Hello, this is my first post here, so I would just like to briefly introduce myself by saying that I like to write about the things I have learned in life that have helped me understand myself and the world a bit more.
I enjoy looking at things from a big picture perspective, and the fate of human beings on this planet is pretty high up in the big picture stakes. I am quite a logical thinker, but am also in touch with my spiritual side, as I have found that I get better results in life if I consult these two sides of myself when making decisions. Moving this perspective out to a global level, I think that it is vital for us as a collective, world population to move together, towards this way of thinking/being if we are going to survive and prosper as a race on this planet.
The current state of affairs and why they are like this...
The world, and the conditions for us, as humans, to live in on this planet, has gone through radical changes over the past few hundred years. We have moved from a principally local/tribal, then farming based community/lifestyle, to a largely internationally connected, digital, internet age, where issues from all over the globe can now affect other parts of the world in ways that they didn't used be able to. And this technology and advancement in weapons means that we now have the capability of destroying ourselves as a race more easily than any other time in history.
To understand how we have arrived at such a precarious point we have to look at the human species and its evolutionary past. As I said, up until recently humans were essentially in a “survive or be killed” environment. A tribal type of life was how things were for the majority of the history of the human species. We are therefore still “hardwired”, genetically, to have this tribal type attitude, and this is the root of our problem. This attitude worked when the human species was just trying to survive in small groups, defending themselves from each other and competing for food, resources etc. But those circumstances are not what we are faced with any more. We have such advanced technology that we produce enough food every year to feed the world population 2 times over, and enough resources to clothe and house everybody, yet there are still millions of malnourished, impoverished people. The reason for this, is that the majority of us are still operating from the “stone-age” tribal mentality, of looking after number 1 or “our gang against your gang”, i.e. pursuing purely selfish goals rather than what is best for the whole.
If you look around the world you can see this everywhere, from countries disagreeing and fighting with each other over ideology or resources, to the tribal nature of many sports, to the competitive nature of business and even down to lack of humanity seen on occasions like Black Friday. In other words, this attitude is at the root of all social, political, economic, religious and environmental problems. We all want to survive, but can’t see that the way we are going about it is not working and is leading us down a dark road. In the famous definition of insanity, we are doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
What is the Solution?
As I have outlined, the problem is us, therefore logically, the solution comes from us changing ourselves and the way we relate to ourselves and interact with each other. We need to begin to move away from the self-focused attitude that our old genetic makeup is leading us down, and embrace a new holistic, giving, caring attitude that puts the interests of the whole first. It is not hard to then imagine how all of the problems we currently have in the world we simply no longer exist. With ample food that we already have access to, no one will starve when everybody has everybody else's best interests at heart. Nobody would be motivated to “compete” in a business environment, because we would just want to produce the best products that everybody wanted and the previous motivation of “making more money for me” or “having the biggest business” would no longer be present, because they are not beneficial goals for the whole as they are purely self or ego driven.
The world would move from individual bits, such as families, towns, countries, businesses and religions, to one whole cooperative organism where not only the threat of human annihilation would be gone, but everybody would be happy, as all of their human needs would be met and they would all be pursuing things that they enjoy, because the things that they enjoy would be whatever would be best for the whole.
How do we make this happen?
Well firstly I will say that it is already happening, but just a little too slowly maybe for the threats that we are currently faced with. If you look back over the past century for example, we have become slightly more loving and caring as a race, with things like the emancipation of women’s and civil rights, and the introduction of welfare in many countries for those who are out of, or are unable to work. But the predominant attitude is still one of “self-first”, and that’s why we are still faced with looming issues.
The reason that it is not happening fast enough to keep up with the technological advancement however is a 2 part answer:
You can only change yourself, you can’t directly change anyone else and their attitude/way of being. This is a really big block that we are facing at the moment, as a lot of people can see that change is needed and are trying to make things happen, but they are going about it in the wrong way, by trying to change people by telling them how wrong they are and how they need to do things differently. You have to start by changing yourself into that loving, caring compassionate person, and go out and be that in the world. Be the example that everyone else can admire and aspire to be. Then rather than hate and fear and selfishness spreading, we can now have the opposite.
Changing yourself is not an easy thing to do. All of the selfishness and negative thoughts and emotions that we have, are all motivated by fear, and fear is a difficult thing to face and overcome. Fear is what keeps us in unfulfilling relationships and jobs, it’s what leads to addiction and phobias and anxiety and stress; it is the root of all of our personal problems, as well as all of the global ones.
To more clearly outline these points, if we take the example of women’s rights and the evolution of the movement in the early 1900s. Initially, the predominant position of the majority was that women did not deserve the same rights as men in areas such as employment, marriage, voting etc. as they were not as physically or mentally able to be trusted with responsibilities that came with such rights. Women at this time who felt that this was unfair, could not directly change the minds of the people who held this view, just by telling them how wrong and unfair they were being. However, the pioneers at this time, who became the first female doctors, engineers, scientists and political figures became the shining examples of what was possible, to which other women would aspire, and just as importantly, presented an undeniable argument to many men (and women) who were against equality for women. The thousands of women who took on jobs only previously done by men during World War 1 also strengthened the point. This was ultimately what began the start of the playing field of men’s/women’s rights being leveled, and it was done mainly through example and not through argument and reasoning with those opposed.
So, as Gandhi said (paraphrased), “being the change you wish to see in the world is the best way to bring about change”, and the more of us that can start to live in this way, getting rid of our fears and becoming more loving, caring people to be the example for others to follow, the more the world will start to become a place for all of us to enjoy our lives.
Best Wishes to You
Jack