The dream like quality of truly living

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Just about everyone has been wearing their yellow shirts this week. It’s a very auspicious occasion. The king of Thailand, revered by most Thais, turned 80 yesterday. Though he’s been ailing recently, he is the longest living monarch. There was a huge fireworks display the other night that made any Fourth of July show seem like a few sparklers and some roman candles. So It is safe to say that most Thais do indeed love their King. He is a stabilizing presence who perseveres through corruption scandals and coups. The montages shown before every movie and all over the place this Wednesday portray a benevolent ruler who cares for the people, their economic opportunities, and the natural environment of Thailand. Most of his initiatives seem to follow through on these ideals. Thailand’s material wealth is a boon in its modern economy. All over Bangkok there are uniformed college and lower grade students who have access to education.

One of the King’s initiatives is called sufficiency economy. It is supposed to set up the Thai economy to be a sustainable system that is not subject to the negative effects of heavy foreign investments like the ones that contributed to the 1997 Asian financial crisis. As described in a quote on the website http://www.chaipat.or.th from the 1999 Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) Year-end Conference Distribution Material:

“’Sufficiency Economy’ is a philosophy that stresses the middle path as the overriding principle for appropriate conduct by the populace at all levels. This applies to conduct at the level of the individual, families, and communities, as well as to the choice of a balanced development strategy for the nation so as to modernise in line with the forces of globalisation while shielding against inevitable shocks and excesses that arise. "Sufficiency" means moderation and due consideration in all modes of conduct, as well as the need for sufficient protection from internal and external shocks. To achieve this, the application of knowledge with prudence is essential. In particular, great care is needed in the utilisation of untested theories and methodologies for planning and implementation. At the same time, it is essential to strengthen the moral fibre of the nation, so that everyone, particularly public officials, theorists and businessmen, adheres first and foremost to the principles of honesty and integrity. In addition, a balanced approach combining patience, perseverance, diligence, wisdom and prudence is indispensable to cope appropriately with critical challenges arising from extensive and rapid socioeconomic, environmental, and cultural changes occurring as a result of globalisation.”

The idea of “Sufficiency Economy” and “Gross National Happiness” merged in the 3rd International Conference on Gross National Happiness. Hosting the conference in Nong Khai and Bangkok, Thailand; gave Thais the platform to show case their national and regional initiatives towards “Sufficiency Economy” in relation to the Bhutanese GNH initiative.

Really, the whole conference was like a dream - one that referenced something actually happening in real life. Maybe like a lucid dream. The energy of the conference attendees was upbeat. There was a sense that this is inevitable. Encouragingly, there is evidence that the GNH idea and processes are impacting the way policy makers are viewing economy. Nick Marks from the the New Economics Foundation, UK noted that a policy maker from the EU is now saying things that proponents of GNH and other alternative indexes have been saying, as if they were his own ideas.

The dream like quality was pervasive in the smiles at the end of each day of speeches and workshops. The sincere commraderie of attendees was refreshing in its lack of cynicism and trust that everyone at the conference is working on crucial components of the survival of a potentially enlightened civilization. I should admit there were times when I had a fog of doubt roll in, but there was always new information that made me realize that what we are talking about - happiness - is truly possible and that it is absolutely necessary to put our work into perpetuating happiness.

And how do advocates of GNH propose to do this? Is this just a new package for old rhetoric from the “left”. It might have that quality, but it is also a process that is organizing all these “radical” ideas into a cohesive proposal for actualizing something different than the same old dog eat dog economics. This is saying what we want, not just what we don’t want.

GNH still needs a lot of development, though it is impacting global economic discourse in organizations like the Organization for Economic Cooperative Development (OECD). Jon Hall, leading the OECD's Global Project on Measuring the Progress of Societies since it began in 2005, provided an update on the OECD’s 2007 conference in Turkey. It clearly showed the influence of GNH. However, Ron Colman from GPI Atlantic Canada was concerned about potential misinterpretations by mainstream economists. He said, “We have to be careful that GNH indicators don’t become just attractive side streets, while the economic juggernaut bulldozes through on the same old development strategies.” I also got the sense that the process for GNH is working great, but like the emotion of a happiness as with any emotions, we don’t know how they actually work and analysts are only beginning to develop indicators. The New Economics Foundation, Uk has developed some pretty impressive surveys, but Nick Marks - a key developer of their “Happy Planet Index” - admits there are complex cultural factors and that it’s important for people to develop indicators from specific cultural perspectives.

Overall, the conference was very impressive in its scope, but representatives from Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and - embaracingly - significant attendance from the US. Also, as Dr. Peter Hershock the Coordinator of the Asian Studies Development Program at the East West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii and author of several books including 'Buddhism in the Public Sphere: Reorienting Global Interdependence' (2007) commented that the conference structure should reflect the principles of GNH. For instance there’s a need for less exchange of speeches and more group processing, which the youth participitation in the conference impressively demonstrated.

Doctoral candidate and youth group advisor Francesco Volpini explained, the youth group “came up with the same conclusions in ten days that professional analysts took four years to achieve.” The 60 or so youth from every country in Southeast Asia as well as a group from Bhutan and Canada (again no US involvement) were engaged in intensive team building and work groups that, after being together for a week prior to the conference in home stays and on sight investigations of communities, met well into every night of the conference to identify crucial operating principles for GNH. They were impressively articulate.

There was also a great cultural aspect to the conference. Every day there was incredible cultural exchanges. The first day centered on spirituality, so there were workshops on Qi Gong, Eurythmy, Vajrayana Budhism, Interfaith-dialog, and more. That day began with chanting and prayers from major world religions. The next night we went to a huge celebration in a local village where we were welcomed by the villagers in a long line. We were then treated to great food, a traditionally influenced modern Thai band, and cultural performances from Thailand, Laos, Indonesia, Bhutan, and Canada. On the third night, we were in a parade for the Mekong River Loi Krathong celebrations. Loi Krathong is a release of small candle boats in the river. After the ceremony there was a long concert for the entire community. Again there were performances from many different countries, including passionate and stunning performances by musicians and dancers from Sri Lanka and a drum group from Taiwan. After the music we saw a traditional Thai opera that included cross dressers and told a humorous story about the Naga - the mythological river serpeant. Back in Bangkok, we saw some of these performances again and some more Thai artists.

I was balancing three ways of participating the conference. In no order of importance, I was an organizer, a participant, and an observer. As an organizer, I saw the disorganization, like a theater production, that no one else noticed. As a participant, I tried to engage the discussion. As an observer, I collected information to convey to the people I know back home. As an organizer, I did exceptional at not sacrificing my integrity by taking on too much but efficiently completing my tasks. As a participant, I could only engage in some official discussions, partly because of the structure of the conference but also because of my confidence. However, the most valuable conference participation happens between sessions when I was able to connect socially with other participants. I met and worked with some incredible people. As an observer, I collected many hours of speeches and presentations, but only a couple short interviews. I also learned a lot and was inspired.

At the end of the conference, after the memory of the speeches from the Prime Minister of Thailand and the Prime Minister of Bhutan started to fade, after the good food was digested, and the interpersonal conversations subsided and everyone left Chulalongkorn University to go on their various paths; I was struck by the feeling as I wandered off through the busy Bangkok streets. When I woke up in the mornings in Bangkok, I first became conscious of myself, my touch, my knowledge. Then I would suddenly become conscious of my hearing and the immense flood of traffic noise and city din. This is how I felt wandering away on my own from the dream of the GNH conference. I became aware of the difference between the quality of interrealating and interdepending on the other conference participants and organizers and I became aware of being anonymous and independent.

And over the last week as the conference subsided and I had time to explore deeper into my established friendships, I noticed how my connections fell away in a series, though the connections are still there.

I had fabulous times wandering and meandering through Bangkok city life with co-workers and new friends. I had a 10 hour marathon discussion wandering through the city with an old friend before he went to Malaysia for a three month meditation retreat. I was able to just go to movies and hang out and be with my friends Por - a photographer for a Thai magazine - and Dolma - a Tibetan woman born in India who had been working for the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB). Also, Por invited me to go with her and other photographers to the roof of her friend’s condo to see the fireworks in honor of the Kings birthday. I went to a local concert of Thai post-punk influenced bands with Jeeb - the PR woman for the conference - who studied in London. I went to a reggae/ska concert (no farung, all locals) at Kao san road. We went with one of the Bhutanese guys and some of the people I worked with to a Heinekan “Dutch Village” outside one of the super malls where there were full on Christmas displays and beer gardens with full on rock concerts. I wish I could convey the surreal dreamlike quality I’m experiencing.

And after all that, I finally left Bangkok and arrived in Bhutan! Yes, it’s actually happened. On the airplane, I again felt like I was lucid dreaming as we approached the beauty of the Himalaya. The land and people are truly beautiful in form and spirit. There’s a smell that is uniquely Himalayan. I remember it from my visit to Nepal six years ago. I know I’m not dreaming, the journey’s only beginning…

“We need to recolonize ourselves with our own culture.”
-Aileen Kwa, co-author of Behind the Scenes of the WTO. The Real World of Trade Negotiations

“It encourages us to know that more and more people are taking on this responsibility.”
-Kinley Dorji, Center for Bhutan Studies

“What Bhutan does at home will have the biggest impact.”
-Dr. Ron Colman, GPI Atlantic Canada

The Fourth International Conference on Gross National Happiness will be in Bhutan.

We can witness that someone is happy, but we can’t say with complete certainty how the emotion operates.

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Comments

[Valeri Wade]

economic sanity
It's great to hear about an economic structure based on honesty, integrity and patience. How civilized! Your descriptions of how it affected you personally are particularly interesting. Thanks for sharing.