Bolivia is Blowing Our Minds

Bolivia is blowing our minds. We are visiting a place that is in the midst of a most significant revolution. No. It is not a place without contradictions. But what is?

A country that is 70% Indigenous has its first indigenous leader since the Spanish came with rape and colonization 500 years ago. This is a BIG deal. They have a new constitution, and it is among the most progressive on the planet.

I’m blown away by the fact that half of government must be composed of women.

I am impressed by the way so many people talk about being in the midst of a “proceso de cambio.” There is some maturity. It is powerful to understand that change is a process, not an event, and certainly not an election (or two, or three, or a new constitution…).

The people are engaged in a very important conversation about what is “the good life,” or “vivir bien.” It is so important to ask that question. We in the rich world have been sold a bad answer to that question. We have reduced the good life to consumerism, entertainment and way too much work. It has yielded social isolation, depression and a terrible spiritual fragility. This is the model we’ve tried to sell to the world and Bolivia is one of the few places that is rejecting it.

A complexity of events lead a people from feudalism to self-determination, but key among those is a cosmological idea. The idea of Pachakuti, the belief that now is the time for millennial change. Are you ready to believe that?

It has been said that it is easier for us to believe in the end of the world than in the end of (globalized, unfettered) capitalism. But it will take a belief, a cosmological idea, a commitment to evolution itself, for us to take the leap we are here to take. Let’s learn from Bolivia.