"Problems first" is first an emotion

You encounter an obstacle, you feel frustrated. Someone criticizes you, so you feel angry. These emotions seem perfectly normal, as if they were a natural part of human nature. In any case they feel so to me (think of the last time you’ve faced really poor customer service). But are they? Or are they the reflection that, as a society, we’re completely normalized consumption as a way of being, and, increasingly, the only way of being?

?As a consumer, you have worth, and marketing incessantly tells you you’re unique and special (particularly if you buy the brands targeted to your mass segment, which is ironic). Who is anyone to criticize or point out the error of your thinking or your ways? How dare they? Can’t they see that every way of being is valuable, just because it is – or is it because to be you need to fill the gaps with experiences and products you can purchase? As a consumer you expect a smooth seamless experience, so of course every obstacle, hitch, setback should simply not exist: it’s frustrating. But how reasonable is that? Is Heaven on Earth really a glorified shopping mall or streaming service?

?Obstacles are the opportunity to work together, think together, try new things and overcome them – this is an emotion as well. Criticism is the opportunity to see things differently, to ponder another perspective, to recognize one’s mistakes, learn and grow. This is an emotion as well.

?These are not consumer emotions, they are producers’. These are the emotions we need to create, to build, to change, to respond to challenges. These are the emotions the sensei work with: the path is not set, there is no app to guide us, we explore the terrain and take it as it is and try stuff, and share it and think and have fun, together. Obstacles are frustrating only if we labor under the illusion they shouldn’t be there (illusion sold to us by most large companies’ marketing). On the other hand, obstacles are the stuff of life, the juice of adventure when you’re seeking to achieve a worthwhile goal – these emotions can change.

?Similarly, when you consider yourself entitled to being whoever you are, every comment can be construed as a criticism. But if you see yourself as a work in progress, as needing to adapt in order to achieve higher aims, criticism is actually helpful, and nothing to resent. Sure, what other people say often miss the point, is narrow minded or mean spirited. But that doesn’t control the emotion you should feel about it. This emotional response, as with annoyance at obstacles, are socially learned response in the world of existence through consumption.

?Now that we’re collectively waking up of the massive, complex problem of human made climate change and the chain of small to large catastrophes we’re starting to face, we’re looking to governments and global businesses to offer us new, less environmentally costly, ways of consuming – or for extremists, to reduce consumption altogether. But maybe we’re missing the deeper, emotional problem.

?We still think drying land, raging fires, melting permafrost, species extinction shouldn’t exist. But they do. They are the direct consequence of our extractive business models. The closer you get to energy production and materials mining the more staggering the waste, the carelessness, the callousness. Out of sight, out of mind. While our shopping malls are busy greenwashing with shrubberies and beehives on the roof, we are blind to where the damage is truly done – deep back in the supply chains.

?Because such disasters shouldn’t exist, we feel frustrated, angry or despairing. These emotions reflect our consuming mindset: someone should fix it. But are they not opportunities to come together and solve problems? To explore the true origins of waste and invent new ways where it matters, rather than letting financial managers exploit all they can while they can, knowing the music will eventually stop, so they’d better gorge themselves now?

?Talking about frustration, I’ve been frustrated for years by the lackluster to every lean and green initiative we’ve tried. Why aren’t more people responding? Why so little interest? I’m back from a trip to Spitzberg, 78° North, to see climate change for myself. What I discovered, I didn’t expect: a mining culture dating to the late XIXth century and a modern polar expedition tourism industry. ?There, at the edge of the world, co-exist miners, tourists, shops and scientists, a microcosm of our society, with the oddity that it’s illegal to die on Svalbard (corpses don’t decompose in the cold). The miners complain the Norwegian government wants to shut down the last mine in Longyearbyen. Tourists lament global warming why enjoying unparalleled access to unspoiled vistas. Scientists tell scary stories about how fast climate change is truly accelerating the planet’s transformation.

?Listening to all these stories, I’ve come to realize that the spirit of adventure that built our society was one of confronting and overcoming obstacles. This has been now replaced by ticking the boxes in the checklist for the perfect experience – and frustration with reality fighting back. Clearly, we need to change our practices and, maybe, eventually our way of life. But perhaps we need to first examine our emotional responses to problems and disagreements. Climate change transformations won’t go away. Local and global catastrophes will keep coming. As we wonder about generic solutions to intractable issues, shouldn’t we first learn to better respond to what is actually happening?

?Obstacles are opportunities to be smarter. Criticisms are opportunities to see things differently. To change our responses, we must first change our emotional attitudes, and explore the true meaning of “problems first.” Looking at how people have learned and adapted to live in the most extreme conditions, I believe there is nothing we can’t do if we put our minds together and our backs into it. To do so, we must stop thinking and behaving like hapless consumers and learn to be producers, inventors, creators again. The world will be what we make of it, what we make of it will be what we make of ourselves.