“The longing for growth is not wrong.

 The nub of the problem now is 

 how to flip over, as in jujitsu, 

 the magnificent growth energy of modern civilization 

 into a nonacquisitive search 

 for deeper knowledge of self and nature. 

 Self-Nature. Mother Nature.

 If only people came to realise that 

 there are many nonmaterial, 

 nondestructive paths of growth – 

 of the highest and most fascinating order – 

 it would help dampen the common fear 

 that a steady state economy would mean deadly stagnation.” 

​

- Gary Snyder