The End of Poverty. Part 2: Making Something From Nothing
with Martin Burt and Ken Wilber

We cannot begin finding solutions for poverty until we start paying careful attention to both the internal and external forces that are keeping people impoverished, on both individual and collective scales.
 

This is why we are so inspired by Martin Burt, whose Foundation Paraguay is one of the world's most innovative micro-finance organizations, used now in 27 countries and modeled by 50 institutions.  Martin employs an explicitly integral approach to poverty elimination, using 200 different measures for poverty to finally solve poverty in both its interior and exterior dimensions—incorporating the very best solutions from the political Right (which tends to focus on interior factors such as values, work ethic, dignity, motivation, etc.) and the political Left (focusing on exterior factors such as economic disparity, environmental conditions, technological systems, etc.).
 

In other words, it's very true that we all need to take responsibility for our lives and for our lot, and to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. But it's a little bit difficult when you can't even afford to put shoes on your feet.
 

Or to put it another way: Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime. But neglect to scrub the toxic chemicals from the river, and the whole village dies.
 

Poverty, Martin reminds us, is not only an impoverished standard of material living but also an insidious misconception about human beingness: that we only are only rich in spirit when we are rich in wealth.  This misconception, prominent among the world’s rich nations, paradoxically exacerbates the suffering of the world’s poor because it encourages partial approaches to poverty, as if merely giving them more “stuff” will cure thepoverty of dignity that always and everywhere accompanies the absence of human self-sufficiency.
 

Some of us had the opportunity to listen to Martin talk with Ken a few months ago, and we were all blown away by his story. Not only was it wonderful to see Integral theory being applied in such concrete and practical ways around the world—but more importantly, it was invigorating to see it used in a way that is directly improving the lives of hundreds of thousands of people around the world. After all, you can spend a lifetime learning all the very best philosophies, but if it doesn't actually help make this world a better place, it's just empty words.
 

Poverty elimination lies at the core of the integral spiritual impulse. It is impossible to consider yourself truly "spiritual" without caring about the poor, without opening your heart to suffering in all its forms.  Spirituality is more than a 1st-person experience—in order for our lives to be fully lived, we must allow our hearts to break open to the full suffering we are surrounded by, recognizing the basic human dignity reflected in every person's eyes.  But it's not enough to just feel it in the 1st person, or to open ourselves to love in the 2nd person—we must also act in the 3rd person, directly engaging the political, technological, and economic systems that continue to lock so many people into perpetual poverty, supporting the world with our wallets as much as we do our hearts.