Issue #4: Can we be generous in the current climate?

Issue Contents

Hue (theory)
Fossil Fuels and Capitalism, A Retrospective
The Human Condition is Contributist
A Contributist Climate Perspective

Hearth (practice)
How a contributist lens can help you overcome anger and annoyance
The Election Watch Party

Reflection Question

Pablo’s Note:
This month’s issue centers on climate.

This month’s Hue is a three-part series showing how the path out of climate change must be contributist — it is authored by the newest contributor to the Pablo Parabola community.

The Hearth entries consider a different climate — our social one, which is increasingly contentious, especially in light of the recent election. The first piece considers how we can overcome anger through empathy, and the second is a short story about a contributist who visits an election watch party.

Thank you for giving us your time, and a special thank you to everyone who chose to contribute.

Pablo Parabola

Hue (theory)

Fossil Fuels and Capitalism, A Retrospective
(Est. Reading Time: 4 minutes)
“Driven by a singular focus on maximizing profits, capitalism has subsumed itself like an overheating snake. Instead of leveraging capital to improve the quality of life, capital has leveraged the lives of the many to serve the wants of the few.”

The Human Condition is Contributist
(Est. Reading Time: 3 minutes)
“Human history emphasizes the inherent generosity within all humanity, giving credence to contributism as the most effective and natural solution for mounting existential dread.”

A Contributist Climate Perspective
(Est. Reading Time: 3 minutes)
“Contributism can subvert this “growth at all costs” paradigm by turning the attention away from materialistic consumption and towards enriching our interpersonal bonds.”

Hearth (practice)

How a contributist lens can help you overcome anger and annoyance
(Est. Reading Time: 6 minutes)
“It is not hard to see how our everyday resentment of one another and lack of generosity feeds into the national dysfunction that has been on display in every recent election year. Is there another way?”

The Election Watch Party
(Est. Reading Time: 8 minutes)
“I mean, he’s always like that, of course. He’s always so sure of himself, even if he’s always right. But I think you triggered something in him. You pressed him in a way he wasn’t used to; you pressed him on his kindness, his generosity of spirit. In return, he was honest, and he listened.”

This Month’s Reflection Question:

In recent times, an attitude of resentment and antagonism towards our opponents (political or otherwise) has begun to feel like the new normal. This posture may make us feel righteous, but it also increases our anxiety and isolation, and further entrenches division. Contributism breaks this cycle by calling us to orient ourselves towards one another instead of away. The next time you find yourself thinking or speaking ill of your political opponents, take a moment to stop and ask yourself, what would it look like to be a contributist here — to assert my right to give?

Issue #3: Forming Contributist Communities

Issue Contents

Hue (theory)
Is Contributism Naive?
On Learning to be Generous

Hearth (practice)
“They love having the opportunity to give”: How generosity powers the homeschooling community in Atlanta
Becoming Helpers in a Hurricane

Reflection Question

Pablo’s Note:
In this month’s issue, we learn how contributist communities form. The Hue entries urge us to see the spirit of giving not as something innate (either you have it or you don’t), but as something that anyone — and any society — can learn. The Hearth entries show what that looks like in practice, first in a homeschooling community, then in the ways we come together to overcome tragedy.

Thank you for giving us your time, and a special thank you to everyone who chose to contribute.

Pablo Parabola

Hue (theory)

Is Contributism Naive?
(Est. Reading Time: 7 minutes)
“A contributist society does not simply arise from good intentions; it is the product of careful thought and policy. But we can’t get anywhere unless we start believing that we can design better systems, and that we can inhabit them.”

On Learning to be Generous
(Est. Reading Time: 8 minutes)
“We do not have to have a perfect past or present to create a better future. We must only be able to recognize what skills and values we have been teaching ourselves, and be willing to correct our course.”

Hearth (practice)

“They love having the opportunity to give”: How generosity powers the homeschooling community in Atlanta
(Est. Reading Time: 4 minutes)
“It is my belief that every community is rich with talented people who can provide opportunities that will benefit not only their own families but the community of families around them.”

Becoming Helpers in a Hurricane
(Est. Reading Time: 5 minutes)
“But if we look tragedy in the eyes and also look beyond it, to its inevitable repair — if we pay attention to what healing looks like — we can become people of hope and generosity.”

This Month’s Reflection Question:

Consciously and unconsciously, we are always learning from the behavior of those around us, and we are always teaching as well. What is one way that you, simply by your behavior, are teaching generosity or contributism to the community around you?

Issue #2: “How Giving Brings a Better Life”

Issue Contents

Hue (theory)
On the Dignity of Generosity

Hearth (practice)
True Therapy — Expressing Gratitude for the Giver
A Day in the Life of Colin the Contributist

Reflection
American Cinquains, Vol. II

Pablo’s Note:
Can giving bring us a better life? This issue’s contributors say yes. The first entry is on dignity, and explains what the contributist means when we say that “giving is the dignifying act.” The second entry describes how giving is itself therapy, and how a good therapist restores their client’s right to give. Then, an examination (in parody) of a day in the life of the contributist — I find that there is surprising insight in its exaggeration. Lastly, a second set of cinquains submitted by our readers. You many continue to write and send them in to pablo@thecontributistreader.com.

Thank you for giving us your time, and a special thank you to everyone who chose to contribute.

Pablo Parabola

Hue (theory)

“They love having the opportunity to give”: How generosity powers the homeschooling community in Atlanta
(Est. Reading Time: 5 minutes)
“The contributist believes that dignity is found in giving, that the act of giving profoundly connects us to our humanity. But what does this mean?”

Hearth (practice)

True Therapy — Expressing Gratitude for the Giver
(Est. Reading Time: 4 minutes)
“How many of us are willing to even consider dying for the betterment of the people we love? But I know, as a therapist and as a personal friend of someone who died by suicide, that the tragic irony here is that suicide is not giving but taking. And being alive, being a beautiful presence and energy on this earth, no matter how troubled, is a form of giving to everyone who loves you.”

A Day in the Life of Colin the Contributist
(Est. Reading Time: 3 minutes)
“I present to you the (exaggerated) day in the life of Colin the Contributist.”

Reflection
“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” — Simone Weil

American Cinquains, Vol. II
(Est. Reading Time: 2 minutes)
(printed in full below)

Issue #1: “Joy in Labor”

Issue Contents

Hue (theory)
The Old Is Dying and the New is Struggling to be Born

Hearth (practice)
Must a good job be freely chosen?
Hope for the Quiet Quitter

Reflection
American Cinquains, Vol. I

Pablo’s Note:
The birth of something new. The title of our first issue — “Joy in Labor” — has double meaning. The first entry is about new birth, and the period of labor that precedes it. The following two entries discuss what it means to be a contributist at work — what is good labor? Lastly, some cinquains, submitted by our readers. We received so many that we decided to make a series of it. Please continue to write and send them in to pablo@thecontributistreader.com.

Thank you for giving us your time, and a special thank you to everyone who chose to contribute.

Pablo Parabola

Hue (theory)

The Old Is Dying and the New is Struggling to be Born
(Est. Reading Time: 2 minutes)
“The contributist—seeing opportunities to give—conceptualizes and acts within the world differently from the critic. What once looked like deprivation is now an opportunity for generosity.”

Hearth (practice)

Must a good job be freely chosen?
(Est. Reading Time: 6 minutes)
“We want to build societies where everyone has some freedom to choose their job. However, unlimited freedom isn’t always the goal, because people can choose for good or ill, and freedom of choice won’t lead in itself to a more contributist society.”

Hope for the Quiet Quitter
(Est. Reading Time: 7 minutes)
“Quiet quitting is not an aspiration, it’s a resignation. And if the quiet quitter and his employer can’t reconcile, I suspect that he’d probably be better off making it official and finding new employment. But let’s hope that they can find it in themselves to give.”

Reflection
“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” — Simone Weil

American Cinquains, Vol. I
(Est. Reading Time: 2 minutes)
(printed in full below)