No.12｜Society beyond material wealth

This article is a translation of this article.

I introduced the introduction of capital tax and basic income (No.11) as a possible turning point for a change to a more equal society, as the gap narrows. Working hours are decreasing and the era of mass production and mass consumption is ending. It frees you from competition and gives you room to care for each other.

In the new economic system proposed, it is no longer necessary to buy useless things in advertisements as in the past. If you don't buy useless things, you don't have to work long hours. If you don't work long hours, you won't get stressed out. You will have less stuff, but much more freedom than you have now.

The minimalist life, as we hear it, is not about "reducing the amount of stuff". The mere presence of an object robs a person of time and energy. Objects must be cared for regularly, and every time you see one, you may regret the impulse purchase. It may only be a short time, but when it piles up, it is an enormous consumption of time and energy. Throwing something away is a matter of prioritizing what you need in your life. Every day we face things, face our values, and find out what we want to do. Only then can we spend our time and energy on what we really need to do.

If you have fewer things, you can make your house smaller. With the average lifetime income now said to be 200 million yen, he has spent nearly 60 million yen in construction and repair costs alone. As a result, they take on loans and have to work long hours to repay them. It would be exhausting, and our home would become a place to sleep and wake up, and it would be difficult to change our occupation or our place of residence, and we would be bound in body and mind by the chains of our home.

The smaller the house, the lower the construction and maintenance costs, and the smaller the environmental impact. With some of the money saved, you can be very particular about the materials and design, and your garden can be larger than before. You don't even have to work long hours to pay for the house. Freedom returns to us.

The tiny house is slowly beginning to spread. Because they are small, they can be built by themselves. (So it can be built more cheaply!) . It can be tailored to your liking and is easy to repair. They grow up with the house and age with it, taking care of it. A house is the smallest unit of a city, and the more people are attached to their homes, the more attractive the city and society would be.

A small house can also be carried. It may be lifted up and placed on a carrier or on wheels. It is easier to live where and when you want. Even if a rapid population decline calls for migration, they may not have to give up their homes. Even if disaster strikes, they may be able to bounce back quickly.

Try to start a vegetable garden in a large plot of land. Enjoying tinkering with the soil and feeling the four seasons with your whole body. It is more interesting to see vegetables that are misshapen but have been painstakingly grown than the expensive vegetables you can buy.

It is surprisingly important to be partially independent in food and shelter. Over-reliance on high technology can make a society more fragile. A humanistic technology (called intermediate technology) that is neither high-tech nor low-tech, but adapted to the region harmonizes with nature, gives people grounded confidence, and fosters economic and spiritual independence. You will be able to take control of your life proactively.

Don't sacrifice the present by working hard for your future retirement. A day in youth is not equivalent to a day in old age. The day a young child spends with his parents is never again available to him as an adult. We should cherish the now more, but we sell out of the now so easily.

Denmark has the word "Hygge". It expresses the warmth that comes from human interaction. Have we been chasing after things so much that we have forgotten their warmth?

"Gaze at the crackling fire, or leisurely grind wheat on a millstone. Invite your friends into the house and spend time chatting with them, watching the bread slowly swell."

But while you value your time, you must always be prepared. You have to pay attention to politics, economics, environment, and technology. The limits of the earth and the complex and precarious balance of power between nations make for today's peace. If we don't keep our eyes on the world, look to the future, and act cooperatively, the order can easily fall apart.

Let's face it, the world is a mess. The world is non-linear, messy, chaotic. The world is dynamic. The world is always on its way to somewhere else, not in a mathematically well-formed equilibrium. The world is a living and evolving organism. The world is not homogeneous; it produces diversity. That's why the world is fun. That's why the world is beautiful. That's why the world is what it is.

(in the words of Donella Meadows, the first proponent of systems thinking, Translating Japanese to English, Ref: 世界はシステムで動く―いま起きていることの本質をつかむ考え方』ドネラ・H・メドウズ著，枝廣淳子訳，英治出版，2015年)

Knowing is essential for the balance of the world. The world is balanced by complex elements intertwined and interacting with each other. Each time you lose something, the system becomes more unstable. Nature is rapidly diminishing, many species are facing extinction, and the climate is losing its stability. It cannot be started over and "I didn't know" is not an option.

There are those who stop thinking and devote themselves to their work. All they are doing is paying taxes. If we don't care about politics and society, if we abandon compassion and nurturing, how can we know if we are going in the wrong direction? You may be working hard, but you're missing out on more important things in life. There is nothing more dangerous than an illiterate businessperson.

Do not believe everything or doubt everything. Learn discernment, cooperate with what is right and do not blindly follow what is wrong. You must always be afraid of bias and see things from multiple perspectives.

The time left is not long. The more you put off, the more you disappear from the better options. The Earth has long since reached its limits.

I hope that this magazine will help you to change what you have not been able to change, even if only a little.