“What are the things you can’t see that are important? I would say justice, truth, humility, service, compassion, love. You can’t see any of those, but they’re the guiding lights of a life” Jimmy Carter.
“As Long as the general population is passive, apathetic. Diverted to consumerism or hatred of the vulnerable, then the powerful can do as they please, and those who survive will be left to contemplate the outcome” Noam Chomsky.
In the last post I mentioned that one of the most important aspects of communication by authentic people is to know about their personal intrinsic values, and then to understand others intrinsic values. They’re the stepping stones to how we get on together without anger, hate, violence and war. Knowing them doesn’t show we automatically agree on things, but that we are open to respectful discussion and listening to find consensus. It gives everyone a voice, not just the self-proclaimed leaders and experts, and the technocrats who sometimes won’t admit what they do not know or understand. Sometimes, the experience of people who live in a given area can reveal crucial factors of an issue not overtly obvious to the experts. For instance, indigenous peoples often have insights about an area from knowledge handed down to them over the centuries. Sometimes folklore, legends, myths, or simply stories from the ‘ancestors’ encapsulate real knowledge, that while not ‘facts’ per se, can give key knowledge about local aspects such as climate, soil conditions, precipitation patterns, animal behavior or vegetative patterns, geologic occurrences (e.g., earthquakes, floods, etc.
It’s really about being consciously mindful (Item Number one) of involving people in community decision making. That means that communities, however they are defined remain moderately limited in size. You might still live in a large town or city, but those mega structures will eventually be more sub-divided into localized collaboratively sized communities to foster recognition and acknowledgement all the other members of that community. The anonymity of todays large urban systems merely fosters the opposite, in which major decisions are made by political bureaucrats that are largely disconnected from the populations they proport to serve. In the latter it is all too easy for individuals needing help to fall between the political cracks of bureaucratic rigidity. Even honest politicians (and I have to believe that they do exist) are hamstrung by political red-tape and inefficient resource allocation. Much of that inefficiency comes from a deep misunderstanding of what is really considered important to all of us.
When we are mindful we take note of what is truly important to everyone, and not just for economic bottom-lines. And during this great shift in how we live in a sustainable world, will require we understand and work with intrinsic values instead of defaulting to flawed extrinsic values (e.g., materialism) as has been the case for so many centuries. And that must encompass the new economics and new metrics. As I have said many times already, simply put, we must stop measuring success by extrinsic values such as our job titles and salaries. Rather we start individually and community-wise, measuring intrinsic values such as good relationships; good health and well-being; careers and jobs that bring personal satisfaction as well as benefit to the whole community; increasing free-time to enjoy life rather than spending so much of our time making ends meet, thereby freeing ourselves from financial burdens and constraints; and with that free time commit ourselves to being more creative and committed to lifelong learning that fosters a deep sense of purpose and feelings of making a difference that matters.
We all use intrinsic values everyday, because they represent core principles that guide our decisions and actions. This is because they inherently shape our worldviews. But, when extrinsic values over-ride our intrinsic values, instead of having a deeper sense of fulfillment and purpose in life, we fall into the materialism-consumer trap. So the big question for each of is, what is of real value? Don’t get confused with putting money in there. If money wasn’t a problem, what would you do daily to truly feel fulfilled? Now imagine living a simpler, relatively stress-free life where money wasn’t a problem and you had the free-time to pursue creative projects that excite you as a sovereign individual supporting, and supported by, the community.
From my interactions with many people I have come to understand that while many say they aspire to be a ‘rich’ playboy or playgirl, the reality is that ‘rich’ people who have that kind of hedonistic lifestyle eventually find it hollow and even depressing. In the long run it defeats their intrinsic values that have been repressed in order to follow unsatisfactory extrinsic values. We all love novelty, but when there is little new and novel to explore, life becomes boring, dull and tedious with little self-satisfaction. Rich people may have no material concerns, but most have deep unmet psychological needs that manifest in various negative and destructive behaviors – sociopathy.
Intrinsic values refer to qualities or principles valued for their own sake with long-lasting and valued internal rewards that foster a sense of joy and fulfillment. Extrinsic values bring only fleeting external rewards, that like addictions, require more and more effort to gain steadily depleting satisfaction. Intrinsic values like compassionfosters empathy towards others, while an intrinsic value like integrity, promotes honesty in thoughts and actions that are consistent across varied situations.
When we achieve success in Item one (Mindfulness), items two (New economics) and three (New Metrics) naturally fall in to place as logical paths to take. Intrinsic values play a crucial role in personal development and relationships. They help establish your true identity by aligning choices with your authentic self (e.g., see link). Let me be clear, I am promoting intrinsic values as a way to all of us living a life in which we are happy, fulfilled, and have all our basic needs met without stress, fear, violence or war. And it isn’t a pipe dream – it’s a real way to live – a kind of utopian system, although I don’t think the dream-like perfect utopia we think we want is a reality – part of life is learning to live together and we will never all agree on everything. But it will seem utopian compared to a current extremely dysfunctional system – and isn’t that worth doing anyway? Hating and killing strangers because they think differently has always been abhorrent and stupid, and never been successful as a way of living and thriving.
Intrinsic values like compassion encourages kindness, and strengthening of social bonds, while honesty builds trust, and enhancing interpersonal connections. This helps build personal growth that motivates continuous improvement, leading to greater life satisfaction. Prioritizing intrinsic values helps you cultivate a meaningful life that resonates with your true essence and authenticity.
We currently live in a global socio-cultural system that creates intense social guilt. Your social conditioning by all the trusted adults as you grew up imposed upon you an external value system. That’s because they merely continued what they had been conditioned to believe. But what happens if your intrinsic values differ from what the people around you tell you is valuable? Well, I think it could lead to a lot of weird psychological effects. “You feel guilty, you feel like you’re a bad person, you feel like you’re an imposter. But you can take a step back and start reframing this in terms of intrinsic values and say, “Huh, my intrinsic values that I have may just be different than those of the people around me. My parents might have taught me to respect authority, maybe my friend group teaches me that I should be pure, according to some definition of pure, but maybe I just wanna maximize global utility”, or something like this. So you end up in a situation where you have different intrinsic values. And once you realize that, you’re like, “Okay, I’m not a bad person, I’m not an imposter, I just have different intrinsic values.” And then you might actually be able to relate to your community more successfully” Halle Kaye.
Items one through three are about us finding intrinsic values that will lead to better decisions on the technologies we use and how we live with each other. It comes down to ethics and morals – they are very related but they are not the same. The last thing I wish to do is attempt in any way to dictate what is morally right for you or anyone else – that’s a deeply personal thing. As philosophers say, “An ethical person knows what is right, often guided by personal values and principles, while a moral person lives it, consistently applying their ethical principles in everyday situations. That’s another crucial factor in transforming into a sustainable world. It finding the truth within yourself and not through your conditioning.
To Be Continued …………………..
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