Make culture, NOT WAR

by David Bartosch

WE NEED TO MOVE AWAY FROM THE USUAL MONOPOLY TO A CULTURAL FORM OF ECONOMY. ONLY THE LATTER CAN BE SUSTAINABLE BECAUSE IT IS BASED ON CULTURE IN ITS ORIGINAL SENSE. FOR CICERO, “CULTURA ANIMI” MEANT THE ACTIVITY OF GROWING OR ELEVATING THE LIFE PRINCIPLE.

But what is the Life Principle? We can explain it scientifically. Imagine a stone. Like all inanimate objects, as soon as we drop it, it follows the most direct, that is, the most energy-and time-efficient and therefore predictable path to the ground. This is the manifestation of the Principle of Least Action, the fundamental principle of physics. The Hungarian biologist Ervin Bauer showed that living beings follow a different rule. Imagine a butterfly. Although its movement is unpredictable, yet there is a subtle law demanding to avoid the path of direct fall, and regenerate the thermodynamic height above lethal equilibrium. Why? Because for us, for living beings, reaching the state of thermodynamic equilibrium means death. So we hover above it as high as we can.

Attila Grandpierre, to whom I owe these insights, calls this the Principle of Greatest Action. Only when the butterfly drops dead does it stop investing maximum energy, and thus the fall of its corpse becomes inertial and predictable. Anti-cultural business mimics this Death Principle by influencing the behavior of people and life forms in an increasing rate to follow the inertial path of least resistance.

There are so many ways to promote and recharge the energies of life instead of doing the opposite. Nature and true culture point to the Life Principle. It shouts all around us: Respect Nature! Promote life in all its forms! Listen to the Life Principle within you and others! We have no time to lose!

The author is a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, Research Institute for Globalization and Cultural Development Strategies at Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai in China and a Researcher at the Budapest Centre for Long-term Sustainability.