TRANSPERSONAL DEMOCRACY AND ECONOMICS

     "For the last 30 years Boulder has been the spiritual capital of the United States, and Naropa and the Shambala community were at the forefront of seeding a movement. This century Boulder will be the home for cooperative development in this country and the Boulder Co-op Market will lead the way." --Such is the vision of Alakananda Devi, founder of the Alandi Ashram and one of the visionaries behind the Boulder Co-op Market.

     Some of us, like Alakananda, view the building of a cooperative movement in Boulder as a necessary element in the spiritual maturation of our community. For cooperation is simply more in accord with a sense of oneness than the competition inspired by a capitalist economy. If meditators ever become as conscious of their economic behavior as they are of their breath, perhaps Boulder will indeed become the cooperative capital of the United States. Of course, the cooperative movement in Boulder has a long way to go before playing such a role, but there is nonetheless fertile soil for the growth of such a movement here.

     Consider how the teachings of Transpersonal Psychology apply to economic development. Transpersonal psychology posits three stages of development through which individuals pass on the route to Self-realization: the pre-personal, personal, and transpersonal. In the "pre-personal" stages of development individuals tend to identify themselves with this or that group, for they've yet to develop a clear sense of self. In the "personal" stages, individuals develop self-awareness and the capacity for autonomous decision making. Finally, in the transpersonal stages, individuals maintain their autonomy and yet come to identify themselves with something greater than themselves.

     Now these same stages of development can be applied to socio-economic systems as well. In a feudal economy, for instance, social and economic roles are rigidly defined for individuals, thereby hampering the development of autonomy and making such systems "pre-personal" in nature. Capitalism, on the other hand, disintegrates the warm but confining bonds of feudalism. The free market calls on individuals to shape their own lives; to choose a career and a place to pursue it, to find a partner and build a family. Such a system fosters "personal" choices, thereby helping to produce the autonomous individuals we recognize as a hallmark of our own society.

      But in a city like Boulder, in many ways defined by its transpersonal ideals, there is something disconcerting about participation in an economic system prefaced on competition. We want an economy that fosters love and mutual support, not enmity. A Co-op can foster such commonality. Cooperation calls for all the exertion and self-expression so characteristic of a healthy sense of individuality as well transpersonal qualities like empathy and understanding, good will and harmony.

     The opportunities for personal growth and spiritual exploration in Boulder make this a unique town. However, when a large proportion of the population spend half their lives in an effort to achieve Self-realization and the other half competing for scarce resources in the job market, social dislocations are inevitable. We need to development institutions congruent with all the idiosyncrasies inherent in a city of spiritual pioneers. The Boulder Co-op Market may foster such congruency, for it is owned and controlled by its members who shop there. Like most co-ops, the Boulder Co-op Market will be an expression of its member-owners. Furthermore, its encouragement of cooperation inspires the transpersonal development so characteristic of democratic participation in a common cause. Through such participation, people learn to express their needs and interests In dynamic harmony with others.

     If transpersonal development is the next stage in the development of the human race, then cooperative economics is perhaps the next stage of economic development here on earth. For cooperation is transpersonal in nature.

     Many people In Boulder have spent the last 30 years in pursuit of transpersonal development. Perhaps many of them will spend the next 30 years building a transpersonal economic system that brings us all together in pursuit of a common cause. Cooperation preserves all of the incentives of a free market while encouraging individuals to share their skills and the fruits of their work. Certainly cooperatives are a sustainable business model for the future.

     Here in the health food capital of America, it shouldn't surprise us that some people think the creation of one of the largest food co-ops in the country might inspire a movement. Boulder has served as a hub for spiritual exploration for the last 30 years. Perhaps its time we make this hub feel like a home and develop social and economic systems supportive of our highest ideals.

Theo Horesh is a massage therapist and Board President of the Boulder Co-op Market and Director of the Commons Community Center. He has a cat named Peanut whom he loves a lot.