Forum Post: You are ignorant. There are more ideas here as to what OWS is, and what it should do, than there are people it seems. And you feel the fear.
Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 14, 2011, 8:11 a.m. EST by blazefire
(947)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
ME TOO.
Don't get me wrong. You and I, we are both so, so very ignorant. I am not unique or exceptional in this. For instance, I do not know where the table I'm working on came from, or how it was made. I don't know how the cotton was grown to produce the shirt I'm wearing, or how the pipes were laid that brings me my water. I don't know what methods or processes are used to extract the lithium in the computer I'm typing on right now, or how this very house was built. We are ignorant of everything today it seems. Our food, our water, our homes, our clothes, our education, our superanuation funds, our retirement funds, our health, even our own bodies, our law; the ignorance, our ignorance, touches all parts of our environment. As we go further, we get further away. Afterall, we can't possibly know everything about our world today. Should we try we would have time for nothing else.
There was a time for us humans when you knew the baker, in your town, by name, and you knew where the bread came from, and had at least a vague understanding of how it was made. You knew the tailor, and the blacksmith, the carpenter and the priest. And you grew your food. You drank from creeks and rivers, and walked the land, and rode with animals. You understood your community, and what it was. You understood your environment.
After listening to many people here and on other forums, it seems to me, that, when you look at the corporations, our industry, our 'way of life'. and our ignorance of them, there is no single thing to protest, there are simply to many to contemplate.
Mankinds greatest fear has ever been the unknown.
Each of us here has something to input, and we are desperate to show our 'piece of the puzzle'. Each person sees a different part, a different scope, a different angle, of the same 'mountain', and we want the mountain described. We all see problems, and we are passionate about solving them, and we all see primal causes.
Unity. Solidarity.
What do those things mean?
I would table that it is impossible for us to acheive this. We can never acheive unity. Ever. I would say this because we already are unified. We just need to realise what already is, how interconnected we already are, and the community, that already exists; that everything we see is part of the same mountain. That my piece is just that, as yours is, and invaluable for that reason.
"You cannot open a door that is already open."
And if you try to open that door before walking through, well, you will be there for some time.
So what do we have in common? How are we already unified?
Lets start from the begining. We are human. IMHO, We are passionate. We care for our young, and we would see our race flourish in happiness. We are determined. We are caring and selfish, kind and greedy. We love. And sometimes we hate. We hope, and we quiver in fear. We bleed, and we die. We find magic, in the smallest things and laugh, at everything. And we cry. We are free.
I think we need to understand and aknowledge what already is. I think our greatest power, our greatest strength is to understand ourselves.
WE ARE THE WORLD. WE ARE WATCHING.
Very well put. We are all interconnected and not only that, we have seen that our interconnection has continued to increase. For instance, we have proven that we can now link any individual to another, no matter where on the globe, within six degrees of separation.
Professor James Fowler, co-author of the book “Connected: How Your Friends’ Friends’ Friends’ Affect Everything You Feel, Think, And Do” even describes us being connected in social networks as fulfilling an “… evolutionary purpose… Human social networks are in our nature… we have grown up over hundreds of thousands of years in these social networks.”
And if we look at human history we can see that our social networks have also become more complex and interconnected as we have gone along and that now, through globalization, have basically combined to form what Professor Fowler calls a super human organism.
And this I think is the key to really understanding our problems from a causal level because if a person wants to change their behavior, or influence society, then they would be wise to study how and why we are connected (otherwise we as if fight against Nature, the environment, trying to swim upstream against how it influences us).
And because social network science has revealed that what we think, feel, and do—is the product of our environment—then that means that it is each of us, internally, who must change before we can expect to see positive changes within society. As Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
And this is mostly a psychological issue because we as humans point out the flaws in others because this gives us various forms of pleasure. But to point out flaws in ourselves does not produce pleasure; and perhaps it can also be argued that these “flaws” are mostly hidden from us anyway—only revealed through our interactions with others.
Also, because our problems have taken on such scale, and now affect us all on one level or another, this is our proof that it is us, now more connected then ever, who must change our relations with each other in order to build a better foundation, a new environment which cares about our interconnection, and seeks to place it ahead of self-interest. And then perhaps we can come to truly restructure society to best benefit us all.
Professor Fowler offers the following advice, in the face of others hearing him speak about the huge environmental influence upon the individual, “If you tell someone they don’t influence anybody, they’re not going to do anything. But if you tell them they influence a thousand people they’ll change their lives.
And that’s why I think it’s so critical for us to understand first and foremost how and why we are connected.”
So social network science is showing us how we influence each other, how far that influence spreads, etc. But how do we come to to use this massive connection in a way which best benefits us all?
Well, Professor Rodrigue Tremblay, Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Montreal describes for us his solution:
“With the current globalization of our problems, we need to extend our circle of empathy and view humanity as a worldwide extended human family. As long as we refrain from facing that challenge, divisiveness and unsolvable conflicts will persist.”
He continues:
“… first and foremost, the scope of human empathy would be more universal and more comprehensive, and would not merely apply to some chosen people, to members of a particular religion or to persons belonging to a particular civilization. In practice, this would require that we establish a higher threshold of human morality, beyond the traditional norm of the Golden Rule (“Treat others as you would have others treat you.”) It would require that we adopt what I call a Super Golden Rule of humanist morality that incorporates the humanist rule of empathy: “Not only do to others as you would have them do to you, but also, do to others what you would wish to be done to you, if you were in their place.” — Of course, the corollary also follows: “Don’t do to others what you would not like to be done to you, if you were in their place.”
… And I refer to: – more human EMPATHY, – more interpersonal TOLERANCE, and – more interpersonal SHARING (altruism and generosity) as a foundation for a more harmonious, for a freer and for a more prosperous world.”
First of all thankyou for your marvelous comments! I simply could not agree more....my head was nearly nodding off my neck as I read. I will definately have to add that book to my reading list, it sounds fantastic.
I would like to gift you with some work of mine...'
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/50500650/yourtopia-your%20official%20final%20beginning.pdf
And here is an awesome non-violence resource site...
http://tinyurl.com/7rvpv43
Thanks again for your words.
Omnia vincit amor.
Sacrifice is powerful. We can.
Yes. Very powerful. You understand.
Omnia vincit amor
The first step to understanding is the one where you admit you are not as smart as you think you are. Always learning... Always refining.
"A fool is one who thinks he is wise, a wise man is one that knows he is a fool." - Shakespeare
Exactly...
Mundus vult decipi
To the third para from the bottom and to the idea that we are all "part of the same mountain", what about those human alternates, the psychopaths?
http://www.blacklistednews.com/Brain_Scan_Evidence%3A_Not_For_Court_Yet..._But_For_Identifying_Psychopaths/16995/0/38/38/Y/M.html
Perhaps they are those that see the mountain, and want to own it...
Bravo! The first step to understanding is the admission of our ignorance. It is always those with the least understanding that are the most confident that they know everything. Whoever thinks they have it all figured out; they are the most likely to know very little about anything. Curiosity and a willingness to admit to ourselves that we may be wrong; these are the first signs of growing awareness.
Yes. Only when we realise how 'ever-closed' our minds are can we truly open them. I think this 'time' is coming. I think we need to start at the beginning again, from scratch. Have I given you a copy of my book? If I haven't:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/50500650/yourtopia-your%20official%20final%20beginning.pdf
I'd love to ask you to share this with as many people as you'd like....if you would like to.
I'll check it out. Thanks for sharing that!
No probs! Please share it with everyone! Whether it works or not....it has VERY valid points...