Good news is bubbling under the surface

My friend Brook tells a story about getting his PhD in philosophy. At some point in his second year, he got tired of deconstructing everything and wanted to build something. He didn’t want to live all in the head. He wanted to do something that united thinking and doing.1 He left the PhD program and bought an abandoned condo unit in Chelsea, lower Manhattan. This was in the 1990s, and Chelsea was not in good shape. There were drug users squatting in the building and several times they tried to drive him away by setting fire to the building. Brook didn’t know anything about construction, so he borrowed books from the library (pre-Youtube!). He visited the hardware store daily and asked a lot of questions. He realized that he needed to connect to the clerks at the hardware store, so he decided to learn about and love baseball, specifically the Mets. He had to learn demo-ing, electrical, plumbing, carpentry, dry-walling, and the Mets, everything he needed to know to build a house. It was a slow process, filled with a lot of swearing and mistakes. It was deeply satisfying to have a problem, figuring out the how-to, and learning to do it. And learning compounds and he was patient with himself, especially in the difficult beginning, when everything was super slow and it seemed like he could do nothing right.2

As he got better, people could see the fruit of his work. A friend bought another abandoned condo in the building too, and then other friends joined. They helped each other out, learned from each other, ate pizza and watched Survivor together at night.

They constructed a community. Developed incredible skills along the way.

If you despair at times at the world, my friend Mike J. sent me this list of movements creating an economy centered on well-being and flourishing. The more beautiful we know in our hearts is possible. So much is happening!

It’s easy to sit around deconstructing and critiquing “late-stage capitalism.”3 And knowing what the problem is is the first step to anything. But ultimately, you have to deal with the situation with a solution:

[The Buddha] said, "Suppose a man is struck by a poisoned arrow and the doctor wishes to take out the arrow immediately. Suppose the man does not want the arrow removed until he knows who shot it, his age, his parents, and why he shot it. What would happen? If he were to wait until all these questions have been answered, the man might die first." Life is so short. It must not be spent in endless metaphysical speculation that does not bring us any closer to the truth. — Thích Nhất Hạnh

The Center for Action and Contemplation relies on the principle “the best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.” We waste so much energy in opposition to things we don’t want;4 we’d be much better served using our energy and creativity creating what we do want.

Instead of deconstructing and critiquing an economic system based on exploitation and competition, help create an economic system based on flourishing and grace. It’s a slow process, filled with a lot of swearing and mistakes. But it’s deeply satisfying to have a problem, figure it out, and do it. Be patient, especially in the difficult beginning, when everything is super slow and it seems like nothing is happening.

Help each other out, learn from each other, eat pizza together.

Encourage others by showing the fruit of your fruit. Construct a community. Develop incredible skills along the way. As you probably know, I don’t believe heaven is a place we go to, it’s a place we make when we see each other with the eyes of love. And when we see each other the eyes of love, we see with the eyes of God.

They say our economy is based on anxiety and selfishness. They say our economy exploits the worker yet still doesn’t satisfy us in the ways we really need.

You don’t have to know a lot about the poisoned arrow, just pull it out. The best critique of the bad is the practice of the good.

They say in heaven, love comes first. Let’s make heaven a place on earth.

Good news is bubbling under the surface. So much is happening!

Join.

My and my friends’ little contribution of heaven on earth is called the Jubilee Fund. In 2021, twelve of us pooled $105,000 and paid off nine people’s credit card debt so that they could instead donate that amount to reparations. We’re five years in and four of our donors have hit their donation targets! We have a few other folks who are close to hitting their donation targets as well.

Total debt eliminated: $105,000

Total donated: $79,177.19

We’re talking about creating another Jubilee Fund, or helping people create Jubilee Funds in their own communities. If you want to talk, hit reply and talk to me.

Wendell Berry’s poem on hopelessness:

“Yes, though hope is our duty, let us live a while without it to show ourselves we can. Let us see that, without hope, we still are well.”