ThrivingTheFuture – Episode 13 – So You Want a Parallel Economy?

We discuss Solzhenitsyn and Havel and how to thrive in the tough times ahead. Also the culture of the barter blanket and how to fit that into your community.

This is a tough conversation and may challenge your worldview.

There is a lot of online chatter about “we are being shut out/shut down; we need to build a parallel economy!”

Or “We just need to elect new people. Our people.”

The answer is not a new government or a new economy. The core issue is taking responsibility for your own life. (not in the frequently repeated Republican definition, but in the Solzhenitsyn and Havel application).

A new government or a new economy is a totalitarian solution to a moral problem.

Too many people still believe that they have the right to tell another person what to do. You’ve heard it, and probably will default to it, under distress:

“There should be a law!”
“Someone should do something”.

It always defaults to government, law, and forcing others to do something (which requires violence).

“I deserve…”
“This shouldn’t happen to me.”
“My being safe is more important than your ‘rights’.”

The core issue is “I do not want to suffer”.

Parallel Economy and Parallel Polis (State)

It is wrong to understand the parallel structures and the parallel polis as a retreat into a ghetto or an act of isolation, addressing itself only to those who have decided on such a course…”
Vaclav Havel – “The Power of the Powerless”.

Don’t retreat (or don’t self segregate) into a ghetto. Your structures must live for others, consistently living within the truth instead of withdrawing.

Live Not By Lies

We discuss:

Suffering – If there are tough times ahead, you may have to do some surviving before you arrive at the outcome of the consequences of decisions (both personal and public) and move to thriving.
Acknowledge that it is not going back to the Before Time (before 2020). It is more likely to be similar to what Solzhenitsyn and Havel describe from Russia and Eastern Europe.
You must learn to be human, rather than just be a dissident.

“Live Not By Lies”, and the core essay and teachings from Solzhenitsyn (make sure that you read and meditate on the second half to fully understand the challenges that may be coming):

Read “The Power of the Powerless” by Vaclav Havel:

“The Power of the Powerless” by Vaclav Havel (PDF)

Community and the Barter Blanket

In the second part of the episode, we discuss community, reciprocity, and an economy that may be more based on other forms of capital rather than solely based on money. And the lore and culture of the barter blanket and how to fit that into your community.