Most of us want less rules. We want less regulation. We want to feel that we are free to do whatever we’d like. Still the word “anarchy” is used by many to mean total chaos. We want a world without rules but we don’t trust ourselves with it.
There are all kinds of arguments made about human nature. Many believe we are selfish by nature and will always seek our own benefit and the logic goes that some kind of hierarchical structure is necessary in order to ensure that, or perhaps that the “free market” will take care of everything for us . Some don’t even trust humans to call the shots and want to develop AI to take care of the problem of governance for us.
The only way to develop a world we are all more satisfied with is to really find the core of what is holding us back. It’s not something that usually comes up as a talking point among the right or the left. It’s not war or poverty or racism or the banking system or the state itself (although it relates to all of these). It’s something way more fundamental.
I fully agree with Einstein’s sentiment when he said “We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.” It is nearly impossible for us to imagine our true potential because we are still stuck inside certain mental and emotional traps that hinder our growth. Therefore, rather than describe in detail a perfect system of governance or non-governance, it’s more practical and realistic to imagine a general direction we would like to move in to achieve something we will all be more satisfied with. The first step is to focus on what is holding us back.
We are most familiar with what human nature looks like in a state of LACK and DISTRUST.
Any conversation about human nature needs to begin with the recognition that we are only able to judge based on our own personal and collective experiences, our history. Sure there are many cultures, countries and regions within borders, different time periods to draw from, but many of these different cultures have certain things in common and nothing exists in a bubble.
Have you ever tried to imagine a world where people accept you for who you are and treat you like an equal, from the get-go?
Imagine a world where parents didn’t let their expectations of you dictate how they act towards you, and recognized those expectations as their own problems, not yours. Imagine friends and lovers letting each other be who they are, not pressuring them to be what they WANT them to be.
Imagine TRUST and EMPATHY being treated as ultimate virtues in a society, rather than monetary success and business prowess.
You may think it’s impossible, that THEY dictate our culture from above, through the media, pop culture and the education system. To an extent, this is true, but you are still responsible for your actions and how you interact with others. You are also making the whole power structure stronger by allowing yourself to become polarized, by the attempts to divide and conquer.
Societies problems are a reflection of our individual problems.
The state of the world will look a lot like the state of any average inidividual inside of the world. Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? That’s not important. You can’t force everyone to be how you’d like to be, so you’d best stop trying and work on yourself. From there, you can begin to spread a culture that allows for a better state of affairs in the world. A “perfect” state or non-state can most easily be achieved from a change in culture that occurs at the bottom.
So we just sit back and let things happen while we mediate and practice mindfulness?
Well, yes and no. The point is, we cannot create anything we deem “positive” by seeking to destroy something we deem “negative”. We should be focused on building what we can from the situation we are currently in, not waiting for the powers that be to do it for us, and if possible, avoiding conflict in the process, but always defending our ability to build.
What can we build?
Start with community! Build trust among your neighbors and your friends. Find like minded individuals and create a support network among them. Allow it to be relatively open so that those who can learn from you will. Don’t expect anyone to adhere to your way of doing things, but allow them to stick around if they are interested and not disruptive in any way. Think of money and power struggles as residue from the old culture that you are moving beyond.
I prefer to build community that doesn't have any real hierarchy or structure. I have lots of ideas about how to do this effectively and as a true reflection of what we desire but others may have other ways to approach these issues. Try to build consensus by listening respectfully, and if two parties disagree, go your separate ways without any animosity and with the best wishes for each other, and make sure any competitive feelings are the friendly kind of competition where everyone moves up together.
How this can lead to a new structure of society.
If we can build trust among each other, our systems will gradually (or perhaps not so gradually) begin to reflect this, and if they don’t, they lose their influence. Remember that nothing exists in a bubble. Those banks and states are made up of people. They draw their support from people. If we don’t need them to protect us, they’re grip over our lives will weaken.
The only challenge we face is our own tendency to get pulled into polarizing arguments and falling victim to divide and conquer tactics.
What this change COULD look like
We’ve worked out some of our issues of racism, sexism, homophobia and the like (we still have work to do, but at least we recognize the problems and have begun working on them). I hope that next comes acceptance of those with radically different political and social views. Empathy will be the overall tone of our future culture. There will be an attitude of “you try your way out, I’ll try my way, let’s learn from each other” and more avenues of accomplishing this.
From a place of empathy and learning to think in ABUNDANCE rather than LACK (building instead of destroying), a wider variety of ideas will be able to make their way into political discourse, as they had with Bernie Sanders. The old media organizations will lose their grip over what we read every day, as they are beginning to. The old social media powers will lose some of their dominance (as I believe they will with the rise of Steemit, dtube and other upcoming platforms). This will allow more open minded and empathetic people into positions of power, people who are not looking for the power itself, but just looking to create a change. Those people will be more interested in sharing their power than holding on to it and so you will see policy begin to change to reflect our desires. Power itself can begin to decentralize.
Some of these changes may include
- a reformed prison system that focuses on rehabilitation.
- less international provocation as it will be more difficult to justify.
- less power and immunity given to banks and big corporations.
- no cracking down on activists and people with alternative lifestyles.
- a wider variety of education choices open to everyone regardless of income.
Experimentation
One goal that I think we should have as a society is to allow those with different ideas from us to try out their ideas in their own arena. In America for example, I’d support states rights simply for this reason, we want a variety of different ideas and opinions to all have a place where they can test out their methods. More important than that, I believe that with a culture of abudance and understanding, the state will no longer feel the need to make it difficult for those who want to live differently from the masses.
Autonomous communities could thrive and maybe create their own ways of living without any persecution or roadblocks. These communities would have to create good relationships with other communities in order to maintain that none were trying to overpower each other and that none was trying to overpower what is left of the state. Most of these communities will be built with the goal of providing a “fair” distribution of wealth/power (fair will vary between communities) and maximum personal liberties.
The State of the State
I say “what is left of the state”. I believe that once we have empowered the people, by given less of our attention to media, less of our money to corporations, less of our trust to those who are trying to divide us, and perhaps through cryptocurrency, and even steemit, people like us will begin to make our way into those positions of power. From there we can create a new idea of the state that goes something like this:
An ideal state is one whose main purpose is to render itself obsolete.
It will still exist for a while, but it’s grip will be allowed to relax. It’s main purpose will be to ensure that new communities are allowed to form and grow without the fear of coercion from other communities. If we can establish that, there will be no need for revolution, no need for violence, no danger of upheaval. Things can naturally begin to flow on a way where all of us feel more freedom, and more security. But this all comes back to building a mindset of abudance, empathy and trust among our communities. This is a way forward that I believe truly reflects our collective desires.
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This was something I had wanted to write for a long time, I had been a bit nervous about writing something so political in nature but I saw this contest by @aggroed and couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t justify just sitting back and reading others ideas about the topic without voicing my own.
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by @skyleap