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THE PARTNERS WITHIN
THREE-WORD MEDITATION
TWO VIEWS
Looking for balance in the 21st century
As we race forward into the 21st century, mankind’s unlimited ability to prosper will be increasingly testing the Earth’s limited ability to support that prosperity. Over the past 50 years, the global middle class—defined here as those who are able to spend a third or more of their income for non-necessities—has tripled to over one half of the world’s population. Incredibly, this number has the potential to double again in the coming decades. Forever more, we will not only be looking for the proper balance between our individual wants and needs, but for the proper balance between our aspirations and the limitations of our only home, the Planet Earth.
And how do we find that balance if people and nations continue to put self-interests first? The United Nations is one example of a global community trying to balance development while limiting the demands of increased consumption on the Earth’s finite resources. But we cannot wait for a global bureaucracy to solve this problem. The power to balance growth with resource sustainability resides within the personal choices of each of us.
Up until now, most of us have focused primarily on what’s right for ourselves and what’s right for the other people involved in our lives. Little consideration was needed for the people that lived on the other side of the world. But today we live in an increasingly interconnected world and sometimes our need to specialize in our local tasks makes us forget the bigger picture. Unfortunately, our personal goals can blind us into the ‘us versus them’ situations that often end with tragic consequences.
As we rush into this new century together, we need to look at all aspects of the issues we face—not just the tradeoffs between ‘limited and unlimited’ but at the very essence of the differences between you, me and we. The viewpoints offered here cover a broad range of human issues where there is no single answer. Liberal and conservative is a common one, especially in America. Different people can have different opinions and still be decent people. These differences are traditionally regarded as dualities (or more colloquially as ‘issues’) because they represent both contrasting yet acceptable aspects of the human experience. But to many individuals, their views are often framed in black and white. Yet when looking at populations as a whole, we see many shades of grey. People can be liberal is some areas of their lives and conservative in others. Normally, we all have the ability to be flexible in our views but more often that not, we aren’t. Too many of us go about looking for the information that supports our views, and wind up refuting anything that contests them.
But recognizing that there are lots of changes going on in our world—like the relentless competition for natural resources, trade and profits—means that we should be reviewing our positions more frequently. This means we all have the ability to look at both sides of our views and learn not only what other people are thinking but why they think that way. Two Views give you some convenient introspective tools for a better understanding of the necessary balance that our dominant species needs as it only has a single home to share. Then we will be in a better position to see not only what’s in our best interest, but what’s in the best interest of all.
1. Nature And Divine ─ From ancient myths to the modern realities of the human race, we have long held that there has been a duality of Nature, which represents the knowable world, and the Divine, the spirit of love and trust. Nature allows energy and matter to combine, producing life. It persists in the creation of new qualities while natural selection favors of more effective ones. The Divine is the keeper of a higher source: the laws of energy and balance of nature; our social order and moral truths. Like the duality of reason and faith, we only need to contemplate on the interplay between Nature and Divine. Then we will see the incredible possibilities for the ever-growing circles of trust that propel us forward.
2. History And Prehistory ─ Historians define history as the advent of writing systems that represent language. As such, our oldest written histories date to around four thousand years ago. But prehistory for humans reaches back over millions of years. Before writing came the abstractions of hunting, stone tools, fire, and social groups. The art and myths that come to us from ancient peoples represent the viewpoints of an enormous variety of human thought and feeling. On the other hand, the writings of contemporary religious traditions, which occurred in earnest between one and three thousand years ago, collected the local beliefs of specific tribes and regions. These writings became fixed into the sacred scripts we today. But by looking at a balance of both the historical and pre-historical wisdom traditions, we see the immense cultural diversity available to the human race today.
3. Faith And Culture ─ The difference between these two views is that faith is used for our sacred-spiritual beliefs and provides answers for the mysteries of life. Culture is used for our secular real-world beliefs and works to organize and unify groups. Faith allows us to suspend disbelief and enter into the realm of mysticism where the absolutes of morality and truth exist. Culture is more worldly and, due to the changing needs of societies, is constantly being modified by reason and laws. Both terms are used as belief-systems that societies use with the goal of conforming life. They provide the answers to the areas we’re unsure about so we don’t have to figure everything out for ourselves. Both faith and culture evolved over the millennia and were intricately involved with the evolution of agriculture, civilization, industry, and now, the Age of Globalization. The balance of sacred ideals with the realities that surround us is essential for individuals to define who they are and how they can best lead their lives.
4. Unique And Common ─ What are the strengths and weaknesses of humanity? What are my personal strengths and weaknesses? Each of us is created by a unique DNA molecule that assembles the proteins that generate our unique physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual energies. Although 99.99% of our human DNA is common to all other human beings, there are around 300 million molecules in our DNA that are uniquely arranged for each individual, and that is why no two of us are exactly alike. And, in addition to the possibility of random mutations, each of us has also had a unique nurturing experience. Because of the changing challenges of modern families, times, residencies, and daily life, even identical twins do not turn out identical. By understanding our uniqueness, it enables us to put together the best of our strengths, logic, emotions, and beliefs. By understanding our commonality, we discover balance in determining what’s right for ourselves and what’s right for others.
5. Big And Little ─ This double metaphor looks at the many different points of view that may arise between different spatial perspectives. Big is synonymous with other people, the public, and the many. Little identifies the self, the individual, and the one. For instance, what’s the difference between a Big Church and a Little Church? The Big Churches are in the neighborhoods that surround us. They are the communities where people go to be with like-minded people and to share commonly established beliefs. But a Little Church also exists solely within you. It enables you to discover the unique combinations of your nature and the nurturing that defined you and no other. Your Big Church offers beliefs for the societies you live in. Your Little Church is exclusive to you. It is where you go to find the proper balance between yourself and the world.
6. Top And Bottom ─ Most of us spend most of our time specializing in our individual skills and careers. Sometimes we work at producing goods and services. Other times we oversee resources, regional and global interests. Some times we govern, other times we are governed. We always need to govern ourselves. Most of the time we function well, other times we stumble, we can always start over. Sometimes we put together enormously complex sciences, organizations, governments, and cultures. Other times we are contributing participants. Nobody can be an expert in everything. We’ll always need to work with everybody involved and to trust that those around us are also working toward mutual goals. Most of the time, they do. We need to be responsible, trustworthy, transparent and accountable in our actions. Whenever anybody isn’t, it is the responsibility of everyone to get involved to see it right. Like all of our views, we need to consider the pros and cons of both top and bottom in order to discover the best results for going forward with our lives. From the top-down dictates of the ‘powers that be’ to the bottom-up actions of ‘grass-roots’ movements, looking for balance between these two views is essential for the challenges of the modern age.
7. Trust And Doubt ─ Trust is the default mode of humans. Studies have shown that trust plays the most important role in socially-oriented species, of which no better example exists than humans. If we hadn’t been able to trust family and friends when we were growing up, we wouldn’t be here. As a result of being raised in a mostly trusting environment, almost all of us almost always want to do the right thing. (Fact: Global incarceration rates are far less than 1 percent of the population.) Naturally, we also expect responsible behavior from the other people involved in our lives. But in a global environment we also need to extend our relationships to the individuals, communities, institutions, and governments that surround us. And due to the global differences of natural resources, climate, social structures, and regional cultures, not everybody shares the same goals. That leaves most of the population as “strangers in foreign lands.” Doubts arise whenever events occur that are not in the best interests of all. From one end of this duality’s spectrum to the other, all we need to do is look at the different sides of this issue and we will see that we are all inextricably involved in this life together. Then by looking for the proper balance between trust and doubt, we will see what is right for all.
8. Local And Global ─ Up until the past few centuries, we have been largely a local society. Most of our lives revolved around getting to love and trust the family and friends that were within walking and talking distances. And as we lived within the golden rules, our societies flourished. But now the human race appears fated to enter a new reality as we expand to some 10 billion over the next few decades. The rights of the individual will need to be increasingly balanced with the rights of the whole. The problem is that people find it easy to love and trust those that they are familiar with. But they are generally neutral towards anyone they don’t know and are quick to turn negative towards anything that appears foreign or different. Social scientists have shown that human beings are pretty good at becoming friends with up to a few hundred people. For almost everyone, getting much beyond this number is more complicated and we simply run out of time and abilities. Thus the rest of the human race becomes an unknown quality. But we will have only limited opportunities if we restrict ourselves to the use of local friends and family. If we open ourselves up to the global possibilities through the use of politics, treaties, business contracts, and cultural respect, then the reciprocal altruisms of mutually beneficial goals will flourish.
9. Short And Long ─ Time is the issue we are looking at here and the viewpoints are about how we differentiate between the short and long term. Usually, we do our jobs and tackle our more obvious projects on a daily basis and most of the time, that’s fine. But we need to take a few minutes out of our days and think about the long term consequences of what we are doing, why we are doing it, and what other people think. Internet searches tell us about other people and why they think their way. There are a lot of long-term changes going on that are unfolding gradually and they are of a subtle variety. Some of these major changes may be developing beyond our personal life’s expectancy and these changes are easy to ignore. But most of the goals we face are of both a short and long-term nature: education and business opportunities, safe and healthy living conditions, social safety nets for the aged and infirm, and responsible financial systems and governments are but a few. Our technological prowess may have exploded but our politics have not. Over the past fifty years our global economy has created more wealth than had ever been created in the history of humankind. Now, with a free enterprise system trading over $60 trillion of goods and services per year, there is ample resources and wealth to do the right thing for ourselves as well as for future generations. Our moral compass is simple: If it isn’t right for the children of this world, we shouldn’t be doing it.
10. Earth And Life ─ Have you ever wondered how our finite Earth, which has only limited land, air, water, and energy, can continue to support a life that knows no boundaries? Earth is a single host, a collection of limited resources. Life is the energy that takes those resources and multiples itself. Historically, mankind has gone to war whenever resources ran short. Sad, but rather than fighting, we should be looking at building a better way. Fortunately, humans have incredible brains and are far more talented than anyone has ever imagined. Most of us are aware of the advantages of getting along with the people involved in our lives. Success breeds success. But soon, for the first time ever, the globalization of our plant will necessitate that we take a critical next step: balancing not only what’s right for ourselves and the other people we know, but balancing what’s right for all of Earth’s life. And where will we find this balance? It comes from a Divine trust that we’re all in this together. With global dominance comes global responsibility. Nobody can deny that we are all dependent upon one another for our very salvation and prosperity.
One World, Two Views, ThreeWordMeditation.com ©
The Prophesies of Robert C. Felix
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