A New Foundational Philosophy

Prologue 2 – Socio-Political and Economic Philosophy

Alberta has an extraordinary character. The people of the province need a foundational philosophy. Solutions, plans and actions need to correspond to that philosophy.

Maybe it’s our pioneer spirit, our bitterly cold winters or our connection to the land. Or perhaps it’s the quiet Indigenous influence. Whatever the reason, Albertans want to believe in something more than just themselves and their material needs; they have a visceral need for a code philosophy.

American character traits are certainly influential. Albertans share the ‘can-do’ attitude and the belief in their capacity to solve problems. But Albertans are also slightly different.

There is a feeling of ‘raising the barn together’. These traits are shared across the Prairies, but Alberta is the most likely to drive political change.

Defining Philosophy

In exploring the living culture of the Prairies, a strong similarity to the traditional Indigenous community of the Prairies comes into the light. When it’s 40 below zero, one learns quickly that we need each other to survive.

The consideration of philosophy in this work is in part descriptive and in part aspirational. The plan outlined in Prologue 1, suggests the collaboration of two civilizations, that of the Indigenous and that of the “Invitees’. The aspirational aspect of defining a foundational philosophy is the fulfillment of the vision of the elders when they decided to join in treaty; create a new society that is the best of both the Indigenous way and the European way.

In the subsequent pages a new philosophy will emerge. It is inspired by and calls upon the extraordinary nature of the people of the Prairies. For the first time in Canada, we can lead the co-creation of a unified, socio-political and economic philosophy sourced from the heart, spirit and history of all people of the Prairies.

It is called Creative Humanism.

Creative Humanism is a belief in the sovereignty of humanity over man-made constructs. Similar to the traditional Indigenous worldview, it is rooted in the understanding that humans and nature are a unified, interdependent whole. Humanity is at one with, and immutably interconnected to, each other and earth.

Currently, democratic states are divided into two types: a nation state that may or may not codify individual rights and monarchies that may or may not have royal prerogative over their people.

Socio-political and economic mechanisms built on the foundational philosophy of Creative Humanism are bottom-up, rather than top-down. The self-sovereignty of humans means they meet their own needs while respecting and honouring their immutable unity and interdependence with each other and the land. Governments, businesses and all other systemic constructs are designed to support humans in their growth from dependence to self-sovereignty. Man-made constructs are given limited rights and defined responsibilities. The following pages consider the ramifications of this view.

This work is not intended to be exhaustive. Much more analysis and consideration are expected and requested. Fully developing the concept is, as the philosophy suggests, a creative collaboration of interdependent participation. The ideas presented herein, will ideally generate more and better ideas to improve the philosophy.

Indeed, the cornerstone of Creative Humanism is to build mechanisms upon which individuals, and society as a whole, can evolve, as nature intended, from dependent to self-sovereign (independent) to interdependent. This work proposes that our current adversarial and stratified socio-political and economic constructs have humanity stuck somewhere between obedient and independent. The book’s objective is to show a path to elevate our community, and thereby ourselves, to be somewhere on the higher reaches of the Creative Humanism evolutionary scale.

At the level of interdependence, life changes immeasurably. We fully recognize our connection to each other and to nature. Defined laws become less and less important as social norms become our guiding principles. This work does not assume to get us all the way there. Rather, the hope is that it will be the first step; a step that we are ready to take.

It is time to move on from dependence to the level of interdependence that nature has intended for us.