about the "Five Biggest Problems Facing World Today"
Poverty and economic inequity are huge problems in today's world, as is global warming.
Poverty and economic inequity (inequality) are pretty fundamental problems. I think they can be reduced given the right political will. And that's where I always run up against the reality of today's capitalism and political systems. There's little tangible reward for reducing poverty - the reward tends to be a feeling rather than monetary gratification. And it takes a big person to go for the feeling over the money. Then there's the pesky reality that people who are more economically empowered end up wanting political power. And elites do not like giving up their power - it doesn't happen without a fight.
Similiary, solving global warming involves the elites giving up some control over resources. It's no surprise to me that solar and wind energy are more prevalent now that the energy companies have figured out how to monetize those renewables.
As I write this, I feel so cynical. And yet I'm probably more hopeful about the state of global warming now that the multi-nationals are investing in renewables.
Solving global warming and poverty will require much more, though. They'll require a fundamental shift in how humans relate to each other, to ourselves, to the earth. I think that there are two things going on: first, people want to get "theirs" first, take care of themselves first. The "more, more, more" mentality makes it difficult for us (because I have to include myself in this) to know when we have "enough." Second, I think it's hard for people to feel empathy and generosity with people they may not feel are like them. Separation across ethnic, national, gender, education, socio-economic lines makes it easier to a) ignore other people's needs; b) feel superior to other people and thus entitled to more than "they" get; and/or c) take from others for ourselves.
This attitude gives rise to oppression of various sorts, genocide, war. So "separation" or "us/them" is a huge problem for our world, that keeps up from cooperating and sharing both scarce resources and ideas for creating new abundance and solutions for our shared planetary problems.
I believe that people accepting responsibility for our own individual lives is the best place to start healing the world and solving inequities. Yet people with few resources are at the bottom of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and thus have far less leisure or capacity to focus on "self-actualization." What about the rich and powerful, though? Far more than their basic needs are met, yet there's a remarkable lack of self-examination and spiritual development that allows people to say "I am OK, I have enough, I am on earth to help and live in harmony with others."
So I see spiritual impoverishment as one of the big problems facing humanity, as well as addiction. Addiction - to substances, sex, power, anything that takes us out of ourselves and into a different reality - is antithetical to self-examination. It's impossible for someone in another reality to start accepting and understanding the world as it is. And addiction is all about "more." Fear is usually at the root of addiction - fear of not having what we want or of losing what we have. Spiritual development is the antidote to fear.
I'm not talking about organized religion here, nor about cults. I'm talking about finding our own individual paths to tapping into our own higher selves, the self that is connected to other people, recognizes and celebrates that connection, and acts from serenity instead of fear.
Poverty and economic inequity (inequality) are pretty fundamental problems. I think they can be reduced given the right political will. And that's where I always run up against the reality of today's capitalism and political systems. There's little tangible reward for reducing poverty - the reward tends to be a feeling rather than monetary gratification. And it takes a big person to go for the feeling over the money. Then there's the pesky reality that people who are more economically empowered end up wanting political power. And elites do not like giving up their power - it doesn't happen without a fight.
Similiary, solving global warming involves the elites giving up some control over resources. It's no surprise to me that solar and wind energy are more prevalent now that the energy companies have figured out how to monetize those renewables.
As I write this, I feel so cynical. And yet I'm probably more hopeful about the state of global warming now that the multi-nationals are investing in renewables.
Solving global warming and poverty will require much more, though. They'll require a fundamental shift in how humans relate to each other, to ourselves, to the earth. I think that there are two things going on: first, people want to get "theirs" first, take care of themselves first. The "more, more, more" mentality makes it difficult for us (because I have to include myself in this) to know when we have "enough." Second, I think it's hard for people to feel empathy and generosity with people they may not feel are like them. Separation across ethnic, national, gender, education, socio-economic lines makes it easier to a) ignore other people's needs; b) feel superior to other people and thus entitled to more than "they" get; and/or c) take from others for ourselves.
This attitude gives rise to oppression of various sorts, genocide, war. So "separation" or "us/them" is a huge problem for our world, that keeps up from cooperating and sharing both scarce resources and ideas for creating new abundance and solutions for our shared planetary problems.
I believe that people accepting responsibility for our own individual lives is the best place to start healing the world and solving inequities. Yet people with few resources are at the bottom of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and thus have far less leisure or capacity to focus on "self-actualization." What about the rich and powerful, though? Far more than their basic needs are met, yet there's a remarkable lack of self-examination and spiritual development that allows people to say "I am OK, I have enough, I am on earth to help and live in harmony with others."
So I see spiritual impoverishment as one of the big problems facing humanity, as well as addiction. Addiction - to substances, sex, power, anything that takes us out of ourselves and into a different reality - is antithetical to self-examination. It's impossible for someone in another reality to start accepting and understanding the world as it is. And addiction is all about "more." Fear is usually at the root of addiction - fear of not having what we want or of losing what we have. Spiritual development is the antidote to fear.
I'm not talking about organized religion here, nor about cults. I'm talking about finding our own individual paths to tapping into our own higher selves, the self that is connected to other people, recognizes and celebrates that connection, and acts from serenity instead of fear.
posted by julieannerickson at 6:08 PM
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