Key to how societies evolve is legitimacy - what it means to be a good human. Leading a good life is important to most people. As a result, thousands of millions of actions are regularly taken informed by the established legitimacy. These actions taken together are sufficient in scale to address today's complex of serious problems, if we can shift the basic legitimacy.

The old legitimacy of earning and spending as much as possible has to change to something more appropriate for our full Earth situation. To be a good human, we need to live lightly, get as much satisfaction from living as possible and manage the material world in a way that serves the interests of the generations following us.

The foundation for this new legitimacy will emerge as the conversation spreads through our networks of family, friends and associates.

What are we trying to accomplish as a society? Is it really our collective will to grow until we drop? Or do we seek to secure, satisfying lives for our children's children and the families they will want to raise?

This is the Question of Direction.

When this question is resolved, the conventional wisdom about what it means to be a good human being will shift. As individuals, our purpose will no longer be "to earn and spend as much money as possible." To be good, we will aim "to have as little impact on the Earth as we can, to get as much satisfaction from living as possible and to manage the natural world in a way that will assure the well-being of the children and grandchildren."

Adapted from Life, Money and Illusion:

Legitimacy

Legitimacy is a key ingredient of civilization; perhaps it is the key ingredient. A biological analogy can help illustrate the role legitimacy plays in cultural evolution. If, in a society, the shared patterns of understanding and belief, as described in the last chapter, fulfill the role of DNA, legitimacy is the life force. DNA molecules are chains of atoms arranged in a specific order. Each life form has a unique DNA that contains within it (or resonates with it) all the information that is necessary for a single fertile cell to grow into a mature organism, providing that the cell is alive. Without life force, biological DNA is only a complex assembly of chemicals prone to decomposition.

When life is present, the DNA serves as a template, guiding the growth and maintenance of the life form it encodes. Whether it is a plant, animal, fungus or bacteria, as cells divide, the DNA for that particular life form is reproduced so that each new cell has a copy. Depending on the position that various cells find themselves in, they will grow into an arm or an eye, a root or a flower. Using the foundation “understanding” embodied in their DNA, different cells and clusters of cells follow the basic code and, together, grow and maintain a complete, mature organism.

A society grows in ways that are informed by the philosophy of its people. Until a system of understanding and beliefs is animated by legitimacy, it is only a philosophy. When people subscribe to such a system, their life energy works through that system. How they live their lives, the views they express, what they work at, how they invest and how they vote create the structure and form of the society embodied in the philosophy. Each person and organization follows the basic premise of their culture, varying depending on whether they find themselves as builders, caregivers, miners, managers or retailers. Together they produce and trade the complex array of goods and services that enable the civilization to proceed.

When accepted and acted upon, different worldviews produce
different worlds. Legitimacy is the animating power, and it is the
product of our many individual wills. That said, we have looked at how our choices are extensively influenced by what others think, the religion of our times and the legal structure. While legitimacy is affected by all these things, the form into which society evolves is ultimately a product of individual wills: yours, your friends, your family, your colleagues, your neighbors. If we want to resolve the mounting tension between the perpetual expansion model and the requirements of long-term well-being on our finite planet, it is the freedom of our wills that can define the new direction.

In the mental cosmology identified by Freud, the tendency to
adhere to social order has a permanent position in our subconscious psychic makeup. Within each individual, there is an instinctual, impulsive “id,” which seeks only personal satisfaction. The id is moderated by the “ego.” While one’s id may want to cross a street, the ego seeks to protect the individual by looking into reality for circumstances, such as oncoming cars that might threaten well-being. To avoid danger, the ego restricts the rudimentary urges of the id. Similarly, the “super-ego” exerts an influence on individual behaviour to have us maintain personal well-being by heeding the factors of well-being, as perceived by the larger society. Parents, teachers, religious spokespeople, politicians, legal codes, advertising and media imagery all contribute to forming the super-ego’s version of what it is to be good and secure.

The super-ego’s influence on individual behaviour may be for the
good of all, or for the good of some elite, which has used its advantage to influence conventional wisdom to serve its own ends. Nevertheless, once the conventional wisdom is established, it guides most individual action and requires a long evolution or willful effort to change. Moving one’s individual “vote” of legitimacy from economic expansion and placing it with long-term well-being is the basic move.

When enough people make this move, legitimacy will shift to reflect new realities and priorities.

We do not lack the ability to transform our world. The problems
we face are understood and most of their solutions known.
Transformation will proceed with remarkable speed once the balance of legitimacy tips toward long-term well-being. This chapter proposes a technique for tipping that balance focusing on one point. It is the point of contrast between the dangers of continuing to expand the existing order and the possibilities for long-term stability, should we choose to apply our creative potential to that end. By focusing attention on this contrast, the balance of legitimacy can be tipped.

Those who apply their will to extending the old order have the
advantages of inertia and wealth. Those promoting sustainability have the advantage of growing necessity. The increasing contrast between the two views will inevitably require reconciliation. Our inclination is always toward self-preservation, and it is becoming increasingly clear that change is essential. How many opportunities will be lost, before the shift takes place, depends on how long it takes to rally enough individual wills to counteract the persuasive influences employed to promote the illusion of Growth Everlasting.
How to Get There from Here: A Question of Di recti on 3 1 1