Evolutionary Efficiency

In the previous blog on efficiency we saw that this concept has become one of the most powerful values in economics and in our society today. One could argue that efficiency is an evolutionary trait that is linked to our amazing ability to survive as a species in at times horrendous climatic conditions over the 200,000 years we have been on the planet Earth.We have to bow down in awe and thanks to our ancestors over the 13.7 billion year evolution of light, energy and matter and especially those less that 10,000 humans that survived the ice age.

We have seen that Adam Smith the father of economics gave the concept of efficiency a meaning in the context of economics through his identification of the power of the division of labour in a production process( pin production)  However this is efficiency in a one dimensional context. We will see as we explore the life and writings of Adam Smith, concepts like efficiency and all human behaviour must be viewed and discerned within a bigger moral context. This today has been almost completely forgotten.

Efficiency is commonly defined as minimising costs and maximising revenues and profits all within what is generally a personal or company context. Look at this month’s “Current and Future trends blog” to see where I have identified efficiency as one of four driving forces in the world today. It has taken on viral qualities in the way it has spread.

Efficiency as a value can evolve when we become aware of the range of contexts it can exist within.  The defining importance of context as the vehicle of meaning is something to regularily contemplate in itself.

We as a species have evolved as we have seen ourselves as a part of a bigger and bigger context for human development.  Concepts and values such as efficiency should be seen within this continuum of evolution. We as a human species have as general trend over time, made the leap from seeing ourselves as a part of a tribe, to seeing ourselves as a part of a city , then nation and today many of us educated postmodern people have no problem in seeing ourselves as citizens of the world, the planet earth.  The next leap for us is to see ourselves as an integral part of the evolving consciousness or spirit,  much along the lines as expressed by Edgar Mitchell, the sixth  astronaut who walked on the moon.   In such a context our primary interest is in what is best for the sake of the whole and not for a specific individual, company, tribe, nation or even planet earth.  

What would efficiency look like in this mind blowing context – what would our internal sense of self look like? Efficiency in this spiritual context results in the one dimensional materialist economic definition of efficiency being viewed within what is an overarching moral context as consciousness has a forward directionality and an inherent moral quality.  In simple terms that moral quality can be experinced as conscience.  Efficiency is not what is best for me personally but what is best for consciousness itself- the consciousness that Edgar Mitchell experienced and that many have experienced. A deeper care for life emerges as a quality of this consciousness that Edgar Mitchell speaks about.  

In my “Think about this blog” this month, Edgar Mitchell, the sixth astronaut to walk on the moon, speaks about the universe as having intelligence and that, that same intelligence or level of consciousness or awareness, that is non material in nature, is who we are at the deepest level of ourselves. What happens to efficiency in such a context? It is experienced as  a moral imperative , a deeper care for life itself. It no longer is simply a one dimesional materialist concept which now includes this part of itself and also transcends that part of itself.  That is what evolutionary economics is about.

To let in this possibility that efficiency does exist in this infinite spirit context is for the mind a difficult and mysterious contemplation.  How do we make sense of such a context? From my experience and contemplation primarily informed by the teachings of Andrew Cohen, I have discovered a part of myself that is pure consciousness or awareness or spirit which is the source from which everything manifest arises. Poets such as William Wordsworth have written so beautifully about this and there is such a poem on my website.

Is this too much to grasp, or are you as I am, compelled to reach into this liberating yet unknown enquiry?   The implications of holding this infinite perspective or context are radical and result in us transcending the current structures within which we are used to understanding values like efficiency.

It is at this higher level of consciousness or spirit that we can transcend our separate sense of self or ego to bring a truly liberated collective approach to efficiency.  Einstein said that the problems we face today can only be solved from a higher level of awareness than the one that created the problems.This egoless context is such a higher level of consciousness from which our problems can be solved.

Today the one dimensional efficiency is practiced via institutions, in some cases well intentioned, that are continually exposed to be guilty of wasteful and inefficient practices:  like many Government agencies worldwide, many financial and other companies all over the world, NGO’s and United Nations organisations. We have seen in the past, and we still see today the inefficiency and dysfunctionality that results from decisions made by passionate nation centric politicians who are influenced by tribal centric and company centric groups not to mention egocentric people.   From the higher level of consciousness or spirit which is beyond even a world centric context, the meaning of efficiency is experienced as an urge to create conditions fit for the further evolution of consciousness  or spirit as embodied in human beings. The meaning of efficiency then takes on a moral quality that is rooted in the deepest sense of self which is consciousness or spirit, striving for the good of the whole – striving to develop itself through all of us working together in a new and thoroughly positive way. This positivity is informed by the strong experience of there being no existential doubt in life itself or why one is here. When we see this in others this confidence grows as does the desire to be creative and act in the world for change.