(Continued from Part 2)
...As beautiful as it may sound, we are unable to move towards this Utopian idea, even in small phases, at least until 2 things take place.
First: The Need for a Unifying Paradigm Shift
Yup. Frankly said, something else other than MONEY that has the power to glue humans together and trigger a movement to discard the idea of 'money' as obsolete. This in my mind would most definitely have NOTHING to do with race or religion. Their very nature being divisive between the "are" and "are nots". Except if you've read Dune. In Dune, whole new unified religions arise once humans become spacefarers and discovered other habitable planets. Facts and figures collected in space, forced discarding of earth-bound "divisive" truths and beliefs. Thus a new unifying "world religion" may be able to bring people across the globe together, but without strong focus, continued opposition from contemporary religions would dilute and maybe even reverse its unifying impact, breaking it apart from within.
Another way to approach this puzzle is to figure out what motivates people to change. Between extrinsic motivators, fear is stronger than greed. Someone may be inclined to perform better due to a threat as opposed to a cash reward. Yet, a unifying principle built on a "Focus of Fear" (Pestilence? Tyrant? Climate shock?) so universal that it affects everyone to forget their Focus of Greed (Money) is pretty questionable in these times. Also, if the focus of fear was created by Man, then others would only be driven to think how to solve/ destroy/ undo the fear, thus freeing themselves of the fear, instead of changing. Example: Doctors worldwide have been running around trying to kill the HIV virus for years, instead of spending that time and energy to educate and guide fellow humans to change/control their sexual behaviours which would have been a better solution in the long term.
Intrinsic motivators are then better able to pull everyone through change. This means giving either a sense of Duty or a sense of Joy internally that drives the individual to change. Intuitively, it is better to sell the idea of a new unifying pradigm shift to the young crowd with a "Focus on Joy" and the mature crowd appealing to their "Focus on Duty". I am not saying it doesn't work the other way round or it doesn't work in tandem. Just that this sequence would feel natural for both groups to adopt in changing and accepting the new unifying paradigm and eventually forgetting the importance of money.
What could be a successful unifying pradigm shift? For that I looked at Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Briefly it states there is a hierarchy of 5 needs for humans, where each of the first 4 Deficiency Needs leads to the next as they are satisfied; from the basic Physiological, to Security, to Belongingness and finally to Self-Esteem. As we can see, all these can be satisfied by the presence of money in our lives. With money we can eat, then have personal and financial security. This leads to having a lifestyle attracting friends, family, collegues and potential partners, who then make us feel good. These and our self positive feedbacks solve the deficiency needs in layers 3 & 4. Having satisfied all these the 5th layer is open where the Being Needs of Self-Actualisation lie. That comes from needing to be completely balanced, centred and knowing what we want to achieve and create as individuals, without it being an objective to satisfy any of the lower deficiency needs. Thus the importance of money for an individual diminishes.
There is a lesser famous but equally ground-breaking part of Maslov's work in 1969 where he mentions beyond the Self-Actualised layer; there exist "Self-Transcended" individuals. Maslow's landmark 1969 article, “Theory Z” (re-printed in Maslow's basic text on Transpersonal Psychology, The Farther Reaches of Human Nature, NY: Viking, 1972) has one interesting comment to make about Self-Transcended individuals:-
["Transcenders are interested in a “cause beyond their own skin,” and are better able to “fuse work and play,” “they love their work,” and are more interested in “kinds of pay other than money pay”; “higher forms of pay and metapay steadily increase in importance.”]
I don't completely understand the definition of the words he uses, (having no access to his full text) but the first point to note is that Maslov mentions mystics/holy men are not the ONLY self-transcenders. There are other mature individuals who display these qualities as well. Secondly, he coins the term "peak experiences" and "plateau living" as elements that satisfy their Being Needs. It hints self-transcenders are driven by higher goals and operate in a serene and holistic mode. Lastly, he mentions how we need to study, understand and de-mystify them in order to strive and achieve what they have shown us as the currently observed pinnacle of humanity. The excerpt below underlines what is the first step to identify a unifying paradigm shift:-
[“Human history is a record of the ways in which human nature has been sold short. The highest possibilities of human nature have practically always been underrated. Even when 'good specimens,' the saints and sages and great leaders of history have been available for study, the temptation too often has been to consider them not human but supernaturally endowed…. If we want to know the possibilities for spiritual growth, value growth, or moral development in human beings, then I maintain that we can learn most by studying our most moral, ethical, or saintly people.” — Abe Maslow.]
I believe this is a logical argument hinting at a valid path for humanity to explore and to realise its own highest potential. The dire need to study the currently rare self-transcended individuals who are pioneering the next era of humanity, and to learn HOW they achieve their states of being/bliss, cannot be understated. It must be revealed that this is not a pseudo-religious experience but something that all humans are capable of achieving. Imagine a whole generation of young people focusing on the joy of exploring and embracing a lifestyle of higher morals not because it is preached by some religion. They do it after all their deficiency needs are already satisfied in highly planned, non-money driven, sub-environments where they are guided by the few existing self-transcended individuals along new paths of self-discovery. Having experienced the joys, later as adults they'd be able to focus on the duty to maintain, enhance and expand the same environment for youths worldwide to be guided in generations to come.
Each generation then is slowly removed from our way of life, ascending to a different level of understanding. Hopefully relooking at the impact of Humanity on Earth's systems. Finally devising ways of decreasing and even reversing the long term pollution we caused in the last few hundred thousand years, since we started standing upright. Harmonising ourselves with Nature; thus reversing the self-induced onslaught of Naraka on Earth and constructing the avenue leading to Svarga on Earth.
Second: The Need for a Servant Force
Continued in Part 4...
...As beautiful as it may sound, we are unable to move towards this Utopian idea, even in small phases, at least until 2 things take place.
First: The Need for a Unifying Paradigm Shift
Yup. Frankly said, something else other than MONEY that has the power to glue humans together and trigger a movement to discard the idea of 'money' as obsolete. This in my mind would most definitely have NOTHING to do with race or religion. Their very nature being divisive between the "are" and "are nots". Except if you've read Dune. In Dune, whole new unified religions arise once humans become spacefarers and discovered other habitable planets. Facts and figures collected in space, forced discarding of earth-bound "divisive" truths and beliefs. Thus a new unifying "world religion" may be able to bring people across the globe together, but without strong focus, continued opposition from contemporary religions would dilute and maybe even reverse its unifying impact, breaking it apart from within.
Another way to approach this puzzle is to figure out what motivates people to change. Between extrinsic motivators, fear is stronger than greed. Someone may be inclined to perform better due to a threat as opposed to a cash reward. Yet, a unifying principle built on a "Focus of Fear" (Pestilence? Tyrant? Climate shock?) so universal that it affects everyone to forget their Focus of Greed (Money) is pretty questionable in these times. Also, if the focus of fear was created by Man, then others would only be driven to think how to solve/ destroy/ undo the fear, thus freeing themselves of the fear, instead of changing. Example: Doctors worldwide have been running around trying to kill the HIV virus for years, instead of spending that time and energy to educate and guide fellow humans to change/control their sexual behaviours which would have been a better solution in the long term.
Intrinsic motivators are then better able to pull everyone through change. This means giving either a sense of Duty or a sense of Joy internally that drives the individual to change. Intuitively, it is better to sell the idea of a new unifying pradigm shift to the young crowd with a "Focus on Joy" and the mature crowd appealing to their "Focus on Duty". I am not saying it doesn't work the other way round or it doesn't work in tandem. Just that this sequence would feel natural for both groups to adopt in changing and accepting the new unifying paradigm and eventually forgetting the importance of money.
What could be a successful unifying pradigm shift? For that I looked at Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Briefly it states there is a hierarchy of 5 needs for humans, where each of the first 4 Deficiency Needs leads to the next as they are satisfied; from the basic Physiological, to Security, to Belongingness and finally to Self-Esteem. As we can see, all these can be satisfied by the presence of money in our lives. With money we can eat, then have personal and financial security. This leads to having a lifestyle attracting friends, family, collegues and potential partners, who then make us feel good. These and our self positive feedbacks solve the deficiency needs in layers 3 & 4. Having satisfied all these the 5th layer is open where the Being Needs of Self-Actualisation lie. That comes from needing to be completely balanced, centred and knowing what we want to achieve and create as individuals, without it being an objective to satisfy any of the lower deficiency needs. Thus the importance of money for an individual diminishes.
There is a lesser famous but equally ground-breaking part of Maslov's work in 1969 where he mentions beyond the Self-Actualised layer; there exist "Self-Transcended" individuals. Maslow's landmark 1969 article, “Theory Z” (re-printed in Maslow's basic text on Transpersonal Psychology, The Farther Reaches of Human Nature, NY: Viking, 1972) has one interesting comment to make about Self-Transcended individuals:-
["Transcenders are interested in a “cause beyond their own skin,” and are better able to “fuse work and play,” “they love their work,” and are more interested in “kinds of pay other than money pay”; “higher forms of pay and metapay steadily increase in importance.”]
I don't completely understand the definition of the words he uses, (having no access to his full text) but the first point to note is that Maslov mentions mystics/holy men are not the ONLY self-transcenders. There are other mature individuals who display these qualities as well. Secondly, he coins the term "peak experiences" and "plateau living" as elements that satisfy their Being Needs. It hints self-transcenders are driven by higher goals and operate in a serene and holistic mode. Lastly, he mentions how we need to study, understand and de-mystify them in order to strive and achieve what they have shown us as the currently observed pinnacle of humanity. The excerpt below underlines what is the first step to identify a unifying paradigm shift:-
[“Human history is a record of the ways in which human nature has been sold short. The highest possibilities of human nature have practically always been underrated. Even when 'good specimens,' the saints and sages and great leaders of history have been available for study, the temptation too often has been to consider them not human but supernaturally endowed…. If we want to know the possibilities for spiritual growth, value growth, or moral development in human beings, then I maintain that we can learn most by studying our most moral, ethical, or saintly people.” — Abe Maslow.]
I believe this is a logical argument hinting at a valid path for humanity to explore and to realise its own highest potential. The dire need to study the currently rare self-transcended individuals who are pioneering the next era of humanity, and to learn HOW they achieve their states of being/bliss, cannot be understated. It must be revealed that this is not a pseudo-religious experience but something that all humans are capable of achieving. Imagine a whole generation of young people focusing on the joy of exploring and embracing a lifestyle of higher morals not because it is preached by some religion. They do it after all their deficiency needs are already satisfied in highly planned, non-money driven, sub-environments where they are guided by the few existing self-transcended individuals along new paths of self-discovery. Having experienced the joys, later as adults they'd be able to focus on the duty to maintain, enhance and expand the same environment for youths worldwide to be guided in generations to come.
Each generation then is slowly removed from our way of life, ascending to a different level of understanding. Hopefully relooking at the impact of Humanity on Earth's systems. Finally devising ways of decreasing and even reversing the long term pollution we caused in the last few hundred thousand years, since we started standing upright. Harmonising ourselves with Nature; thus reversing the self-induced onslaught of Naraka on Earth and constructing the avenue leading to Svarga on Earth.
Second: The Need for a Servant Force
Continued in Part 4...
No comments:
Post a Comment