called Tamera:
Ways to interrupt/slow down/confuse capitalistic culture:
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take your time refuse to be rushed
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take up space
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notice abundance in your life
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barter, share, trade with others
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give gifts
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ask for donations for services/goods (versus charging a fixed sum of money)
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ask for the things you need (and want!)
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expect your needs to be met (all of them!)
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live with the land
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connect with other people/be neighborly
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care about yourself (a lot!)
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take care of yourself as much as you need to in whatever way you need to
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rely on your relationships (not you capital)
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build/invest in your relationships (not capital)
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take care of others when you have the capacity and there is a need
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allow children to get very used to being perfectly who they are all the time
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don't hide your flaws
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be emotional, feel your feelings
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have gratitude for everything (cultivate an attitude of abundance)
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be creative (buy less, make more!)
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support local community place based businesses
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be social spend time with people (and other beings)
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pool resources (as many as possible)
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make time for leisure and enjoyment of life
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stop working so hard, so much
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be content with less material comfort
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become aware of what your real needs are, get good at telling the difference between these and the "manufactured needs" of our capitalistic world
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don't go it alone... build community
Every time you take the time to connect with another being (human or other) you erode the capitalistic hegemony.
Every time you strengthen your bond with the earth, you release your contract with separateness.
Every time you take stock and recognize your abundance you banish the phantoms of lack.
Every time you put your own well being before the well being of the economy/capitalistic world, you shift the balance of power.
If any of this resonates with you, you might want to try one of my live classes and see what happens. First one’s free. Just email me for a zoom link.