The Merits of a Study Group
Christopher Mankowski
So what is associative economics (AE)?
AE is a new perspective, awareness and understanding of what economics is. It distinguishes economics as something alive and natural that cannot be understood through one static definition.
How is AE different?
It differs from typical economics in three fundamental ways. AE embraces cooperation, the abundance of the economy, and the free will of the human being, in contrast to competition, ever-limited resources, and the mechanistic and omniscient rule of the market’s ‘invisible hand’. Overall, AE embraces the idea that economics is a process that can be used to better understand and serve humanity by using the tools of accounting.
AE is cooperative economics. Cooperation needs to be embraced not only for our survival, but because it is such a fundamental part of who we are. It includes the recognition that “we’re all in this together.”
Take the example of the natural world. There are so many ways in which creatures of nature support each other to the betterment of all - from the way bacteria feed off of each other’s by-products to the way chimpanzees assist each other within a community. We as human beings must use our unique consciousness to apply these examples of cooperation to all aspects of our lives. As for competition, it certainly has its place, but AE approaches it from its original meaning, “to strive together towards the same goal.” (Webster Dictionary.) Certainly we all want to be the best that we can be, and that can come about by learning from each other. This can be a wonderful process that exemplifies humanity’s striving for greatness without putting down the other in order to achieve it.
AE emphasizes that profit is the creation of something out of nothing. Profit comes from using our intelligence to create abundance out of the invisible. Economically speaking there is abundance for everybody, and what is important is investing in the dreams of others to see the many profit, instead of oppressing the other out of fear, to see the many lose.
AE challenges the idea that human beings are only a set of habits and circumstances to be formulated into figures. Economics is meant to serve humanity, and it is the consciousness within every individual that allows for each of us to make a choice to hold not only our own needs as important, but the needs of others as well. AE is a movement to bring deeper and more accurate understanding of economics to all of humanity. AE is an endeavor to realize that the human being is at the heart of economics, not at its mercy. But how will this actually create change in the world? One way is to join or form a study group. By coming together as a group we are able to share our understanding of what AE means to us. Because it is such a deep and widely applicable subject, questions often arise out of what we read in the group. This enables us to understand different concepts in AE out of our own experiences so they can develop meaning in relation to our daily lives.
So why would you be interested in joining such a group? I can only speak from my own experience. The group is important to me because I often get discouraged with the subject, whether working on a budget or reading a business plan. It is helpful to be able to take an objective role outside of the subject in addition to working within it. In this way the group offers inspiration for me to keep working on a subject that is vital to the health of humanity and my role within it. The discussions we have in the group are so rich. They reveal the interconnectedness of the aspirations of human beings on such a fundamental level. It reminds me that we are simply trying to cultivate our gifts so we can share them with the rest of the world. Through the study group I am able to share my understanding of economics, to ask questions about what I don’t understand, and to get authentic feedback from different perspectives.
AE is about recognizing the dreams of every individual and revealing their value through money and accounting. Through the AE Study Group I get the inspiration to reach for this goal and the understanding of how to cultivate it in the real world.