Fear or elation: where are you?

by Richard Reeve on February 24, 2009

in @CCSeed

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Image by Monica’s Dad via Flickr

Detlef posted about the uncertainty of the economy, sharing a link to an article that quoted Mr. Soros saying “he sees no bottom.”  It’s a fascinating quote and one that can lead to fear or elation.  Here’s why.

The fear is based on the fact that yesterday answers will not provide tomorrow solutions, and those that controlled yesterday are in a position to lose all that they are desperately trying to hold onto.  Fortunes will continue to be eradicated.  Scarcity of resources will get worse before things get better, and suffering will spread to sectors that have been immune for a long time.

The elation? Not everyone is wedded to yesterday.  Not everybody has so much to lose as this ride continues to unfold.  New thinking, new opportunities, new solutions will emerge to shape a new reality.

While scarcity creeps into the “first world,” for much of the world there is no new news here.  My mind reaches back to the statements on the unjust distribution of wealth that the last pontiff keep beating the drum to in his social writings.  We need to shape a world where the forces that keep the third world third no longer have control.  How will that happen?  One answer is taking the path that has no bottom.

My sense is that this ride, if it were a roller coaster, is only being pulled to the top of the first hill.


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  • Karenv
    Detlef, I am not an American and see things from the outside as well and I already see trust in the US eroded. How could it be any other way? Corruption? Deregulation? I don't see business as usual with the US in the rest of the world. I think it will be a slow process of the States becoming a major power but one of several. Things are changing. The US economy may be the largest at the moment but I dare say it is not the strongest.
  • Great point Karen.
  • Good work! I agree totally. For those of us who have nothing to lose these circumstance represent the most exciting opportunity of our lifetime.
    Unfortunately we have to maintain a positive attitude to embrace the opportunity.
    This is not always easy when around us we hear the opposite message.
    If we are able to jettison our capture by the past we will find this task easier.
    Thank you Richard.

    <abbr>Ian Harris´s last blog post..The Survival Trap is a free download and good read over the holiday period</abbr>
  • Hi Ian,
    I love your line "able to jettison our capture by the past..." The choruses of fear mongering are all rooted in the broken system. Bold moves are never rotted in fear or the problem: they are in response to vision and a solution.
  • Hi Karen, thank you for commenting on my comment. America is the biggest debtor of the world, it's dubbed "capital junkie of the world" as the United States depend on billions of Dollars streaming in from the outside every single day. This stream is continuing, people and governments all over the world are entrusting Uncle Sam with their savings. If they no longer do, the world economy collapses and with it the concept of "money" collapses. Which would be ugly, as 6 billion people cannot organize their lives and interact exchanging e.g. mussels.

    <abbr>Detlef Cordes´s last blog post..Caring, Sharing, Weird Dialogue</abbr>
  • Thanks for clarifying "ugly" for us Detlef. I think it might be an understatement.
  • Ted,
    Your attitude is nothing shot of being an inspiration. I know I;m rooting for you and look forward to finding ways to help you on your quest.
  • Another excellent conversation.

    As someone who lost his job in December this whole thing is a blessing in disguise. I've had an idea to pursue my own venture for a while. The layoff was the motivator to make it happen. Is the market tough? Sure. Is there opportunity? Indeed. If I'd kept my gig I'd be miserable and sweating the next round of cuts but now I'm out here, hustling, networking meeting smart people and formulating how to ride this thing out and I'll have my answer in the end. If I make it as an entrepreneur cool, if I don't, I don't -- I can always get another cubicle job, because they will still be there, or find the next way to reinvent myself.

    <abbr>ted villa´s last blog post..February Train Ride</abbr>
  • Karenv
    I hope it's OK to comment on a comment...

    "...but a world with serious doubt about Uncle Sam’s ability to pay his debts would be a very ugly one."

    There already is doubt. Why "a very ugly one?" Things might be rough for awhile but you'd recover and/or morph into something different/better (i.e. some of the posts above) and the rest of us will be OK as well. Things are changing, powers shifting...

    "Part of inspiring trust is to be a reasonable optimist." I wonder if, in the past, optimism and arrogance have been a little confused.
  • Hello Karen,
    Certainly, we all enjoy the threading of exchange and I encourage you to do that in this space at least. What's interesting about Detlef's perspective is not only his unique and clear voice, but that he looks at the US from the outside, and shares a sense of how America is seen from abroad.
  • Jay
    I told Jeb this week and now I say again, I am elated. This is good- we saw what happens when we put greed on a pedestal, and worship the bills that fall from its bosom. Now, we move forward...baby steps into a new economy, that supports people and the ideas that support change, and let greed fall to the chasm of nothingness where it belongs.

    <abbr>Jay´s last blog post..Inner Noodle’s Guide to Dream Analysis- Step 2</abbr>
  • Hey Jay, perhaps I saw that comment and use of the word by you, I do not remember. But I think it says something about how our attitude do shape our world, and I have no doubt your placement of the word did contribute to this post.
  • I once held a job as a financial advisor (crowd laughs), and one of the things I learned that I actually still remember is that the market operates much like a crowd without a leader. Fear, hope, confidence, whatever...it ebbs and flows and builds on itself, often with no logical relationship to reality itself (whatever that is). The turning points tend to come when an extreme is met...complete, irrational paranoia, as an example, tends to signify a bottom has been met.

    I am so enjoying, and benefiting from, these conversations we're having around the web about this topic. So many perspectives, so many voices representing their unique emotions. The way we're working through this challenge, together, I can almost see the healing, the rejuvenation taking place.

    At the risk of sounding a bit bold, I think, as a group, we're going to navigate our way through more quickly, and more successfully, than the larger population. I've had my bout of irrational paranoia, and I've shared some of it with you. And while there is no doubt more pain to come generally, my personal experience with it suggests better things to are on the way.

    <abbr>Jeb Dickerson´s last blog post..Becoming…</abbr>
  • Jeb,
    I think the "work" we are doing by articulating these issues is extremely important to what will unfold and I'm grateful you are helping making it happen.
  • Although this is a fascinating question, I have to say I feel a little uncomfortable with the commenters who said they feel "elation." Even if I felt that this is a new beginning, elation sounds very ivory tower intellectual, and tells me that this person still has their job. You can say that everything bad historical event will have some positive aftershocks. Who knows if the whole Iraqi War will someday create a domino effect and bring peace to the entire Middle East, and George Bush will be remembered as our greatest president? Weirder things have happened. I just think expressing elation, knowing the hardships that have and will affect so many, is a bit insensitive, don't you think?

    <abbr>Neil´s last blog post..Strong Wind Blows Over Truck</abbr>
  • Well Neil, you asked, so I'll answer.
    No I do not think it's insensitive to work on our inner attitudes in relationship to a historical crisis. While fear and elation are to extreme aspects on the continuum of possible responses, the ability to explore our relationship to what is unfolding is essential to remaining open minded and recognizing what opportunities do become available. You make some pretty harsh criticisms: ivory tower intellectualism and that these comments are insensitive to those that have lost work. I feel you call for a type of inner censorship and political correctness that is both frightening and unproductive.
    None the less, I'm glad you shared your opinion and that you asked me my opinion.
  • love that image of the roller coaster...it's going to get fast and furious very soon! i'm looking forward to the ride toward 2012. are you familiar with the roller coaster ride of terence mckenna's novelty theory?

    elation? how's this...we are running out of cheap fossil fuels which pollute the air and water, and thereby our lungs and bloodstreams, and which have made feasible an agriculture that wages war on the natural world, and takes human health as collateral damage.

    hey...i like that...thanks for the inspiration, richard, and cheers to you! try not to spill your glass on the ride down, up down, up down up...

    <abbr>chas´s last blog post..monday morning motivator! 9, one day it’ll blow a hole in our heads</abbr>
  • I am in the Elation Category. We create reality with our thoughts.
    There is no past we have not created, and glamorized/glorified/ awfulized far beyond the parameters of truth. We are an ever evolving species on an ever evolving planet. This is a phase, a stage and ultimately one more change in a series of ever changing landscapes.
  • Richard, great sentence, let me say it again: "We need to shape a world where the forces that keep the third world third no longer have control." A loud and clear Amen to that. How do we do it? We have to inspire trust. Human relations may run on money in large parts, but money runs on trust. That's what I have learned in this crisis. Without trust, money is paper or funny numbers on a bank account.

    Currently there is no trust on the level of banks and consumers. The "system is on life support". The governments are lending not money, but trust into their ability to continuously provide value. "Even if your bank fails - we will reimburse you." If this support fails there is no backup-system, no meta-plane, no safety-net. However this support will only work for a limited length of time.

    We have the chance to set new priorities, to go beyond consumerism - but a world with serious doubt about Uncle Sam's ability to pay his debts would be a very ugly one. Currently the world trusts the uncle with fresh new billions daily. Part of inspiring trust is to be a reasonable optimist. So let's kill that cat that inspires and justifies mistrust with a good bottle of Chateau Catskill 2009. Elation!

    <abbr>Detlef Cordes´s last blog post..Caring, Sharing, Weird Dialogue</abbr>
  • I am feeling both. It is the biggest breakdowns that we create the biggest breakthroughs both as individuals and as a society.

    There is also possibility in losing what we have because it gives you the opportunity to create from nothing and provides a much needed impetus to change the things that didn't work. When we are trying to hold onto what we have it is really hard to bring new thinking to the party. Holding onto the status quo to hold onto what you have has kept us stuck and unable to solve fundamental problems. I have hope that we will make great progress in this time.

    I think you are right on with where we are on this roller coaster ride.

    <abbr>Susan Mazza´s last blog post..3 Steps to Listening Better & Hearing More</abbr>
  • I think we're in a bit of a vicious cycle at the moment. I read an article that basically said Wall Street is down because there's no confidence in the market, and there's no confidence in the market because Wall Street is down. I have no idea what will happen next!

    <abbr>Mary-Frances´s last blog post..Building A Community One Comment At a Time</abbr>
  • Hey Mary-Frances,
    It does seem to be a vicious catch-22 at the moment. I think the point we are seeing clearly is that no one can say.

    Hi Susan,
    It seems that there is the change that we think we can control and the change that cannot be controlled. I'm hopeful that the change that cannot be controlled can lead to something quite different than the frame we have placed on reality for now.

    Hey Detlef,
    So glad your outside of Uncle Sam perspective is here. We get so myopic.

    Hello Maureen,
    Your see the big picture and I think that's the only way to grasp the potential in this moment.

    Hey Chas,
    you've nailed the broken paradigm with that creative answer to "elation?"
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