COWAN, Jim

(United Kingdom)

Title of contribution:

Integral Britain

Where & when:

Catalonia.
Thursday, May 28th, 2020
11:30 – 13:30

Presentation: Integral Britain

Can Britain point towards what a post-capitalistic economy with a post-democratic collective governance system looks like? Working with communities of many different kinds for 40 years and both experiencing the collective systems of the country externally and internally, the individual view (top left quadrant) is about three distinct aspects of daily life: where you live, family, friends, and community (civil society); the state (local public services, central government, national politics); and business (commerce, trade, markets).
These three could be called the building blocks of Britain`s `operating system`. So going back in time in Britain we have one configuration of these three with industrial revolution Britain. And that configuration is powered by the `new` rationalism or orange consciousness. But these changes in 1945 to welfare state Britain with a different consciousness and a big re-configuration of the building blocks. The experience of living in Britain changed radically. Then it changed again in 1981 with marketing thinking Britain dismantling what had gone before and again reshaping the building blocks. And that’s where we are today with a torn social fabric and a polarised politics.
So what’s the prognosis. Actually there is another side to Britain that is edging towards teal by breaking out of market thinking. This side of Britain has a life of its own in the arts, in civil society, in business and even state services. These are developments where people wan

About Jim Cowan:

I have lived 40 years of experiencing what is now my personal genealogy and the genealogy of Britain. 40 years of Doing (community development), Thinking (social sciences), and Being (SGI form of Buddhism). This has brought me to integral and a way to give expression (thebritainpotential.co.uk) to the journey Britain and I have been on and the prognosis for our integral futures. I am a national leader of the SGI Buddhist movement in the UK (www.sgi-uk.org). I`m also honorary research fellow with