Backward-thinkingness

For all of you who think I was too hard on such a large segment of our modern population, I would suggest you re-read the last post. I, for one, don't want things to stay the way they are. It is obvious to me that too much just doesn't work: income disparity is on the rise (a change, by the way, but not a welcome one), child poverty is on the rise (ditto), some resources are getting scarce (and some people's trigger fingers are getting itchy), too many people die of starvation or go hungry, too much of the world's water is polluted as is too much of its air, the polar caps are melting, and we won't fix any of it because we say it will cost too much. There is not a one of these things that I want to stay the way they are.

All of these issues are the direct result of backward thinking. There is much in the past from which we can learn, to be sure. There is much in the past that have had very positive effects, but wanting to turn back the clock ... well, that's never been a good idea. When something outlives its usefulness, it is time to trade it in on something new. I'm not talking about the built-in obsolescence that modern industry perpetrates on all of us. I'm talking about the natural course of things. There comes at time when what doesn't work needs to be recycled.

Candidates? What about nation-states? Born 1648 (Treaty of Westphalia), and I don't see the evidence that they have been a great boon to mankind: number of war deaths? cause of famine (usually as a result of wars), destruction, resource depletion, redirection of resources to non-productive ends (e.g. weaponry), not to speak of the taking of unnecessary human characteristics to new and hideous ends (greed, power-lust, domination, superiority, prejudice, hatred, just to name a few). It's a 450-year-old idea that has not proven its worth. So, it's time to get rid of it.

Or, what about debt-based economies? Even older than nation-states, and it's not clear to me that this idea has been very helpful either. Based on a notion of scarcity, but one that can only be created artificially (i.e. I'll steal this, you can't have it, so if you want it, you have to buy it from me). If you're honest, you have to admit that this is the fundamental premise. What has it got us: a fixation on money, death, destruction, greed, power-lust, desire for domination, superiority ... wait a minute! Where have I heard that before?

What too many folks fail to see that neither of these "things" are given realities as much as they are simply ideas. Ideas are not permanent, they are simply conserved. Why keep them if they are only causing us problems. We humans have the huge advantage of being able to change our minds. And that's what we need to change right now. After all, if you always think what you always thought, you'll always get what you always got.