The 6 Most Unsustainable Beliefs Of Modern Society That Support Unsustainable Practices

When people mention Sustainability, they often think about things we can do to prevent the wasteful use of our natural environmental resources, but the truth is, that wasteful use wouldn't happen in the first place if there wasn't some knucklehead philosophy or idea to back it up. Let me share with you 6 of the most unsustainable ideas that have been amazingly costly, not only to the environment, but to society and the world as a whole.

1. God gave man dominion over the earth. It's a Christian phrase taken straight out of the Old Testament. Maybe they meant something else when they talked about dominion back in those days when they were writing the Old Testament, but modern interpretation of dominion is "we can do what we want". And that's exactly what's happened. Careless disregard for the environmental future has been a staple of modern humankind's space on the planet. This dominion perspective is sharply different from the "live in harmony with" idea often shared by many primary cultures around the world.

2. Success leads to happiness. On the contrary, happiness leads to success. The idea that if we just achieve professional success, we'll become happy people is a falsehood. So many people have reached that personal pinnacle as espoused by their peers, parents and mentors, only to find that there is an emptiness once you get there. All of the recent psychology studies show that people who are happy first are the ones that achieve the greatest success in life. My suspicion is that once they figure out they can be happy with or without the brass ring, the brass ring doesn't have the same control over their lives. Wow. What a concept.

3. I'll believe it when I see it. Just the other way around. When you believe it first, then the odds are that you'll be able to see it. For some reason, when you are able to see in your mind something first, you tend to draw the people, places and situations that will help to make that idea a reality. The people who aren't able to vision something first before they are able to see it with their eyes are the ones who cannot conceive of greater possibilities beyond that which is in front of them. They are the ones that will usually pass on a fixer-upper because they can't see beyond their hand. At a time when we need visionary leadership to help guide the world through transition and into new ways forward, this philosophy keeps people in big picture lockdown. I'll believe it when I see it is the belief system of small people, and I don't mean in stature.

4. You can't have everything. That statement alone is the killer of many dreams. A more affirmative statement to get people to think beyond their problems is 'all things are possible'. Even more, make a mental note of anyone who says you can't have everything. Sometimes, what they're really saying is "you can't have what I've got". It's just their way of keeping you from being in perceived competition with them over resources. Trust me, there's enough to go around.

5. We need a revolution. Really, we need an evolution. An evolution is a way of building on the ideas of today with the concepts, technologies and tools of tomorrow. A revolution is simply a cycle that goes 'round and 'round. Nothing really changes. It sounds romantic to talk of revolutions and turning the system upside down, but now may be the time to 'turn the system' right side up by evolving beyond the concepts and ideas that have gotten us into this mess in the first place. A sustainable society needs the people who won't throw out the baby with the bath water, but those who say 'what works, what doesn't work, and let's look for alternatives'.

6. You can't teach an old dog, new tricks. This classic phrase is probably the biggest myth of our time. It presumes that once people get into a particular life groove, they're locked in for the rest of their earthly days. I've spent the past 10 years teaching homeless people how to make radical, lasting and ongoing changes to their lives. I can say without reservation that people can and do change all the time. Are you the same person today than you were when you were 10 years old? When you were 20? Apparently, someone taught you new tricks. We change all the time. The real question is whether we're changing by default or by intention. Changing by intention is called transformation.

A lot of our unsustainable practices have a philosophical driver at the core. Once we change the philosophy, we change our thought patterns. Once we change our thought patterns, we change our attitude. Once we change our attitude, we change our actions. Seems to be that this is where we need to start if we want to change the direction of the society and the planet.

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