Desert Creek House

My published books:

• The solution is simple ...but demanding:
  A vision and strategy for a meaningful life in a fracturing world
  
• Effort and comfort:
  Towards reconciliation between nature and humanity in serach of harmony and peace of mind
  
• Vocation and subsistence:
  Towards reconciliation betwen simplicity and wealth in search of care and equity
  
  802 Desert Creek Road,
  Numbugga via Bega NSW 2550
  Phone: 6492 8498
  Email: desertcreek(at)skymesh.com.au                         Back to Home Page
  
  

  Last news - Page of DCH's Friends - Most recent documents
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  ABOUT DESERT CREEK HOUSE			A PRACTICE OF HARMONY			MY BOOKS + CLIMATE CHANGE + JUSTICE		A SPIRITUAL SEARCH
  About Desert Creek House	How to get to DCH	.	Practical ecology	Building: a community house	.	My published books: 1) The solution is simple...but demanding 2) Effort and comfort, 3) Vocation and subsistence	.	Next program	Past sessions
  Photos of DCH	Our daily program	.	Our solar house: how it works	Climatic architecture	.	My books on this website - A practical Manual about: Community, Land and Nature, A new Economy, Femininity	.	Meditation day	A selection of texts
  Et si vous parlez français, allez voir les rubriques suivantes:
  Page d'accueil DCH	Plus de détails sur DCH	.	Mes livres: Mode d'emploi pour un bonheur partagé				.	Commentaires des Evangiles

  
  1) My five last published books:
  

  A STRATEGY FOR CHANGE AND A SEARCH FOR MEANING A strategy of action in 40 points, A description of the pathology, A guide to the search for meaning.	AN INSTRUCTION MANUAL FOR A SHARED HAPPINESS (in 7 volumes) A series of 7 volumes which describes six main imbalances in our modern society: GEN) A general introduction about community and self-limitation, and 1) between humanity and nature, 2) between wealth and simplicity, 3) between masculine (Yang) and feminine (yin), 4) between Northern and Southern cultures, 5) between intellect and subtle facultuies, 6) between appearance and Reality.
  The solution is simple ...but demanding by Yves de Morsier A strategy for change and a search for meaning, for a creative response to climate change, economic inequity and democratic collapse Go to the presentation of the book	Vol.1: Effort and Comfort by Yves de Morsier Towards reconciliation between nature and humanity, in search of harmony and peace of mind Go to the presentation of the book	Vol.2: Vocation and Subsistence by Yves de Morsier Towards reconciliation between simplicity and wealth, in search of care and equity Go to the presentation of the book	Vol.3: Recessive and dominant work in progress Towards reconciliation between femininity and masculinity, in search of a new anthropology Go to the presentation of the book	Vol.4: Circular and linear work in progress Towards reconciliation between South and North, in search of an end to white supremacy Go to the presentation of the book

  
  

  The author: YVES DE MORSIER Architect by training, proposes here a very practical approach that draws from about 50 years of experience in forms of gentle development that aim at a fair share of common resources. He lives on the South Coast of New South Wales (Australia) where, with his wife Ursula, he has built an off-grid solar-powered rammed earth house, facing a national park, where they experiment with new ways of sharing and facilitate times of meditation and workshops.

  
  

  The Solution is simple ...but demanding Download the table of contents or summary of the book - 14p (76 kb) This book presents a fundamentally new and different approach to the problem: climate change, the growing gap between rich and poor, the slow decay of our democracy, etc. … these are symptoms of a deeper crisis - one which cannot be fixed by technical measures. It is all about life and the meaning of life. We cannot wait for our leaders to act. Nobody else will do it for us! As ordinary people, citizens, workers, consumers, we have to empower ourselves; we are the main and only agents who can truly initiate the move towards change. The solution is simple: it is in our hands. In our daily lives we have all the necessary means to create, locally, the basic conditions for ourselves to thrive - and to put pressure on our leaders to follow us and implement structural change. But it is also demanding: we have to learn to think differently and invent and practise new ways to work, exchange, share and live together; we have to discover a new practice of freedom, inclusiveness and solidarity-mutuality. This book reinvents practical ways of living. It proposes a concrete strategy for change, in 40 points, how to do this here and now. It is also a guide to the search for meaning, because the change of mentality that is urgently needed can only arise from a better and deeper understanding of the meaning of life and of the laws of the universe.

  
  
  

  Effort and Comfort Download the table of contents or summary of the book - 18p (113 kb) The crisis in our relationship with our natural environment is much more than a problem of excess of CO2. Climate change, collapse of ecosystems, loss of biodiversity: these many signs of decay are drastic symptoms that call for a deep transformation in the way we live together and a reassessment of our priorities. This book proposes a new approach to our relationship with nature and the universe that goes beyond conventional ecology as a prescription for managing natural resources. Humankind is not an exception presiding over the rest of Creation that it may exploit at will. No, we belong to nature, to the land. In this belonging lies the solution to our crisis. First, this manifesto examines the pathology in our relationships with nature and each other: It describes 4 major ways we use to escape from our confrontation with nature, namely through: 1) denial by violence (mobility, speed, virtuality); 2) destruction by domination (energy, technology); 3) accumulation by exploitation (extraction, inequality); 4) and uprooting by isolation (market economy, advertising disconnection). Then it shows how we can find the solutions, both practical and metaphysical. While the universe is aiming at greater differentiation, subjectivity, communion and depth, our society does exactly the opposite: it aims at standardisation, indifference, competition and materialism. It is why we can find all the solutions we need in nature. When we allow nature to become our teacher of righteousness, we only need to listen and adapt to her.

  
  
  

  Vocation and Subsistence Download the table of contents or summary of the book - 24p (130 kb) So far, as a market society, we have got it all wrong - the role of the economy is not to organise infinite growth on a limited planet, nor is to generate wealth that is accumulated in the hands of a few. No, it is to satisfy the most important human needs for all, from food and shelter to health, education, creativity, social recognition and love. This book adopts a radically different approach to the economy. Instead of accepting the dominance of finance and capital, it goes back to the basics - what are the true nature, meaning and function of resources, of work, of the Commons, of knowledge, of infrastructure, of capital in our human lives - especially if we intend, in our personal lives, to focus on what matters most. The first part of the book investigates the disease of our system: how the influence of market and money has inverted most of our human priorities, favouring competition and profit at the expense of care and sharing. Then it proposes solutions: how we should transform our behaviours; how local communities need to take back control of the conditions for their own production and exchanges; how reciprocity may become the key factor that will initiate exchanges of a fundamentally different nature; how our human values and persons may be better recognised and reinforced; how exchanges become, then, opportunities for social links; how precious qualities (goods) may take shape, find their own expression and be shared, and how they may multiply precisely because they are shared. True wealth is not like a cake one gets less of when many people share it - on the contrary, an equitable way of sharing common wealth makes it accessible to many more, accessible to all people. And, in this way, it circulates more quickly and extends more widely.

  
  
  

  Recessive and Dominant Download the table of contents or summary of the book - 8p (63 kb) This book is different from other studies that talk about gender. It will go far beyond the gender issue, delving into the deeper meaning of what femininity and masculinity mean as qualities. It will illustrate how our personal aptitudes and attitudes are often linked with our gender. Not because we are defined by our gender but because the experience of our gender provides us with special skills and qualities. For instance, the ability to give birth fosters in women a special disposition for being caring and compassionate. Motherhood nourishes aptitudes for listening, dialogue and peace. This represents a potential our gender offers us rather than a constraint it forces upon us. This predisposition is the path to freedom because it is not deterministic. Men can be tender. Women can be strong. A whole range of attitudes is open to each of us. We must learn the freedom of spirit to follow this inestimable potential and to express it in the way that suits us best. Gender is then more a potential than a constraint. Femininity and masculinity urgently need to be rediscovered as qualities that can mix and combine endlessly, creating in this way a richer range of opportunities. The number of combinations is infinite. We should rather talk in terms of Yin and Yang, as the two poles that influence our lives, no longer so narrowly linked with gender. It remains our responsibility to choose which qualities we will nurture and which ones we will oppose. Out of these many choices ensues the quality of our life and of the world we live in. All attitudes are not equal. Some foster compassion and life, while others foster hatred, violence and destruction. Finally, the most precious qualities in life need to be protected if we want them to thrive. Compassion, care, listening, dialogue and inclusiveness can only develop if we are committed to providing the right conditions for them to flourish. Because their quality is fragile, they are said to be RECESSIVE, while the antagonistic forces are said to be DOMINANT (like genes in biology). This understanding traces a new path of liberation from false representations. Whether women or men, we all become free to act in a creative way.

  
  
  

  Circular and Linear Download the table of contents or summary of the book - 31p (159 kb) This book is different from other books about colonialism, racism and white supremacy. It does not repeat the facts that other books have exposed so well. Rather, it examines the cultural and human triggers of domination and contempt for others. It plunges into their causes, which reside in the deep heart-mind of humankind. It dares to look into the way we function as people in order to identify the mechanisms that foster our instinctual reactions when we meet "the Other". Our reactions may indeed be very powerful and difficult to control. It will show how the North and the South think in different terms - the North in rational and linear ways; the South in cultural and circular ways (hence the title of this book). It will redefine some essential concepts that lie at the base of colonialism and white supremacy. It will investigate the meaning of culture and civilisation, race, identity, whiteness, otherness, truth, primitiveness, development, evolution, domination, enmity, conflict and (re)conciliation. This book will demonstrate the importance of choice. It will illustrate the path of personal and collective choices that lie at the root of all forms of freedom. It is because of the wide and rich range of possible choices that cultures are so diverse. It will examine the inner and intimate personal space in which we make these essential decisions that orientate our lives: it is called the hidden sphere. Finally, it will examine the path of true liberation, against the diverse forms and tools of neo-colonialism; how the struggle for independence is configured; and what the functions of violence, of ideology, even of terrorism may be. Each chapter will try to open and define this new path of liberation for all of us, because supremacy destroys us all. It is time we find other ways to relate and to practise true dialogue (i.e. true ways of peace and harmony). We need, all of us, to liberate ourselves.

  
  
  

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  2) The Tipping Point Alliance
  
  A Vision and Strategy for a meaningful Life in a fracturing World
  
  My book "The solution is simple ...but demanding" (presented here above) collects more or less the following documents that are here still at a rather primitive stage. They are better elaborated in the book and the book presents much more material and depth at a more mature stage. But this may give you a rough idea of what the book presents and is about. The Tipping Point Alliance is only a accessory part of the strategy that the book describes. It is only an side aspect as a tool in its form of Alliance: what matters most remains the process, and not the form. The process of change can indeed take many shapes! To you the challenge of inventing them!!
  
  We live in a time of urgency: the environment (climate change) calls for an urgent and radical change of ways of life in harmony with the cycles of the universe and of nature; the economy is controlled by a few powerful interests and our humanity is reduced to provide the necessary cogs for a system that has lost its purpose and meaning; social coherence and solidarity have degenerated into a violent competition where anything seems acceptable.
  
  We live also in a time when truth seems to be so flexible that anything goes. It is then essential to dare to affirm what is central in our lives. We have tried to do this exercise (which is not simple at all). Out of this attempt a text has taken shape.
  
  You can download here the main documents:
  
  BEWARE: THEY ARE ONLY DRAFTS (WORK IN PROGRESS!
  ANY COMMENTS ARE WELCOME AND WILL BE VERY HELPFUL!
  
  Many of the following documents have been written at different stages of the research; they may present some minor repetitions, contradictions or omissions.
  • First a summary:
    Our approach how to fight climate change.
    It describes the main approach:
    A) A call for a change of way of living.
    B) We are the main actors who have to initiate the change.
    C) A fundamental change of mentality is needed.
    D) We will recreate a local economy and society to be sustainable.
    Climate change: the whole strategy in 40 topics - 10p
    
    
  • Secondly a general comment:
    The real challenges of climate change: 5 arguments and 7 twists.
    It describes the real challenges of climate change: choosing between 1) money vs relationships, 2) technology vs meaning, 3) domination vs adaptation, 4) wealth accumulation vs needs satisfaction, 5) individualism vs the Commons, 6) virtuality vs reality, 7) passivity vs empowerment.
    The real challenges of climate change: 5 arguments and 7 twists - 5p.
    
    
  • Then the main and central document:
    The Vision itself is an affirmation of the central values and qualities that define a creative attitude about today's urgent challenges. The Strategy shows how to do that in practical terms.
    It is accompanied by a basic Strategy of 10 Options that proposes a way to translate the spirit of the Vision into everyday action.
    This is what unites us. The WHY:
    The Tipping Point Alliance: the Vision and the Strategy - 21p
    
    
  • There is a short version that describes the core idea in 1 page
    The short version of the Tipping Point Alliance - 1p.
    
    
  • The question of equity - sharing wealth
    One of the principle challenges of climate change is the issue of equity. Wealth worldwide is the cause of huge disparities: 10% consume 84% of resources while 2/3 of world population live on only 2% of world wealth. This is the true cause of climate change: we (the 10%) have caused it by our excessive standard of life; it is now our responsibility to solve the problem by reducing drastically our standard of life, in order to make it compatible with Earth resources. It can easily be done: we just have to decide to do so. We won't miss on anything. It is only about giving up the superfluous. We will even discover a much richer way of life, based on true human values instead of egocentric greed. See the diagram of wealth distribution. Source: Credit Suisse.
    A diagram that illustrates a very shocking disparity (1p)
    
    
  • Eight necessary changes (or untwists) of mind.
    A description of eight changes of mind we need to bring through before we can be free of the inversions created by our technology and market society. It describes also the real obstacle which explains (but does not justify) our extreme difficulty to start an action against climate change: our strong addiction to our present way of life.
    Eight changes (or untwists) of mind ...and our fundamental problem of addiction - 11p
    
    
  • The catalogue of possible options for the extension of the Strategy.
    The basic Strategy is in principle a list of 10 options; each person may shape their own Strategy by adding some complementary options of their choice, according to their own conditions, priorities and preferences. Here is a catalogue of possible options; they are only examples and you can adapt them; they have evidently to remain conform to the spirit of the Vision. You may of course also modify them or design your own; it is the spirit of the Alliance to be modulated in diversity.
    The catalogue of possible options (examples) for the personal Strategy - 13p
    There is unity in the core of the Vision (the values) and the basic Strategy (10 options). There is diversity in the terms of the personalised Strategy (the complementary engagements each one choses to add to the 10 options of the basic Strategy) because everybody is free to commit to what they want. This is a way to find unity in a few core values and basic options, and yet to invent diverse ways of expression of how we can translate these values into further actions in daily life.
    
    
  • Concrete proposals how to make Bega a more sustainable, self-sufficient and resilient community
    These are a few thoughts how to re-organise our local community in prevision of the drought and fire events that await us in the coming years.
    Food for thoughts: concrete proposals for Bega to be implemented immediately - 4p
    
    
  • Diverse documents that illustrate the approach on a more specialised topic:
    
    • A diagram that shows how 10% of world population (us) consume more than 84% of world wealth while 2/3 of world population live on only 2% of world wealth
      
    • A description of out-of-river-pumped-hydrostorage
      
    • A description of how to produce light solar cars locally and what it brings
      
    • A few reflections about our election system
      
    • A few reflections about the colonial heritage and how it still defines the way we act democratically (or don't)
      
    • How the measure of our footprint can help us reduce our impact on the environment
      
      
  • Market, Technology, Friendship and Community
    Market and technology have ejected us out of society as creative members. We are condemned to be only cogs in a system where we are reduced to be mainly consumers. Friendship is indeed the true way to rebuild our local community, not only having good time together in BBQs but also and especially in being involved in one's another's lives; it means in sharing and caring for one another and for our common present and future.
    Market, Technology, Friendship and Community - 5p in pdf
    
    
  • The Platform for Australia or Strategy OZ.
    This is the wider vision for Australia: WHAT FOR.
    Warning: the following text is only a first and temporary draft as starting point for a further discussion between grassroots movements. It should be completely re-written when we meet and come to an agreement. The text below is only a first concrete proposal to help start the process.
    The Plateform for Australia or Strategy OZ - the complete version incl. 1p summary - 12p
    
    
  • The Uluru Statement of the Heart
    It is striking how much the Uluru Statement of the Heart expresses the same needs as what we need for mitigating climate change: equity, telling the truth, sharing, listening, adapting to the land, creating a society based on diversity and inclusiveness, etc.
    The Uluru Statement of the Heart (1p)
    
    
  • Searching for the meaning of the Land
    The best way to establish a living and reciprocal communication between First Nations people and white Australian would be to share about the meaning of the land for all of us. The Land is the best place where we can join and where Idigenous people can teach white Australian most of what they need to learn.
    Two insights and one proposal
    
    
  • A few personal comments around the Vision and the values that guide the Strategy.
    Note that it is a personal approach that engages only its author. Be clear that you can be part of the Alliance, even if you do not agree with these comments:
    It develops the main ideas of the Vision and Strategy in a personal way and illustrates them with examples. The Comments - 50p
    
    
  • An annex about the relationship between Spirit and Matter (13p).
    The Annex about the relation between Spirit and Matter
    
    
  • An example of a similar manifesto by Canadian grassroots movements (5p).
    Borrowed from leapmanifesto.org: The Leap Manifesto (Canada)
  
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