The Steady State

our show today is titled the steady state and of course

the state that we find ourselves to be in is anything but steady

but I’m hoping at the end of this 57 minute journey that together we will have a better idea of what that state should actually look like

and of course the events

of the last week or two have compelled me to take this conversation in a particular direction and the first stop I would like to make

would be tied to the events that took place in november of 2020 when he had the terrorist attack here in Vienna there was a report at that time of two heroes who showed incredible courage saving victims from their death primarily policemen

and I thought it was quite cute a report that I
found in the newspaper from back then translation from German even Interior Minister Karl Nehamer praised the selfless commitment of the men in a press conference the two mma martial artists of turkish origin wanted to have a good time that evening before all pubs and restaurants in austria were closed again for a second lockdown the next day we wanted to go out again have one last coffee before that lockdown stated one of the heroes

and of course, as is often the case although we continuously deny that situation that we as human beings are all confronted with well the story of the two heroes turned out a little bit different

yes they were invited to city hall to be congratulated by the mayor and shortly thereafter it was revealed that our two heroes were actually members of the Turkish ultra-rightist grey wolf movement so we were struck again with cognitive dissonance

How can our heroes do something like that?

and we have our old friend René Descartes thank for

this type of attitude of course maybe that’s not quite fair Descartes doesn’t have a chance to defend himself today but with this concept of dualism either right or wrong

black or white

good or bad

we have trained ourselves not to be able to think any other way but of course in reality it’s much different

perhaps in a less dramatic way

I’d like to talk about

the situation I described it here on the show when I talked about listening to Brené Brown

in her concept of scarcity and I mentioned that it was uncanny

that she would be talking about a condition she was referring to us as individuals that

we are never content never content with ourselves and it’s always a case of never enough and the example that I gave had to have been a couple weeks ago I guess

that I got home and I had the feeling I didn’t get anything done that day and then I woke up the next day and I said I didn’t get enough sleep

and lo and behold

what did I listen to from Brené Brown she talked precisely about the situation that I, that I just described

so that means that it’s always on a particular trajectory our desires our expectations

not just of others but those that we have of ourselves now it might sound a bit funny describing these two situations

but interestingly enough they do have something in common and I will get to that commonality later on in the show

within this concept of growth

and the means by which we judge to what degree we are making progress

we are compelled to look at this view from a different perspective and and I would like to approach that in talking about what I call the steady-state now a steady state infers

that things remain more or less constant and here i would argue on a meta level meaning that we are not as individuals constant we have good days and we have bad days

but they end up evening themselves out in some fashion certainly looking at it not just from my perspective but from yours and everybody that we know and if we take the cumulative that our things are skewed in one certain direction then we compensate it in some fashion and with that

we achieve that steady state

and they might be tied to making some sort of adjustments to the input, the input that we’re providing and we try to keep that scale even

there is a clear way that we judge this concept the steady state certainly from a a political perspective and it’s all based upon the concept of checks and balances

and we have that within the government it might not necessarily always appear that way but there are certain roles that the various departments play we have of course parliament

and the presidents where we say that the president does not hold much power

but we’ve noticed especially over the last four years that the president plays a very important role clearly in setting the tone

and we do have a supreme court

and in fact the judicial arm

has shown its might

and with that in spite of everything that’s going on around us there are attempts to reach that steady state

very often in companies you will have two individuals who are in charge this is of course for larger organizations we will have two roles one being the Chairman of the Board and then the Chief Executive Officer or the CEO and of course from an individual level

we have the phrase too much of a good thing

it’s my opinion one of the reasons why alcohol has been accepted in our society for such a long time in comparison to maybe drugs

although the impetus or the rationale better said the rationale would be pretty much the same but with alcohol we have this mechanism that sets us back to this steady state meaning that if you consume too much alcohol you don’t feel well and that is considered to be the trigger of us being reminded that too much of a good thing is actually not very good

and let’s be honest we all have those vices especially for an obsessive person like myself I know that if I just take one

that I will not be able to hold back from taking another

probably the worst vice is chocolate although some would argue I probably have a number of them

and the fact is once I start I cannot stop so it’s best not to go down that road now nature works the same way

nature works in a steady state

that does not mean that everything in nature is continuously in that steady state

but tied to the the circle of life the remnants

of those things that die are used as nutrients to assist nature in maintaining that steady-state

we can actually refer to it as being a natural law where when we have overcompensation that takes place to

adjust some of the excesses to be found somewhere else

and the concept of sustainability one of those words that you ask 10 people and you’ll get 11 or 12 different definitions I asked the question to one of my students last

Friday. In the paper that she submitted she talked about a sustainable product

so I asked the question what is that because we could have different definitions and in fact I would argue that we probably will and

she was not ready for that and within her definition of sustainability she used the word sustainable four times

as if all of this is self-evident

i would argue that sustainability

is maintaining this steady state

so that if we have excesses on one side

that we are compelled to overcompensate on the other

while I’m at it let me give you some more definitions for good measure what about the word resilience

would argue that this word resilience is the ability to make some sort of adjustments to bring us back to the steady-state so it’s the impetus that we have maybe that over compensation so that we can get back to the balance then of course the system by and large would be regeneration which is the way that the steady state remains constant so basically what i was describing to you from

from an imbalance and how we get back to the balance balance that would be tied to resiliency, resiliency in the whole system would be based upon regeneration

now a question for you

is that only to be found within nature within this personal journey that I have been taking

probably since i’ve been around but more specifically over the last few years when I found the time to reflect something that I believe was not always there but I was very grateful to find it

i’ve thought a lot about all of these things and of course all of these impulses that we get constantly and I have come to the conclusion that we are really good about talking about nature and we’re really good about talking about ecological components it might not necessarily always be the known knowns

but it appears to me that we know what the answers are we just need to we need to do them but where we truly struggle

and where we have been going through what I consider to be an immense overcompensation over at least the last 40 years is when we start looking at the social

because if you agree with me even if you’re just being kind about my definitions of a steady state then I raise the question to what degree do we have that steady-state within our society concentrating on those things that make us us that being

humanity oh yes we are much more aware of some of those injustices, those injustices that have been around for a very very long time and

and you’ve heard enough about all of those injustices or a number of those injustices on this show certainly this year especially and I’m not necessarily referring to the monetary aspect although

that one is quite apparent in the enormity of the wealth to be found within certain individuals

but let’s be honest within our society we have enough for everybody that we choose not to necessarily distribute it in a fashion to make sure that it is equitable isn’t is another question but one thing’s for sure

we are very very far from

having a steady state within our society now this is not something that has just appeared out of the blue especially looking at our situation over the last couple of years

but I would argue that our current condition has made all of this very very visible

and part of the problem is this obsession that we have with more

and partially what I mentioned earlier tied to scarcity a scarcity that truly is not there but we feel that more is the only metric that is worth measuring and to a certain degree to a large extent in fact it’s all tied to some sort of external motivators

something that is being bestowed upon us either through the attention economy and is fighting for the attention of others and of course the effect

that takes place when you do not get that attention

and you have the feeling that it doesn’t make any difference

but in so many other ways and I think that without really planning it that this conversation prior to Christmas

couldn’t be more succinct because we are at a time of the year where we believe that more is clearly better

and we go through this ritual at least through lip service every year once these holidays are over

the new year’s resolution is a way of trying to over compensate for those excesses so that we can reach our steady state

that we struggle in reaching this steady-state is another question but I would argue

that we’re not just talking about external motivators here

that I would argue that internal motivators are equally an obsession

and I think to a certain degree that I’m not alone although this is almost a confession where those internal motivators not too dissimilar didn’t get enough done today have done much better on a certain level it’s healthy and necessary but when this becomes an obsession then one has to argue is it really tied to those things that we’re working on

and the joy in completing such exercises but when we cannot make the differentiation between the task the satisfaction

and the striving for more and throw in an obsessive beat

then that’s a rather toxic cocktail I would argue

come to the conclusion that drive and I think what I just described that drive has a very important part in that description our motivation to do things

are striving is a bit of a two-edged sword

because that drive can lead us

to burnout can our internal condition

be based on excesses and to what degree do we allow ourselves the ability to reflect

after our efforts

I think that we have this on an individual level quite obviously and I think with that I’m holding up the mirror to myself and maybe to some of you and that’s good but within this concept of a steady state we are talking about the collective we’re talking about our society we are talking about our collective state

now I don’t need to tell you about everything that has been going on on the street

and beyond especially over this last week where we have received the call for the majority to speak and it proves how ironic it is always to the degree that history continues to repeat itself

I remember a time in the 60s early 70s

where there were very strong divisions not just in the United States but here in Europe as well some countries more than others

and the impetus was very similar regardless of which side of the Atlantic you were looking at the situation

but the reaction

that took place in the states primarily

I would say starting with the Nixon administration although these tendencies were to be found in certain pockets of society earlier than that

but Nixon talked about the silent majority

and Nixon was making the same argumentation that what I have heard here over the last couple of weeks

that being that we keep hearing about the minority

but we should not forget that they are the minority and we are the majority and we have rights

and we should go out on the streets and make ourselves known that was the idea

I might be wrong but I tend to think the divisiveness that was to be found at that time possibly could have even been worse than today but this is of course all relative and in the grand scheme of things a moot point

but what actually took place?

you had construction workers beating up on hippies. That was the way it was pointed

because the hippies were just causing trouble

now i don’t want to make any predictions and certainly on a particular level you could even go ahead and say that

we see a little bit of an inkling taking place and certainly listening to conversations with individuals some of these tendencies have become a little bit overt I would argue but I
wonder how does all this help us in getting back to the steady state

if we look at what’s taking place and there is no question we are talking about excesses

and i put no value judgment on that but certainly it’s tied to people feeling compelled and very possibly their reaction might be tied to a correction that they are trying to create in reaching their own steady state

in some fashion it has very often nothing to do with what is being said or what is being done

that these are reactions that are based on something more deep-seated i would argue

but within this concept of society where we are looking to achieve at least attempting to achieve this idea of the steady-state the question I would raise is

being cognitive human beings are we not capable of reaching the steady state is putting that as our is our objective we we have a lot of imbalance we’ve had it for a while and we

we give it lip service and this is the time of the year where perhaps we give it a little bit more lip services if the other 360 days in the year it doesn’t make much of a difference but this is a way for us to maybe alleviate some of our guilt although it will be quickly forgotten once we enter the new year

because by and large such reflection is not in vogue but could we make that perhaps a collective holiday wish from all of us that we figure out ways

to

truly reach that steady state

so

you are listening to Radio Tipping Point

and I’m Mike boyle the great pontificator today talking about

the steady state what it is

how that applies to us as an individual why it’s important to look at this concept from the collective

and of course, I will not leave you empty-handed with a

a challenge without

giving you some ideas certainly from my perspective as to how we can actually approach that

and we’re freestyling here folks meaning that I will not argue that we need to follow a particular order this is more of a laundry list

but step number one has to be

it’s getting off this more is better bandwagon

because if we can free ourselves individually and it would be my hope that if each individual attempts in his or her own way to liberate

oneself from the more is better gremlin

then perhaps we can reach herd immunity

of the more virus

so that would, that would be a huge step

but of course, if we were to collectively decide

that more will not drive us

that will cause certain repercussions and we’ve seen it over and over again every time we have

been compelled to make a decision over the last few years and i’m talking about the lockdowns

the sword of damocles has always been the economy

because the our claim is the economy cannot handle another lockdown

so we have to be very cognizant that in that collective refusal

in striving for more

that we will get pushback

so how do we deal with the pushback?

and here I come to point number two that perhaps might even be the one that we start beforehand although I tend to think a lot of these ideas need to work in parallel

but if we were to

make a firm commitment towards the steady state as being our ideal

in taking care of people taking care of the planet and returning the surplus we have a new definition for this idea of growth how about that and of course I’m not thinking anything up myself here I’m just borrowing things that have been lying around for a long long time because I would argue that this model that comes straight out of permaculture one of the best examples I could think of in maintaining that steady-state

but that would mean we would need to get a lot of people on board to

create that herd immunity against the more virus

which leads me to step number three and step number three for me would be

finding a way making it part of our routine

to look at things

from a different perspective perspective than that would not be our own

instead of pointing the finger at you know I’ll give you the choice of which finger you’re pointing pointing the finger at somebody else is an easy way to alleviate frustration again

I am a sinner as much as anybody else

so please don’t look at this list that’s something that I’m giving to you because i’m that much better because i’m not clearly not

but if we could all ask ourselves the question

about these individuals that we are not necessarily happy with we are able to ask the question

What’s their story? What’s the one we don’t know?

Can we make some assumptions?

maybe we might be able to even drum up the courage

to give them some air time and ask and get past the emotions tied what to these things that in my mind we’re talking about symptoms if we were able to

start a dialogue with these individuals and find out what that story actually is

because I’ve come to the conclusion

if we’re able to eliminate the demonization

and if we are able to conduct conversations with other human beings in that thing that we know the best it’s called the human voice that basically it makes it very difficult for us to demonize these people, it doesn’t mean we solve everything

but it’s a damn good way to get us on the right road and like I said there this is not in any particular order I’m just freestyling here folks but that would be number three

and number four

would have to be ways that we ensure that each individual

**correction** each living thing in our society

is considered to be valuable it’s looked upon as having a worth

and if we catch ourselves every time

in our reaction which is all normal of maybe

counting to 10 is probably one that I should do a little bit more

but if we were able to

before we do anything build a mantra that we that we say to ourselves constantly

this person

deserves respect this person is valuable

this person is worthy

if we can do that then

what are the chances that we have and perhaps breaking down some of these barriers eliminating some of these excesses performing let’s call it positive overcompensation

what do you think if we were able to take these four components and consider them to be an open source recipe that everybody can take

no charge free of charge special offer just for you

not just today

every day what do you think the chances are if we were to put this as our utmost priority in making it our collective goal our collective goal you and me and all of our friends making it our goal to move that much closer

in reaching the steady-state for 2022

I don’t know about you but I think that might be one of the best Christmas presents I could ever think of or whatever the holiday might be from your side

okay well I think we’re getting pretty much to the end here like to thank you

for letting me indulge in some of these thoughts for today and of course throughout 21

and please feel free to reach out to me if you think any of these ideas are worth pursuing

happy holidays