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Monday, March 31, 2014
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Error: Brain outdated, please run updates.
Everything we do, or don't do, makes history and lays the groundwork for our future evolution as a species. Humanity, more than any other living being on this planet, has been given the gift of choice. We are able to be conscious. We are not only able to choose what we do in our life, but how we think about ourselves and the world around us.
If
we choose not to make ourselves aware of the world, we will stop
evolving; our minds must adapt to the world we live in for us to
survive as a species. As Joshua Greene describes how we are still
using our rat brains, continuing on with the mentality that if we
will do just what is good for the local us, or even simply the self,
we will be OK, we will survive to pass on our genes to the next
generation (in my understanding this is how evolutionary psychology
has been able to describe how our brains evolved to think the way
they do), but what we have a hard time thinking about is how what we
do within ourselves and within our local community, will also be
passed on to the next generations, not just here, but everywhere.(1)
Concepts
on a large scale tend to be difficult for us to grasp and even I
experience a sort of disconnect when I think about the magnitude of
global issues. It feels more or less unreachable, but I can choose to
think it is only a footstep away if I use my imagination and put
myself on a plane to another country. I arrive there tomorrow, visit
with the villagers to learn of their customs and language. Yet still,
this little practice of imagination encompasses an interaction with a
few, not billions. It is overwhelming to think of knowing billions of
people. We would not have time in a lifetime to know all of them as
friends, or even acquaintances, like we would those in our “village”.
Can you imagine having to remember billions of names or faces? It
isn't that we should stop thinking about those closest to us, in
fact, that
is how we can start any
change, with ourselves
and our local community,
but if we can evolve to think of humanity as a family too, a
distant family who you can write letters to and see films about, we
could create not only a greater connection and understanding of those
far from us, but evolve our brains to think in a way that will allow
us to survive and coexist nondestructively with this planet and other
animals.
* * *
It
is no doubt we are good at thinking fast: the automatic emotional
response. Some of these responses can be lifesaving and protective,
but others can be destructive, if we don't look forward, if we don't
use the slow thinking(1). The instant gratification, quick fixes and
conveniences we want to find, in my own contemplation of this habit
people have formed, I have seen only that we create more work for
ourselves in the end. We may be able to drive to get across town in a
convenient amount of time, keep ourselves and our stuff out of the
rain, but we must maintain the car, pay insurance, and have plenty of
roads and parking for those vehicles, as well as account for the
pollution from use and manufacturing affecting our environment and
the demand we create for fuel, which currently depletes our resources
since they are unsustainable. I am not saying that we should be
riding horse drawn buggies and carriages to work, or am I? Perhaps
Joule's law of conservation of energy applies in a way to the
creations we make. The more efficiency we demand, the more demand
there is on our own energy to upkeep that efficiency. It is our
choice then, how much energy we choose to spend on that much desired
quick fix.
Likewise,
through technology, we have been able to create incredible ways to
communicate, but at some sacrifice to our own interactions on a
personal level. We forget how many messages are lost when we don't
have visual, vocal as well as verbal communication. We have even been
known to reflect our own emotions through the words of the sender.
With no inflection, the message of the same written word, could have
a completely different meaning.
How
we speak to one another is fundamental in our cohabitation. If we
make known honest our intentions and needs, which we may only allow
to be known to ourselves if we seek them out, we are much more likely
to understand each other on a fundamental level of existence. It is
easy to yell out, “You're a murderer!” than it is to identify why
the red light on the dashboard is flashing and discover that our
basic human need for safety isn't being met.(4) I like to use the
example of the man with the loaf of bread to feed his family, but
another man, who is quite hungry does not resist the desire to steal
it. The man whose loaf was stolen, despairs over the loss, over the
threat of his family's security for food, but this may only come
about in that fast thinking manner: anger. He is angry at the man
that has stolen his loaf of bread, but if he speaks in a better
manner than, “You thief! You should be punished!” and ask the man
his intention, discovering, much like himself, he is hungry. Had it
not been for fear of revealing the vulnerability of the hungry man,
perhaps he would have simply walked up to the doorstep of the man
with the bread and had expressed his need for nourishment and be
welcomed into the home to share the loaf of bread.
* * *
“The
population problem has no technical solution; it requires a
fundamental extension in morality.”
(2)
The
Dalai Lama points out that the current world has created a great deal
of its
own problems with conflict due to a lack of a moral guide(3). From
Marshall Rosenberg's perspective, it is our language of non-violence
that we have lost(4). The parallel in their message: our capability for
compassion. We have learned that many of our abilities are skills,
such as creativity, which used to be thought of only as a talent some
had, but not others; now it is known
to be a skill anyone can learn with practice. In the same way, I
believe that the language of compassion is also learned, easier by
some than others, depending on our experience in this world. If
someone has had much experience with the cruelty of other people, it
may be more difficult to even conceive of the ability of another
being sincere in their compassion, because mistrust and fear has been
developed in the mind. This thinking path is one of dread and
apprehension, rather than acceptance and trust.
What
we create within ourselves and how we interact with the world can
make a great difference in changing the world. It may not immediately
solve the very pressing problems the globe is facing, but our
awareness of ourselves and the world around us can help us create a
catalyst for bigger changes for the future. So, if we change our mind,
open our hearts, and choose carefully how and what we do in our
lives, our footprint can
become one of positive change in the world.
The
greatest answers always pose greater questions: How do we create a
culture of trust that steadily practices a
language of non-violence? How do we become conscious?
Work
Cited
1.
Greene, Joshua.
“Global Ethics Forum: Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap
Between Us and Them.” Video.
2014. <http://youtu.be/8YxmuUUpuy4>
2.
Hardin, Garrett. “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Science.
Dec. 13, 1968.
<https://www.sciencemag.org/content/162/3859/1243.full>
3.
Dalai Lama. “Compassionate
Ethics in Difficult Times.” Video. 2019.
<http://youtu.be/jITmGqcsmRw>
4.
Rosenberg, Marshall. “Vision
of the Future.” Video.
2013.
<http://youtu.be/CwHBD7Ihy5U>
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Monday, March 24, 2014
Vision of the Future - Marshall Rosenberg
Before finding the "How to Change the World" class, I found the teachings of Marshall Rosenberg, Mahatma Gandhi and the Dalai Lama to be useful in learning how to think about our minds, coexistence and communication. In this video Roseberg describes where our old habits of thinking and acting come from and how we are more than capable of changing our language from one of violence, to one of peace and compassion.
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Saturday, March 22, 2014
On a journey to change the world...
Several years ago I walked into a book store with a friend, browsing as I usually do, picking up a book here and there, reading a sentence or a paragraph, looking over the contents page, when I happen upon David Bornstein's How To Change The World. I read a little here and there and returned it to the shelf. A week later, I went back to buy the book. This isn't where it all started, but it was one of those times in life where I felt I was reminded by destiny what was important to me. Even with the stories of others making big changes in front of me, I wondered how one person amongst billions on this planet, can truly make a difference. How can I make a difference? I don't have many resources, nor do I know anyone particularly influential, how can I be a part of the solution? I know now I am not the only one asking these kinds of questions.
The last couple of months I have spent in the class called "How to Change the World" provided by Wesleyan University, made available free internationally thanks to coursera.org, which I stumbled upon in my search for free education online. I was pretty ecstatic when I found out more than fifty-five thousand students had signed up for the course. Finally, I was not feeling so alone. It was in this course that I found out all it takes is a few inspired and determined individuals to get the billions on board with the ideas that will determine the course of our future generations.
I created this blog as an avenue for discussion about major global issues that are facing our home planet and to find a community that cares and wants to evolve sensibly, with eco-friendly sustainable developments, ethically sound markets and governments, wide spread education, and a cooperative effort for truth, justice, and peace.
Sounds a bit idealistic? Of course! But every dream has a truth to it and even what people considered complete science fiction in the past, is now a normal part of our reality. Any accomplishment first starts with imagination!
Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy learning and sharing your own perspectives about the subjects that I bring to light in the coming weeks.
“You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us. And the world will live as one." ~John Lennon
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” ~Albert Einstein
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