The final pathway is the common good – imbuing all human cultures with a pervasive sense of mutuality and an ethics to nurture and protect our ecological, social and economic commons. Just as an ecological system needs to be connected, balanced and for each element to enhance the commons, we also need our societies to be generative fields from which environmental, social and inter-generational justice can grow. Throughout history, there have been, and still are many indigenous cultures that hold this world view. Collaboration is as deep a human potential as is competition. We now need to translate this wisdom into contemporary operating models.
The shift in societal paradigm from self regarding to honoring of the common good is a necessary condition if we are to achieve the other pathways towards a regenerative future. The seeding of an altruistic society is a foundational step towards planetary health. In such a society, the fundamental value system is one that sees every elements, from the soil organisms to humanity with a deep respect and care. This ethic was best outlined in Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si” on the environment and human ecology which calls for an integral ecology that creates a universal communion that “excludes nothing and no one.”