what does it take to create an ideal society?
Vic Shayne
author
Consciousness: the potentiality of all existence
The New York Times reported: “Of the past 3,400 years, humans have been entirely at peace for 268 of them, or just 8 percent of recorded history…At least 108 million people were killed in wars in the twentieth century. Estimates for the total number killed in wars throughout all of human history range from 150 million to 1 billion.”
Shouldn’t the world be a much better place after millennia of warfare, injustice, indifference, racism, prejudice, abuse, violence, trauma, school shootings, and tragedy? Shouldn’t things have improved by now? While we undoubtedly have evolved into an industrial, modern, and technologically advanced species, virtually no evolution has taken place in human kind, in the psychological sense. We find the same sort of behavior today as 40,000 years ago when one caveman killed another over territory or food. Why is this? We may quickly answer that it’s rooted in a bad habit of constantly reverting to violent resolution of disputes, but there’s something even deeper that underlies the eternal, persistent conflict in society.
Life is built upon previous generations, but previous generations simply pass along their ideas, memories, and beliefs to the new generations, and so on. Therefore there is nothing new or refreshing that takes place. It’s a rut worn by habit. When there is conflict in society, tradition shows that violence is an acceptable, if not predictable, response.
society is us, but on a larger scale
Society is clearly a microcosm of the self, the individual with all of his pettiness, selfishness, self-centeredness, hate, fear, habits, anger, knee-jerk reactions, and mental tendencies. The totality of the each self’s consciousness comes to bear on society. The question is whether anyone sees this fact.
Who wants to do anything about the ills and proclivities of society, especially when this is the way the self, the center, the ego, is created as well? The first step is to recognize of whether we can see ourselves in society, to see that society is a reflection of who we are and what we tend to be, and how we tend to handle conflict. Only a very few people seem to see this truth; sometimes they speak up and campaign, but unless the majority can also see the light then we are doomed to continue on in a pattern of insanity.
civilization is unnatural
We do not live a natural life in our “civilized” societies. Farming methods are unnatural and destroy not only the soil, but also the entire climate by ruining the soil’s ability to sequester carbon. Our buildings are constructed of toxic and artificial chemicals and materials. We communicate through poorly-spelled, terse, and often rude texts and emails. Our food is grown in depleted soils with plants drenched in poisonous herbicides and pesticides. Most of what people eat are artificial, chemical concoctions wrapped up in pretty packaging that pollutes the land and sea. And transportation is wholly unnatural as we travel in speeds that no creature in nature is meant to experience, as all the while our limited bodies and minds try to cope with a hundred other drivers sharing the road. Our lives are unnatural and unsustainable and our mental and physical health is suffering!
All of our problems come from unnatural, unsustainable, self-centered, and problematic thinking lacking in insight and foresight. What we create is a reflection of how and what we think; and society is created in the same way — in our conflicted, neurotic image. Can you see this? Can you really see it? What, then, are we to do?
The only possible way out of this mess begins with the sense of self and the discovery that it is an illusory and limited entity constructed out of thoughts that are not our own. There is no clarity of mind, because the mind is filled with thoughts — primarily thoughts of self=preservation and ways to distract and perpetuate ourselves. If we do not begin with the self, then there is no change of significance to take place and we continue to live in a world — a society — of suffering, indifference, falsehoods, unfairness, and abuse.
placing trust in an invented god
As individual selfs that are dominated by secondhand knowledge and fearful thoughts, we create society in our image. This is a fact. We can even go so far to say that the god that we invented and perpetuate blesses our society and protects us. We’ve all heard the words by songwriter Katharine Lee Bates (1895), writer of “God bless America.” “America! America! God shed his grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood, From sea to shining sea.” God graces us and protects us, and yet he doesn’t do a very good job, because despite his power and beneficence he prefers bloodshed to eternal peace.
We invented a god to protect us; and this is a testimony of how fearful we are, not just as a society, but as individual selfs. But if our god doesn’t do his job then we go to war and kill one another and if we win then all is set right and millions are apt to say that they won by the grace of God. Yet even with victory comes the eventual reoccurrence of conflict and violence. On both the micro and macro scale there is no learning, no evolving, and none of that promised brotherhood.
strong leaders really aren’t the solution either
It’s been proven over and over and over throughout history that even a great and insightful leader is not enough to make much of a change. This is because no one — not even the greatest guru — can open the eyes of others on their behalf. Each individual must do the work and have the realization for themselves; and then with enough of these types of self-enquiring people a truly progressive and compassionate society can emerge. Until this happens on an individual basis we are stuck in a loop, a trap of our own making.
is peace and respect possible?
The self creates theories and ideals that will never come to fruition until the self gets out of the way.
We complain society is not fair and it’s abusive, yet this is the way our own minds work; so what can possibly be expected other than the sorrowful system that we have? Society is a reflection of the confusion, neuroses, and conflict of the deluded egoic mind. If you want a real revolution built out of love, compassion, peace, and respect, you cannot build the foundation on the conflicted and fearful self.
