The Overwhelming Necessity of a Cultural Exhale

I remember my grandmother telling me when she was young they thought it would be possible for the world to move from a 5 day work week to a 4 day work week.

Turns out, her memory was bang on. John Maynard Keynes wrote the article Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren in 1930. This is a fascinating article to read for many reasons. Not least of which is his clear eyed assessment of the source of Britain’s wealth and his vision to return to the most “certain principles” of traditional virtue: when “avarice is a vice, and the exaction of usury is a misdemeanour [sic], and the love of money is detestable.”

All of that aside, his main argument was that technological improvements and the accumulation of capital have “solved the economic problem… [mankind’s] traditional purpose.”* Within 100 years, Keynes surmised there could be a 15 hour work week or 3 hours shifts to do the necessary work, to “use the new-found bounty of nature differently from the way in which the rich use it to-day.” Writing in 1930, Keynes found the current rich avant garde leisure class “very depressing” in their “achievements… in any quarter of the world.”

Ah, sigh.

100 years gone and still depressing. There is certainly more abundance, but we are just accumulating and hoarding and wasting the “bounty of nature.” Instead of the 15 hour work week following a reconnect to traditional virtues posited by Keynes, we have doubled down on distractions, schlepping, appointments, phone calls, DOINGS.

I had this conversation with my Mother when I was in college. I was complaining about being busy and lonely at the same time. Too many part time jobs and not enough time to see friends.

“Why don’t you stop some of what you are doing?” Was her clear eyed response.

“Because everyone else is just as busy as I am, if I stop I will be all alone in my room doing nothing.”

Consciously, I didn’t grok at the time what is so clear to me now. I was afraid of the stillness, of the quiet, of the space. Quiet and stillness were terrifying to me. Who would I be if I wasn’t a human doing? There are times now when I catch my heart racing in unscripted downtime, twitching for something useful or productive to do.

Now, I can see clearly that somatic tightening for what it is, somatic capitalism slowly slowly slowly draining from my bones, blood, and nervous system.** Not only is this capitalism, it is also immaturity.

The frenetic attention of our adolescent society is always directed outward. “The drives that govern modernity, the questions of what does it all mean and what is it all for, the willful exercising of individual agency at the expense of all else, of seeing just how far our freedom goes.” This is all hubris, according to Josh Schrei in his So You Want to Be a Sorcerer in the Age of Mythic Powers (The AI Episode) podcast episode. “In culture that by its very nature puts humans above everything else, hubris is baked into the system itself.”

Hubris. Such a good word.

This is the link. There is a link between our need to accumulate and self distract. A link between shiny convenience and human supremacy. All arise from our inability to stop and feel ourselves as part of the Greater World. Not just intellectually, but in our marrow.

Stop scheduling our lives.

Stop clicking.

Stop filling the void.

If we stop, we might feel our terror of slowness, space, and unscripted action. Those emotional triggers are an invitation to move through and beyond them - not emotions to suppress and avoid. That is the immature reaction. Avoidance is the child’s road, not the adult path.

So, as children, our culture keeps inhaling (click click)

and inhaling (travel, classes, new activities)

and inhaling (stuff, stuff, more stuff)

without EXHALING.

The exhale allows space to creep in. The exhale allows accumulation to pause and rest and stop.

The exhale allows the whisper of our intuition, our internal wise loving voice, to become a roar.

All alone in my room doing nothing.

All alone in my room - a blank space for The Good to creep in.

Doing nothing - the unmanifest realm of imagination, prayer, and devotion.

And, here is the key, I need stay there for a while. Stay there long enough for it to become uncomfortable.

I need to sit in the exhale and not twitch when the capitalism voice shows up and tells me that something must be created from this space. Just exhale and relax. That is the only thing. Even only 5 minutes a day, a pause.

To reground and reconnect with The Good.

To recharge.

*Tyson Yunkaporta would say that is an example of Wrong Story. Humanities traditional purpose is to care for the Earth - and that purpose is more needed now than ever.

** “You begin to see how much of your identity was built around performance. Achievement-based cultures tend to reward what’s visible: outcomes, titles, impact metrics, and social proof. But the most meaningful human contributions, such as presence, wisdom, care, and creativity, defy measurement.

This recalibration can stir up deep discomfort. You begin to notice the subtle ways you’ve internalized capitalism and the belief that your value is directly tied to your productivity. Even if you reject that idea intellectually, you might still feel the urge to produce, achieve, and prove your usefulness through output. Releasing that pattern takes time, practice, and a lot of self-compassion.” - Thank you Andy Johns