Tag: Psychology

Empaths vs Logicians: A conflict which requires resolution for sustainability.

by kendunning, posted in Building our future., Community, Economics, Environment, Mental Health, Personal Development, Politics, Psychology, Spirituality, Sustainability
c-alexmax-www.fotosearch.com

When the Empaths (I feel strongly that…) within society find themselves intensely opposed to what the Logicians (logic tells us that…) within a society are proposing, that society is facing an existential problem. The same is true when the situation is reversed. How long the society may have before it suffers serious, if not irreparable harm, may vary but is a function of the intensity of the conflict.

Why does such a conflict weigh so heavily for the health of a society? Because both our feelings and our intellect exist for the primary purpose of counseling us on what pathway we should take in any given situation. To fail to give adequate consideration to either aspect of our innate guidance systems does not bode well. That is true whether the “we” is more accurately an “I’; an individual facing an internal conflict between their feelings and intellect, or an entire society in which the people more oriented toward a feeling/emotional experience of the world are at odds with the people more oriented toward an intellectual/logic related experience of the world. Such a conflict on either the intrapersonal or interpersonal level is an expression of the plight addressed by the axiom: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” (Paraphrasing the Biblical reference Mark 3:25).

To put this in simpler terms, when the “warm and fuzzy” of an issue finds itself intensely opposed to the “cold and objective” of an issue, or vice versa, it does not bode well. Something significant is being missed (overlooked or ignored) most likely by the people on both sides of the issue. One thing that can be counted on if both sides are working in good faith, is that both sides of the conflict are, to a greater or lesser extent, grounded in reality. Another thing that can be counted on is that if those on both sides of such an issue would calmly sit down and the Logicians would try to empathize to understand the strong feelings of the Empaths, and the Empaths would try to see the reasoning of the Logicians, the chance for the best possible outcome becomes a possibility. In all likelihood when such an agreement is able to be worked out neither side is going to find their original position completely vindicated. However, neither side is going to find their original position completely invalidated either. The scales may tip more one way than the other, or not.

That being said, it is conceivable that one side may be completely right and the other completely wrong IF one side is not being completely honest. Or, if one side is attempting to further a covert agenda. If either side is pursuing special interests of some kind that also stands to confound the situation. Further, if the special interests are overly represented in the outcome, the outcome will not have the authenticity, the same potential, to produce the degree of favorable outcome it would have if that weren’t the case. If both the feelings and intellect, when expressed in authentic form, are working toward the wellbeing of the “whole”, any efforts to artificially distort those efforts, one way or the other, will distort and/or warp the authenticity and the effectiveness of the outcome. The “whole” will not be honestly nor optimally served. Whether the “whole” in question is an individual or a society.

For those who have been heavily indoctrinated in the pre-quantum physics illusion of separation and individualism, the proposition that a society may be a single interconnected organism and that all the citizens within that society are to a significant extent, as cells within a body, may seem subversive to some egocentric agenda or another. However, having said that, don’t conflate “interconnected” with “the same”. While all people share, to a greater or lesser extent, many common characteristics, we also have aspects to our authentic selves which, when taken altogether, are unique to us as individuals. That’s why over regimentation of a society is ultimately doomed to failure. But just as over regimentation does not create a viable society for human beings to live within, neither does anarchy. If we want healthy, viable societies, the recognition and honoring of the basic, mutually shared aspects of our lives is the bedrock upon which the basic structures of a healthy, vibrant, viable society, one which also provides room for the diversity so necessary to a healthy society, must be built.

When we know enough about ourselves and our mutuality, and we find the viable balance wherein we are honoring both the mutually shared aspects of our being and the more individual aspects, we will be a lot closer to being able to create the wonderful, viable lives within a wonderful, viable society that we have the potential to create. Until then we are allowing the illusions, the fears, the hatreds, the perversions, the distortions which in large part, if not in totality, are birthed by the lies and abuses which we have too often inflicted upon one another, control our present and our future.

Vladimir Putin is not Russia and Donald Trump is not the United States

by kendunning, posted in Building our future., Community, Donald Trump, Environment, Health, Mental Health, Personal Development, Politics, Psychology, Spirituality, Sustainability, Vladimir Putin
(C) Alex Max, http://www.fotosearch. com

When did it happen? When did people around the world begin to identify an entire nation on the basis of the character of whomever happens to occupy high political office within that nation? It’s as ridiculous a practice as trying to characterize the ocean on the basis of the behavior of a single fish. It always, absolutely always, provides us with a distorted, inaccurate, conception of the nation concerned.

Vladimir Putin is not Russia. Donald Trump is not the United States. Nor was Joe Biden, Barack Obama, nor any other President. Likewise Xi Jinping is not China and Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not the Ukraine. Droupadi Murmu is not India. No single man nor woman ever has nor ever will be the sum total of the nation which they find themselves in a position of leadership within. And so it goes with every single nation on the face of the Earth.

A nation is the people who live within it. A nation is the people who farm the land, occupy the cities, build the houses, clean the streets, cook the food, create the art, attend the concerts, eat at the restaurants, and generally participate in all the activities which sustain, enliven and enlighten the bodies and spirits, the hearts and minds, of the citizenry. If you travel the world it doesn’t take long to realize that the citizenry of every nation on Earth is pretty much the same. We breath, we eat, we love, we work, we play, we worry, we laugh, we eat, we read, we celebrate,  we grieve. With our work, with the time and energy of our lives, we strive in myriad ways to improve our lives and the lives of others within our communities. So why do we, the citizenry of the nations of the world, allow the misbegotten, and often grandiose, aspirations, or the fears, of one person or group of people to lead us into conflict with one another? Conflicts which obliterate so much of what we and our ancestors have worked so hard to build? Cities, homes, farms, shops, restaurants, concert halls, hospitals, schools, the productions, the dreams, of so many people over so long a period of time. And then there are the human costs, the suffering, the deaths of so very many including family and loved ones.

War, conflict, any extreme competition which theatens the life or well-being of the citizens of any nation, or even a single individual, is something which threatens the life and well-being of us all. Why? Because the spirit of competition for territory or other worldly wealth inevitably leads to larger conflicts. Larger conflicts which lay the stepping stones on the road to war. It is like a contagious virus which spreads through the hearts and minds of people who are vulnerable to it. It breeds fear of those whom we perceive, or more often are told, want to take something from us which we hold dear. And we human beings have an innate tendency to try to destroy, to kill, that which we fear. On the other hand, to want others to fear us is inescapably, no matter how much we may think otherwise, to lead others to desire to destroy us.

We cannot fully develop our innate capacities as human beings when we live our lives burdened by fear; experiencing the stresses and debilitation, the actual trauma, which fear inevitably brings into our lives.

It’s high time we average people, average citizens, the true builders of civilizations, stop letting ourselves be blind followers of those among us with the most needy egos, the most avaricious among us, the most callous among us. It’s time we see through the half truths and outright lies the bought and paid for media outlets insistently try to present to us as reality. It’s time we realize our shared divine heritage here on this planet and treat ourselves and the planet with the love and respect we, and it, rightfully deserve.

It is time we address the underlying pandemic of our age.

by kendunning, posted in Building our future., Community, Economics, Environment, Health, Politics, Psychology, Science, Spirituality, Sustainability, War

We are in the midst of a pandemic. Not COVID nor a new viral concoction those disposed to do so may be devising. It is a pandemic of mental/spiritual origin and effect. The infectious, destructive condition I’m referring to has been with us for millennia. It is a condition, a dis-ease if you will, which leaves many of those affected languishing in the belief that the “physical” world is our primary, if not our only reality. Or, others affected often see fit to engage in overly self-centered, sometimes brutal, schemes for personal gain. Schemes which ignore the damage such thoughts and actions are doing within our underlying spiritual reality. Damage which sooner or later expresses itself within our “physical” reality.

Above I put “physical” in quotation marks because, as with light waves which we can only see a certain portion of the full spectrum of, our physical reality also extends beyond the denser forms and actions we’re all accustomed to dealing with in our day to day lives. It extends into finer, more ethereal, spiritual aspects of our reality which those who are infected with the mental condition leading to the denial of this reality apparently find beyond their perception. Or possibly they have some perception of it but for reasons having to do with their enculturation choose to ignore such perceptions. Yet inescapably we affect and are affected by the finer, more ethereal aspects of our reality.

This condition, which results in a narrow window on our world, is a mental/spiritual condition which many seem to accept as part of the price for being a “good citizen” of a materialistic, competitive culture.  I wonder how many people are receiving treatment both in outpatient and inpatient settings simply because they found themselves perceiving and finding reality and meaning within some of the forms and actions within the more ethereal aspects of our reality? How a person reacts to perceiving things outside the realm of what their culture may regard as normal is often determined by whether or not they primarily regard the world with an attitude of fear or an attitude of faith.

It is when we are able to stretch out our perceptions more fully into the finer, more ethereal/spiritual aspects of our existence, our reality, that we can discover many blessings and abilities which remain out of our reach when too many daily stressors push us into a withdrawn, shut-down state of being. When fear and anxiety are intrusive into our lives, we tend to draw in, to shut down some of the higher functioning parts of our mind, our being. This loss of so much of the potential richness of our lives is one of the cruelest of the collateral damages within a culture of competition.

We see so much cruelty, so much inhumanity resulting from people holding an attitude of fear, avarice, intolerance, that it is easy to be deceived into believing that these ways of relating to the world are the underlying, inescapable reality of our existence on Earth.  They aren’t.  Love is the underlying reality.  However, when unguided by compassion and sound reason, even love can produce perverted, destructive actions. Such as when, as I have seen it expressed, we “love things and use people instead of loving people and using things”.  Or when we love the experience of our own being yet choose to callously disregard the experiences of others.

Creating a culture of fear is relatively easy.  Engage in violence, do things which blatantly and glaringly or subtly and insidiously injure people. Engage in actions which engender distrust.  Use political/economic schemes with armed legions of enforcers to take away and control the goods and freedoms of the general population of entire nations (even your own).  Those involved in the thinking patterns and behaviors which lead to the creation of cultures of fear are following their most self-centered, self-serving impulses with little or no concern for the effects which their actions impose upon, or evoke within others.   

Creating a culture of love, compassion, and understanding is a harder task.  The desire to do so usually is preceded by the awareness that we are all interrelated. For one thing, we are all a part of the environment which all other people live within. However, when we learn more about the energy/spiritual reality of our lives we understand how we are quite literally interconnected on an energetic/spiritual level. Someday I imagine there will books written about the effects each person’s spiritual energy contributes to our spiritual environment. We now know beyond a doubt that groups of people meditating in an area can reduce the crime rate. Manifesting a culture which is an expression of the positive, life-oriented aspects of our underlying spiritual reality requires people to be willing to put the time and effort into understanding themselves and others.  It requires compassion and patience when facing difficult interpersonal situations.  It requires tolerance of different practices and worldviews as long as those practices and worldviews are not inherently harmful to others.  It requires people to have a rock-solid commitment to the well-being of others as well as one’s own.   

Right now we are living in a world in which far too many are suffering under the pestilence of a culture of fear, avarice, intolerance.  Many are reaping the bitter fruits of devoting time and energy into fear, hating and war. Many are reaping the bleak fruits resulting from the personal or cultural allotment of large amounts of human and material resources for the building and acquisition of weapons of destruction.  The more energy, time and resources we pour into these things the more we see war and destruction proliferating around the world.  After all the teachings, the warnings we have had through the ages from saints and prophets about reaping what we sow, this sorry reality should come as no surprise. 

I would rhetorically ask what we should do about it, but the answer is obvious:  we need to start consistently sowing the words and actions which are exactly those which we genuinely would like to have returning to us and our loved ones.  That’s all. 

In the U.S.A. and around the world people are enduring a most grievous wrong.

by kendunning, posted in Building our future., Community, Economics, Environment, Innovation, Personal Development, Politics, Psychology, Spirituality, Sustainability

The United States has often been portrayed, and I believe seen by many, as being a nation of individual rights and liberties.  The Bill of Rights (1st ten amendments to the Constitution) were a pretty enlightened and bold action in the face of “Old World” authoritarian monarchies and dictatorships.  The right to freedom of speech, to bear arms, of religion, the protections of the accused in criminal investigations, these all represent a radical departure from the manipulative controls repressive authoritarian regimes routinely seek to impose.  However, as wonderful and enlightened as they are, they fall short in a critical way of addressing possibly the most universal wrong that one individual or group has historically and contemporaneously waged upon another. 

The Preamble to the Declaration of Independence evokes an essential spirit of human desire:   “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  Allowing that the author used the word “men” to indicate all human beings, not just those of the male gender, these words evoke a sense of unity. A sense that all people should be embraced within a spirit of kinship and equality.  But again, in a very essential way everything that followed ignored a grievous wrong which some individuals and groups have been imposing upon others for centuries. A wrong that has been practiced so pervasively among people around the world, that it seems to have been accepted, or neglected, even in the enlightened thinking of the 18th century American revolutionaries. 

This is the inherent moral rightfulness of all who contribute their life’s time and energy to the sustaining and advancement of their civilization to reasonably and fairly reap of the benefits of that civilization.  This is not to say that all should benefit equally from the fruits of an endeavor, because in either quality or quantity there undoubtedly are some whose contribution weighs more heavily in the achievement of the fruits of civilization.  However, each and every individual’s most precious contribution is of their life’s time and energy.  Whether it is sweeping floors, washing dishes, planting or harvesting crops, building necessary infrastructure, working in education, providing art and/or entertainment, seeking/understanding/disseminating spiritual truth, serving within the operation of government, serving to protect lives and property, working in the sciences to further human well-being, working in industry to invent and provide needed products, working in the care of others whose young age, illness or infirmity disallows them from engaging in adequate self-care, or any of the other myriad ways individuals engage themselves in the service of community and civilization: those engaging in these works are all significantly contributing to the sustaining and advancing of well-being within their communities and of civilization itself. 

All of us, everyone of us alive on Earth today, has parents, grandparents and further ancestry who have given of their lives’ time and energies in the effort of establishing a viable human civilization here on Earth.  Further, most, if not all, of them held the hope and desire that not only themselves, but that their children and their children’s children should share in the benefits of the civilization they were contributing to.  So why, after all these centuries, after all the work, the strife, the good intentions that have gone into bringing us into our present time and place, aren’t the fruits of humankind’s combined efforts being shared more fully and fairly than they are? 

At this point in time the inequity of the distribution of wealth among humanity is extreme.  Around the world those who have sought after and grasped the reins of industry and government are showing themselves to be consumed by their egos and self-importance to the degree that they apparently hold in contempt the majority of humanity. The very same humanity responsible for the vast majority of the effort which has gone into the production of the wealth they now lay sole claim to.  It is this inequity which is the most grievous wrong which even the enlightened revolutionary thinking of 18th century America overlooked. 

Through the ages those in positions of power, governmental, industrial, even within the academic and religious establishments have imagined and devised myriad rationalizations and schemes to justify and implement their desire to acquire inordinate wealth and power.  The myth of divinely ordained royalty, the creation of religious and other stratified social systems which use fear to achieve compliance from populations. The creation of a global predatory economic system which allows a relative few to control the vast majority of the world’s wealth. Even the withholding of technological developments which would allow greater freedom and well-being to the world’s population. All of these things have contributed to the economic, if not the literal, enslavement of children and adults. These things and more are going on the world today including within the United States. 

Along with the above mentioned actions, those with the mind set to exploit whatever is exploitable are also engaged in the production of toxic products, including food products, and in the disposal of highly toxic waste in ways which are destroying vital natural resources and habitats.  Relative to the degree worldwide pollution is taking place, the world’s recycling programs, while an admirable idea, are in many places weak, if they exist at all. There is a correlation to be drawn between the intellectual/mind toxic pollution which is being generated in the world today and the physical/chemical pollution which happening simultaneously.

These things: lies, greed, exploitation, and pollution, have gone on to a greater or lesser degree for centuries.  However, in the 21st century, technology which allows for the mass dissemination of information, or misinformation, along with advances in transportation technology and weaponry, has exponentially amplified the abilities of those with the mind set and who are positioned to do so to exploit the financial systems, resources and the people of the world.  Further, to do so in ways that are homicidal in their callousness toward vast elements of humanity.

Those in power might say that they are doing nothing illegal. Which is always an easier statement to make when you control the lawmakers and the laws. The thing is, legal or illegal, does the current state of economic inequity and callousness toward human well-being represent what humanity in general wants or needs to be experiencing in the world? Now or in the future?

That’s up to us, isn’t it?  All of us.  What kind of world do we want to live in?  What kind of world do we want our children and children’s children to grow up in?  What kind of species is the human race?  One that is so lacking in intellectual ability that recognition of what is or is not conducive to our happiness and survival is beyond our ability to comprehend or act upon?  I don’t think so, I certainly hope not.  Reasonable expectations as far as a work week goes with reasonable reimbursement. A worker who works a 40 or more hr. work week does not really have a reasonable opportunity to explore and develop their life to it’s fullest. 24 hours over three days would be more in keeping with a balanced life. And for that a worker should be able to afford to live comfortably. To have the time and money for housing, food, recreational pursuits, ongoing personal development, and spiritual development. These are things a healthy, vibrant person requires to stay vital. 

However, both as individuals and as populations, we have been and are able to be manipulated.  Too many working, contributing, people are kept busy worrying about having a roof over their heads and food to eat. By design or default, we often are too distracted, too exhausted to pay adequate attention to the long-range agendas which others are putting in place around us.  Agendas which are too often aimed at serving a minority of people at the expense of many. 

We need to discipline ourselves to pay attention.  We need to ask questions about any and every program, policy, and action our governments and industries engage in.  We need to own our heritage of being descendants of the people who have with their sweat and blood, their lives’ energy built the civilizations and the wealth of the world.  And I venture that at no time were our ancestors thinking that the purpose of their life was to forget about themselves, their families, their loved ones, and simply feed the greed of a few.  So the question becomes: what do we see as our purpose?

We need to recognize in this increasingly connected world that we are one people:  the human race.  We need to take on that awareness and act upon it in all our dealings.  We need to treat each other with compassion. We need to consistently work toward health, education and enlightenment, for ourselves and all around us, within all aspects of our lives.  To do so is to own our very humanity and to work at being the enlightened architects of our future.

How did the United States take such a wrong turn?

by kendunning, posted in Building our future., Community, Economics, Environment, Mental Health, Personal Development, Politics, Psychology, Science, Spirituality, Sustainability, War

As the song says, “War, huh, good God, y’all, what is it good for?” Something war most certainly is, is the violent introduction of some, if not all, of humankind’s most ill-conceived, lowest frequency, motivations into the spiritual/physical realm of our planet. Into our communities, into our lives.

The act of war, or acts of violence on an interpersonal level, without exception result in vibrations of dissonance reverberating within our energetic/spiritual environment. The traumas which war produces can, and too often do, resonate within generations becoming a self-perpetuating source of hatred and violence. The result is traumatized people blindly acting out of impulse to perpetuate more trauma and on and on.

How different our world would be if following the Second World War the United States had decided to “be the change we (the vast majority of people on Earth) want to see in the world.” How different the world would be if the United States had decided to model what an evolved, educated, caring nation could be instead of deciding to try to accomplish global domination via military might. How did a nation so blessed as the United States in the period after the Second World War take such a wrong turn? It isn’t what the people wanted. In 1960 we voted for a man who promised to take the path of an evolved, educated, caring nation. The early 1960’s with John F. Kennedy in the White House and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the pulpit, held so much promise for an enlightened future for humanity. Under Kennedy, foreign policy meant constructive cultural exchange. What we have seen foreign policy devolve into the past few decades is vicious attacks upon whatever nations aren’t getting into lockstep with the wealth/power/control aspirations of a coalition of a relative few of the world’s wealthiest and most politically powerful.

We, as a people in the United States and around the world, need to stop engaging in, or supporting, the madness of materialism, imperialism, competition and profiteering that has become commonplace in our world. We are, all of us, children of the Universal Divine Creative Spirit. We are all brothers and sisters in the spirit. We are all connected by the energy/spirit that we are made up of and that we live within. Sooner or later the cruelties expressed and the suffering taking place anywhere in the world are going to touch all of us.

At our core, our needs as human beings aren’t all that different. We do have differences in appearance: skin color, hair color, eye color, height, weight, and other physical attributes. We also have differences in the way we relate to the world. Some people are more intellectual, some more physical, some more visual, some more auditory. These differences may affect one’s values, likes and dislikes. They can affect who we seek out for companionship. All of these differences together lend each of us a certain uniqueness. And thank goodness, what a drab, boring place this Earth might be if we all were in lockstep with how we view the world, our likes and dislikes.

However, at our core, we are all of the same ilk. In order to be healthy, we all need clean air, clean water, nutritious food, shelter from extreme weather conditions. We all need to have other people we socialize with, share our thoughts and feelings with. We all need to love and to be loved. While we all may enjoy periods of isolation, some may say they don’t need socialization or love at all. However, that condition, if it exists at all, is rare. Abraham Maslow recognized these shared needs among people and produced his “Hierarchy of Needs” to help us all understand them, and ourselves.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Our natural way of relating to one another is copacetically. Babies and young children don’t want war. They know instinctively that it is not good for them. It’s only after we become acculturated into competition, envy, jealousy, greed, hate, essentially all the things that trauma and deprivation (also a form of trauma) nurture in the world that we as adults begin to imagine that there is gain in violence and war. When we know love, belonging, we don’t want to throw that away to go kill someone, somewhere, in order to try to achieve some ill-begotten, grandiose plan. Or more ridiculously to devote our lives to support someone else’s ill-begotten, grandiose plan.

We cannot fully develop as human beings when the higher functioning capabilities of our brains are diminished due to trauma. Do we want to keep living in a manner more suited to the beasts of the field while we live in a universe of unlimited possibilities? If so, all we need to do is build and sustain a culture of competition rather than cooperation. To keep on warring instead of working together. To keep on destroying each other rather than honoring the innate kinship of all of humanity, of all life.

It is when people are mistreated, traumatized, deprived, destitute, suffering, and/or deluded that fear, greed, callousness, and myriad other negative thoughts/feelings/and motivations arise. Competition as cultural norm breeds these all of these things and more. Within a framework of a few basic laws, within a culture of people who are thinking in terms of mutuality, trust, fairness, and compassion, the wondrous possibilities of this world are endless.

Healing the world, saving the world, call it what you will Jeremy Griffith presents a summation of the work of scientists, religions, poets, and others that rings true.

by kendunning, posted in Building our future., Community, Psychology, Science
Image (c) AlexMax http://www.fotosearch.com

This post is dedicated to facilitating people viewing the one hour six minute video of Jeremy Griffith’s abstract of this summation. It is filled with research, reason, love and optimism. Coming from the primary perspective of biology, it explains much about our present and historical human condition. Further, this explanation serves to free humankind from deeply embedded, internalized conflicts and self-condemnation.

I truly hope you will take the time to view this video and tell others about it. This is genuinely information the world needs to have.

Jeremy Griffith, the interview.

World conquest 2.0 and how to resist it.

by kendunning, posted in Community, Personal Development, Politics, Psychology, Spirituality
Photo: Ken Dunning

The problem with the proposed U.N. gun ban is that it leaves the most ruthless criminals; the governments who routinely use armies and police as enforcers for special interest agendas, fully armed. Such special interest agendas which are being enacted and enforced which strip people, families and communities of their individual rights, freedoms and economic stability. Within this worldwide dynamic there are, in many and various places, “sub-elements” of individuals and groups who can and will use weapons to engage in their own more localized criminal activities: robbery, intimidation, assault, murder. These elements are what most people want to see disarmed. Yet these elements are those which would be the last to, if ever, turn over any weapons they possess. As the saying goes: “When guns are criminalized, only criminals will have guns.” The Second Amendment was intended to enable a well-armed citizenry to defend itself against armed assaults from either criminally authoritarian governments or smaller criminal groups. Regrettably, the threats which it is designed to address are no less present today than they were in the late 1700’s.

Yet there has been a movement within people around the world to embrace greater understanding of, and empathy toward, others. Via international tourism, this movement was rapidly picking up momentum in the past few decades. Perhaps this momentum threatened those who see authoritarian control as the system they want to see in place: with themselves as the authorities. The appearance of COVID was used to almost totally quash the increasing amount of international tourism. Tourism which was having the effect of bringing people together; which was allowing people to see first-hand the similarities and kinship innate within all people on Earth. The past few months international tourism has been opening up considerably, however, simultaneously plans are being laid among the international governmental powers-that-be to bring international tourism under an increased level of authoritarian control. A concerted attempt to bring a “vaccine passport” into being is underway among the G20 nations.

Which brings us back to the proposed U.N. gun ban. There can be no question that there exists an international elite who see themselves as the leaders of the world. Further, they want to impose their vision of the future upon the global citizenry. A vision which lacks the merit which would allow it to be globally embraced by an enlightened populace. If their vision had such merit, it would be spontaneously embraced. It would become a globally internalized behavioral guidance system which would lead to a harmonious society. But it does not, so lies, manipulation, and force are being employed in an attempt to establish the desired authoritarian system. Ultimately, as it is highly oppositional to a healthy human nature, it will fall apart. Yet we are left with the question of how much pain and suffering this attempt will cause while it is underway? It depends on several things. One of which, possibly the most significant, is how susceptible people around the world are to being convinced that participating in military, and/or police, violence against other nations and people is a good thing to do. This will largely depend upon the amount of fear the powers-that-be are able to cultivate among one person or population toward another.

What will go the farthest toward keeping us safe against this insidious attempt at bringing the general population of the world under the control of a self-serving minority, is simply not buying into the persistent rhetoric, the fear mongering. The more we stay centered in love, loving our neighbor as we love ourselves, and then acting upon that love, the better chance we have of keeping the most positive aspects of our humanity alive and well.

Demonstrations, protests and riots are going on all over the U.S. Why?

by kendunning, posted in Building our future., Community, Economics, Environment, Innovation, Personal Development, Politics, Psychology, Science, Spirituality

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Why do I use Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs so often in my articles? Because it informs us of a concept key to a successful life as a person or for a culture.

In many important, essential ways, people, by and large, aren’t all that complicated.  Maslow knew this aspect of our reality and took the time to try to organize our needs by importance in relationship to our survival and well-being.  Of course we don’t always find ourselves involved with filling each need in exactly the order Maslow arranged them, however, if our needs aren’t met at one level, the more desperate the need we feel, the more we’re stuck on that level.

We need to keep this reality in mind when we are working to understand and/or figure out how to respond to the demonstrations, protests and riots going on in the U.S. and elsewhere.  What these events are, every one of them, are symptoms of unmet needs.  They are populated by people who can no longer stand idly by while feeling their innate human needs go unmet.  It might have worked for them at one time.  A time when they were, for whatever reasons, able to suppress their internal urges because they felt hope that a pathway was going to open up for them to pursue fulfillment.  But when that hope wanes, desperation comes in on it’s heels.

The “rugged individualists”, particularly the ones who have found themselves in comfortable positions, might say:  well it’s their fault, they didn’t work hard enough to take care of themselves, they’re lazy.  Maybe, to some extent, for some of the people, there is some degree of truth in that.  But there is something obvious that really flies in the face of that logic:  those “lazy” people are out marching in the streets.  They are feeling a need and somebody, or something, provided them with a direction.  When one is desperate, doing something, anything, even if it’s wrong can be preferable to doing nothing.  If a direction offers some degree of even blind, hope, it is going to have an attraction.  That’s how desperation works.

The fact people are out marching, protesting, even rioting, shows that, given a direction, they are willing to take action to do something, anything, to try to gain fulfillment for their unmet needs.  It is clear that what most people need in such a situation is direction.  What is being demonstrated in these events is raw, potential energy looking for a way to become kinetic, to provide what is needed to fulfill the unmet needs.

In a civilized society it should just be a given that we are working together to meet the needs of all.  Whether we privately own things, communally own things or work with a model that embraces the best method for the immediate needs at hand, as long as we have the mind that it is a combined effort for the good of all, we will be fine.

Have you ever been poor?  After two-thirds of the month has gone by have you ever found yourself wondering how you’re going to eat for the remaining third?  When you are in that position, and you walk into a grocery store, you want EVERYTHING.  It can seem that you couldn’t possibly buy enough to satisfy your hunger.  However, if you’re not poor, if you’re well fed and you enter a grocery store, it’s not that hard to be totally satisfied picking up whatever it was you came for.  People are like that, in more ways than simply regarding food.  When we are feeling an acute shortage of something, a deep-down need for something, we can easily find ourselves thinking we want it all.

No matter how absurd or grandiose the participants’ expressed demands in the heat of desperation may be, when the people involved see and feel their needs are being genuinely fulfilled, they will, however tentatively at first, begin responding favorably to whatever is providing, and shows it can continue to provide, that fulfillment.   To merely offer such a movement resistance is to stand squarely in the way of much needed hope and change.

A footnote:  This is not to advocate for a program of ongoing free stuff for all dissatisfied people.  In Maslow’s hierarchy, self esteem is a basic human need.  Working at a fair rate in exchange for what one receives is a part of healthy self esteem.  Sometimes a person’s being able to accept “free” stuff is needed in order to pull that person up when they are down, but it’s not a viable long term solution.

A house divided against itself…

by kendunning, posted in Building our future., Environment, Mental Health, Personal Development, Politics, Science, Spirituality, Unified Field

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(c) AlexMax http://www.fotosearch.com

In our attempts, our efforts, at building a viable, vital society, we can learn much by observing and understanding the functioning of our own bodies.  There is a saying attributed to Hermes Trismegistus:  “That which is Below corresponds to that which is Above, and that which is Above corresponds to that which is Below, to accomplish the miracle of the One Thing.”   This is often shortened to “As above, so below, as below, so above”.  This concept, or the observation of the nature of our reality, provides us with an understanding, which, if applied to our efforts at creating and maintaining a human culture, can do much to guide us toward what will be in harmony with the natural world.  The natural world which we are working with and within and therefore toward a more vibrant, stable and enduring culture.

Our bodies are miracles of design.  They are self-repairing, self-renewing, and they offer us multiple senses, or avenues of interface, with our environment.  They provide us with much enjoyment and pleasure.  And provide us with discomfort and/or pain to let us know when we’re not supplying them with what they need, or too much of what they don’t need.  Ultimately what makes the whole thing work is the the organs, the cells, within the body work together to keep the body, the whole, alive and well.  One of the serious threats to the health of our bodies is the occasion when some cells become sickened and engage in a pattern of runaway duplication (growth) and a voracious appetite for energy.  One could say they get greedy for resources and want to take over.  They behave more competitively than cooperatively.  Of course, as our ancestors knew centuries ago:  Mark 3:25, Jesus states, “And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”  

Now really, just think about that last statement for a minute, it’s not rocket science.  It’s something that immediately makes sense both intellectually and emotionally.  I think this is one of those truths that people just innately know, that comes with birth.  Yet it is one many people quickly turn their backs on when the world dangles some bling in front of them and says:  Go now and compete.  Within human cultures around the world that is the genesis of a cancer that is destroying our cultures with the same certainty that an untreated malignant cancer destroys a human body.  I can imagine someone thinking, but isn’t that just exercising personal freedom?   Yes it is.  And freedom is an essential aspect of a healthy human culture.  However, it is also just exercising personal freedom to take an automatic weapon to an elementary school and start shooting students.  Freedom is a double edged sword and is only an asset to humanity when it is combined with wisdom.  Such as the wisdom that if we aren’t all working together, cooperatively, for the good of the whole of humanity, the body of humanity, we are in the process of destroying that body.  And just as the cells of a body cannot survive for long once the body as a whole becomes unviable, no matter how adept a survivalist one might think they are, human beings cannot survive indefinitely outside a viable human culture.

All my life I have heard Charles Darwin exalted as one of the, effectively, high priests of the natural world.  I don’t think it’s possible to think of Charles Darwin and not think of the phrase survival of the fittest.  That is the phrase those most industrially disseminating information within popular culture have locked onto regarding Darwin.  But today those who are seriously researching Darwin’s ideas and adaptive strategies are saying friendliness and cooperation is the most successful strategy for survival.  This is just one more example of how spirituality and science are converging in the world today.

If we are to survive as a species on this planet we must recognize our oneness, our interconnectedness and interdependence.  Not merely within cities, or nations, but as global body of humanity.

The Lifeguard Principle: What it is, what is it good for, how to make friends with it.

by kendunning, posted in Building our future., Community, Economics, Personal Development, Psychology, Science, Spirituality

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(c) AlexMax http://www.fotosearch.com

I am realizing that many of us, me included, have a tendency to readily notice and respond to the things in the world that are blatantly wrong, or problematic, and that this may consequently mean we simultaneously are not giving enough attention to the things that are right. 

I first became aware of this tendency decades ago when I worked a couple summers as a lifeguard.  When I found myself in the lifeguard chair, looking at a large, crowded pool with lots of noise and activity, I had a moment of doubt.  I wondered how in the world am I going to see someone in trouble in this chaos?  I asked an older lifeguard that question and he replied that I just needed to keep my eyes on the pool and if someone got into trouble, I’d see it.  Sounds too simple, right?  It isn’t.  As it turns out our attention is drawn to the things that aren’t right.  Whether it is inconsistencies, differences in movement, sometimes the obvious shout for “help”, or some other more esoteric phenomenon, it is a reliably real thing.  I would always find my attention drawn to someone in trouble.  Sometimes a few seconds before they were actually experiencing the distress.  Of course it is also true that my mindset, my internal desire, was to see such occurrences.  That may be a part of the function at work.  I began calling this tendency to have our attention drawn to what is wrong “the lifeguard principle”.

While paying attention and looking for trouble was an explicit part of that job, I think it is something we all do to a greater or lesser extent.  It definitely is a survival trait in times of threat.  Maybe it’s a carry over from the days when we were walking through forests or jungles and we had to be aware of our surroundings to avoid being eaten.  It definitely is a behavior that is necessary in times of warfare, one person, gang, tribe, nation, attacking another.  I believe it is universal among humankind.   For those interested in looking into such things, there is some correlate in the functioning of our “exciting” and “calming” neurotransmitters.  Our bodies have evolved in a way that we deplete our “calming” neurotransmitters well before we are in danger of running out of “exciters”.  I suppose that would help keep us from just lying down and being eaten when being chased by a tiger.  But now, in the year 2020, for many if not most of us, the dynamics we face in our day to day lives are not quite the same as they have been through much our existence.

It’s not that there still aren’t some acute dangers in the world; in some places much more than others.  However, the dangers most of us face in developed nations are more of a chronic nature.  We don’t get pounced on and quickly killed and eaten by a tiger, we get killed more gradually by being slowly consumed by worries, fears, anxieties, and insecurities.  Just as the nature of the threats has changed over time, our reactions to the threats we’re facing needs to change also.  A sudden, pervasive startle, fight or flight reaction to all the, sometimes subtle, threats an average person may face during their day would certainly result in a person becoming overly stressed, burned out, and significantly more at risk for a plethora of diseases.

Sometimes we need to intervene in what direction our “autopilot” chooses and become more reasoned with our reactions to life’s events.  Having an innate sensitivity to things that are “wrong” in our environment can be part of an important survival system.  Our “lifeguard principle” exists for just that purpose, to help guard our lives.  This brings to my mind a book by Gavin De Becker:  “The Gift of Fear”.  It addresses the important role fear can and does play in our lives.  However, with both the “lifeguard principle” and “The Gift of Fear”, whether or not these innate aspects of our being serve us or sabotage us depends entirely on how we react to the input we receive from them.

In our complex, more populated, human culture primitive responses to what are often sophisticated situations become less and less viable.  As a culture, we need to get way more invested in learning more about what it is to be human and what we inherently, and universally, require to establish and maintain healthy, vital, lives.  When we learn to respond to human, social, problems in a manner based in seeking to solve those problems on by seeing needs met and lives stabilized, it will benefit us greatly.  We are going to find ourselves in a thriving, vibrant world such as we have only had glimpses of, during a few periods of time in the past 150 years.

Within the current available knowledge from the fields of psychology, sociology, physiology, and spirituality, we have all we need to have more than a good start.  It only requires our will and determination to do so.