This is a special topic article in a history book written centuries in the future, at a time when humanity has gone through a great crisis and found a more life-centered way to life. It’s meant to inspire and encourage questions. Follow the Long Journey Home tag for other entries in this book.
It’s written by AI with sometimes general and often detailed prompts from me. That means, in a sense, that it’s written by humanity as a whole since the AI is trained on material from many times and cultures.
This spotlight is on redefining wealth and success.
Please share your thoughts below. What did this bring up for you?
Redefining Wealth and Success in a Living World
By Elle Márjá Biret, Cultural Ecologist
We didn’t set out to redefine wealth and success because we were idealists. We did it because we had no choice—and because, as it turns out, it’s what we were longing for all along.
The collapse of the old systems—economic, ecological, cultural—forced us to confront some hard truths. We saw that the definitions of wealth and success we had inherited no longer served life. They no longer even served us. They came from a world built on domination and extraction, and they brought us to the edge of collapse.
So we listened—to the land, to our elders, to each other. And over time, through trial, loss, and regeneration, we began to live into new understandings. We didn’t throw everything out. We carried forward what still had life in it—skills, technologies, insights—but we rooted them in a new foundation: one of reciprocity, regeneration, and deep belonging.
What follows is not a perfect system. It’s not universal. But it’s a living pattern that has emerged across many places and cultures. It reflects how we, as a species, have grown into a more mature relationship with life.
From Accumulation to the Capacity to Nurture Life
We still need resources. We still trade, store, and prepare for the future. But accumulation for its own sake is no longer considered wealth. True wealth now means the capacity to nourish, regenerate, and sustain life—whether in soil, water, community, or spirit.
A person is considered wealthy if the land under their care is healing, if their relationships are strong, if they leave behind more life than they take. A thriving forest, a restored river, a community where no one is forgotten—these are signs of wealth.
From Individual Achievement to Shared Contribution
Individual gifts are still honored, and excellence is still pursued. But success is now seen through the lens of contribution to the whole. We no longer glorify the one who stands highest, but the one who lifts others, who strengthens the web of life.
Some contribute through hands in the soil, some through healing or music, some through quiet care for others. The measure is not how loudly you are seen, but how deeply your work ripples out in service.
From Productivity to Meaningful Presence
There was a time when constant motion was praised—busy calendars, sleepless ambition, relentless hustle. Now we understand that life has seasons. We work, we rest, we celebrate, we grieve. And we do so in a rhythm that respects the body and the land.
Time is no longer something we “spend” but something we inhabit. Time wealth means having space for what matters: tending the garden, listening to a child, walking in silence, cooking with friends. Being present is no longer a luxury. It’s central to a good life.
From Isolation to Interdependence
The myth of self-reliance died hard. But eventually we saw that none of us survive alone—not humans, not forests, not rivers. Security comes from interdependence, not separation.
We now weave our lives with others—human and more-than-human. We rely on strong social networks, local food systems, mutual aid, community knowledge. In times of stress, it’s not wealth or weapons that sustain us—it’s relationship, reciprocity, and care.
From Extraction to Regeneration
We still take from the Earth. But we’ve learned to do so within the limits of what she can give. We harvest in ways that leave the roots intact, the waters clean, the future possible.
Regeneration isn’t just about ecosystems—it’s cultural, economic, spiritual. Whether it’s soil building, seed keeping, language revival, or emotional healing, the core question is: does this action create more life? If yes, we invest. If not, we reconsider.
From Ownership to Stewardship
We still recognize agreements around land and resources, but ownership now carries responsibility, not entitlement. The land does not belong to us. We belong to the land.
Stewardship means listening to the needs of a place. It means planning seven generations ahead. It means knowing that our decisions affect watersheds, species, and futures we’ll never see. Success is now measured not by how much you control, but by how well you care.
From Consumption to Sufficiency
Abundance hasn’t disappeared. We still enjoy beauty, comfort, celebration. But our idea of what’s “enough” has changed.
Instead of mindless consumption, we pursue sufficiency rooted in connection. We take joy in shared meals, hand-made tools, heirloom seeds, stories passed down. We’ve learned that happiness doesn’t come from more—it comes from meaning, beauty, and relationship.
From Domination to Shared Power
Leadership no longer means control. It means presence, humility, and the ability to hold the center in a living system. The best leaders listen more than they speak. They invite, include, and guide—not with force, but with clarity and trust.
Power is no longer something we wield over others. It’s something we cultivate together. In councils, in assemblies, in circles under the trees, we learn how to sense the whole and act from shared insight.
From Hoarded Knowledge to Living Wisdom
Expertise still matters. But we’ve learned to balance it with humility and relationship. We honor the knowledge of farmers, elders, weavers, midwives, rivers, and fungi alongside engineers and scholars.
Knowledge is not a product. It’s a living process. It belongs to the commons, passed through generations and across boundaries. We don’t own truth—we practice it, together, in dialogue with the world.
From Legacy as Monument to Legacy as Wholeness
The most respected people today are not those who built empires, but those who restored wholeness. Their legacies are living forests, thriving communities, revitalized cultures.
Legacy is no longer about name or fame. It’s about what becomes possible because of you. Did you make the world more whole, more alive, more resilient? That’s what lasts.
A Living Future
This redefinition of wealth and success didn’t happen overnight. It didn’t come from a single movement or a perfect plan. It emerged slowly, unevenly, out of necessity and deep remembering.
And it’s still evolving. We are still learning.
But we now walk with different questions: Does this nourish life? Does this connect us more deeply? Does this leave something whole behind?
These are our new bottom lines. And in them, we’ve found a richness deeper than we ever imagined.
Elle Márjá Biret is a cultural ecologist, educator, and elder-in-training from the Sámi people of Northern Sápmi. With roots in traditional reindeer herding and a background in ecological systems thinking, Elle Márjá works at the intersection of Indigenous wisdom and regenerative futures. Their work supports communities in remembering ancestral practices, healing land and culture, and redefining what it means to live well in a more-than-human world.