The Connection Paradigm

The Connection Paradigm

The control paradigm is so pervasive that it’s hard to see around the blinders of its assumptions. But let’s

imagine for a while and see where we can go.

Imagine a world like this: Businesses care about their customers and want to help them. Farmers grow food

in harmony with the ecosystem. Governments seek to aid their people. Lovers love their mates. Marketers

seek permission to offer their products to those who might be helped by them. Workers seek to support their

co-workers. Parents nurture their children. These words are connection words. This is what a connection

paradigm world would look like.

To create this world, all we need to do is each take a few tiny steps toward it. Each step helps make the

world a better place. Each step moves us further from the loneliness of control and closer to the warmth of

connection.

• Is it a good idea to build a

fence around my farm to keep

the predators out?

• If humanity had no overseeing

authority, would there be lots of

crime and violence?

Since you’re reading this

manifesto, you probably have a

more open mind toward these

questions. But if you asked a

random Joe or Jane on the street,

you’d get a bunch of “Well, duh”s

and funny looks.

The thing about paradigms is that

they’re self-fulfilling prophecies.

They reinforce and perpetuate

themselves. In the dominant

paradigm, the answer to these

questions is yes. But the only

reason the answer is yes is because

of the dominant paradigm. If we

lived in a different paradigm – if

people believed differently – the

answers might change. It’s like abig group of people all leaning

on each other. They’re stable, and

they don’t fall down, but they’re

not supported by anything but

themselves. If a bunch of people

stood straight up all at once, the

structure would collapse and a

new one would take its place. And

anyone still leaning would fall

down.