The Limits of Technological Development
The evident contrast between the actual reality and the life we could be living is becoming increasingly painful. It is painful because we could be living in paradise. Instead, we are making our lives hell on earth through our own doing.
Technological development will not be an issue since complementarity will ensure that everyone gets exactly what they need, as much as they need, and exactly when they need it. Simply changing our mindset will usher us into the age of abundance.
On the one hand, some parts of humanity have experienced all the stages of development from the Stone Age through the Bronze and Iron Ages, to feudalism and slavery, to socialism and capitalism, autocracy and democracy. At the same time, other parts of humanity are stuck somewhere in those three earliest periods. The gap between the stages of development in different places of the world creates gaps in every aspect of people’s lives, and hinders the progress of humanity.
In such a state, technology, however advanced, cannot help. Even where it is introduced, people use it to mistreat each other rather than to lift humanity to the heights it could reach. The solution to humanity’s problems, therefore, does not lie in more technology, but in appropriate education that will elevate humanity from the barbarism of mutual abuse and annihilation.
What needs to change now is not how we communicate, but how we connect with one another. If we rise from the attitude of constant belligerence and stop acting like clans of cavemen fighting over hunting grounds, if we begin to act like the global human society we have become, we will be able to maximize the benefits of technology for the sake of all of humanity.
I think it is already evident that today, aggression does not pay. The world no longer tolerates bullies.
We need to come to see that the whole structure and direction of evolution is toward increased collaboration and cooperation. Although nature has created contradictory forces, there are no wars in nature; there is complementarity. Each element in nature is dependent on, and sustains its opposite. If we understood this, we would reap the benefits of complementarity rather than hopelessly trying to destroy those we regard as enemies.
In our blindness, we do not see that our own survival and prosperity depend on the survival and prosperity of those very enemies. If we could see this simple truth, we would understand the folly of war.
We have no idea what powers we will unleash when we begin to cooperate rather than annihilate. Everything that is currently working against us will begin to work in our favor because we will be working in its favor, too.
Currently, we feel as though everything strives to destroy or dominate everything and everyone else. Complementarity means the exact opposite: Everything sustains and supports everything and everyone else. If the universe did not operate this way, it would not exist for even a split second. Once we understand this and begin to operate accordingly, we will discover a new reality of boundless powers and abundance, which are all working in our favor.
The only way to make these discoveries is to change our attitude, as said above, from belligerence to cooperation. All the rifts and enmities we currently perceive in humanity will disappear and people will work as one unit whose elements perform their respective roles in perfect harmony with all the other elements in creation.
Technological development will not be an issue since complementarity will ensure that everyone gets exactly what they need, as much as they need, and exactly when they need it. Simply changing our mindset will usher us into the age of abundance.
领英推荐
-----------------------------------------------
Microdosing – There Are Better Ways to Boost Creativity
I have been told that there is a new trend—to take small amounts of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin-containing mushrooms, and other hallucinogenic substances to improve creativity and output at work. The scientific data surrounding this practice, called “microdosing,” is inconclusive, to say the least. One study found that the effects are very limited, and only occur if you believe in them in the first place. Another study did find some positive effects, but it also found equally adverse effects. I understand the need to extend one’s limits, to see from outside of ourselves; there is a great appeal to it. However, there is a better way to do it, and it involves not disconnection from reality but its opposite: a new and deeper connection with everything.
Instead of disengaging ourselves from other people through drugs, at any level of dosage, we should increase and deepen our connection with them. By doing so, we can begin to see the world “through their eyes,” feel the world as they feel it, and truly come out of ourselves.
Instead of disengaging ourselves from other people through drugs, at any level of dosage, we should increase and deepen our connection with them. By doing so, we can begin to see the world “through their eyes,” feel the world as they feel it, and truly come out of ourselves.
Each person lives in one’s own three-dimensional world. When we begin to see the world through other people’s eyes, we gain endless dimensions to our perception. Better yet, the reality that we see through other people enhances and enriches the one we see through our own eyes. These “parallel universes” do not conflict but rather intertwine into a fuller and more complete picture of reality.
All we need to do in order to achieve this is to change our intention in our interactions with others. Instead of looking to gain from others as much as we can for ourselves, we should strive to give to others what we can and when we can. Employing this tactic will reveal to us what they feel and how they see the world. The only thing preventing us from discovering these endless new worlds that exist all around us is our intention to exploit them rather than to contribute to them.
We needn’t reverse our attitude toward others all at once. We can “microdose” it, beginning where it is easiest and with the people closer to us. The revelations we will discover are bound to be both alarming and enlightening. As we progress, our entire worldview will change and our perception of reality will be completely new. It is a cumulative process so we must not rush it.
However, this process cannot succeed alone. If only one person tries to change one’s attitude toward others, it will not work. There needs to be at least a group of people who are working on this together. When they practice this among themselves, they open themselves up to each other's worlds, learn to feel one another, become incorporated in each other’s worlds, and their whole perception changes. Once they achieve this with each other, their new perception will reflect on how they see the world in general, and they will be able to apply their insights to all aspects of their lives.
[Photo caption: By Alan Rockefeller, Wikimedia]