Archive for Global Ecosystem

The HumansTogether Focus

June 12, 2013 Communication, Economics, Global Ecosystem, Politics, Values No comments

All of us tend to focus primarily on our own lives and our immediate frame of reference. But most of us are missing the big picture.

We vigorously pursue of our own self-interest in what we believe is a dangerous, competitive world. We take detrimental divisions for granted: race, religion, nationality, class, location and political ideology. This results in clashes rather than commonality.

But despite the absolute uniqueness of each person, we are all human. Being part this remarkable species means that we are all much more alike than different, particularly when it comes to what each of us needs to be secure.

We all know that an infant plucked from its birth environment — say from the slums of Mumbai — and adopted by a family in Beverly Hills, will grow up with the frame of reference of its Beverly Hills family. Perhaps the child will even become a Republican and come to believe that the poor are to blame for their own situation. But wealth won’t save the child from the global effects of climate change or a focused explosion of global hate in the form of a nuclear terrorist attack on LA.

HumansTogether is dedicated to the notion that ideas can change the course of human history. The right of self-determination expressed by the American revolutionaries is an example of a big idea that, over time, created positive global change.

It’s time to focus on big ideas that are expressly global — on beliefs and values that can unite all people and help all humans advance. It’s time to focus on a common new vision of what human advancement should look like. This vision has to be part of our everyday sense of reality. Because unless we develop a common idea of what a positive future for humanity should be and develop a shared sense of responsibility for getting there, every human’s future may be dire.

The first step is coming up with a common goal for humanity and the second step is gaining majority agreement on that goal. Questions need to be raised and answered. What is the purpose of progress? Is there a limit to how wealthy a single individual should be allowed to be? What political system produces the greatest good for the greatest number? Is it time for a truly global set of governing principals?

The HumansTogether focus is on articulating and gaining agreement on a common vision of reality and a set of shared beliefs and values that can help make as many humans as possible free from hunger, fear and physical danger.

We Need a HumansTogether Understanding

December 27, 2010 Consciousness, Global Ecosystem, Politics, Values No comments

A lot has happened politically since the last post. The goal for 2011 is to make this a much more active blog. I am more convinced than ever that unless the humans on this planet come to understand that underneath our different looks, locales, and beliefs, we are all the same species. And as a species, we need to pull together to avert the coming environmental disaster. If we don’t, there will be a tremendous increase in suffering for almost all of us.

Achieving a HumansTogether understanding involves promoting our core empathetic nature as a species. Promoting our cooperative nature over our competitive nature has a political component. Neither the Democratic or Republican parties are framing a solution based on a HumansTogether vision. In fact, Republicans are marching aggressively in the exact wrong direction.

Yet I remain optimistic. A few months back I read an interview with legendary historian Lawrence Goodwyn on Obama, the larger currents in our political life, and the possibility of a rebirth in our democratic culture. I share his belief that:

“it will become increasingly transparent in the coming year that the politics of the GOP is absolutely incoherent. Much of the Republican tent is simply flapping in the breeze behind a cascade of public lies. As it now presents itself, the so-called party of conservatism has nothing to bring to the economic crisis except demagogy. So long-term despair is unwarranted for Democrats. They need to harness their poise and undertake to be politically creative not just right now but for the next six years.”

Here is the link to the entire article: http://www.alternet.org/news/148582/lawrence_goodwyn%3A_the_great_predicament_facing_obama/

In the meantime, remember that we as humans all need to recognize that:

  • We are all imperfect,
  • At the core level we are all the same, and
  • In the long run, we are all in the same fragile planetary ecosystem.