Comments on: An Open Letter to Pope Francis on the Ethical Economy

By: Mushin Mato Wambli

Mushin Mato Wambli — Thu, 01 May 2014 00:01:45 +0000

Michel,
Very innovative notion for creating a vibrant conversation with Pope Francis offering a synergy between the monastic past and the emergent future global society on man.

I listened to your 14 min video and I offer this comment in support of your claims. If we reflect on history as the conservation of the common good bringing forth mutuality in freedom, equality and human justice we find the contemplative traditions in all the units of our humanity as stabilizing the difficult periods in the pathways to arriving to this current moment. Our future is not out there in innovating the material world as much as the interiorization of becoming truly awakened human beings in wholeness, maturity and transcending the “observer errors” in this cultural matrix of death. What is a monk? A monk is not a religious character in the west or east or a shamanic indigenous tribe. A monk like St Francis is a person that encounters a experience in the spirit-sense where this world of “things, objects, conditions” are transcended by encountering “being, becoming, presence” and one’s attention is forever removed from the notion of survival in this world. There is an acceptance of death, a turning away from the “observer error” in the cultural error and an ecological knowing presence emerge-n-see experience occurs in momentariness or natural law. So, the contemplative traditions throughout the entire world’s history have always led to the breakthroughs in stabilizing predatory chaos in political economics. A point Pope Francis is articulating the role of the Future Church, Community of the Elect, as a hospice for the sinners, sick, poor and lost souls. As you point out that is an inclusive caravan of human beings in the moment looking for leadership in a new directionality in mutuality of a common goodness. I assess our human goodness is enactively embodied in our skin, bones and blood constantly passionately desiring to express love and be loved. As Pierre Teilhard de Chardin predicted the creator is good and love implicitly becoming explicit in this emerging Noosphere in P2P mutuality in human knowledge making. “All that rises, must converge.” The convergence is in love because we live in a loving universe; not a dead meaningless capital marketplace demanding our obedience and negating free self determined regulation in natural law, momentariness.

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” Hebrews 10:16

Thanks for all you do in the P2P Foundation that is inspiring all of us to trust in a third wave renaissance in designing a child centric future.
Mushin

By: Michel Bauwens

Michel Bauwens — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 18:43:34 +0000

In reply to elf Pavlik. will do!

By: elf Pavlik

elf Pavlik — Thu, 24 Apr 2014 08:54:22 +0000

Great letter Michel!

Could you maybe turn on of unMonastery matera signature into a link to http://matera.unmonstery.org?

BTW if you could dig out discussions on P2PFoundation mailing list about such modern, monastic like, institutions reinforcing the commons (which I remember happened in the past and offered some inspiration to unMonastery project) I would happily link to it in unMonastery (pre)history page which we may build soon… Possibly using http://timemapper.okfnlabs.org/

Oh, another great example of re-purposing unused space http://emergingleaderlabs.org/

Cheers!

By: Elias Crim

Elias Crim — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 02:20:48 +0000

Brilliant, timely and much needed. I do hope this letter will draw a good deal of attention!

By: Keith

Keith — Mon, 21 Apr 2014 18:39:40 +0000

Re-posted and shared

https://medium.com/p/ca78e03a9664

By: John Medaille

John Medaille — Mon, 21 Apr 2014 17:33:47 +0000

This is no more than a call to the Church to return to the role it had before the State displaced the Church in the regulation of political and economic life. It is important to remember that at one time, the Church had ministerial duties which we now associate with the state. She was responsible for education, welfare, marriage property law, even bank regulation. Further, the Church discharged these duties with tax revenues; she kept the fees on the property she owned (1/3rd of the land in most places), fees which any other property owner had to remit to the king. Further, she had a mandatory tithe, which functioned as both an income tax and a wealth tax.

Moreover, as Michel Bauwens notes, they Church was a major producer; indeed the factory system was more or less invented by the Cistercians, who pioneered the use of water powered machinery.

The Church has more or less accepted (not without some protest) a subordinate or even marginalized role in modern life. Whatever complaints one might have against the Church, this has not worked well. I believe Francis is determined to re-assert the Church’s ancient role. Obviously, this cannot be in the form that it was previously, but at the same time, no sane or just economy and political order can do without some institutionalized moral authority. Without that, there is no counterweight to pure politics, which always becomes pure Power.