Are Westernized ideas of prosperity, and property,
responsible for our current state of affairs regarding happiness and the
environment? The omission of Native Americans in the
introduction is striking. Several
hundred years prior to the arrival of the European “conquerors” Native
Americans practiced (practice) a form of conservationism that fostered generosity
towards the communal good. This
generosity and giving confers the status or wealth of a person, not private
ownership of things or property. The
environment, inanimate and animate, possesses spiritual power; is revered, not exploited for
profit. Perhaps a fundamental reevaluation of
happiness and property might better empower us to make practical changes; to fuel
our theoretical engines.
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