Polanyi: Great Transformation

“The outstanding discovery of recent historical and anthropological research is that man’s economy, as a rule, is submerged in his social relationships. Neither the process of production or that of distribution is linked to specific economic interests attached to the possession of goods; but every single step in that process is geared to a number of social interests…. These interests will be very different in a small hunting and fishing community from those in a vast despotic society, but in either case the economic system will be run on non-economic motives.” Polanyi, 46

A few month ago some friends and I were getting ready for a road trip

LOVE: the dictionary gives approximately 26 definitions. A poll in 2005 came up with 150 definitions given by the general public at random. I find all of these inadequate and incomplete. Many are a description, an emotion, a verb, a noun. None of them fully expresses the completeness of pure love. Ancient languages used multiple terms that have been homogenized in our modern English. The Greek, for example, used eros – the physical attraction

The intrepid group of superheroes dove headlong deep into the caverns of pain. The villains had lured them here to trap them in a dangerous web built of good and noble intentions. The heroes looked like something straight out of a comic book

I once heard a woman respond to the query “How are you where you are?” by stating “There are no losses only blessings”. She had the appearance of being well balanced and functioning and even happy in her life. This was somewhat remarkable to me as she had lost her six year old son less than a year previous to this conversation. Her husband was more like I might expect, still somewhat distraught and questioning everything around the loss of their son and could not at that point understand his wife’s way of looking at it. But the statement struck me as so profound and true.

As I write this there is an explosion of talk about being more civil in our public discussions with each other. Wow! What a concept. I only hope at the time you read this that the concept has not been lost. For all of us to treat our fellow human beings with respect, even when we disagree with them, amazing. The cynic in me says what a surprise. What a bunch of ignorant s………. oh, wait. Civility. That’s right. I forgot. Sorry.

A new era is upon us. Anything that does not support the greatest good of mankind is being challenged. This is as true for each individual’s life, as it is for the collective. To ride the tides of change unscathed is not only impossible,