The new, virtuous economy that humans have been clamoring for is seeded locally, on the ground, by participative active and conscious citizens, project-by-project — whereas “virtue” means excellence, skill and quality, and virtuous thereby means whoever embodies excellence, skill and quality and refreshes it periodically to keep up with the times. Virtue is inherent, and yet not static. Like hydration refreshes the body, virtue is a practice that refreshes the human being, and the systems that human beings create and participate in.
This is not a concept that refers to organized religious work only, rather, masculinized interpretations of organized religion define the term “virtue” rather narrowly, and land far from the actual essence and definition of the word, by focusing on forms (shapes) instead. While there is no blame on form for it is a required container for work and society, form alone is not sufficient, and must carry the more vital aspect, the essence within. Additionally, it is the essence that needs to be understood, internalized and realized, and that takes acceptance of this reality, cooperation, reflection and practice on the part of humans.
Ramala Hubb’Allah, founder of the Sacred Economy project and the thinker behind the larger manifesto, The Eco-Feminine, takes a two-pronged approach to the matter of Seeding the Virtuous Projects: 1. creating projects from the start, and 2. connecting and celebrating projects already taking place. It is the creation of the network that accelerates change. We talk about this in the third part of this Work, the Membership and Networking aspect.