Our addictions kill our world - we need detox.

Dealing with climate change is one of the main challenges that we face nowadays. Earth overshoot day - the moment when all the available resources for a whole year year are depleted - came this year earlier than ever before, on August 1st, at the same time when the number of outgoing holiday flights broke new records. Still no fundamental choices are made. Temperature is rising, literally, and again even at a higher speed than expected. We seem to be unable to take firm measures and the consequences may be very grim. In this article I will make a short analysis and will try to formulate a way to get unstuck. Please keep in mind that this is my personal endeavour to find answers.

• A very short summary in Dutch: https://bit.ly/2CNNKiR

Escaping

Have you ever met real drug addicts, persons who are dependent on drugs? They are constantly craving for a new shot, while at the same time slowly destroying their own lives. Why are they doing so, you may ask. For many of them it is an escape from reality. They may have had some very bad experiences, which are too painful to feel. For some of them it is the desire to escape from boredom and create a fairy tale colourful mental world. They all have in common, that it is a form of numbing out and losing touch with reality. Only few people can handle the addictive substances well, enjoying them once in a while. But most of them are constantly craving for more, and get serious psychological and physical withdrawal symptoms when they are forced to stop. They are spending most of their money, time and energy on it, so they can't use these resources for more positive things. So they are stuck and they usually need professional help to detox.

All addicts

When you look at those people, something feels very wrong. We'd rather stay away from them. Although we may not realize it, we are all like that. On a large scale, there is a striking similarity between those addicts and what we do as humankind. Ever growing consumption, polluting our environment while ignoring all the warning signals, unable to withdraw, that looks very much like the symptoms associated with serious addiction. Last months we were bombarded with ominous messages about climate change. In my country, The Netherlands, the government has issued a Climate Agreement. Our leaders seem to be willing to very slowly cut down on the use of fossil fuels, though at the same time they keep on financing polluting industries. Many initiatives by my own organization and many others, that can be of great help in the transformation toward a more sustainable and circular economy, are not supported. 

For drug addicts there are medical teams to treat them and rehab programmes. There is a significant difference with society as a whole, and that is, that our leaders which should help and guide us are addicts themselves, largely in denial and in many ways dependent on the industries that cause our addictions. They keep on talking, studying and postponing. You may get very angry at them, but well, this is symptomatic of the way in which addicts behave!

You may get very angry at them, but well, this is symptomatic of the way in which addicts behave!

Our drugs

So what are we dependent on? Let me first emphasize, that dependency means that you are stuck. Real enjoyment of things is not a problem, but being totally caught-up is. As a society, look how we spend most of our time and money and how we use our scarce resources (energy, water, soil, metals, nature, finance, labour, etc.). A really bewildering amount is spent on research, production, promotion, marketing and lobby in the following fields: the music industry; the fashion industry including all kinds of cosmetics; the car industry; mobile telephones and computers; tobacco, fast food and sugar; the gaming and film industry; alcohol; hedge funds and speculation; pharmaceutical industry, especially drugs and medicine closely related to welfare diseases; fossil fuels and nuclear energy; mass tourism; war industry; the meat industry. Cheap fashion, low quality plastic stuff and other forms of 'entertainment' like the sex industry cause a lot of human suffering. It is too much to specify in one article, but together the items mentioned above cause a large part of all our carbon dioxide emissions worldwide, certainly if you take into consideration all the transportation involved, and they produce various other kinds of pollution and create profound misery. 

Identity

All industries mentioned here have one thing in common: they stimulate a high replacement demand. Their business models depend on that. So they want us to consume, to buy new things and to throw away old things long before they are worn out. Even worse, they don't produce the best things possible at all but aim at getting the highest value for their shareholders. They have actually converted us into consumers. We feel that must consume, and that our identity and well-being depend on it. They keep us constantly dissatisfied. What we eat, drink and buy, how we look and where we travel make who I am. We have not become materialists. That would be a misunderstanding. Then we would have become loving and caring for the material world, for matter, and things. Instead, we have turned into egocentric, almost narcissistic beings, constantly looking for new forms of entertainment, satisfaction and affirmation. Although there is hunger and poverty, enormous amounts of new clothing is burnt and vegetables are thrown away.

Again, product innovation and consumption are not the problems as such. Yes, we need transportation, food, furniture, medicine, clothing and so on. It is nice to relax and play a game, watch a movie or travel to another country. We can enjoy it. The problem arises when we have internalized this world view, when we can't stop anymore, when we have lost our freedom to decide, and continue toward the destruction of our own environment on which our live depends. 

Lethal addictions

But despite all that we know, we still do a lot of counterproductive things, many with dire consequences. I would summarize these as  comfort, fun and entertainment.

We as humankind spend enormous amounts of time and energy on new clothes, on music, on mass tourism, food, social media, billions of dollars on each of them. We want fun, we want experiences (at least, we are told so by marketeers) and we want to build up and finetune our identity. We go shopping to alleviate our pain, to celebrate or to kill time. They all are short lasting pleasures, so we need to repeat them. The same applies to the use of addictive, calming or consciousness changing substances. Not to forget all kinds of comfort food, like junk food and meat. 

Does it make us happy, healthy and balanced people? Unfortunately not. There is widespread use of anti-depressants and other kinds of medicine against chronic illnesses, many of which have their origins in our modern addictive way of life. It is very interesting to see the similarities between the description in psychological literature of substance dependency and our behaviour as consumers in general. We get irritated if we can't have our regular drink, children get angry when they are told to stop gaming, with an old model cell phone we feel inadequate, we need new clothes to feel a valuable person and for many of us, stopping with tobacco, sugar or fat food seems like an impossible task. There are several more common psychological and physical withdrawal symptoms, like loss of concentration, anxiety, dizziness and depression. Sounds familiar?

Well, this is all learned behaviour, fiercely stimulated and promoted by continuous advertisement, which is nowadays even targeting at infants and children. Millions of marketeers, food developers, fashion designers, life style advisors, scientists and psychologists work ceaselessly to keep us numb and dependent. That's how they earn their money. All these things are related. What they have in common, is that they consume a lot of time, energy and intellectual capacity which cannot be spent otherwise. They all add to climate change by consuming lots of energy, pollute our environment, and in many ways uproot communities. Even for the downloading of music and films we need many extra power plants. Everything we do has consequences. And everybody gets stuck in his or her own small comfort zone, carefully protected from the supposedly harsh world outside. They all act as pacifiers and keep us numbed out and thus prevent us from seeing and sensing clearly what our condition is, relating to it, and taking action.

As far as I understand now, to make a bold statement:

It is a process of continuous mass hypnosis leading to a collective psychosis and one crisis after another. It is our addictions that kill our world.

Stuck

In other words, we are not free at all. The whole idea of a so called free market is an illusion. We have become dependent, we are ill, we are addicts and our systems strives to keep it that way. Citizens are now treated as consumers both by governments and companies and they now even have started to identify themselves that way. We are what we buy and what we own. We have become consumers and super-individuals.

Business as usual continues. A few people own more than 95% of all resources worldwide, inequality is still growing, and so are the emissions of greenhouse gasses. One of the effects is, that many species face extinction and complete ecosystems are under severe threat. More and more international companies get tax reductions. They aim for high short term benefits, externalize all costs which are paid by all our citizens, whereas a small group of shareholders earns all the profits. Companies try to acquire patents for barley (to produce beer) and a Dutch firm owns the patent of teff, an age-old grain cultivated in Ethiopia used for their national dish. In my opinion, all our natural resources should be considered as a common inheritance, freely available for the use and well-being of anybody, not as commodities which companies can own and speculate with. As a society we allow this to happen and we all pay the bill. And it is getting worse. Everything is getting commercialized and many social safety nets and public services which were built up during many years of struggle (health, pensions, etc.) are being curtailed. Nowadays, more than 95% of all money that is transferred is not spent on commodities or services which could benefit real people, but on speculation with capital - money making money. It does not contribute anything to our lives.

Psychology and rehab

Addiction calls for severe action, namely a strict regime of detox. So how do you treat drug addicts? Medically assisted detoxification is only the first stage of treatment. It means stop taking drugs and get the drugs out of your system. There is a mental part as well. The patient must become aware of all the consequences of taking drugs, though this may not be enough to alter the compulsive behaviour due to the impact of addiction on brain function, especially in areas involving learning and memory, the pleasure centre, and inhibitory control over behaviour. It is a long-term process in which we should address the whole system. The patient must learn to become productive in the family, at work, and in society, acquire new, healthy life skills, find new meaning and regaining a sense of self-worth independent of the use of drugs. Half-hearted measures won't work and will lead to relapse.

This system approach is not what most of our leaders do. They are only papering over the cracks. There are many crises: the financial crisis, a crisis in politics and in morals, the climate crisis and some more. They are intertwined, symptoms of a deeper and fundamental system crisis and thus should not be addressed singly. Although our politicians seem to discuss many things, and have gained a lot of knowledge, at most they mitigate the excesses, for instance, by helping the very poor or by greenwashing our economy. Thereby carefully avoiding any fundamental shift or transformation of our political, social and economic systems, and leaving our dependency as it is.

A broader view

Many scientists, philosophers and entrepreneurs have investigated our present situation and have tried to find solutions. 

Thomas Rau, a well-known architect who designs buildings based on new concepts (dismountable, high value reusable materials, circular economy) coined the metaphor of Spaceship Earth. We live in a closed system, where only sunlight comes in. So we must be very careful with all our resources. We are very dependent on the earth. Our biggest mistake is, that we still have a kind of anthropocentric feeling of being the most important creatures, living in the centre of the universe. But alas, we are not. We fly at an enormous speed around the sun and spin around the centre of our galaxy, which is one of billions. So the message is: let's be careful, be aware of our condition. An offspring of this view is the formulation of the Declaration of the Rights of Materials. 

Jeremy Rifkin makes some other connections. In one of his famous works (Beyond Beef, 1992) he describes how the rise of the meat industry is tied to land and water use, politics, the position of indigenous people, human health, global environment, marketing, avarice and much more. These mechanisms apply to other fields as well. 

Jason Moore writes very profound studies about the Anthropocene and why this term is totally wrong. That's because it points to an abstract concept of humanity and its influence on our planet, while according to him, it is very important to clarify the underlying mechanisms. We should not focus on broad and abstract ideas like progress of humanity, but on the connection to slavery, the exclusion of women and indigenous people, a specific system, a way of thinking, many forms of exploitation, and a very small group that is in power and is more and more controlling all the resources. 

Jason Moore, Jeremy Rifkin, Thomas Rau and many more teach us to look at the world in a new, more complete way than we were used to, which is absolutely of great importance. Some suggest drastic solutions, like state intervention to banks, regaining control over (international) companies, and rigorous carbon taxation.

Knowing is not enough

Right. So we know a lot about mechanisms, the urgency for change, connections and dependencies. There are many doom scenarios, warnings and moral appeals (Al Gore with An Inconvenient Truth) and calls for a reform of economic science (like Kate Raworth with her Doughnut Economics). Various approaches and solutions have been formulated. But our addictive behaviour has not changed.

Still only a small percentage of all companies experiments with circular economy and new business models. Although there are many grassroot movements, many individual consumers who may be aware of the urgency for change think along these lines: "But hey!, who am I, what can a single person do, I am just one of billions, and if my neighbour flies with one of those cheap flights to a sunny destination, then I will go too, whatever the consequences. I have worked hard, so I've earned it and it is my right." Governments keep on talking, do a complicated balancing act, endlessly deliberating over many options, afraid to make firm decisions, trying to please all parties involved. And science seems to become more and more dependent on the interests of companies and governments. The researchers of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are working on a final report how to constrain temperature rise. Some preliminary outcomes suggest that former international agreements are quite insufficient and that very drastic measures are urgently required. According to the latest rumours, a lot of editing is being done by these scientists at the moment, apparently to mitigate, subdue and restrain the first conclusions and make them more acceptable and digestible. [I wish that some whistle-blower would find the courage to release the original findings and share them with the world!]

One thing is certain: moral calls and intellectual understanding are not enough to create a fundamental transition. We all seem to be stuck. So what is really the matter?

From religion to science and economy

According to Joseph Campbell, one of my favourite scholars, religions and myths gave us a sense of awe, a sense of belonging, social rules, and rules for personal life and growth. Many of our religions and their stories are connected to the life in the desert and some of them are quite belligerent and patriarchal. They come with lots of prescriptions and restrictions and they are connected to old worldviews which do not match our present scientific insights.

So when science took over – I realize that this is very simplified – we gained a lot. Science has brought us a very high level of mastery over many aspects of our physical world. Nowadays we can build huge buildings and bridges that do not collapse. Step by step we gained freedom from serfdom, we conquered diseases and we became free from many superstitious beliefs. It was a process of slow demystification and demythologization where intellectual freedom and personal creativity became dominant. Never before in history so many people enjoy a level of wealth of which former nobility could only dream: heated housing, good food, medical care and education, sufficient clothing. And all possible kinds of entertainment are readily available, like music and films, travel, drugs, and quite a lot of spare time to enjoy them. Compared to less than a century ago, nowadays many of us live like queens and kings. We take this all for granted. We have grown to believe that we have the right to live a royal life.

We threw away religion, not only a part of it - the outdated worldview - but also the stories of awe and connection, of life and death, of misery and happiness, which somehow defined who we were and gave us a sense of belonging. Already more than 100 years ago, sociologist Max Weber wrote about these processes using the term disenchantment.

The void left behind was swiftly filled by economy, the production and consumption of goods. It is very strange indeed that we have come to believe that the economic models present a scientifically sound guidance for building and shaping our world. In fact, the world view behind it, of unlimited growth, humans as isolated, rational and profit maximizing individuals identifying themselves with what they buy and possess, is very much at odds with our biology and roots. No wonder that so many people feel uprooted, alienated and isolated. This new paradigm has even been adopted by some religions. Our prime minister Mark Rutte, member of the protestant church, urged us a few years ago: So buy that new car, go and spend your money! This seems to be the highest morale nowadays, and our way to fix all our problems. Some other religions look at this world view aghast, bewildered and perplexed. They consider it as a total degeneration and want to return to very orthodox religious values. 

Clean up now

We urgently need to wake up. Unfortunately, that is very difficult, because we are addicted. I am not suggesting that we should go back to the stone age, the feudal times or religious orthodoxy, or that we should violently uproot the capitalist system and replacing one abusive system for another, nor that I have found the one and final answer. By the way, beware of people who promote a final solution. That may lead to new '-isms' with leaders and hierarchy and their vested interests and new sets of tough rules and regulations, thereby killing all necessary creativity and probably in due course many people as well.

My main point is, that we must face our addictions and start with serious rehab. That means, that we should focus our attention inward first, to heal, to get rid of our addictions and gain a clear view of what is really worthwhile in life, before we turn outward. Well, that is ideally speaking. Unfortunately, we cannot afford to spend too much time to do so. So how to proceed? Let's first look more closely how we deal with drug addicts.

The production of heroin, crack and other substances is targeted and we try to dismantle the drug labs. The entrepreneurs, financiers, sellers and resellers of these products face severe penalties. Obviously, any marketing of these abusive substances is strictly forbidden. Any pollution like dumped chemicals in nature which may cause health hazards is immediately cleared away. Ideally, the criminals involved are stripped off their belongings in order to pay for all the damage. The addictive users are helped by professional medical teams, addressing physical, mental and social aspects of addiction and withdrawal. They are helped to make their finance sound again, without debts. Corrupt politicians who turn a blind eye may be brought to justice and punished. Import and export of these drugs is out of the question and trade in substances and equipment which can be used to produce drugs is heavily scrutinized. Of course, it would be ridiculous to continue this trade by referring to the so called free market and the free will of the consumers who ask for these products.

So, wouldn't it be an interesting idea to apply this system approach to our global capitalist economy as well and work toward a global detox? If selling cocaine is considered to be a crime, then the creation of worldwide addictions should be called a felony. People who knowingly and willingly make us into addicts while using the scarce resources and polluting the environment, and the politicians who allow this to happen, should be brought to court.

We must hold them accountable for their actions and negligence. What could that look like?

Just to give some ideas: Sue each CEO who takes resources for products that won't last and can't be repaired. Forbid marketing of goods which damage your health. Food containing too much fat, salt and sugar should be banned. The polluters must pay the bill of all environmental damage caused by them and the expenses for cleaning up. Permits and concessions for the production of harmful or even poisonous articles should be withdrawn immediately. Citizens must have the right to large areas completely free of commercial targeting. Taking loans and making debts must be strongly discouraged. Use of common heritage (resources), design without options for refurbishment and re-use of materials, and emissions of toxic waste in the ground, water or air should be highly taxed. And yes, politicians who allow or stimulate the production of detrimental goods should be persecuted for crimes against humanity. Of course, it would be ridiculous to continue this trade by referring to the so called free market and the free will of the consumers who ask for these products. But as we now know, both do not exist. This all calls for a new way of organizing our societies: ownership and use of resources, markets and financial systems, law and politics, and economic 'science'.

Cutting through illusions

We are all caught up. So we should cut through the illusions that we have been creating ourselves. That is not so easy. We need to restore our connection with the earth and develop a sense of awe about life. I do not mean a wishy-washy new agey self-centred therapeutic dreamy kind of feeling good but the very raw sense of utter unity and dependency on the air that we breathe, the water, plants, minerals, animals and other humans. That calls for real incorporation, which is much more than intellectual knowledge. 

Some questions may be helpful. What do we really believe? Alan Watts said: we are not born into this world, but out of this world. If so, this creates a sense of belonging, of unity, of dependence, maybe even of trust. The first statement however may create a sense of distance and opposition, which may lead to defence, aggression, conquest and exploitation. Can we really live without the air, the water, our soil, ...? What are we made of ourselves? 

What do you really need? If we observe carefully, we are addicted to all kinds of activities and substances. Does it make you happy? If it's fun, how long does it last, how deep does it go? What makes you grow, what makes you numb? What makes you healthy, what makes you sick? 

Life and death

If you accept our economic system of creating, supporting and extending addictions and their worldwide consequences like climate change as facts of life, then you surely would not mind the extinction of our own species. Please keep in mind, that this will come step by step, with flooding and fires, crop failure, illnesses, drowning, famine and suffocation, ever more migration and many wars over the scarce remaining resources. What if your loved ones will become the next victims?

What do you really want to do? Where do you put your money, your energy, your intellectual capacity? So what do you put into the world? What gives you real satisfaction? Before dying, looking back on your life, what is really worthwhile, from this perspective? 

You are going to die. We are all going to die. Hopefully that will be in good circumstances. How would you like to be remembered? On your death bed, looking back, what would make you really proud of yourself? Having consumed as much as possible, having cleverly survived, remaining under the radar, leaving all the mess for the next generation to clean up - if still possible? Or would it be something else? What is really important? Give it a thought!

Bravery

We need independent thinkers and doers, with creativity and trust. We are talking about a true hero's journey of humanity. So we need leaders who give lots of space to bottom-up initiatives, even if the outcomes are uncertain. We need scientists who speak up. We need teachers who do not teach the old very materialistic models and their selfish and competitive view of humankind any more. Education should move from the imposition of 'facts' to the exploration of truth.

We need cooperation instead of ever growing competition. We must establish multidisciplinary teams of detox specialists: psychologists, artists, communication specialists, students, citizens, spiritual leaders and scientists and children. We must strive for a new global consciousness and an open mind and carefully avoid the creation of new religions, new dependencies and new hypnotizations. We should be open and curious, almost childlike, neither blindly accepting and following the dictates and prescriptions of church, our political leaders nor the so called science with very biased economic models. My world view may look gloomy, but I am not a pessimist, I believe that we can do it.

The old stories don't suffice any more. They are connected to world views which we now know are wrong and which will lead to disaster. So we must find a new narrative - why we are here, what we are, what we are made of and what makes our lives worthwhile. At the same time it is urgent to make a huge effort in cleaning up the mess that former generations left behind and find new and clean ways to organize our society and live our lives.

Epilogue

Thank you for spending some time with my quest. I look at our world in amazement: all the beauty, all the mess. Sometimes I am quite dissatisfied with the choices I make myself. It is so easy to numb out and let everything just happen, more or less automatically. I feel that I could contribute much more, if only I get more focussed. I suppose many people share this feeling. Writing this pamphlet has helped me to start to sort things out. 

Some people complemented me with the comparison between drugs addiction and the working of our economy, and said 'nice metaphor!'. I want to emphasize that I do not see it as a metaphor. For me it is a description of our reality.

I do appreciate comments. Please note, that this pamphlet was at first just an attempt to organize my thoughts and feelings and to express them in a more or less concise and coherent way. I have not come very far yet. I have left many ideas out - it would lead to a very complicated 'theory about everything', long and incomprehensible. Maybe it is still too abstract. I may write some follow-up articles in the near future to clarify certain things.

Yet I hope that this may be somehow beneficial for you and others as well.

(c) Maarten Barckhof, MD, Sept. 10th, 2018. [email protected]

Inspired by: Mathieu Ricard, Joseph Campbell, Alan Watts, Saint Francis and various Franciscan monks, Krishnamurti, the Dalai Lama and other Buddhist teachers, especially Pema Ch?dr?n and Ch?gyam Trungpa, Ruud Veltenaar, Maurits Groen, Sadhguru, Kate Raworth, Al Gore, Jeremy Rifkin, and others.