18. What's the Problem?
Here's my take on the 'problem'. We haven't yet learned how to solve problems co-operatively nor have we fully realized how interconnected we all are. Because of our unavoidable interconnectedness, we have to realize that NOBODY WINS UNLESS THE LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM (Gaia) (on which we all depend) STAYS HEALTHY! And because there are so many critical problems that need solving, we're going to need to maximize our problem-solving abilities.
Our brains have a tremedous capacity for solving problems, but they aren't prefect! Because of that, we all make many unintentional mistakes. [We think of those who make intentional mistakes as criminals.] Often without realizing it, we make mistakes in our perceptions, our judgments & even our memories. That's why making efforts toward consensus should be one of our top priorities.
Since we can never be perfect, as individuals, by working together!, we can certainly minimize many of our imperfections!

Unfortunately, we are all born with two 'impossible' life-long responsibilities:
(1) an 'impossible' responsibility for the well-being of ALL life, which means (to me) that we all have to try to imagine how to live in ways that will make a good life possible for everyone and then (humbly) do our best to live that way ourselves! And whenever we become aware (no matter how: whether when someone else exercises their 'impossible' responsibility #2 [below] or whether we discover for ourselves) that our actions are not making a good life possible for everyone, we will, if at all possible, stop doing what turns out to be harmful (as soon as possible) & head back to the 'drawing board'!
(2) an 'impossible' responsibility to speak up (humbly) whenever we see anyone doing anything that may result in harm to any of our earthmates or to our earth itself.
Since nobody wins unless we all win, we all need to help each other stay on the ball!

Of course, since we all need to be self-directed, we shouldn't tell each other what to do (or what not to do)! So let's just let our great ideas dangle (like ripe fruit on a tree)! Don't try to cram them into others' mouths, just share & set them free!

We really must realize that because there are so many of us & we're all busy, busy, busy doin', doin', doin', all the time, any surprises should not be too surprising! None of us can ever be sure that what 'worked' for us in the past is ever guaranteed to 'work' in the future, mainly because we have no way of knowing how what others are doing is going to affect what we're doing! Since we can never be really sure that any of our ideas might work again (before we actually test them further), our best bet may be to get as many of our ideas (our perceptions&conclusions) confirmed by as many other different viewpoints as possible before we initiate action!

The basic reality we need to acknowledge is our own inability to foresee all the consequences of what we do. So, since everything we do can have unseen (as well as unforeseen) consequences, we must PAY ATTENTION (much better attention!) to as many of those consequences as we can! Everything we do affects all life (eventually, whether we can measure those effects or not)! This is why a concern for all life is so basic!

So I freely admit:Because I'm Human, I Must Also Be As Humble and As Honest as I can be!
We need so desperately to learn how to resolve our various differences: in how we understand the ways our world works & do it without resorting to the power-plays of our ordinary adversarial methods (majority rule)!!!! Our need is so desperate that I would urge us all to pray this prayer/song daily: fdS27. Keep us patient! It certainly will take a lot of patient humility, because our lives really are inextricably intertwined & the world is so complex! We need to confirm each other's insights whenever we can & be very willing to listen carefully (& humbly) to all with whom we differ!

By sharing&harmonizing our insights, we have a tremendous opportunity to mend our harmful ways! So even our great grandchildrens' great grandchildren will, possibly, still have a world to enjoy! This is why we need to get our politicians to acknowledge that they too are Humble Humans! Let's make it a part of the oath of office that they are required to take if they are successfully elected. It could be an important reminder to them (and to us, too!) that we & they have a responsibility for all life [not only to the voters who voted for them!]!

To make it effective, I need your help in creating such an Oath of Office.

[And now: a word about 'Oaths of Office':
Quakers generally avoid 'oaths' (wisely, I think)! Like "I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, etc.": perhaps because nobody can ever know the 'whole truth'; so I want this 'oath of office' to be one that even Quakers can speak in good conscience! I could hope that it might eventually replace George Fox's famous Peace Testimony to Charles II (in 1660) "We utterly deny all outward wars and strife and fightings with outward weapons, for any end or under any pretence whatsoever. And this is our testimony to the whole world. The spirit of Christ, by which we are guided, is not changeable, so as once to command us from a thing as evil and again to move unto it; and we do certainly know, and so testify to the world, that the spirit of Christ, which leads us into all Truth, will never move us to fight and war against any man with outward weapons, neither for the kingdom of Christ, nor for the kingdoms of this world."]

Perhaps it could read: I, [my name, your name &/or the name of each successful candidate], promise [not swear] to do my best to respect Gaia, the support system for LIFE ITSELF, (not just the people who voted for me) as I accept the responsiblities incumbent on this office & on us all. I will try not rely on adversarial methods when I encounter disagreement (except in those rare occasions when action cannot wait for a real consensus!). I realize that the only way any of us can find out if what we propose will 'work' (the way we hope it will work) will be to put it to the test! So I will try to benefit from divergent viewpoints by careful consideration of the experiences that led another to conclusions that differ from mine, & I will continue to make efforts toward consensus even after action has been taken if consensus has not been reached by the time action must be taken. [How else can we ever learn that real consensus is always a possibillity!] I realize that we are all likely to draw differening conclusions even when we have all had practically the same experiences!

Surprise! If our intent is to work toword GROSS WORLD WELL-BEING, we need to learn to rejoice whenever we run into people who disagree with us! We may even need to surpress our natural instinct to insist that we are 'right' & they are 'wrong'! They may have simply drawn completely different conclusions (perhaps even from the same experience seen from a slightly different viewpoint). So we (all who are involved) now have a rare opportunity to augment our own very limitied viewpoint & to perhaps (all) get a fuller picture of our common reality that can help us see where we may have gotten things wrong ourselves!

If we can only get ourselves to focus on the reality of our experience (instead of the conclusions we have already drawn from it), we may be able to discover any errors in our previous conclusions! That's why it is, first of all, important for us to admit that we are all human, because we all do make mistakes (in judgments, in conclusions, in memory, & even in perceptions).

One thing that makes making mistakes more likely is the fact that our understanding of the world around us has to be put into words before we can talk about it with others, & that is sometimes very difficult to do. How can we ever know, for sure, that the words we choose will mean exactly the same thing to those we are talking to? We can't! Sometimes it is only when we act on our understanding that we realize that there has been a misunderstanding somewhere!

I realize that it may well take time to make the transistion from adversarial resolution of differences to cooperative problem solving, but I see great hope if (until we've got the hang of it), when we must act before we can reach consensus, we still always try to reach consensus as soon as we can (after action has been taken), to seen if we actually can do it!

I seriously want YOUR INPUT! Do these thoughts make any sense to you? If not, please don't be afraid to say so. I need your help because I'm human, too! ( rex.barger@hwcn.org )


Born here 2007.08.12. ReNEWed 2007.08.13.
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