Ask the Author: Shaun Chamberlin
Answered Questions (3)
Shaun Chamberlin
I was never an aspiring writer, but I was definitely an aspiring person, and that's what led me to writing. I want to tell a story *with my life* that I'll be proud to look back on on my dying day.
And for me that involved facing up to some of our civilisation's great challenges; trying to engage with them in some impactful, positive way. It hurts me to see the state of our world, and the only way I as an individual can feel happier, more content, and more whole is to know that I'm responding as best as I know how.
The one piece of advice I would give to everyone is to remember that you cannot NOT change the world. Whatever you do will change the world. If you take the most default option, you follow the most mainstream, down the line, ‘just keep your head down and get on with what they’re telling you to do’, approach, then that’s the world that you’re helping to create. There is no way that you can not change the world.
And so open yourself to everything that you feel. Don’t let anyone tell you what to do. But just ask yourself, “How do I want to respond to this in a way that isn’t shutting me down; that is opening me up; that is helping me be fully who I am.” And that will lead you for the rest of your life.
That process of opening to the pain that we feel at the state of the world; the anger, or dissatisfaction, or sense of injustice, or whatever it might be that we feel when we look at how things are; if we don’t try and face what we feel, and hear the call that it might give to us, then we’re shutting ourselves down. Then we’re becoming less alive.
Oh, and one simple practical tip - learn to live on as little money as possible. If you don't have to earn much you don't have to do what other people tell you much, and you can get on with being who you most deeply want to be. That's been a real key to my past decade, which I'm thrilled and honoured to have lived. Mark Boyle's free book The Moneyless Manifesto (which I edited, unpaid) is a beautiful guide: http://www.moneylessmanifesto.org/why...
And for me that involved facing up to some of our civilisation's great challenges; trying to engage with them in some impactful, positive way. It hurts me to see the state of our world, and the only way I as an individual can feel happier, more content, and more whole is to know that I'm responding as best as I know how.
The one piece of advice I would give to everyone is to remember that you cannot NOT change the world. Whatever you do will change the world. If you take the most default option, you follow the most mainstream, down the line, ‘just keep your head down and get on with what they’re telling you to do’, approach, then that’s the world that you’re helping to create. There is no way that you can not change the world.
And so open yourself to everything that you feel. Don’t let anyone tell you what to do. But just ask yourself, “How do I want to respond to this in a way that isn’t shutting me down; that is opening me up; that is helping me be fully who I am.” And that will lead you for the rest of your life.
That process of opening to the pain that we feel at the state of the world; the anger, or dissatisfaction, or sense of injustice, or whatever it might be that we feel when we look at how things are; if we don’t try and face what we feel, and hear the call that it might give to us, then we’re shutting ourselves down. Then we’re becoming less alive.
Oh, and one simple practical tip - learn to live on as little money as possible. If you don't have to earn much you don't have to do what other people tell you much, and you can get on with being who you most deeply want to be. That's been a real key to my past decade, which I'm thrilled and honoured to have lived. Mark Boyle's free book The Moneyless Manifesto (which I edited, unpaid) is a beautiful guide: http://www.moneylessmanifesto.org/why...
Shaun Chamberlin
Well, 'my most recent book' is David Fleming's books, so this is probably not a typical answer!
Although David and I worked closely in his small Hampstead flat, until only a few weeks before his sudden death in late 2010 he would not let me look at the lifework he had put three decades into: 'Lean Logic'. He said that we were too close, and the project too dear to his heart, so that we would likely fall out if I were critical!
So when I found his final manuscript for this book in the weeks after his death, it was an invitation to one last glorious, startling, refreshing conversation with the greatest conversationalist I ever met. Reading it soon gave me the pretty clear idea that it needed finishing up and publishing!
Shortly afterwards, a group of David’s closest friends and family decided to self-publish 500 copies of his manuscript, as soon as possible and just as he had left it, for those who knew him and his work. Then, in 2011, we started talking with publishers about a full publication; the feedback was that a more conventional read-it-front-to-back paperback version might be necessary, as a ‘way in’ to the full work, so with advice and support from many of David’s friends I tentatively started work on what would eventually, five years later, see publication as 'Surviving the Future'.
Although David and I worked closely in his small Hampstead flat, until only a few weeks before his sudden death in late 2010 he would not let me look at the lifework he had put three decades into: 'Lean Logic'. He said that we were too close, and the project too dear to his heart, so that we would likely fall out if I were critical!
So when I found his final manuscript for this book in the weeks after his death, it was an invitation to one last glorious, startling, refreshing conversation with the greatest conversationalist I ever met. Reading it soon gave me the pretty clear idea that it needed finishing up and publishing!
Shortly afterwards, a group of David’s closest friends and family decided to self-publish 500 copies of his manuscript, as soon as possible and just as he had left it, for those who knew him and his work. Then, in 2011, we started talking with publishers about a full publication; the feedback was that a more conventional read-it-front-to-back paperback version might be necessary, as a ‘way in’ to the full work, so with advice and support from many of David’s friends I tentatively started work on what would eventually, five years later, see publication as 'Surviving the Future'.
Shaun Chamberlin
At the moment I'm fully engaged with the book tour for my late mentor David Fleming's posthumous books. It's pretty relentless, but I have the big advantage that pretty much everyone reads the books seems to become a passionate advocate for them! So hopefully once I give them this little push into the world, word of mouth will spread them from there.
Honestly, it's an honour. 'Lean Logic: A Dictionary for the Future and How to Survive It' is one of my two favourite books of all time, so to be associated with as editor is a real privilege, and bringing these books to the world feels like possibly the most important thing I've done.
Last night I was down at Schumacher College with Rob Hopkins discussing the books, and on Thursday I'm at Global Co-operation House in North London. Here's a recent interview where I talk about the books (and hippos!):
http://www.darkoptimism.org/2016/08/2...
Honestly, it's an honour. 'Lean Logic: A Dictionary for the Future and How to Survive It' is one of my two favourite books of all time, so to be associated with as editor is a real privilege, and bringing these books to the world feels like possibly the most important thing I've done.
Last night I was down at Schumacher College with Rob Hopkins discussing the books, and on Thursday I'm at Global Co-operation House in North London. Here's a recent interview where I talk about the books (and hippos!):
http://www.darkoptimism.org/2016/08/2...
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