How would you change the world in one easy step?
posted by Benjamin Bongstein | August 26, 2010
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IcerocketIf nothing else, joining Evolver has made me realize that some pretty rad people are scampering about. Everyone seems possessed by the same passion and inspiration to move the mountains of the masses and bring the Kingdom to earth in one form or another.
Power on.
I look through the recent blog posts and see counterculturalism, psychedelics, humanitarianism, art, spirituality, and more. Gather three evolvers and get nine opinions.
I want to get to know our crowd a bit better but in a concise manner. So here I pose my question. How would you change the world in one step?
In other words, if you had the power to change one thing or make one thing happen to make this world a better place, what would you do?
To answer my own question, I would make meditation and learning internal silence part of grade school education. Kind of like PE but for your brain. I think if emotion factored less heavily into important decision making, it would be easier to come to large agreements swiftly and help humanity unite in perspective. Or not. It'd be cool to see what would happen.
Comments
Ha! Funny you should ask!
— Aug 26, 2010
It's a lot like herding cats, actually. In my current latest greatest paradigm *sure to become obsolete any minute now), time is really the thing.
Let's say you were going to build a house, or a bridge, or a magnificent funeral monument, or a hospital, or a new earth, or whatever. Most folks would think of making a big plan first, like Disney World. Then they'd get it drawn up in glorious color and take their idea to the bank. Once the idea was sold to the bank, then they'd be hell-bent on getting it built. Nothing will stand in their way, because they have a mortal promise to keep to the bank. And come hell or high water, somewhere down the road, the thing is there for real in all it's original glory. If the plan was decently prescient to begin with, everything hums along one way or another and the thing eventually gets paid off. Then the thing gets kinda boring.
In my latest way of thinking about making, to use the same metaphor, we don't even know what the hell we're up to. We're making a hand sized brick of our own shape, finding a place where it feels good to put it, listening to what happens as we place it, and going away again. Someone else might move that brick later, or carve it into another shape, or add one on top. The point is, that we do whatever we can do, then we watch and listen, then we go back and do another thing with the knowledge we've acquired. So "one step" as you say, is the fundamental unit of my latest way of thinking. The aspiring big shot developers I presently work with are entirely lost in this paradigm. It actually pisses them off.
Having said all that, I think kids being given space-time to learn their own silence is an awesome idea. And a pre-req for the listening part of making one step.
I've been thinking that I should not have said brick in that met
— Aug 28, 2010
aphor. Because that is a metaphor I got from school too. It could be a plant, or a chicken, or a new bit of technology, or a painting, or a dance, or a sound, or a whatever.
I would somehow get every
— Aug 27, 2010
I would somehow get every single person in the world to realize that what they think and what they believe is just their perspective and that everyone has there own perspective, none of them are right or wrong. If that happened there would no longer be a need for a government, no wars, no greed, people would respect others perspectives as being just as valid as their's, and if everyone realized we all had different perspectives of which none were right or wrong, we could all change our perspectives to lead more pleasant lives. For instance some people believe that the planet is going to be fine, while some believe we are headed towards destruction. If neither of these things are right or wrong it comes down to which one is more pleasant to believe. Also if everyone learned to respect everyones perspective than we would stop doing all of the things that cause us to believe the planet is moving towards an end. We wouldn't be cutting down the Amazon in mass amounts because we would respect the perspectives of the tribes that live there in the way that we are destroying there homes and evil. There wouldn't be anymore wars because we would respect the other countries perspectives as well. There would be no more sexism, racism, or prejudice, because we would all respect different races, or sexes, or lifestyles, because those are those peoples perspectives.
In short I believe everything could be solved if every single person learned to respect every single persons perspective.
-Invisible Agent
"No one really knows exactly what happens when we think, therefor we can never really ever know anything." -Michael Larson
"That's just like, your opinion, man."
— Aug 27, 2010
What do you do when you think that someone has wronged you, but they say back to you, "Eh; That's just your take on it?"
...and a lot of other people agree?
Alternatively: Do you believe that you can wrong someone?
If someone is capable of
— Aug 27, 2010
If someone is capable of respecting others perspectives than when people are wronged (if they are at all) it should be a mild wronging at best. Also if you respect others perspectives you should be able to understand why they "wronged" you.
-Invisible Agent
"No one really knows exactly what happens when we think, therefor we can never really ever know anything." -Michael Larson
Enabling Perspectives
— Aug 27, 2010
And what if the perspective of the people cutting down the indigenous people's lands is just:
"Those people are backward, and should get out. I really feel for them, I really respect where they're coming from -- but they need to get with the times."
What you're describing here
— Aug 27, 2010
What you're describing here isn't really respecting their perspectives at all.
I obviously understand that everyone on the planet isn't going to simultaneously learn to respect other peoples points of view. I just thought this was a hypothetical change one thing, and I think that if I could change one thing this is what I would change.
-Invisible Agent
"No one really knows exactly what happens when we think, therefor we can never really ever know anything." -Michael Larson
Just one thing? I guess I
— Aug 28, 2010
Just one thing? I guess I would make everyone self-realized.
"Seek not abroad, turn back into thyself, for in the inner man dwells the truth..."
Abolish the monetary system
— Aug 28, 2010
Abolish the monetary system and replace it with a Resource Based Economy.
Us and Them
— Aug 28, 2010
I would have everyone stop drawing lines between us and them, whether they are Muslims, Christians, Jews, pagans, atheists, bankers, police, hippies, Democrats, Republicans, blacks, whites, Mexicans, immigrants, Asians, men, women, gays, straights, etc etc. Time we started treating each other like family instead of demonizing "them."
oops - i had three steps... ok, for me, probably this
— Aug 28, 2010
be connected to that which sustains and keep my mind and thoughts open. oh, that's still 2 steps. ok, consciously connect to it, because working with is how everything changes .
Ray of Hope
— Sep 03, 2010
I have got a ray of hope that we can change the world, I don't know for this how many steps it need but one day it will surly be success. Thanks for this inspiring post. Thanks
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I will change the mentality of people
— Nov 08, 2010
Your post is really very inspiring, its true that if we want we can change the world. If we are talking about power then, first of all I will change the mentality of those people who believe that war is the only solution of peace.
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