What is a ‘New Realist’?

What is a ‘New Realist’?

A realist, in general terms, is someone who interprets how the world works, and tries to act or live in recognition and / or respect of that interpretation.

Their understanding of the word ‘reality’ is greatly influenced by the way of life and culture that he or she has been raised in and ‘conditioned’ to.

A common garden ‘Contemporary Realist’ is someone who, for instance:

• Accepts the current monetary system and their place within it.
• Believes their role is to gain as much as they can from the system.
• Agrees that a radically different system of production and consumption is inconceivable – a fantasy.
• Sees nature as a raw material and a (sometimes interesting) sideshow to the main event.
• Accepts GDP as the main yardstick by which the health of the nation is judged.
• Believes the continued growth of the current global economic system, is or should be the main focus of all societies. This perpetual growth is defined under the general term ‘progress’.
• Constructs generalities about the world based on their understanding of their own way of life – ‘money makes the world go round’, ‘humans are separate from nature’, ‘it’s a dog eat dog world’, etc.
• Shrugs and says ‘that’s life baby, and you aint got nothing better to put forward so laugh it up fuzzball’ whenever the system throws up another painful reminder of how unrealistic it really is.

In short, a ‘contemporary realist’ is one who accepts the reality of the way of life in which he or she finds themselves apart.

It’s a pretty admirable thing to be. There are pros and cons of course.

On the one hand, such a person is more of a pragmatist and less of a fantasist.

On the other, such a person could act as a barrier to innovation and experimentation, an ardent defender of the status quo.

Problems arise when these good folk confuse the reality of their way of life with ‘reality’.

For there is a far greater reality that circumscribes every way of life that has ever existed., and it is in understanding this reality that we come to understand the mindset of the ‘New Realist’.

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In order to understand the ‘New Realist’,

we must first broaden our understanding of the word ‘reality’.

From our perspective, that reality begins with the Big Bang, and the creation of our universe.

More specifically (and more manageable), we can begin with the earth – its physical and chemical makeup.

Upon this stage, Life evolved, and over time, prospered. Indeed, Life is inexorably involved in the process of shaping the physical and the chemical to create an earth system comfortable for its prosperity.

Within this system, Life, through the process of natural selection, has evolved, and continues to evolve, a grand tapestry of interconnected living organisms, ways of life and eco-systems.

Just as the Life needs to work within the context of the physical and chemical world around it, so too all ways of life must work within the context of all three. In fact, it is in doing this that they truly prosper.

They are the systems from which we were borne and to which we, and our ways of life, remain a very important part.

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So for me a ‘New Realist’ is someone who has the ability to look beyond the contemporary (emphasis on temporary) system of banks and the mortgage holders, manufacturers and consumers, economic theorists and the working man, politicians and the proletariat, and see the world as it is – a grand natural system, unique in the known universe; ancient, alive and bountiful.

Crucially, a ‘New Realist’ is someone who chooses to build a way of life that strives to exist in recognition and respect of that reality. They do this with an understanding that it is the only way for a people to truly prosper.

As such, a ‘New Realist’ is constantly on the search for the answer to the question = “How can we build a truly prosperous way of life in the context of the reality in which we find ourselves apart?”

I would define myself as a ‘New Realist’, in theory at least. This blog will document my investigation and application of the term, and my attempt to live accordingly.

The question you need to ask yourself is, who would you rather be?

Are you going to accept the way of life around you as it stands, and be a realist in terms of ‘it’.

Or are you going to accept reality in terms of the Earth’s grand natural systems?

Are you going to build a way of life for yourself that respects that?

Are you going to be a true realist?

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“Hontar

You had no alternative, Your Eminence.

We must work in the world. The world is thus.

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Altamirano

No, Señor Hontar...thus have we made the world.

Thus have I made it.”

The Mission (1986)