Desert Creek House
For a new ecological and spiritual way of life
Instruction manual for a shared happiness


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
.
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

Concerning my 4 last published books



"The solution is simple
...but demanding
"


"Effort and Comfort"


"Vocation and Subsistence"


"Recessive and Dominant"

please go to the distinct page: My published books


A search for new ways of living (in 7 volumes): Instruction manual for a shared happiness - by Yves de Morsier)


Six volumes (volumes 1-6), each one on one of 6 main imbalances of our world, preceded by a general introduction (volume 0).
  • 0) The general intoduction concerns community and self-limitation.
The 6 imbalances are:
  • 1) Between nature and humanity,
  • 2) Between simplicity and wealth,
  • 3) Between femininity and masculinity,
  • 4) Between South and North,
  • 5) Between subtle faculties and intellect,
  • 6) Between Reality and appearance.

You can download them from here, for FREE.
Read or print the volume 0: The solution is simple... but demanding:
A strategy for change, a search for meaning - for a creative response to climate change, economic inequity and democratic collapse

(2442 kb), in pdf or epub format - Please go to the distinct page: My published books
Read or print the volume 1: "Effort and comfort: towards reconciliation between nature and humanity, in search of harmony and peace of mind"
(3016 kb), in pdf or epub format - Please go to the distinct page: My published books
Read or print the volume 2: "Vocation and Subsistence: towards reconciliation between simplicity and wealth, in search of care and equity"
(3225 kb), in pdf or epub format - Please go to the distinct page: My published books
Read or print the volume 3: "Recessive and Dominant: towards reconciliation between femininity and masculinity, in search of a new anthropology"
(1544 kb), in pdf or epub format - Please go to the distinct page: My published books
Read or print the volume 4 (work in progress): Circular and linear: towards a reconciliation between South and North, on the search for a new practice of cultural diversity(...kb)


This essay is an analysis and psychotherapy of our destructive western way of life (six main imbalances are described) and of the illusory values which support it, as well as a proposal for new attitudes in our everyday life and for our empowerment as simple citizens and consumers: it shows how we can reshape the world and avoid the cataclysm which is already announced in the collapse of our economic system and in the crunch of nature.

The main options of this essay are based on: (1) a spiritual orientation, (2) a capacity for self-limitation, (3) an empowerment of the local community, (4) an awareness of the cumulative effects of our choices, (5) a will for escaping whitewashing and corruption, (6) a commitment for practising the power of truth. And others...

This manifesto is composed of six volumes which can be read independently from one another:


0) THE SOLUTION IS SIMPLE... BUT DEMANDING

The first volume concerns the generalities: it describes the necessity for personal and collective choices based on spiritual values and it explains the role of the local community in creating a move toward change. Change can only happened if it is guided by ethical and spiritual values. Community takes shape through consensus about the options which concern our common future. The difficulty is not to know how to change; it is mainly to start a move towards change. What can brake our resignation and habits?

You can download the whole volume:
The solution is simple... but demanding
a strategy for change and a search for meaning,
for a creative response to climate change, economic inequity and democratic collapse

This link will lead you to the distinct page of my published books.


1) EFFORT AND COMFORT: TOWARDS A RECONCILIATION BETWEEN NATURE AND HUMANITY.

This volume presents the first imbalance, between humanity and nature. Nature is our Mother but we are afraid of its power (although it is very fragile) and of its indifference towards us (although it nourishes us). We escape into (1) illusion through violence and virtuality (see the example of how we use cars), (2) into destruction through domination (see the example how we use technology), (3) into accumulation through exploitation of natural resources and people (see the example of climate change and of our use of energy), (4) into uprooting through isolation (see the example of how we use food and how we refuse to relay on our local community).

You can download the whole volume:
"Effort and comfort: towards reconciliation between nature and humanity,
in search of harmony and peace of mind" (3000 kb) - pdf and epub formats

This link will lead you to the distinct page of my published books.


2) VOCATION AND SUBSISTENCE: TOWARDS A RECONCILIATION BETWEEN POVERTY AND WEALTH.
This volume presents the second imbalance between wealth and poverty.

You can download the whole volume:
Vocation and Subsistence: towards reconciliation between simplicity and wealth,
in serach of care and equity (3200 kb) - pdf and epub formats

This link will lead you to the distinct page of my published books.


3) RECESSIVE AND DOMINANT: TOWARDS A RECONCILIATION BETWEEN FEMININE AND MASCULINE ON THE SEARCH FOR A NEW ANTHROPOLOGY.
This volume presents the third imbalance between femininity (Yin) and masculinity (Yang):
Still incomplete - In preparation!

You can download (what has been already written of) the whole volume: Recessive and Dominant: towards a Reconciliation of Femininity and Masculinity in a Search for a new Anthropology



4) CIRCULAR AND LINEAR: TOWARDS A RECONCILIATION BETWEEN SOUTH AND NORTH.
This volume presents the forth imbalance. In preparation.

5) KNOWLEDGE AND LEARNING: TOWARDS A RECONCILIATION BETWEEN SUBTLE FACULTIES AND INTELLECT.
This volume presents the fifth imbalance. In preparation.

6) SPIRIT AND MATTER: TOWARDS A RECONCILIATION BETWEEN REALITY AND APPEARANCES.
This volume presents the sixth imbalance. In preparation.





Instruction manual for a shared happiness
Short presentation

A psychotherapy of our society and practical ways of changing our behaviours
This essay tries simultaneously to describe in a simple way the complex desegregation of our modern western society and to propose simple practical ways of transformation of our patterns of development through our attitudes and behaviours in our everyday life. On one hand, it will describe the many deep imbalances which are causing the deterioration of our living conditions and generating more and more injustice and suffering. On the other hand, it tries to propose another vision of a possible future, through very practical ways of changing our behaviours as citizens and consumers.

Six imbalances
As a way to structure this essay, I have identified six main imbalances which threaten our world. I intend to describe each of these imbalances, one after the other, but I want to do that in a positive way, in order to demonstrate that these imbalances are not only a threatening problem for our survival but that they are also the key for the solution; each one of these six imbalances can be described as a special polarity between two terms, where one term (usually mentioned as the first) dominates the other term and prevents its expression; it means that the domination of the first term over the second prevents the second to be fully expressed; thus the polarity also represents the key to the neglected potential of unexpressed faculties which challenge us to become more creative in order to express what has been lost; it is why these same polarities offer also the means for a deep transformation of our society; they will be described in the reverse order, where the second term (the weakest) will be mentioned first, as the guiding force, and the other term will be mentioned in second, as the energy which has to adapt. According to this new order, these imbalances or polarities are the following:
  1. Effort and comfort: towards a reconciliation between nature and humanity
  2. Vocation and subsistence: towards a reconciliation between poverty and wealth
  3. Recessive and dominant: towards a reconciliation between feminine and masculine
  4. Circular and linear: towards a reconciliation between South and North
  5. Knowledge and learning: towards a reconciliation between subtle faculties and intellect
  6. Spirit and matter: towards a reconciliation between Reality and appearances.
Each of these parts will be presented as a separate volume which can be read independently of the others, in any order which suits the reader, according to his or her centres of interest.

Main options
Before I describe, further on in more detail, the different options which this essay will propose, we can summarise the main orientation of the proposed change in mentioning the principal options which constitute the spine of this way of life based on self-limitation:
  • Spiritual orientation: change cannot happen for material reasons only, but it has to be guided by spiritual values such as justice, peace, harmony, compassion.
  • Self-limitation: we have to learn how to reduce the impact of our way of life by choosing simplicity, by giving priority to human values over material ones. This form of intentional self-restriction is a form of liberation which brings real happiness: small is beautiful.
  • Local community: we are all parts of a wider common social and natural body and we are all interdependent. Co-operation is the base for a harmonious development. Although it can be considered as healthy when it remains limited, competition is only an illusion, a bet in which each one hopes to be quicker and smarter than the other, but in which there are many more losers than winners. The local community is the place where change can take shape, according to a common project which grows with time and with the maturity of its members. This project slowly takes shape, even in a kind of marginal way, through the personal action of a few members.
  • Cumulative effect: the world is what it is because of the cumulative effect of our respective personal impacts (for each of us negligible) or of our personal renunciations (for each of us a high cost). There are no other actors than people, although certainly some people have more impact than others.
  • Whitewashing and corruption: the goods we consume are generally produced in conditions based on the exploitation of the poorest or of poorer countries and on the destruction of the environment. When these goods are repacked and presented on the shelves in our local supermarket, they have lost all traces of this form of corruption which has generated them. They have been whitewashed as so many disruptive aspects of our modern society have become hidden: this form of virtuality makes truth difficult to grasp.
  • A choice is a vote: each choice we make is a vote which encourages the production or the behaviour or the belief which is validated by this choice. We are therefore responsible for each choice because it shapes the world as it is.

The power of truth
Gandhi practised his own truth with a very high rigor and freedom. He showed us the way of integrity (the way to remain whole) and how much our own testimony is important to foster the change we want to see in the world. In being faithful to our understanding of life and to our own spiritual path, which is more a search than a ready made answer, we become really creative and capable of following our own vocation in this way.



Return to Home Page

Return to the top of the page