Have you ever thought about a job where you don't actually 'go to work'? A job that has meaning, is fulfilling and varied? A job that serves towards better health, for mind, body and soul ? How about a job where you don't have to answer to anyone except yourself, that is beneficial to you, your family, your community, and the planet! What about a job that satisfies all of lifes currencies? May I introduce to you perhaps the most desirable job of the 21st Century, "The Self Sufficiency Manager".
"What does the Self Sufficiency Manager do?" I hear you ask.
'Well he manages all facets of self sufficiency of course.'
"And what is self sufficiency?"
"Self sufficiency refers to the state of not requiring any outside aid, support, or interaction for survival".
We can do things for ourselves or we can pay others to do them for us. These are the two 'systems' that support us; one might call them the 'self reliance system' and the 'organization system'. The former tends to breed self reliant men and women, the later tends to produce organization men and women. All existing societies support themselves by a mixture of the two systems, but the proportions vary.
In the modern world, during the last hundred years or so, there has been an enormous and historically unique shift: away from self reliance and towards organization. As a result, people are becoming less self reliant and more dependent than has ever been seen in history. They may claim to be more highly educated than any generation before them, but the fact remains that they cannot really do anything for themselves. They depend utterly on vastly complex organisations, on fantastic machinery, on larger money incomes. What if there is a hold up, a breakdown, a strike, unemployment, a global financial crisis? God forbid that the supply of cheap oil comes to an end. Will others, including government, provide all that is needed? In some cases yes but in most cases no. Many people fall through the meshes of the safety net, and what then? They suffer, they become dispirited, even despondent. Why can't they help themselves? Generally, the answer is only too obvious: they would not know how to, they have never done it before and wouldn't know where to begin.
Self Sufficiency is not 'going back' in time to some primitive way of hunting and gathering and living in caves. It is not 'going back' to the acceptance of a lower standard of living. On the contrary , it is the striving of a higher standard of living. A higher standard of food, food which is fresh and organically grown, a higher standard of our surroudings, working varied jobs in the fresh outdoors, a higher standard of health for body, and the peace of mind which comes with hard, varied work in the open air, and for the satisfaction that comes from doing difficult and intricate jobs well and successfully. Self Sufficiency is going forward to a new and better sort of life, life which is more fun than the over-specialized round of office or factory, a life that brings challenge and the use of daily initiative back to work, variety, and occassional great success and occassional abysmal failure.
There are many reasons why we should all explore and educate ourselves about self sufficiency, reasons for us individually, as well as for our children and their children. Self sufficiency is a major way forward to achieving sustainablity and our current path requires us to inhabit approximately 2.5 planets, clearly an unsustainable position. Many educated professionals are reporting that we are on the verge of major changes in the way we currently live. Issues such as climate change, overpopulation, the recess of arable land, global food shortages, peak oil, and pollution of all forms are only part of it. For the first time in mankinds history, we are leaving the planet for our children in a worse condition than we inherited.
The vast majority of todays generation have been raised to understand only one form of currency, the almighty dollar. However, in the open minded individual, there are many more currencies in life to be found, enjoyed and embraced.
To create your own position of Self Sufficiency Manager and to embrace the reasoning for it, requires above all else, courage. Family, friends and society may tell you it's impossible and unrealistic to achieve self sufficiency (or some way towards it) in our current world. To some people it will be, but to those who wish to take the 'risk' for a happier, healthier and 'higher' life, the rewards of the Self Sufficiency Manager may surprise you. The Self Sufficiency Manager is a 'well paid job' in all currencies of life. Wish me luck in my new job.
