Stomu Yamash’ta

“The Kyoto Manifesto for Global Economics”. “The Platform of Community, Humanity and Spirituality”

This, the final Chapter in the book is the ‘Encore’, a depiction of the Manifesto itself. It moves from basic underlying principles to applications. Basic change strategies employ interacting principles of ‘fractals’—the nesting of the same configuration of values and vision within ever widening levels of aggregation—from CEO to cleaner, to government; the ‘swarming’ of small disturbing influences in transforming complex systems as a whole—with guidance from a principle of the dialectic: the new thesis derives out of antithesis to the past thesis not from elsewhere, so focus for initial interventions should be on the most disturbing antitheses to neo-classical economics and action. To this is added the expansionary power of ‘global localism’—focus on transformation at local level with mechanisms designed to expand impact to other communities and domains; the ‘Creativity Imperative’—building an overall societal fabric which encourages creativity at all levels; inclusion of core values of the Kyoto Manifesto, trust, emotion, altruism and so on, within future economic calculation as is beginning to happen in ‘Behavioral Economics’. Whilst now largely extrinsic equilibria outside the economic mainstream, it is this assertion of our humanity within economic equilibria that offers the potential to take humanity from its present role as extrinsic ‘sunspot’ activity into forming a humanity base for the economics of our sustainable future. The Manifesto concludes with an outline of specific actions which follow.

The Essence of Creativity

In this book, “creative economy” is defined as the economy that promotes the market and social values of creative activities and improves the well-being of the people. The value of creative activities is closely related with the well-being of the people because creative activities that improve well-being gain high market value. In this chapter, we discuss about the essences of creativity, and derive some implications for the optimal economic and social system for a creative economy.

Trust, Not Competition, as a Source of the Creative Economy

In a society, trust is a crucial factor for efficient cooperation and transactions.Without trust, cooperation is impossible and to prevent cheating the cost of transactions becomes too high. In this sense, it is important to examine the mechanisms of trust formation in a society. In this paper, we further develop the work of Zak and Knack by considering the relationship between trust, happiness, and inequality. The results of the empirical analysis by using cross country data show that higher levels of trust in society increase positive happiness, such as feelings of attainment, and decrease negative happiness, such as feelings of anxiety or anger.

Supplement for Chapter 9: Impression and Comment on “Zero and Emptiness (Vacuum Void) in Physics and Chemistry” by Kazuyoshi Yoshimura

During the latest half century, the sciences, especially the fields of astronomy and astrophysics, have progressed drastically. In particular, the exploration of the beginning of the universe has brought about the concept of “this universe” and “other universes.” We once had a similar concept, “this world,” corresponding to the solar system, in Japan in the 1940s. People believed that there existed another universe, referred to as the netherworld or the great beyond. This belief can be re-interpreted in the context of the recent hypothetical understanding of the black hole, where the surfaces of the universes are faced and may be contacted. To revitalize the intuition of modern people with respect to the concept of multiple universes, it is important to reset the current consciousness and will of people, and to sharpen the sensitivity that mankind is innately endowed with as a consequence of the long process of evolution.

“Building the Kyoto Platform for Change” (Fourth Movement)

Chapters in the Conclusions Suite overview the evolving argument of the book, represented in the previous ‘Movements’ of the argument’s Symphonic form. Having now established the fundamental piers on which we can build a new Global Economics Platform, Chapter 30, drawing together the lessons of the Fourth Movement, now builds that platform. The central reference point is the depth of our spirituality, which in turn, is anchored at its deepest level in the cosmic Void and our non-material genesis within a material world. Connected is our creativity in an open world, not closed into self-interested separation. A caution is added that whilst scientific explanation is immensely valuable it is not enough, as it limits human experience in validity to what is legitimated in scientific explanation, thus excluding the irrational, non-recurrent, non-constant phenomena which make up this human experience. Chapter 30 is a rich analysis which defies further summary as it trawls back through the whole book for the way forward. Contrast of lessons learnt is made in the Fourth Movement against economics based in alternate belief systems, Buddhist and Islamic, as well as against a ‘hospitality’ model derived from Western philosophic principles and the practical case of the Mondragon Movement originating out of southern France, and micro-producing communities elsewhere.

“Foundation Stones of Spirituality” (Second Movement)

Chapters in the Conclusions Suite overview the evolving argument of the book, represented in the previous ‘Movements’ of the argument’s Symphonic form. Chapter 28’s summary of the Second Movement takes the reader to the depths of our humanity, and its relationship to our world and wider cosmos, as a core platform for exploring human power embedded in our spirituality. That this is the “Kyoto” Manifesto is deeply significant, for Kyoto—the place—is foundation of Japan’s “spiritual heart”, whilst demonstrating in the modern age the human craft and creativity that has evolved over more than a millennium and is represented in many generations of family production. These lessons from Kyoto can instruct our action now. Each of the International Symposia from which the Manifesto was constructed were preceded by an “On-Zen” performance within joint Shinto/Buddhist temple ritual by Stomu Yamash’ta—of sacred music using, as percussion instrument, the unique and sacred ‘sanukite’ stone. This stone was employed in ancient pre-Bronze Age ritual and music because of its extraordinarily large frequency range and vibrant sound. As performances to bring people together in peace, the sanukite stone performances allow us to hear, in Stomu’s words, “the grandeur of memorial vibrancy”, a connection between the energy of nature generated from the Void and the harmony of our humanity. This force and connection is then explored in the Second Movement of the book and validated from the latest advances in cosmic physics and relations to the long-term teachings of Buddhism. In both physics and Buddhism, the ‘Void’ or ‘emptiness’ is the state of impermanence and change but at the same time the heart of energy which generates everything in the real world. Chapter 28 then goes on to demonstrate the implication of these phenomena for social arrangements, specifically in ‘vernacular democracy’ in rural India—a world where equality and diversity can stand together.

Recognizing the Need for Change (First Movement)

Chapters in the Conclusions Suite overview the evolving argument of the book, represented in the previous ‘Movements’ of the argument’s Symphonic form. Chapter 27, representing the First Movement in the book’s Symphony, draws together the premise of the Kyoto Manifesto, that in the 21st Century, society is rapidly approaching a ‘tipping point’ beyond which recovery could be impossible. Basic is the observation that is increasingly being described as that the earth has entered a new age, the ‘Anthropocene’, where human activity is now altering the overall physical dynamics of the planet at an alarming exponential rate. The underlying dynamic for this impact is born out of global economics. Endangered are our food supplies, our social structures and welfare. At heart is massive and increasing inequality, highly centralized profit-oriented ownership. The global economy not only invades but disempowers alternate action, yet the philosophies of ‘neo-liberalism’ (‘let the market rule’) and growth continue unabated. Ultimately, infinite growth in a finite system is an impossibility. Cracks in the fabric of globalization are starting to emerge.

“The Sacred Symphony” (Overture)

Chapters in the Conclusions Suite overview the evolving argument of the book, represented in the previous ‘Movements’ of the argument’s Symphonic form. Chapter 26 presents the opening argument of the ‘Overture’ which developed the objective of the book and necessary inputs to achieve it. Emphasis is placed on the dangers of the ‘frame’ imposed on current society by global economics by which humanity’s values are commanded along with ways of communicating, building community and experiencing our spirituality. Eastern values and the relationship of humanity to cosmic phenomena (as represented in quantum physics), ‘sunspot’ (extrinsic factor) equilibria in economics, the role of human trust and emotion, alternative (Buddhist and Islamic) premises for economics, are brought together into a progressive search through different levels of society for the ‘Manifesto’ conclusions.

“The Dynamic of Creativity” (Third Movement)

Chapters in the Conclusions Suite overview the evolving argument of the book, represented in the previous ‘Movements’ of the argument’s Symphonic form. Central to the very concept of the Void is creativity. The core dynamic of the universe is creation of the new, destruction of the old to be replaced by new creation. Chapter 29 brings together the arguments of the book’s Third Movement which builds on the previous Movements to explore creativity. As it argues, emotion is central to creation, immediately taking the reader from spirituality and the cosmos to the inner world of the person. Further on creativity, a central quest of the book is to identify the optimal social and economic system for producing a fabric of a creative economy. This goes way beyond just creative activities such as painting and dance, presented in separate domains and to separate audiences. Instead, a creative fabric implies building creativity into everything from education to urban and organizational design. Even at the center now of institutionalized creative activity, scientific research, ‘openness’ and therefore ‘trust’ work, not closed boundaries. Again, back to the power of emotion and intersubjective understanding—the source of ‘community’ as demonstrated earlier. The same applies in organization design of ‘open systems’. Here lies a fundamental premise of escape from the limiting controls of neo-classical economics, our path to a survivable future.

Listen to the Stone—Searching for Spiritual Harmony in Polyphonic Coexistence

Chapter 8 takes this book into the depth of our humanity—exploring harmony amongst the multiple (polyphonic) natural and human themes of our existence. The search is practical and inspired by ancient history, returning to the historic place before the Bronze Age when a very special stone, ‘sanukite’ was used in ceremonies and on special occasions because of its extraordinary two-minute resonance and acoustic range—including inaudible high frequency waves more than 500,000Hz which some believe have a healing effect. Based on very extensive wider music performance experience in both classical and contemporary worlds the author has developed a unique percussion instrument from this stone, and plays it in ceremonies that bring people and religions together in celebrations of peace—including prior to each of the International Kyoto Symposia from which this book was constructed. The Chapter shows how it is possible in a dialogue with the harmonies of the stone, to hear the vast timelessness of the world which surrounds us and thus to live in relation to it. Contrasted against today’s increasing dependence on the limited acoustic range of digital (sampled) music, the Chapter argues that, with the increasing universality of digital sound and the consequent loss of connection in consciousness to the harmonic breadth and depth of natural sound, there is a decline in multidimensional thinking and originality, an ongoing loss of cultural diversity in a globalized world. The main contribution of this Chapter is to take the reader through quite practical experience to the depths of what is humanity’s spirituality within our wondrous cosmic world, the most basic of platforms from which this book constructs the Kyoto Manifesto for Global Economics.