Tag Archive for progress

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.

Driven by Fear

August 18, 2010 Consciousness, Energy, Politics, Uncategorized, Values No comments

In a previous blog, I talked about positive and negative freedom—how progressives are more apt to promote the freedom to and conservatives seem more oriented toward freedom from. For example, the freedom to get married for gays and the freedom from government intrusion for business owners.

But perhaps a stronger way to show the difference between conservative and progressive ideology is to think about positive and negative emotional energy. Negative emotional energy is fear, hate, insecurity, greed, exclusion and a rigid set of beliefs. Positive emotional energy is hope, love, sharing, community, inclusion, and open-minded critical thinking. As one who is solidly in the latter camp, it seems pretty obvious which ideology is positive and which is negative.

Conservatives, Republicans and Tea Partiers all seem to be driven by fear: fear of immigrants, fear of government, fear of terrorists, fear of gays, fear of their tax money being given to the poor who didn’t work for it. They have a totally erroneous belief that the world consists of isolated individuals, some who are deserving—themselves and the wealthy—and some who are not—anyone not like them or poor. They don’t realize no human being is an island and that we’re all connected.

As pointed out in an excellent Alternet.org article (link below), de Tocqueville observed about the distinctive American mentality more than 150 years ago, “Such folk owe no man anything and hardly expect anything from anybody. They form the habit of thinking of themselves in isolation and imagine that their whole destiny is in their own hands. Thus, not only does democracy make men forget their ancestors, but also clouds their view of their descendants and isolates them from their contemporaries. Each man is forever thrown back on himself alone, and there is danger that he may be shut up in the solitude of his own heart.” [from http://tinyurl.com/29r2x3r]

Human progress is marked by successive expansions of the community of man, such as the abolition of slavery, the expansion of civil and womens’ rights, and an understanding that we all share one planet. Conservatives are desperately resisting this expansion of consciousness. They seem determined to hang on to views that are not consistent with progress, views motivated by the negative emotional energy of fear.

This site is about promoting an understanding that beneath each individual’s beliefs is a human who needs as much positive, supportive, and respectful emotional energy as possible. May hope, critical thinking and community, triumph over fear, rigidity, and greed. One can be optimistic because that is the general trend of historical progress. But we are entering a time of hardship, and fear is an unfortunate, negative, but natural human response. It will take more than hope for continued human progress and a more global species consciousness to evolve.