Bill Miller has spent decades of his life trying to synthesize a vision for wholesome systems.  For years, he said, he struggled ... until he heard about the work of CharityFocus, several weeks back at a dinner.  After having read about the gift-economy in many places, he was finally face to face with a project that delivered practical results without compromising ideals.

In a "sudden spark of clarity", he penned down this quick essay around a simple theme:  as children, we've seen ourselves as net-consumers.  And now, as we mature and the need for rebalancing ourselves becomes blatantly obvious, we need to shift to net-contributors.

Apart from physical resource consumption, there is a social dimension to the above that is far more profound. In a world of net consumers, everyone is a real or potential competitor. With a limited supply of goods, everyone cannot come out ahead - the gains of one must be offset by the losses of another. ("Growth" temporarily delays this effect, but growth can.t occur indefinitely in a closed system.) This being the case, everyone, even family and friends, might be opponents -- people to be feared and mistrusted.  This systematic undertow of competition and mistrust is responsible for much of the loneliness, alienation, depression, and loss of meaning in our culture -- and beyond this, the resultant destructive coping mechanisms like addiction and over-consumption.

Having needs and enjoying their fulfillment is a normal, natural part of living. And, as the parenting analogy suggests, in the developmental stage of any living system, it is natural to consume more than is produced. There's nothing wrong with consumption per se -- we couldn't exist without it. It simply needs to be balanced with at least an equivalent amount of creation.  (Unfortunately, our culture currently values the opposite -- getting the most while giving up the least is simply considered 'good business.')

For all the history of life up until now, living organisms have functioned as net consumers -- existential children -- seeking to grow and to obtain the best that life has to offer. But now the system, both the social and the natural world, is under stress and needs our help and consideration.

Or as a wisdom scroll might've once said, "I knocked on each door to see what I could get.  As a pilgrim, I searched for the opposite: how can I be of service? And over time, my whole life became a pilgrimage."