"Shrink Soup"

I remember a Donald Duck comic from a long time ago. Donald was competing in a contest to see who could make the most bubbles in the soup. It was just a matter of adding plenty of butter. More butter, more bubbles. Donald had plenty of butter—which, of course, he didn’t share with anyone else—and won easily. Or so it seemed. Until he added one last scoop of butter. All the bubbles merged into one big bubble, and so he lost the contest.

You hear about population decline

You hear a lot these days about (the fear) that we’re heading into a period of contraction. It’s also seen a bit as a “punishment” for the unbridled growth with which we’ve depleted our planet over the past few decades. It’s gone. That’s well known. However, we can’t begin the transition until we understand the underlying causes. Such as the fear of decline, which causes paralysis. What’s the story there?

Growth isn’t a bad thing. It’s essential, it’s in our DNA, and it’s completely natural. All flora and fauna “do” nothing else. There’s always room for more, better, smarter… And there’s also something selfish and competitive about that. The sun for one tree is shade for another. That, too, is nature. It forces us to stay sharp and make the most of our talents.

We humans—in business as well as in society at large—have elevated growth to an art form. And made possession the norm. Not only has “I have more than you” become an implicit measure of success, but we’re also quick to put up fences around it—out of fear of losing what we have. This isn’t even illogical at its core. After all, in the Middle Ages, when tribes harvested more than they needed, they stored it away for the coming winters. Naturally, you wouldn’t want other tribes to simply take your hard-earned bounty. But these days, we’ve gone a bit too far. Possessions have now become an end in themselves—just like Donald in the comics.

You hear about finding meaning

At the same time, you often hear that we’re searching for meaning. Meaning, as the English so aptly put it, “what you mean”—as in “what you signify, what you truly intend or imply.” Beyond the breakdown of religious and ideological barriers lay our freedom, which most of us fill primarily with possessions rather than meaning. We share our possessions less and less. We do, however, share the success stories we (think we) achieve through our possessions. The upcoming vacations are a prime example. On social media: a rat race to the most beautiful destinations. Nobody wins that race. Not even Donald.

Still, growth isn’t the problem. Nor is ownership. There’s nothing wrong with either of those things. Our problem is that, with growth having gotten out of hand, we’ve lost sight of the purpose. Ownership comes first. And so it is that the fear of losing what we own is greater than the desire to do something “meaningful” with it.

The fear of decline is our biggest problem. Because of it, we stay stuck in our old ways: owning, collecting, and putting up fences. That blocks the path to transition.

“Shrink Soup”—maybe a good theme for the Donald Duck editorial team. As few bubbles in the soup as possible. Then our comic hero would have just won… :).