“Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift” Robin Wall Kimmerer.
Before I write about how we might restructure society – some observations. It is an interesting time in the USA at the moment as it descends into numerous and bickering polarized fractions, especially running up to the mid-term elections. Just what the Cabal wants – we stop looking at the true picture and start believing imaginary memes set up to distract us. I was looking at Facebook this morning and I saw a post from a friend who has fallen hook, line and sinker for one of the extremely polarized forms of propaganda. She has a PhD, once was a deep critical thinker and deeply believes in the power of nature, and yet has joined the ranks of the mindless pitchforks and torches brigades suspicious and distrustful of myriad ‘others.’ Amazing really how what were minor biases can be fired up to become central issues of dissent. A lot of people everywhere are all arguing, pointing fingers, and increasingly tribalistic, not seeing the proverbially Nero fiddling away while Rome burns.
Social critic Sofo Archon, writes, “Imagine someone burning down his own home, convinced that doing so will somehow benefit him. His neighbors call him insane and rush to stop such self-destructive behavior. But how is that different from what we are doing to our global home – Earth? Day after day, we destroy it in the belief that it benefits us. Yet, we do not call ourselves insane, but ‘civilized.’ Worse still, there is no one beyond ourselves to stop us.” Like myself, he encourages a flexible, open-minded approach to life, emphasizing self-awareness, critical thinking, and personal growth. This fosters individuals able to navigate complex social and cultural systems while fostering a deeper understanding of themselves and the world.
From talking with several people in these polarized times I hear that they want change but are fearful of not knowing what is coming. This need to control everything is one of our greatest failings. The deep uncomfortable rut seems more preferable to creating a better world. When we metaphorically step back and remove our collective blinkers, we would see a vast open field full of flowers that spread out from the rut. People in the rut are easy to control and manipulate. People out in the field are running around freely playing and frolicking.
Ok, we can solve our global problems by creating our own better world. Indeed we – the 99.99% – are the only ones that can and will do this. But we have to rebuild a society where we initially first start living more locally as we work to isolate the overlords of their global control. That means we will have to start talking and working together locally. Accepting that the diversity among us is the key to this transition as we make personal sovereignty a primary value. Then working collectively to build our communities in harmony with each other and the natural world.
In talking with people, I am always surprised when they expect it all to happen magically. Think about the numbers of people you currently know that you can actually depend upon and rely on to be cooperative. There may be a few, but to rebuild society we all need to be involved. That means, initially, we will be working with a lot of acquaintances – currently loose social connections we might see some days in just passing. While our friends and family might indeed be great and fulfilling, they don’t always cross the line into a full sense of community (SOC) with a shared sense of place (SOP).
A real community is mix of people from the same area comprised of a mixture of strong ‘personal ties’ and numerous ‘weak ties’ that make up a community. Throughout the last 200 years we have become increasingly emotionally and spiritually separated from our ‘weak-tie’ neighbors. But they are where ‘the rubber meets the road – a myriad set of non-stop social interactions with a common goal. Psychologically, SOC and SOP are interrelated.
SOC is an emotion-laden construct has been defined as, “a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members’ needs will be met by their commitment to live and thrive together” Group Psychology.
We begin with ‘weak ties’ and quickly transition from formal to informal interactivity and even deep friendships as we learn to trust – something missing from today’s world where the media have us living suspicious of strangers and any ‘others.’ As we learn to trust, we will find that “Kindness and Authentcity never go out of style… [strong relationships] aren’t built overnight. They’re earned one relationship, one conversation, and one promise kept at a time… Trust is built slowly. It lives in the phone call returned, the question answered without rushing, and the conversation where someone feels heard” Desiree Gustafson.
Blogger David Speakman has an interesting take on building society and community; “Most of us think of society as something abstract. We talk about governments, economies, laws, and institutions. Yet society is not something we encounter directly. Our daily experience of society is much more personal. Society becomes real through the relationships that connect us to other people and to the larger world around us. The quality of those relationships largely determines whether society feels supportive, indifferent, or hostile…. The question is not whether people are struggling. Many clearly are. The deeper question is what happens to a society when increasing numbers of people become disconnected from the relationships that once linked them to opportunity, support, and participation…. More than a century ago, Émile Durkheim argued that social integration plays an important role in human well-being. More recently, Robert Putnam documented the decline of civic participation and social capital in the United States. Both recognized that healthy societies depend upon connections between people” David Speakman.
Unless you are lucky enough toe already live in a supportive neighborhood, most of us will find ourselves thrust into a new era of living together through necessity. It will be a learning experience in reconnecting. But once you feel you’re a significant part of something, the magic happens. Something bigger builds that is more rooted in true community. It’s a wonderful feature of community building that begins with a diverse group of people following the same goal. The diversity is essential. As Aldous Huxley commented on Human Diversity, “In the course of evolution nature has gone to endless trouble to see that every individual is unlike every other individual.… Physically and mentally, each one of us is unique. Any culture which, in the interests of efficiency or in the name of some political or religious dogma, seeks to standardize the human individual, commits an outrage against man’s biological nature.”
“And here lies the beautiful detail — the detail that changes everything. Most if not all of the conditions we now consider normal are not stable states. They are actively sustained by enormous flows of energy, materials, expertise, and organization… Perhaps the most fragile and most important component of all is not the infrastructure itself, but the communities of people who know how to maintain it” Elisabeth Robson.
Writer Linh Huynh has some great ideas on building the foundation of a new world.
1. Do not be against the current world. Be eager for a more fulfilled one. There is a difference between recognizing what is wrong with the world and becoming psychologically opposed to the world as it is.
2. Human beings can actually change. Creating a new earth cannot only mean building better institutions whilst maintaining the same unconscious human patterns. At some point, the human being has to become part of the transformation.
3. What you tolerate internally becomes part of the world you create. We are very good at identifying the world’s problems outside ourselves.
4. Attention is one of the most important forms of freedom. We usually think of freedom as having choices. Being able to go where we want, say what we want, buy what we want, and live how we want. But there is another kind of freedom that acts as precedent: the freedom to decide where your attention goes (personal sovereignty). What you give your attention to; you give your life to. And a different world will require us to become much more deliberate about where that life goes.
The Nova Renascentia that I predict is already happening in pockets worldwide will be built globally through ordinary people making different choices about what they value, what they tolerate, what they give their attention to, how they respond to pain, and what they believe is the purpose of life. It won’t all happen at once. But small actions done deliberately for the common goal of a new kind of world is built from small things repeated by millions and billions of people.
To Be Continued ………………..
0 Comments