As I face each day, together with the rest of us, I recognize that, alongside with the trees and the grass, the rocks and the hills, the birds and the animals, and the rivers and the oceans, my carcass is here on terra firma. However, ever since the day when Sputnik I (that Russian satellite of the late 1950s) went up, and circled planet earth, my reference context has changed. Sputnik liberated me from the prison of the reference context, where, earth and heaven were framed as the alternative domains of our existence.

Today, while I know that my body may be here, I feel no guilt that my mind roams among everything else that may be “out there” in the universe. Therefore, although we are all – like the rest of the material complement – a part of planet earth, and essentially a part of the prevailing flora and fauna, I cannot help but to also contemplate beyond this earthbound part of my existence.

Accordingly, even though I expect that I will be required to “ship out of here” one of these days, I may not overlook the fact that, that which counts, is what I do as a component in, and as also a part of, an operating universe (which does not pivot primarily on results that accompany what economic markets are doing here). Furthermore, I believe that “out there” one may very well find (among other features), other minds that are correspondingly focussed on what must be done, so as to foster (by means of effort and resource management initiatives), outcomes that will enhance the meaningfulness of living; and that will also foster an informed bonding of individuals with their environment, and with the operating universe.

On making these reflections about a wider universe of sentience, the recognition of my very small presence in this operating universe, does not make me feel any less important, as a component. Indeed, in order to avoid conceiving of myself as being irrelevant in this type of operating environment, I merely need to reflect on the following reality-centred question: “Where does the circle or (in this case) the sphere, begin?”

Meanwhile, we live in a society which is principally moderated by capitalism. Indeed, globally, capitalism has conditioned people as human economic agents, along a narrow focus which expresses itself as the pursuit of greed. That pursuit pivots on the securing of financial-equivalent gain, which manifests itself in business communities as commercial profit. It also manifests in the pursuit of personal ambition that operates in association with materialistic objectives; and it also manifests in strategies where the environment in which we live, is treated primarily as a source of profit-generating raw materials.

Correspondingly, persons in the society are also conditioned to take a similar narrow financially-centred focus, on what their activities and their use of time, should be all about.

Currently, however, it is vital that Earthbound Humans, who contemplate their essential identity in the universe, should now begin (as responsible sentient beings), to also consider a matured perspective on their prevailing economic operations.

Such a matured perspective would take humanity away from an infantile context of economic understanding, which is largely stuck in a nineteenth century appreciational context. Humanity should move, instead, into a truly New Economy. Meanwhile the currently promoted “New Economy”, primarily exists as a slogan, in behalf of the most greed-driven agents of the Old Economy that was articulated in the most popularly touted part of the writings of Adam Smith, the classical economics scholar.

In contrast, herein, inspired by my reflection on my identity as a human being, (who shares in a broader community of human beings), I propose a critically needed shift to a functionally “New Economy” that would emphasize how we use the time-space. It also emphasizes the use of the prevailing resources, toward the achievement of meaningful survival, which flows out of an economic development emphasis on the quality-of-living of people.

In its expression, this “New Economy” contrasts with the currently accepted environmentally and socially destructive focus on the accumulation of financial returns, that is the norm under “capitalism”. Accordingly the new focus is toward a Renaissance of Humanity, within a survival-centred aggregate economic management context.

Substantively, capitalism has so far taken humanity to the verge of destruction, by way of greed-driven wars, oppression, and also paths of environmental and of self-destruction. I therefore draw on the background of reference of an analytical emphasis on quality-of-life attainment, to propose an alternative “People-centred Survivalism”. Its effect would be to overhaul the focus of economic thinking, and help to ensure that aggregate economic development objectives, under responsible and enlightened human guidance, will support rather than undermine human quality-of-survival.

The Essential Context

The essential focus-orienting context to this People-centred Survivalism, grows out of some straight-forward circumstances which will present themselves, if members of the community are prepared to broaden their appreciation of what living is all about.. In particular, unless we respectively look at our existence – in this part of the operating universe – as being an accidental and pointless event, our confidence in our rationality and our sentience lead us to give purpose to our decisions about how, where, and why, we will enter into respective time and effort-commitments.

As a result, those of us who share in the recognition that there resides a sense of purposefulness in the living that we do, are called upon to take further notice. On doing so, we will then find ourselves becoming aware that in association with the world of experience where we execute the “economic” management of our resources, a few universally-centred features to which we must pay heed, also arise/operate.

For example, if we are willing to accept that our (particular) existence is not an accident, we will also then come to recognize that the decision by each and any of us each day, to continue living, is also neither an accident nor a conditioned reflex.

Rather, that decision by us to continue living, is directed at securing goals, (that are not necessarily financial), and whose attainment we will then use to affirm and to give substance to our existential presence.

What we are emphasizing here, is that, the guidance to the overall living-supportive RESOURCE MANAGEMENT DECISIONS that we make, is potentially linked to a sentience within the universe, in which we share. Furthermore, we also need to be aware that substantively, the respective (and eventually the collection of) effort and resource commitments that we execute, embody/portray our lives.

The People-Centred Survivalism that we are here communicating about, emphasizes that intuitively, the day-to-day TIME-USE operations TO WHICH WE COMMIT, are aimed at being supportive of a core of wider LIVING-CENTRED (rather than necessarily market-supportive) achievements. Accordingly, this type of living-centred focus/emphasis, which links our choices of time, resource, and effort commitment activities, to union with the universe, via opportunities for enhanced understanding, contrasts with the financial-equivalent emphases which guide current economic development practice in our society. There, the results from choices, are usually framed in terms of the quantity of financial-equivalent outcomes that become generated by the commitment of time, effort, and resources.

However, one can argue that we will want prevailing aggregate economic development initiatives to be supportive of the living-centred targets that we have.

An appraisal of economic development performance to determine whether our time-use commitments are delivering (individually or collectively) the desired living-centred progress, (toward a more effective bonding with our environment and our universe), would be a new venture. For one, that type of economic performance emphasis, will require that we also frame some type of clear concept as to what are the features which will indicate/portray the prevailing time-use management outcomes, in living-centred, rather than in financially weighted terms.

For example, one set of indicators in the new People-Centred performance focus, will be the relative presence of mixes of services that will enable us to be technically capable to achieve and to support the critical requirements to our survival, (that is, our material presence). Meanwhile another set of indicators of success at time-use management, will be revealed as arrangements which will address mixes of technical capabilities that are accessible to members of the society. These arrangements will include mixes of support services (and of behavioural opportunities) which will enable these individuals to participate in time and effort commitments which contribute to enhancement in their opportunity/capability to better understand themselves and their environment, and also how they fit into the larger universe.

Meanwhile, intuitively, our sentience leads us to understand that the time, which houses the living that we do, is the initial living-centred technical resource with which we have been bestowed.

As demonstrated by the historical commitment of effort and resources to religion by humans, the background sentience which mediates overall human effort commitment, has also historically led them to seek to achieve more than merely their material survival. Notably, they have also sought to place themselves into (some sort of) understanding-guided, more sublime existence with the larger universe in which they happen to find themselves.

Historically, therefore, the resource management strategy of humans has been, to seek to combine their time-housed efforts, together with other resources, (based on the understanding which they have of how the environment operates).

Stated differently, our argument here in behalf of promoting an economic development emphasis on a People-Centred Survivalism, is that, over the evolution of human sentience, within, (and by means of) our time-housed effort and resource commitments, our aim has been to be supportive of; to fulfill; to execute; and to verify; that there is a forthcoming flow of outcomes, which will be consistent with our desire to execute living as a meaningful activity.

Historically, therefore, humans have then framed mixes of technical (as compared to financial) outcomes from their time-use commitments, as signposts, which will assist them to decide whether they are achieving the type of results (from their activities), which validate their respective decisions to remain among the living.

Essentially, the framers of a People-Centred aggregate economic development management need to recognize that the evolution of our sentience, acts as the prompt that leads us to commit to the pursuit of living, as an informed and sublime bonding with the remainder of the universe. In addition, that sentience feature, therefore INSTRUCTS US TO RECOGNIZE that the (selection of) time-use commitment, is the “currency” of the bonding operation with the universe, into which we seek to substantively tap.

As we go about our successive day-to-day pattern of existence, it therefore follows that, in any instant, the time which we commit/use, is a type of (universally bestowed) living-related currency (into the usage of which, we have been awarded the privileged to tap).

When respective humans commit their time-housed efforts to the execution of an operation at hand, they are essentially managing that time “currency” which they have been privileged to access.

Furthermore, if the effort-commitment or the effort-management exercise (in respect of that awarded time) is to yield living, as a sublime union with the remainder of our universe, a particular type of survival-centred management focus (on that time commitment) is required.

In particular, the “currency” allocation as selected time-use commitments, must be aimed at facilitating or at generating outcomes, which (by their content and structure), will enable the participants who make up the society to access technical features/results, that will complement the attainment of a higher quality-of-human-survival. (Furthermore, statistically, that outcome, in turn, will ultimately be indicated by the relative distribution in the access of the participating humans, to time-use opportunities).

These time-use choices to which we commit as members of a community, portray how we “spend” our living-centred currency. Furthermore, because our living consists of what we do, if that living is to mean anything, the meaning is embodied in the types of outcomes/contributions on how people are able to live, which flow from the mixes of time-use choices that we respectively make.

However, we currently live in a financially-centred civilization, and not a people-centred one. Therefore, if we also aim to make our living a substantive part of the prevailing larger universe, and if we seek to experience its sentience-potential, which will lead to a bonding with a wider material existence, we also need to resolve issues such as:

Where does an overwhelming emphasis of our choices, on the achievement of financial-equivalent results, fit, into the need for us to participate in time-use commitments that are contributory to enhancement in the quality of human survival?

Meanwhile, toward the creation of a People centred type of economic development, the performance signposts on which we will draw to indicate of our achievements from the time use commitments that we make, must also arise out of results that operate internally consistent with each other. For example, if economic development managers impute (or to construe) that time-use operations which are centred around the practice of “greed”, are also consistent with the practice of “empathy”, that would surely represent quite a logical and intellectual “stretch”.

A corresponding disingenuousness exists in the capitalist propaganda system. It suggests that an emphasis on economic management and distribution features, which will lead individuals to feel mutuality with each other and with the remainder of our environment, is complementary with political/judicial tolerance of commercial operations which disingenuously use “information” so as to execute “sharp” business practices.

In contrast, an essential internal consistency accompanies the time-use-commitments of persons when outcomes that are supportive of their survival, as well as of their opportunities to better understand their existence are generated. As a result when aggregate economic development management promotes features and technical outcomes, which will allow individuals to use their time and effort commitments to enhance the meaningfulness of their being alive as participants in the larger experience of sentience, enhanced People-Centred Survival will be what is being revealed.

Therefore, if we are to reach that type of human achievement, our “currency” management responsibility is clear. We will each need to be able and willing to execute minute to minute, day to day, and year to year time-commitments, WHICH ARE CONTRIBUTORY to outcomes that are supportive to the enhancement of quality-of-living, (as an understanding-guided and reality-centred linkage to a potentially sublime existential experience).

However, that type of economic development attainment is not possible when we live in a world where the things that impinge on our daily experience, are programmed to DIVERT us from the wider universe (to which we are attached). That prevailing type of blinker-creating socialization, in which we live, makes it very difficult (for participating individuals) to adopt a focus where they aim to link their day-to-day choices to the achievement of harmony with a contemporaneously prevailing larger universe. Therefore, there is no substantive clamour for a people-centred aggregate economic development focus. Substantively, our prevailing socialization is being managed, to diverts us from recognizing the importance of how we allocate our time-currency. The substantive aim, is to divert us from harbouring a desire to make our respective lives meaningful. Instead, individuals are being programmed to be members of a manageable mass of commerce-centred ADDICTS. Individuals are diverted from recognizing the need to take stock, so as to placethe time-use operations to which they commit, into the achievement of quality-of-living, as a sublime and meaningful (existential) blending with a wider universe. It is also particularly notable, that the elements which are mobilized to distract us, and also to assault our intuitive living-centred sensibilities (in respect of how we commit our time), are systematically executed via the formal education system (through schools colleges and universities); and also through the informal education system, that operates through the communications in the mass media of radio, television, newspapers and magazines.

For example, there is the strategy of deliberately distracting individuals from giving due attention to their intuitive promptings, to use the commitment of their time “currency”, so as to make their living meaningful and more sublime. Furthermore, substantively, the distracting operates through the formal education system, (which in recent history has had its expository focal centre at the University of Chicago). The prevailing distractive strategy (which the whole system of formal education reinforces), has been to promote a particularly financially-centred emphasis on what time-using humans do.

The technique for distracting the society from a people-centred focus (in matters regarding living), is to emphasize and to communicate about the behaviour and the input of humans, in terms of their respective roles as arguably economic agents, (which they indeed are). However, the historical technique has been to emphasise humans, as economic entities who manipulate their time-commitments, as well as the commitments of their other resources, toward the achievement of highest net financial-equivalent gain. What happens to the other “economic” management targets that conscious humans have, is therefore (for scientific purposes, it is argued) ignored.

That economic performance appraisal focus, happens to be the capitalist scientific representation on what resource managing human civilization is all about. Accordingly, in a capitalist-managed society, its members are encouraged to draw primarily on, and to emphasize financially-centred achievement signposts, as the (objective and scientific) weight on the potential economic contribution of the various parts of reality. In particular, the capitalist socialization technique, construes outcomes which complement or which contribute to enhancement in the volume of measured commercial-equivalent trade, as the features which sentient humans should regard as the important achievement signposts, which they are to use as guides when – in the process of living – when they commit their scarce time.

The result is that in the capitalist guidance to how society is managed, the linkage that exists between time-use commitment, and living, (as a survival-centred, mind-guided existential experience) is given pertinence, only to the extent that the net results from the accumulation of financial wealth are affected. Otherwise, matters that are involved in the prevailing time-use opportunities of people are overlooked, and a need to promote Human Development and initiatives which enable humans to better fit into a larger existential universe, is ignored as governments become also remotely managed.

The sad outcome is that governments become complicit in the execution of informal educational strategies, which seek to ensure that the populace is subjected to an unrelenting din of commercial advertising, and of “reports on business”. These offered pieces of “information”, are supposed to enlighten us about what corporate enterprises are being successful in the “market”, and about what goodies are available in the “market” for us to acquire (and thus make ourselves more “satisfied/happy”, even though we may have to spend the bulk of our lives working as slaves in order to be able to purchase them).

Meanwhile, within the din of these financially-centred business reports, notwithstanding the socialization that seeks to manipulate us into priorising primarily the pursuit of financial-equivalent outcomes, humans remain intuitively aware of a need to better cope with the time-use management experience, – that forms our living –.

We recognize that our techniques of commercial trade also involve the achievement of financial-equivalent successes. However, to give due attention to the success of our time-use efforts. as living, we will also need to take survival-centred participative steps under the stimulus of our universal sentience. We therefore may not leave hanging and undiscussed, matters regarding the sort of achievements, toward which we will manage the allocation of our time “currency”.

Compass Setting Toward Achievement

In responsible humans, the latent sentience and rationality ALSO lead them to be aware of their mortality. That awareness combination, motivates them to contemplate and to fit into the larger universe of their existence. Notably, too, they also tend to refuse to be tempted to regard their presence on terra firma as being mere happenstance.

Such humans, will therefore not allow the capitalist-orchestrated communications din, to distract them from an incontrovertible existential survival-centred responsibility and obligation, in which they must participate together with other humans.

The sentience which is embedded in each of us (that has been awarded the opportunity to use time), substantively communicates a responsibility. As a result, it can be argued that, EACH OF US sentient humans, has the responsibility to cause the succession of the time and of the effort commitments (into which we respectively enter), to lead to particular types of survival-centred outcomes.

As living-centred time-use managers, each of us is required to commit to outcomes that will allow/assist us, to make the passage of the time-space that forms our respective lives, to be more meaningful (as portrayed by a more informed and sublime survival, and existence).

The signposts of progress, toward achievement from the commitment of time and resources, so as to secure the survival-centred outcomes that accompany existential fulfilment, will accompany the execution of a People-centred aggregate economic development program. Furthermore, the achievement signposts of such programs will not be those financially-centred ones which the capitalists use their system of education and socialization to condition people to draw on.

Instead, in a world where people become aware that, the time which we each have, is our living-centred “currency” that we respectively “spend” when we commit our efforts to ANY activity, measurement of how effectively our time-use commitment is being executed, calls for an appropriately tailored (living-centred) indication of achievement.

Furthermore, the evidence that contributes to the indication of achievement, will show up as the technical (rather than as the financial) impacts, which the choices in time-use commitments generate on the type of survival, which will accompany or that will be forthcoming from the efforts in living to which persons commit.

Therefore, the pertinent performance results (from the choices of day-to-day time-use commitments) which individuals make, will show up as the extent to which those time-use choices lead to (or result in) the enhanced access of individuals, to levels and to mixes of technical outcomes, that are contributory to (understanding-guided) quality-of-living.

It is true that, it is the mix of opportunities/choices that persons have for spending their time, together with the technical outcomes which these time-use commitments generate (or to which they contribute), that displays their available quality-of-living. However, until the prevailing aggregate economic development management fosters outcomes (from the available time-use commitment mix, together with opportunities/choices), which will assist the bulk of the individuals who make up the society to respectively better comprehend their existence (as a part of the larger universe in which they find themselves), the delivered quality of the time-use of persons – as living – will be essentially less than rudimentary.

Meanwhile, effort and time which respective persons commit to acquiring more money, or more financial-equivalent resources that are to be used in prevailing commercial trade, may make that person more wealthy. Furthermore, within our society, capitalist economists promote an information-processing system which imputes that, substantively/objectively, rational human economic agents seek to secure a type of existential “high” from manoeuvring to secure higher financial-equivalent gain (from their normal trade and exchange activities).

Notwithstanding, the following must also be bourne in mind. When achievement in living, is indicated by a meaningful blending of persons with the environment and with the larger universe, concentrating on wealth acquisition, and on the wealth enhancement (that accompanies effort, resource and time commitment), is not necessarily the route through of which day-to-day time-use choices best fit into the time-currency management operations, that lead to a high quality-of-living.

There are those of us who are aware of the existential hollowness, which accompanies the oversight of meaning from the achieved outcomes of living-centred economic management affairs. We therefore seek to draw attention to an overlooked statistical (analytical) fact. Its substance is that, among sentient humans, appraisal of the economic dimension of time-commitment of responsible human beings, involves more than measurements about consequences on forthcoming market-equivalent earnings. Indeed, because quality-of-survival issues are involved, responsible individuals are analytically forced to face the following living-centred economic management questions:

i. How do we give a living-centred exchange value, to the selections of day to day time-use-commitment activities, that reveal our operating presence in this wide universe; and that also portray our respective lives?

ii. As MORTAL responsible community members, what are the objective guideposts, and achievements that each of us will need to use to appraise the outcomes from our time-use choices; (and also to determine how effectively these time-use outcomes are supportive of our reasons for wanting to continue be a part of this functioning universe; which happens to involve the “here”, as well as the“out there”)?

Additionally, to reflect on People-Centred Survivalism as a result of economic management commitments, it is necessary to be mindful that although the time-use-commitment which individuals do is the currency of the living that they execute, one remains mindful that individuals are respectively also members of societies. The result is that there are questions regarding rights, obligations, and opportunities within the prevailing resource base and environment, where the living that individuals do takes place.

Therefore, to gain a sense of the prevailing domain, as the OPPORTUNITIES that persons have for spending/committing their use of time, the following, are questions that must also be resolved.

In matters that deal with how persons may commit their time (as their living-centred “currency”, what RIGHTS, in respect of pursuing or of achieving their survival, do these individuals (in any society at hand) have? It is true that our respective private time-use-commitment, substantively involves the selection of understanding-guided opportunities to manage our living/survival-centred currency, at the same time that we respectively seek to carve out an existence that is in harmony with our environment and with the remainder of the universe. However, we also need to bear in mind the following feature.

How a civilization manifests itself, is also revealed in the mix of the time-use opportunities which (the bulk of) its members secure. Therefore, if enhancement in the quality-of-living (of an involved populace) is to be an objective of aggregate economic development management, success in behalf of that delivery, will be indicated in the time-use opportunities which prevail. Outcomes must show that individual (humans) in the society have OPPORTUNITIES FOR TIME-USE COMMITMENT, which enable them to survive, as well as to secure informed bonding with their environment (which also includes the rest of our universe).

Therefore, one begins to wonder whether the capitalist socialization (and its barrage of commerce-centred messages), does not ALSO operate on an unstated premise. Indeed, it would appear that the unstated message in the prevailing barrage of commercial information; as well as in the emphases of the capitalist-captured system of formal and of informal education; is as follows:

The rights of individuals to allocate their living-centred time currency will be forthcoming – or will be recognized – first, contingent on the success of these individuals at securing money or other financial-equivalent currency, in the market arrangements which the capitalists tout.

Therefore, within the prevailing capitalist-directed “information” barrage, THE SUBSTANTIVE MESSAGE is as follows:

To hell with considerations, about delivered quality-of-living; about the relationship of that achievement, to living-centred priorities (in time-use management) that individuals have; and about the access of the individuals (who make up the bulk of the society), to high quality time-use opportunities .

That imputed message in the prevailing capitalist-controlled information system, is too bad; because the other imputed message in that framework of information processing, and of aggregate economic development management is:

The pursuit of financial profit, is to be the base reference to ALL prevailing governance. Therefore, to hell with considerations, about how our time commitment and use, is the universally-centred “currency” operation that is to be accommodated, so as to access People-Centred Economic