A Renegade Economist on the Perils of Growth
Michael Alcee
Clinical Psychologist, Author of THE UPSIDE OF OCD: FLIP THE SCRIPT TO RECLAIM YOUR LIFE.
We are obsessed with growth. Success, self-improvement, or whatever faddish way we come to label it, we are a culture that idolizes upward & forward movement. Renegade economist Kate Raworth outs this addiction by zeroing in on the global preoccupation with GDP. Despite being less than 100 years old as a measure, this number has become the be-all-and-end-all of the economic engine. It's the primary yardstick and narrative used by politicians to showcase their plans for change, their go-to metric to signal the progress of their constituents and society itself.
As Raworth reminds us, the problem is this one number interrupts the natural ebb and flow necessary for thriving and quickly leads to destructive outcomes. Focusing primarily on production & growth pushes beyond healthy boundaries at the expense of the environment. We consume too much without the proper time and space for regeneration, selling a fiction of perpetual progress. By overshooting its mark, this pollutes our air, water, & land, and threatens the fragile ecosystem that is our true home. As Raworth shows us, this is a terrible model for our 21st century economy.
Not coincidentally, it's also devastating for our model of the psyche. Psychological growth, as Rabbi Jonathan Rietti notes, isn't linear but rather unfolds in an ever expanding circular spiral. What may appear as a regression is really an opportunity for us to revisit, reintegrate, and rebalance ourselves and start anew. This fact helps us to face with openness and receptivity the seemingly negative and difficult emotions that can easily become a quicksand of psychological 'disorders.' More in tune with the creative process inherent in nature, this holistic approach truly keeps us thriving and in balance. It recognizes the need to 'grow down' just as much as we need to 'grow up', and the importance of looking within as in looking without.
I'm a clinical psychologist who works in college counseling, and it is not uncommon to see students driven by the illusion and myth of perpetual growth at the expense of temporary loss--the loss of home, their childhood selves, the loss of a prized part of their identity, and the loss of a sense of omnipotence. This loss is also a part of our growth, and forces us to reckon with our own human limitation and fallibility, the essence of becoming a work of art. Students are surprised to find that learning to embrace and ride the non-linear aspects of life, like learning how to wait and catch a surfer's wave, truly drive creativity and meaning.
There are two key features in psychology that contribute to this problem. Just as economics idolizes GDP, psychology has long idolized the one dominant self--the persona--as the all-encompassing measure of psychological health. Rather than looking at the experience of our multiple selves and their relative contributions and flexible integration, psychologists and the public often get a very static and one-dimensional view of psychological functioning and possibility.
Until fairly recently, psychology, as economics, has reified the linear, logical, and rational at the expense of the non-linear, holistic, and free-wheeling right-brained domain of feeling. Neuroscientists like Antonio Damasio are reexamining the major contribution of feelings to culture and the human project, and as a result, are seeing the far reaching creative possibilities it brings.
What is often easily seen by clients as 'degnerative' and 'regressive' turns out, in fact, to be the true fertile ground for personal innovation. This is what happens to be the real fun and gift of therapy--a creative reinterpretation that honors what is in our natures, and an education in how to work with it, let it unfold, and then have fun in creatively improvising on its dynamic 'chord changes.'
The field of psychology--like economics--is obsessed with a false narrative and dichotomy of progress or problems. Its assumptions don't support the naturally occurring and regenerative yin and yang of a back and forth process, and ultimately, how close we all could be to living life in a psychologically more nuanced and complex music.
If you ever have doubts about the perils of growth, listen in on Bobby Kennedy. According to Raworth, he is one of the few politicians to see these other narratives so crucial to our well-being and balance. Fifty years ago, he reminded us that GDP alone (like growth alone!)
does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.
Imagine what a different world we could live in--inside and out-if we began to embrace this whole new way of thinking?
For more on this topic, check out Kate Raworth's fabulous TED talk at: