This is an abstract of a presentation to be given at the Bowen Center Spring Conference next April.
The conference title is “Creating a climate for change.” I will appreciate ideas and comments.
The Growth Dynamic
Stephanie Ferrera
Growth is the natural activity of all living organisms. On the subject of reproduction, Darwin wrote:
There is no exception to the rule that every organic being naturally increases at so high a rate, that if not destroyed, the earth would soon be covered by the progeny of a single pair. …A struggle for existence inevitably follows from the high rate at which all organic beings tend to increase.” (Origin, 116-7)
The rate of increase is countered by the rate of destruction which falls largely on the young or the old. Among the checks on population, Darwin notes the vast destruction of eggs, seeds, and seedlings, epidemics, predation, and the physical conditions of life, most importantly, climate: “Periodic seasons of extreme cold or drought, I believe to be the most effective of all checks.” (Origin, 121)
The story of human evolution can be seen as the story of how humans overcame nature’s constraints, slowly and incrementally over many thousands of years, with increasing speed after the advent of agriculture, and with marked acceleration with the discovery of fossil fuels. There were key discoveries and turning points along the way that, despite setbacks and a great deal of destruction, moved humans always toward growth: in population, production and consumption of resources, knowledge, division of labor, specialization, trade, and complexity.
For over 90% of humanity’s time on earth, hunting and gathering was the mode of making a living. With an economy of “limited wants, unlimited means,” (Gowdy, 1998) foragers got and shared resources as needed without accumulating possessions which would have been a “nuisance” in their mobile way of life. Free of material possessions, they found security in their social and intellectual capital, egalitarian communities, and sustainable relationship with the natural world. The discovery and spread of agriculture set off economic and social change at a rate of speed and impact that transformed human life and the Earth.
Gowdy and Krall (2016) describe the endpoint at which our species has arrived: “In only a few thousand years, humans made the transition from being just another large mammal species living within the confines of local ecosystems to a species dominating the planet’s biophysical systems (p. 6).” With the concept of “ultrasociality” they trace the ecological and economic process that has driven this growth trajectory, so rare in nature.
Gowdy and Krall’s thinking on the biological and economic forces that drive the dynamic of expansion interface with Murray Bowen’s thinking on the instinctual, emotional forces that drive human behavior. Both identify the loss of individual autonomy in the face of increased group pressure as a key factor that permitted a mindless pursuit of growth without awareness of the social and environmental costs. Coming from different theoretical frameworks, these two ways of thinking seem to arrive at some of the same conclusions about where we are and perhaps similar guidance about how we must correct course toward living in better harmony with Earth and with one another.
References
Bowen, Murray. Family Therapy in Clinical Practice. New York: Jason Aronson, 1978.
Darwin, Charles. The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. New York:
Avenel Books, 1979.
Gowdy, John and Lisi Krall. “The Economic Origins of Ultrasociality,” in Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Cambridge University Press, 2016. Vol.39:1-60.
Gowdy, John, ed. Limited Wants, Unlimited Means. Washington, D. C.: Island Press. 1998.