The Atlas Project

Episode 23: Conversion and Social Change



July 11th, 2019  •  49 mins 5 secs  •  Download (33.7 MB)  •  Link with Timestamp

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A lot of people are talking about things like “systemic change.” People feel an urgent need to “fix things in the world.” But there is a tendency to talk about societal realities that we long to change as if we’re not a part of them. It’s a lot like how people in participatory democracies talk about the need to change the dysfunctional government, failing to realize that they themselves are not completely separate from the governments they are bemoaning. Things like capitalism, the economy, government, societal infrastructure aren’t things “out there.” They are realities we’re embedded in; they exist in an ecosystem of relationships of which we are all a part. Do we need a radical change in thinking and speaking before we understand the things we want to change? Do we need something like a religious conversion before we move forward?