Making Sense of the World Family

essay

In this fantastic modern society of ours, we have everything-- plentiful food, ample clothing, comfortable housing, rampant entertainment and unfettered extravagance. We also have a full supply of incapacitating sorrow, crushing poverty, stifling depression, blind rage and unfettered violence. It seems impossible that a society so full of the best things in life is also host to a full cadre of the worst; and yet it is so.

It is a time-worn expression that 'you can't have the good without the bad,' and to observe humanity throughout time, you might assume the same. There is always good to be found, and there will always be bad to be wary of.

I wonder, though, if we're all not suffering from the same affliction. We look around and make judgement calls based on human interaction, then proclaim 'thus be it so!' never stopping to realize we are missing a huge part of the equation.

We can't see the forest for the trees.

All of our judgments are viewed through the same oily cloth: We're defining insanity from within the insane asylum.

In order to accurately determine what is actually going on with the human race, we need to observe from the outside, as an alien from space might... we need to observe ourselves as though we've only just come upon us for the first time, saying. "Ho! What's this? A society of some kind? I think I'll just watch and see how they work!"

I think I'll pretend to be that alien for awhile. Heck, there have been times when I've felt like that alien, after watching some of the more bizarre human behavior.

Okay, now I'm a nifty 17-eyed purple alien with elephant trunks for arms, sitting above Earth in my cool invisible spaceship, observing the TV screen-looking device on my console that can pick up images and sound from anywhere on the planet. I've been watching for one alien year, which is about 6000 human years, and I have completed my initial investigation, so here's my report to the High Council of Flegnon on the behavior of Species: Human, from Galaxy- Milky Way; Star- Sol; Planet- Earth:

"Humans are nuts.

"I don't make this observation lightly. Consider this: Humans live on a planet which is ideal for them. It supplies them with food and raw materials, temperate climates and lush beauty.

Despite this perfection, humans have managed to screw it up by reproducing themselves to the point of overflow, overtaxing their nonrenewable resources, nearly extinguishing their wild animal life and poisoning their environment.

"They were able to overpopulate the planet by creating societies that put humans at the top of the animal kingdom. All their resources were directed toward survival, and they ultimately created a planetwide distribution network of goods and services.

"They were able to create a cooperative worldwide network by using a tool they called 'money', which placed a specific value on each product or service, creating an easily transferable medium. In that way a farmer who had corn for trade could receive meat from a butcher who was allergic and had no use for corn-- the farmer could sell the corn to a third party and receive money for it; then give the butcher money for the meat, who then used the money for antihistamines.

"All went well for awhile until the concept of greed took hold, which caused individuals to hoard items until they became sought after, and then sell them for more money than they were worth. The additional money allowed the person to live a finer life than his neighbors, which caused them jealousy and envy. That finer life of greater luxury and reduced work caused laziness and gluttony for the wealthy and they got fat, even as the large majority grew thin and hungry. The majority solved the dilemma by killing the wealthy and stealing their wealth. Now humans steal and kill each other over material items.

"So yes, humans are nuts.

"Perhaps more to the point, humans have been made nuts. They aren't born that way. From what I can observe they are trained into nuthood by a long string of nutbags, starting with their parents, their siblings, their priests (see chapters 6 thru 12 on priests!), their teachers (see chapters 13-19 on teachers!). Even their friends, people chosen by them to be their closest associates, are nuts!

"And how did those people become nuts? According to my research, the problem stems from their social system, which demands a level of behavior that is unsustainable for humans; it is that conflict they fight every day which makes them nuts. Down to an individual, they live their lives with an undercurrent of fear permeating every nuance of their lives: Will we have enough money? Will I stay healthy? Will my children survive? How do I stop the thieves? Where can I get a gun? Will there be enough to eat? Will I die painfully? If I get sick who will heal me?

"These questions and many others like them run through the mind of every human daily. The most interesting part is that the society is capable of, and designed to, take care of everyone, but greed and selfishness at the highest levels of bureaucracy tweak the system so that surplus falls directly into the pockets of the least deserving. At this point in human evolution, it seems as though they are about to re-enter a system in which the few remaining mega-rich control all of society, leaving the bulk of humanity with little to live on.

"Ironically enough, this unfettered greed is causing a reaction quite opposite to the desires of the greedy. They wish to parade their wealth and afford the best on all strata of life, but the net result will actually be a shutting down of all things luxury. The rich will have all the money, it is true... but there will be nothing left to spend it on.

"A few alternate social plans have been attempted over time, and most have utterly failed. The main reason seems to be the power of leadership. Power molds personality, and rarely for the better. The better systems spread power over larger groups of people, as well as engaging a series of watchdog groups to be wary of changes in behavior or policy.

"Capitalism has had the most financial and power success, but at the cost of world opinion, which views Capitalist countries as bossy and self-righteous. Plus, regulations are necessary to prevent greed from tearing apart the monetary system; regulations which have slowly been eroded to the point that the monetary system is now all but destroyed, taking the country and its status down with it.

"The most successful operating social system seems to be Socialism, which guarantees its people food, housing and healthcare. Unfortunately, without any incentive plan, many people rarely struggle to better their position and prefer to remain unemployed for decades, straining the already shaky tax system. This leaves the country vulnerable.

"Other systems have been implemented. Communism's big appeal was eliminating money, but it kept the same old power structure, which of course created a rift between the majority (who were largely hungry, cold and unemployed) and the politicos, who yielded all the power and of course had all the food and luxury at their disposal. That system was doomed to implode, and implode it did. The largest Communist country which still exists has modified the system, and it is now an odd mix of Capitalism and Communism, which lets the people compete for success at the local level, yet leaves complete control of the country to the iron fist of a ruling few.

"Other systems have also been proposed but never implemented. It should be interesting to note that our current Flegnite social system has been mimicked in an unpublished treatise called Perfect World! If they only knew how close they were-- Flegnon has used an eerily similar system for over 3oo million Earth years!

"In closing, I recommend immediate dominance over the planet, at least to keep the Earthers from destroying themselves, again. You would think they would have learned the first time around, after destroying Venus with runaway global warming!"I am awaiting your approval to fly my ship inside the brains of all the world's leaders and force them to do our bidding... quite without their knowledge, of course! It's good to be microscopic!"

Okay, maybe I got a little creative there at the end. I should have stopped with the elephant trunk arms.

But I hope I've made my point. The teeny little alien pinpointed the problem, right? We all suffer as a society from problems allied with greed, power, unrealistic laws and the inherent inequality of money. And to live in a greed-free, power-free, struggle-free society it'll be necessary to think like and act like those more enlightened future humans we all hope to become.

Okay, now we can begin (yes, that was only the introduction)! Fortunately, the rest of this is cake by comparison. The title of this post is 'Making Sense of the World Family', so the question is obvious:

How will we do that?

Simple-- with rules. Look to your right (you may have to scroll to the top). What is it am I calling that box up there? Oh, yeah...

Perfect World Primary Guidelines.

I have 10 at this writing, so I guess we can think of them as the 10 Commandments. Except, I'm not the kind of person who wants to 'command' anything. Hence the word 'guidelines'. I'm going to reproduce them here so you don't have to keep scrolling up and back.

Perfect World Primary Guidelines

• Treat each person as you would like to be treated yourself.

• Believe... in FACT.

• Learn throughout life, then teach what you know.

• Strive to be your best and help each person do the same.

• Cooperate; don't compete.

• Respect the planet; minimize pollution.

• Do not exceed one billion souls.

• Express your joy and sorrow.

• Share freely with all.

• Show all children kindness and teach them to spread love.

Notice one important difference between the Guidelines and the Commandments? There are ten instructions for life, and not one of them talks about a deity. In the future World Family, how you believe we came about and how you honor those who came before you is personal and is not to be shared or spread; the mania associated with honoring the invisible must be allowed to fade from human consciousness, much the way witch trials or human sacrifice have (I hope!). Instead the Guidelines offer instructions for peacefully living on the planet amid your brothers and sisters. Taking them one at a time,

• Treat each person as you would like to be treated yourself.

We have called this the Golden Rule for many thousands of years, and it comes first exactly because it is so important. No itemizing of good behavior here, as in the Commandments "do not kill, do not steal, do not covet, etc, etc." Itemizing leaves room for any behavior not listed.

Instead, regard every act you make and its impact on others as if it was them doing it to you. If you don't like it, it's probably wrong. This guideline should be forefront in your own awareness, preceding every one of your actions. If you observe someone behaving selfishly, ask them if they would like that behavior expressed toward themselves. The Golden Rule works when we all observe it.

• Believe... in FACT.

Wars have been fought over misinterpretations. Fact is the basis of an enlightened society. In a fact-based society people do not take action based on some story passed down through time from their great-to-the-twelfth-power grandparents. They don't want to hear how the water parted, or how the bush burned, or how the water changed into Gatorade. They want freakin' fact, dammit! Nobody put the dinosaur bones there! The world isn't 5000 years old! There are no magic underpants! What the hell is a soul?

And the things which cannot be proven must not be guessed. We don't know what happens to our awareness once we die. It's likely our awareness dies with us, but it has not been proven yet, so take a chill pill, people-- leave the discovery to the scientists, who have learned tried-and-true methods of guaranteeing fact.

• Learn throughout life, then teach what you know.

This is how we grow as a race-- we pass our FACTS onto our children. I remember being a kid in 4th grade and asking the teacher why the sky was blue. She explained about light refraction using a prism, and how the main ingredient in our atmosphere, nitrogen, bounced blue our way (or something like that... it was a long time ago). Another day a student asked where heaven was. To her credit, she said that nobody knew where heaven was, or if it even existed. She mentioned how different religions believed different things, but none of them knew the facts about life after death, so passed on their speculations to their congregations as fact. This teacher was a perfect candidate for the Perfect World due to her uncompromising honesty and willingness to share her facts.

Differentiate between facts and speculation and make that clear whenever you pass knowledge onto someone else. Until my astronomy class in junior high school, I believed that the sun took a tunnel to the east after every sunset, because an older kid I respected told me so. Thank goodness he didn't tell me that bullets pass right through people without harming them or I'd be writing this blog from prison!

• Strive to be your best and help each person do the same.

A similar guideline which differs in one important respect-- it deals with behavior, not learning. If you break things when you are frustrated, your children could very easily pick that bad habit up from you. When you experience strong negative feelings, bring them to someone wiser to help you deal with them-- a parent, a teacher, a mentor... or even me. I'll be happy to help create the Perfect World, even one person at a time.

• Cooperate; don't compete.

We have bullied and pushed our way to the status of superpower, and along the way, congratulated ourselves on 'winning the game'. Capitalism is a financial system which uses competition as an engine of change for the country, but it is a very violent engine, crushing the loser and elevating the winner stratospherically. Great for games, but bad for societies. Though we are on top (if we are on top...), many of our players have been pushed out of the game, leaving relatively few people make the decisions for the whole nation. It can also be argued that the remaining decision makers are also among the most vicious and selfish of people. That is an insubstantial foundation upon which to build a society of kindness and trust. Cooperation leads to openness, kindness and care, and is a required element in the World Family.

• Respect the planet; minimize pollution.

This rule is for us, not Earth, although it sounds otherwise. Our planet will survive whatever we throw at it; it does not care if it becomes another Venus (800 degree surface temperatures, sulfuric acid rains, runaway greenhouse effect) or Pluto (a frozen ball of rock). But we do! Our very survival depends on this perfectly designed environment. Allowing money and not logic to dictate policies on Earth has resulted in very dangerous thinking, along the lines of "I earned the money... if I want to drive an air polluting gas guzzler, I deserve it!"

What science knows about the universe indicates that our very existence is extraordinary-- the number of random events coming together to produce a stable environment in which humans can thrive is staggering. Also, the potential for obliteration from without is equally huge-- which makes our own efforts at self-immolation completely senseless. The length of time humanity has been in our universe compared to its total age is brief indeed: If the universe were one calendar day old, humanity has been around for not quite the last second of that day. Predictions based on our current rate of growth and learning has us self-terminating before the end of that second, unless we develop that all-important enlightenment.

• Do not exceed one billion souls.

But don't mass exterminate to get there, either. Over a relatively short time we can make this happen; and it must, for our own good. A concentrated planet-wide effort over several generations will be a good start. Reducing population through attrition is not only kind, it is practical. Future generations have no more than two kids per family and are encouraged to have one, or none. First the population stabilizes, then drops. One billion people is much better than 7 in terms of worldwide food production and room to live. Imagine that wherever you live, your city will have one seventh the number of people: One seventh the number of cars on the highways, one seventh the number of mouths to feed, one seventh the amount of pollution created. No more overcrowded theaters; no more long waits in restaurants, an end to assembly line schooling. The Earth takes a big sigh of relief.

• Express your joy and sorrow.

Or more accurately, don't hide your emotions. When you do, you are practicing deceit. Plus, you are depriving those around you of an immensely valuable experience, because each of us is trapped in our own minds for life, and unless you share them, others will not realize that you even HAVE emotions. You are also depriving yourself of the healing which comes from the shared emotional experience. Humans as a culture grow when emotions are shared, and they stifle when emotions are bottled up.

• Share freely with all.

To live as a World Family, nobody goes hungry, nobody suffers exposure. Whatever stranger is observed in discomfort will be assisted. It is our duty as stewards of this planet to reduce pain and suffering, and seek to find a balance. Hoarding helps yourself only; sharing helps us all as a species. We seek to become better than we are; smarter, wiser, kinder... and extending your care outwards, beyond yourself, beyond your family and friends and neighbors, is our first valuable lesson.

• Show all children kindness and teach them to spread love.

Take a page from your own history books. Remember your youth and the people who influenced you during that time. What were you thinking as an adult shouted their thoughts at you? Most children are in a heightened state of awareness and are severely affected by whatever adults choose to share with them.

Many adulthood problems can be traced to short moments of intense emotion being thrown at children by adults, left undiscussed and unresolved, to fester and grow into lifelong trauma. In the 60's rock opera Tommy by The Who, a young boy witnesses his mother having an affair with a man, who shook him and shouted at him that "he never heard it, never saw it, and would never say a word about it." This caused the young boy to suffer years of blindness, deafness and the inability to speak. Though it is a fictional story, it is based on factual evidence; the condition is called a 'hysterical' response to massive stimuli, and is like a disease in that it spreads throughout a population-- the afflicted child's own emotional responses are forever altered, and similarly affect others in much the same way. Result: A population of injured, mistrustful people.

•---0•0---•

When I looked at the 10 Commandments as a child, I was confused about a lot of them. I guess I always hoped the Commandments would be a list of things you should do, not those you shouldn't. Putting a positive spin on them, like "Be good" instead of "don't be bad".

Let's look at them and I can explain what I mean:

1 I am the Lord your God- You shall have no other gods before me.

I remember thinking, There are other Gods!? Is there a God planet where all the Gods live? Is our God the boss of all those other Gods? I was confused right at the get-go! I ended up assuming that each religion prayed to a different God and I should only pray to mine.

2 You shall not make for yourself an idol.

I remembered the story of Moses coming down from the mountain and seeing that his flock had already lost faith in him and God, and had cast a statue of an animal to pray to. I thought that since they were wandering in the desert at that time, why would they be carrying a smelting oven with them? Logistics aside, I couldn't understand making something and then praying to it-- it would be like me praying to the ashtray I made in arts and crafts.

3 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of your God.

Don't use the Lord's name in vain... I remembered that. But I thought if I smashed my finger with a hammer, God could supply the revenge, which is why I told him to 'damn it!' I never thought I had the power to make God do anything... it was just a suggestion. But just in case I could make him listen, I never damned a person-- I didn't want to be responsible for sending somebody to hell forever.

4 Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.

My parents always remembered the Sabbath for me, and made me dress for it. That happened Saturday morning, right after I had spent a week dressing up for school. I was itching to go out and play, so I always found that commandment particularly cruel. About the same time I remember thinking to myself that there are only 10 commandments, and the first four were all about honoring the invisible guy in space-- how insecure he must be!

5 Honor your father and mother.

That was easy to do, and not because of the threat of God's retribution. No, I was far more worried about my FATHER'S retribution-- his came with welts. I always thought 'honor' was a bit strong, also-- I would listen to them, I'd obey them, I'd even respect them-- but 'honor'? That always reminded me of bowing, and fruit baskets, and being smacked in the face with a wet flounder. I always preferred the idea of mutual respect between people, especially between parents and children.

6 You shall not murder.

This was the first rule that made sense to me. I burned my share of ants with a magnifying glass before I was told by a mean older kid that the rule applied to every living thing. I think I hid in the basement and peed myself until it was explained to me by somebody a little older that the rule just meant other people. I was always on board with not killing anyone... until right before my first divorce. THAT'S when I realized how important it was to have a mystical set of rules to guide me. Otherwise my ex and I would be burning in Hell together.

7 You shall not commit adultery.

At first I didn't even know what that meant. Then someone told me and I said "EWWWW!" Remember, I was young. When I got a little older I realized that was the one rule I was probably going to break, over and over. At some point one furious husband reminded me, repeatedly, that it is humans who exact the VERY PAINFUL penalty for breaking that one, not God. After that I followed it pretty rigorously, citing the 'lots of fish in the sea' defense.

8 You shall not steal.

I understood that one and followed it for years, but when something was stolen from me I didn't see a problem with stealing it BACK. For some odd reason, the cops did. A bill of sale helped the judge see the light, but not before he spake a serious commandment of his own, warning me not to take the law into my own hands any more. Frustration followed, but was ultimately resolved with the acquisition of a safe deposit box.

9 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Don't lie? Sure, that makes sense. Until you take into account that in this society, telling the truth often gets you into more trouble than keeping your mouth shut. And the punishments humans dispense often feel worse than the potential fate mentioned in the bible. I felt like I had a weighty decision to make each time-- was this lie worth the penalty? Should I tell the truth for that one? No, just telling the truth rarely helped the truth-teller, I learned. Saying nothing seemed to be the way to go.

10 You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

I understand the wife part, EVEN though MY neighbor's wife likes to walk around naked with the shades up in her house-- it's the adultery thing all over again. But if my neighbor just bought himself a fancy new riding mower, I'm not supposed to like it? If I bought one like it for myself... would that be considered coveting? And why are several commandments about my neighbor... could he be... is it possible that...

Wait... IS HE GOD? What a drag... that's like living next door to a cop!

To recap:

Human civilization is now closer to achieving World Family than we have ever been. But we are standing at a crossroads, all of us: Will we continue as a victory-seeking, power-lusting bully of a country? Or will we take the higher road of cooperation, kindness and selflessness? To the selfish greedy powerlusters, there can't be a more foolhardy path to travel-- in their eyes it spells disaster, plain and simple. It's not their fault they think this way-- they've been bred into it, after all. They cannot see another way for humans to coexist-- someone has to run them, right?

Well thanks to the ability of competition to shake out the 'losers', there are now only a tiny group of powerlusters (albeit a powerful one) remaining, while at the same time there's a much larger group of us-- the reasonable. Exerting our right to make our own decisions as a majority is all it takes. We could begin World Family with the next voting cycle.

Now all we need is a bill.

Copyright 2009 Bruce Ian Friedman