At our present time in human history we are rapidly coming to the endgame of the social, economic and political structures that grew out of the industrial revolution. These systems have defined human life on our planet for the last 400 years. We are now in the process of unprecedented systems breakdown of the core components that make up industrial/consumer society.
All core components of the collapsing industrial/consumer society are in a state of diminishing effectiveness and they are in fact decaying rapidly. These systems are thus sick. A medical doctor that provides a clear diagnosis of a dying human body is not being negative, they are simply stating the facts. As a lifelong researcher of the human condition, I study and write about the breakdown and dysfunction of the core components" the organs of our present body politic. That does not make me negative " I am simply stating facts. I also research and implement solutions. I am actually a very positive optimist; I spend 90% of my time and energy identifying the positive pods of human revolution that are presently building an emerging sane and healthy new planetary culture. I also work directly with many of these hopeful initiatives. There are literally tens of thousands of such "pods of progress" all over the world. They are creating new economic structures that are in harmony with their local ecology. There are thousands of new communities based on trust and joint human action growing in every corner of the planet.
Initiating systemic change is very challenging. The 1% that actually control and benefit most from keeping the present systems in place will fight tooth and nail to prevent change. The majority of the vast body politic accept present systems and act in collusion with the present power structure, even though maintaining present systems is not really in their best interest. The majority resist change simply because they live in fear of an unknown future. A planetary vanguard of 5% of the population are actively and courageously building the new components of an ecological and just society. It does not take a majority to bring deep change, just a very dedicated and persistent front line of innovators. The American Revolution that formed our own nation was brought about by a vanguard 5% of change agents. The majority passively waited on the sidelines of history until the tide turned to a new paradigm. We presently sit at the very tipping point on the edge of a new planetary shift.
Human beings have never been able to build effective large scale social structures. The British Empire was a failed experiment, but the USA took on that mantle, and is now finishing the Brits' pathway to systemic collapse. The Soviet experiment with a large scale, centrally planned economy collapsed.
Throughout history, all military empires have collapsed, there are no exceptions to this historic fact. The present global industrial society is actually our most comprehensive global attempt as a species to build such unnatural structures.
The most effective scale for human action is the small/local scale. The human village model has proven resilient and effective for 100 thousand years. The present large scale globalized industrial model is an historic anomaly that is only kept in place by force. As the global military industrial complex collapses, human beings are returning to what works. This is not a retreat into the past, as small scale human initiatives are now linked by global electronic networks. I refer to this rapidly growing new global social structure as "techno-ecological village building".
As an old tree dies, a new sapling is taking root. In order to chart our path to a healthy new paradigm, I also spend 10% of my time with the active diagnosis and understanding of our decaying present systems. Unless we understand our history, we could very well repeat it. We most both diagnose the problems, and actively seek and apply innovative solutions. Both intellectual pursuits are valid and necessary, both are part of the whole effort to foster a shift into new social, economic, political systems as we exit the industrial era and enter the ecological/humanitarian era.
Here is a brief summary overview of present human systems at the very endgame of the industrial era:
Economics. Never in history has there been a wider gap between those that have far too much for a happy human existence and those that have far too little to even survive. A world economy where 50,000 children die of starvation each day on a planet with an abundant life supporting ecology is as sick as it gets. The economy is dying. The 2008 crash was a small ripple compared to the emerging economic earthquake. This crash will bring on the collapse of present systems, and provide the evolutionary catalyst for new systems to emerge to move humanity forward.
Political Systems; only 6% of the U.S. population have trust in U.S. Congress. 10% think that the President has the best interests of the body of citizens as a priority. We have a global crisis of confidence in our present social structures. Both parties are absolutely owned by corporate interests. Every 4 years the two parties engage in a "bread and circus" spectacle. Yale University economists this year publicly stated that the USA is an oligarchy, not a democracy. The public perception of outward political power dominance may shift every 4 to 8 years between the two main parties, but the behind the scenes power structure never changes. Many major corporations hedge their bets with massive campaign contributions to both parties. The power brokers always win. This is a cynical, but highly practical strategy. Even "socialist" Bernie Sanders supports global imperialist action carried out by the entrenched military/industrial complex. There are no active agents of real systemic change within either of the two main parties. If a candidate issues a public clarion call for real change , they do not get past the gate keepers of the established power brokers in the two parties. All real social and economic change is presently taking place below the radar of official national discourse. There are hopeful seeds of change taking root all over the nation and yjrl world at the local/activist level.
Health Care Systems can only be described as a disease management industry that is totally controlled by global pharmaceutical companies. 95 per cent of all health care costs are spent by the most elderly, as life long earnings are consumed as a planned final profit extraction system. This takes place while the United States has one of the most disastrous infant mortality rates in the developed world. The evidence is clear; this system is built to profit from disease, not to foster health.
Education Systems; Our current schools from kindergarten to college cannot even use the word education in any valid meaning of the word. The Latin etymological root of "education" is educare, which means "to draw out", Instead of inspiring students to engage in critical intellectual inquiry and to draw out the innate intelligence and creative responses of an individual, our schools "pump in" the dogma that supports the present paradigm of the industrial era. Schools are training camps for corporate cogs to dutifully take their subservient place within the present political and economic structures. Students that "color outside of the lines" are not encouraged in the least, and at worst punished for original thinking and courageous creative action. Education "reform" will not suffice. We need an outright revolution to serve as the catalyst to create a new citizen body engaged in lively life-long learning from cradle to the grave. There are hundreds of new education models and initiatives now germinating that meet this urgent need.
Organized Religion; Millions of people head into churches, mosques and synagogues on each Sabbath to return each week into the spiritual void of their daily lives. Real spiritual practice can best be experienced as a conscious immersion in the present sacred moment, not by being passively fed prepared religious pablum. The fact is, for the past thousand years of religious history, 100 million people have been murdered over disagreements about unprovable theological theories. From the Crusades to modern Jihad, the path of dogmatic religion is paved with the "Blood of Christ" the blood of Islamic martyrs and many bloody wars of humanity.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
6
6
3
