Page 23 - C.A.L.L. #21 - Spring 2003

NOT A LIBERAL NOT A CONSERVATIVE A RADICAL CHANGE

They say that I am a radical. If I am a radical, The order of the day
If I am a radical then I am not a conservative. is to talk about the social order.
then I am not a liberal. Conservatives try to believe Conservatives would like
The future will be different that things are good enough to keep it from changing
if we make the present different. to be let alone. but they don’t know how.
But to make the present different But things are not good enough Liberals try to patch it
one must give up old tricks to be let alone. and call it a New Deal.
and start to play new tricks. Conservatives try to believe Socialists want a change,
But to give up old tricks that the world is getting better but a gradual change.
and start to play new tricks every day in every way. Communists want a change,
one must be a fanatic. The world is getting worse an immediate change,
Liberals are so liberal about every day in every way but a Socialist change.
everything because the world is upside down. Communists in Russia
that they refuse to be fanatical When conservatives and radicals do not build Communism,
about anything. will come to an understanding they build Socialism.
And not being able to be fanatical they will take the upside down Communists want to pass
about anything, and they will put it right side up. from capitalism to Socialism
liberals cannot be liberators. and from Socialism to Communism.
They can only be liberals. By Peter Maurin, from “The Catholic I want a change,
Liberals refuse to be Worker”. and a radical change.
religious, philosophical or economic I want a change
fanatics from an acquisitive society
and consent to be to a functional society,
the worst kind of fanatics, from a society of go-getters
liberal fanatics. to a society of go-givers.

“… I realized that the only possibility is to
behave at a lower or higher level of maturity

From Magic - 381 Oxford Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94306

in oneness or cooperation.
Competition is a lower form of cooperation – it We’re on a good track these days. We’re enjoying parenting,
continuing to work on the renovation, hosting a growing
is only possible if we both agree something is number of interns and visitors, and finding ways to improve
important enough to compete over. Compromise our public service activities. We celebrated the solstice with
a bicycle ride to the ocean, which is about 40 kilometers
is a higher form. Agreement is an even higher from us, on the other side of a 2km mountain pass. Riding
level of maturity of cooperation. Co−creation is that distance with a child on the back of the bicycle was
quite a workout.
higher still. These are all forms of cooperation
which is fundamental in nature (about this At Magic we wonder often how to honor our connections to other
people, other life, and more, without embracing one or another of
there is no choice; there is only the choice to the dogmas that so often are embedded in “spiritual” traditions.
We’re enjoying our explorations, and seeking to find kernels of value
act in more mature or less mature alignment in diverse sources.

with it).” I’m actually unsurprised that new communal groups are forming in
Israel. I think that people everywhere are destined to recognize that
the fragmentation and isolation of modern society are maladaptive
Terry Mollner, the founder of Trusteeship and destructive. Similarly, I’m unsurprised that some of the groups
are finding guidance in ecological methods and principles. These
Institute, a group which mainly consults to are the means by which we discover and find harmony with the
firms converting to employee ownership based immutable patterns in nature that both support and limit our lives.

on the Mondragon model. With love and appreciation,
David Schrom - magic@ecomagic.org

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