The first conversation

We have all inherited a system.

None of us created the system.

We were born into a system

that gave us some things to aim for, some values to shape our lives around.

So we did.

There have been some amazing outcomes

and also some times when we have felt let down by the system, from our various perspectives.

Some have worked hard towards the aims the system offered us, and after 20 years or so, have stepped back and felt that things were becoming hollow. That there were limits to the extent that the system's aims could make us happy.

Some started by studying the wider impacts of the system, beyond its wealth creation function, and felt let down by some of the system's negative impacts on people and nature.

We can recognise the value that the system offers us.

And we can recognise the harm that the system does us.

And then the time comes to ask,

what are we to do?

Nothing is perfect; no being, no love, no project, no system.

Are the flaws we see to be accepted?

Or can we, together, now, take this system we have inherited and start to imagine something even better?

This question must be answered before we can proceed any further.