So important is trade for human life as we know it that we could credibly define our species as homo cambiens: humans who exchange. There is, however, a competing form of humanity: homo economicus. For homo cambiens, trade is about people and things; for homo economicus, it is only about the maximisation of profit. What homo economicus doesn’t realise, however, is that sustainable profit needs homo cambiens.
ReadSpot the contradiction. Today, a conscientious, ethical consumer might celebrate the start of Fairtrade Fortnight by walking into a local, independent grocery store in the South-west of England and filling his basket with honey, herbs, chocolate, dried apricots, bananas, even wine from the developing world. He might then go to the till, walking past innumerable signs boasting of how much of the shop’s stock is sourced locally, and pay in a local currency, the Bristol Pound, which uses the slogan “Our city. Our money”. To say there is a tension here is to put it mildly. Yet both Fairtrade and the new localism can be reconciled as two parts of the solution to the same problem: the injustice and unfairness of the current market economy.
ReadJohn Gray has given us a lot to think about, and has done so provocatively and eloquently. But The Silence of Animals suggests he needs to push his own thinking too. The work of demolition is done and there is little to be gained from continuing to swing the wrecking ball over the ruins. Gray needs to say more about how civilised westerners should live, at least as individuals if not as a society, once we have given up the most egregious myths and illusions of western civilisation.
ReadThe social networking genie is out of the bottle and it is far too mischievous to be tamed. Discretion was hard enough to maintain when it could count on the support of social mores. Now that honesty, openness and sharing are the supreme values, it stands no chance. There is no turning the clock back to the days when the four walls of home contained more secrets than anyone outside could imagine. With denial and cover-up no longer an option, we are going to have to become more forgiving of others and of ourselves.
ReadOrganised religion has lost its central place in most European countries, but it has not necessarily been replaced by atheism. The confused majority is “spiritual but not religious”, hungry for alternatives to the perceived materialism of modern life. “The more we’re distracted by stuff,” suggests Father Stephen, “the more we’re also attracted by what we’re missing.” We suspected that there might be aspects of monastic life that those who share this yearning can learn from, without having to take on board its religious commitments and beliefs…
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