Sudden Death

George Clark, 02 February 2008

Yesterday there was news of a double suicide bombing in a pet market in Baghdad. More than 70 people were killed and many more were injured. Had a religious adept been one of the mortally wounded would their last thoughts have been different from those of ordinary people? Perhaps.

It is said that when Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated, he raised his hands in prayer, inclined them toward his attacker, recited his mantra, and died – such presence of mind.

I think of these things as I lie in bed avoiding the Saturday morning snow. 'I' am not in control of the thoughts and feelings that pass through 'my' mind. But I may have graduated to the stage of being a sometimes watcher.

"Meditation does not involve trying to change your thinking by thinking some more. It involves watching thought itself." (Kabat-Zinn (1994))

This morning I have been watching re-runs of my various near death experiences - motor bikes crashes, potentially fatal tropical diseases, the bombing incident in Zambia. But memory is a poor guide to the past. I have no clear and certain view of where my mind went during those crisis times. There is only speculation. Let it go.

"Awareness is not the same as thought. It lies beyond thinking although it makes use of thinking, honouring its value and its power. Awareness is more like a vessel which can hold and contain our thinking, helping us to see and know our thoughts as thoughts rather than getting caught up in them as reality."  (Kabat-Zinn (1994))

The time will come when the last thought will occupy my attention centre. Will 'I' be present for it?  I might avoid suicide bombers and assassins and more or less graciously slip into old age. But, one way or another,  the time is coming when the off switch is flicked. We all face sudden death.

Busy doing nothing

George Clark, 27 January 2008

Over the festive season I met many people in what passes for relax mode. We were unhooked from the immediate demands of work and had 'time on our hands'. But what did we DO with it? There was not much enthusiasm for Thich Nhat Hahn's recommendation –

"Don't just do something, sit there".

I was aware of how 'busy-ness' allows an escape from stewing in our own juices. It is easy to get 'lost in work' and to one-pointedly move beyond space, time and ego. But it is not a good idea to stay in that state too long. It is all too easy to becomes obsessed with, and addicted to, busy-ness and to become a busy-body and workaholic. It is all too easy to fritter away your life with 'busy doing' and thus reach its end with no experience of 'peaceful being'. How many of us could sing along with Bing Crosby and his crew -

We're busy doing nothing, working the whole day through,
trying to find lots of things not to do.
We're busy going nowhere, isn't it just a crime?
We'd like to be unhappy but… We never do have the time.

From "A Connecticut Yankee in the Court of King Arthur"
(Video clip)

BUT –withdrawal can be tough.

When you have made a habit of busy-ness it can be hard to embrace stillness and to face the frantic ego that looms large. A lot of buried mental stuff comes to the surface and has to be dealt with. Spiritual journeymen from times past talk of the 'dark night of the soul'. The road to peaceful bliss involves a roller coaster ride with  many ups and downs. There are cases of people having epiphanies and thus being suddenly 'born again'. But those people have usually gone through a long period of mental churn in gradual preparation for the turning moment.

I have been going through the mental churn for many years. There have been highs and lows along the way and I still don't have full confidence in a permanent shift to the brighter outlook. Old habits die very hard. The battle for mind control has to be waged thought by thought and minute by minute. It sometimes seems like pushing a boulder up a mountain – you cannot afford to stop or it will roll back down again.

So why bother?

I cannot speak for other people but I seem to have two reasons. (a) I have personal experience of sudden shifts of mood so I know that 'reality' is a mind-made thing and that it can be transformed in an instant (the blues are a state of mind) and (b) I am intellectually enthralled by the world view of the various mystics and by their psychology of perception . I am enamoured with the idea that the sunshine is always there and that the clouds can be blown away. I like to believe that there is a cure for the blues and that it is never too late to change your mind.

So what might we have DONE over the festive season? We might have made ourselves busy doing nothing and perhaps tasted the peace that passes all understanding.

Sitting quietly doing nothing
Spring comes and the grass grows by itself
(Zen Proverb)

Belly rumbles and beyond

George G Clark, 26 January 2008

Martin Amis is a famous novelist and journalist[1]. The University of Manchester is buying his services for £3000 per hour[2]. The wages of wordsmithery catches up with fabulous football!  So what is so valuable about stringing words together?

There are those of whom it might be said, "They open their mouths and let their bellies rumble". These are the neurotic motor-mouths who are an endless, flowing source of trivia and gossip. They are the chatter boxes who verbalise the dynamic churn of thoughts and feelings  in their brain and who jump quickly from one topic to another. They are afflicted with verbal diarrhoea. Friends and family might be excused for wondering, "Do they never shut up".

In contrast there are those of whom it might be said, "I could listen to them all day". These are life's natural story tellers - the entertaining raconteurs who have a way with words. The finest of them are our poets, novelists, journalists and stand up comedians. The chosen few become well known as media talking heads. They have the gift of selecting items from the dynamic churn and making them into stories with a beginning, middle, end, and a tantalising twist.

Then there are the silent types of whom people wonder 'if the cat has got their tongue'. There are two flavours. Some are introverted and shy – the blushing wallflowers and shrinking violets. Given a supportive environment they might morph into the other categories.

But there are also those of whom it might be said, "Still waters run deep". These are the silent, peaceful people who appear "comfortable in their own skin". They have mastered the art of stillness; they 'let go'[3] their passing thoughts and feelings. These quiet souls appreciate that "the reality which can be described is not the real reality". They embody the ancient view that, "Those who speak do not know, and  those who know do not speak[4]". Quietly smiling.

So there are chatterboxes, story-tellers and quiet-souls. The University of Manchester's creative writing department has put a high price on the story-teller. What price the chatter box and the quiet-soul?

"Look wise, say nothing, and grunt. Speech was given to conceal thought." - Sir William Osler

 

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[1] http://www.martinamisweb.com/

[2] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/26/nuni126.xml

[3] http://www.soulfulliving.com/let_go_surya_das.htm

[4] Tao teh Ching - http://www.srds.co.uk/begin/tao.htm

The power of whims

George Clark, 18 January 2008

There was a time when I thought I was in control of what went on in my mind. These days I realise that the mind has a mind of its own and that it is (a) deeply conditioned by my particular place in time and space and (b) hard wired for 'mystical' experiences.

There was a time when my mental whims seemed to be rational and objective and prompted egoic actions. These days there is a hankering after whims which are intuitive and subjective and which evoke non-egoic, spontaneous non-action (the muse!).

There was a time when there was fire in the belly for change brought about by formal education. There was energy for busy-ness which was driven by 'right belief' in a Scottish brand of anarcho-presbyterianism. The world needed more free thinking individuals. I worked long contracts in various parts of the world and had some influence.

But things changed.

It became clear that formal education reproduces rather than changes society. I was thus part of the problem rather than part of the solution. I was trapped in an outmoded paradigm. On a whim I thus became an independent, freelance consultant living part-time in retreat where I stewed in the juices of western philosophy.

Intellectual whims drew me to existentialism and post-modernism with their associated crises and malaise. I burned out intellectually and lost the old fire in the belly. The need for mental reprogramming became urgent. There were two options.

I kept some distance from the first option - psychotherapy. Engagement with the anti-psychiatry movement made me deeply suspicious of the psyche police. In an insane world it did not make sense to be normal and well adjusted. Crazy times called for crazy solutions.

The second option was meditation. As a psychology of perception it has a long and much respected pedigree. There are many variations on the basic theme of realising the illusory nature of ego. No self, no other – only manifestations of the Oneness. Don't just notice but notice what is being noticed and stand back from it. Be in charge of what goes on in your head rather than being driven blindly by your parochial conditioning. Step into the space between stimulus and response.

I built up a library of wisdom classics which expounded variations on the perennial philosophy. But this meant herding other people's cows. There is an immense distance between 'rationally knowing about' and 'experiencing'. There were aspirations but there was a falling short.

Patiently waiting.

I now live mainly in retreat where I embrace stillness and sometimes know the peace that it brings. But the mind has a mind of its own - old habits flare up and die hard. Mindfulness illumines the dark side where demons lurk. Many that used to be hidden can now occupy the  foreground of attention. There is the uneasy transition to transcendence where mighty whims contend. It is a common pattern -

"Come to the path as humorously aware as possible of the baggage you will be bringing with you: your lacks, fantasies, failings and projections. Blend with a soaring awareness of what our true nature might be, a down-to-earth and level-headed humility, and a clear appreciation of where you are on your spiritual journey and what still remains to be understood and accomplished."
Sogyal Rinpoche (1992) The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying (p131)

Paying attention

George Clark, 18 January 2008

Who pays attention to what and why? It is interesting to compare (a) a parent paying attention to the whims of a child and trying to direct attention this way rather than that, and (b) you paying attention to your own whims and trying to direct them this way rather than that.

Anyone who tries to sit at peace for more than a few moments is soon aware of how busy their mind is. A continuous stream of thoughts and feelings appear in the attention centre and it is not clear where they come from or where they go. The stimulus may be from the outside world (through the sense organs) or from the inside (from bodily sensations and memory). The range of thoughts and feelings and the speed at which they change will vary from person to person and from time to time but there is no getting away from the fact of dynamic churn. There is past, present and future. How long is the present moment? Is it more than the life of a particular thought or feeling?

A young child is continuously responding to external and internal stimuli. The parent seeks to encourage good stimuli and responses and to discourage bad ones – this is an essential part of socialising the child. The parent has three ways to deal with the situation (a) prevention: the stimulus/temptation can be removed before the child has a chance to experience it (eg rearrange the furniture and knick knacks so they are child-proof); (b) reaction: during the experiencing the parent can encourage desirable responses to good stimuli and distract the child's attention from undesirable ones; and (c) recommendation: line up desirable stimuli to capture attention as it moves on.

In a similar way you are continuously responding to external and internal stimuli. There is the dynamic churn. 'You' have the option of just going along with it (and thus with your conditioning to date) or of trying to win an element of control over the process and thus of reconditioning your mind along more desirable lines.

Note an interesting philosophical niggle. There has to be an intention to pay attention. What is the source of this intention (motivation). If it is due to past causes and conditions then you are no more than a robot. If it is due to you own free will then where does that come from? Can a robot rewrite its own programme?

Either way there are some useful rules of thumb. As with children there are the before, during and after measures of prevention, reaction and recommendation. You must deal with the process yourself but we are social animals and that makes it possible to arrange suitable environments. The basic principle is to keep company with spiritually wise  people and to avoid the spiritually foolish. You can go into solitary retreat, take up residence in a monastery or stay within the everyday world. The latter option is the toughest but the most common; it might involve (a) avoiding the stimuli pointing to consumerism (adverts and the media) (b), decorating your living and working places with reminders to be mindful ie posters, statues, wisdom books etc, and (c) talking to your immediate companions to win acceptance or at least tolerance for what you are trying to do.

SO – who pays attention to what and why? Various people to various things for various reasons. But there are more or less noble options and the greatest of them involves self watching.

"The moment you realise you are not present, you are present. Whenever you are able to observe your mind, you are no longer trapped in it. Another factor has come in, something that is not of the mind: the witnessing presence."
Eckhart Tolle (1999) The Power of Now (p45)

On being normal

George Clark, 16 January 2008

Normality is a political idea. It makes it possible to label people as sub-normal (bad), normal (good) or supra-normal (excellent). So how do we recognise a normal person? There are many possible ways but they boil down to the idea that, "me and us are normal, 'they' are not". In what follows we will look briefly at two broad views of 'enlightened' normality and at a possible merging at the level of supra-normals.

Reasonably enlightened normality

In Europe there has been the Age of Reason and the Age of Enlightenment. These created a view of normality that favours rationality and materialism in a clockwork, Newtonian universe. The 'scientific method' rules the modern world.

Sub-normal people are hangovers from pre-modern times. They are traditionalists who are superstitious and believe in magic. Normal people are thoroughly 'modern' and look for evidence to guide their rational, systematic and selfish thought processes. Supra-normal people are the lions of philosophy, science and economics who embrace post-modernism with its deep-rooted, radical doubt and its existential uncertainty - anything goes.

In this view the social paradigm involves dualism and debate. There are winners and losers. Competition. Humanity is seen as having dominion over creation.

Integrally enlightened normality

In the east there have been thoughts of enlightenment and thus of liberation and release for more than 2000 years.

Sub-normal people believe in the abiding reality of self and things. This is the root of their suffering. They are in the majority. Normal people appreciate (a) the impermanence of all created things and (b) the wisdom of renunciation and stillness. This leads to the end of suffering. Supra-normal people are the transcendent sages and gurus who fully embody the highest ideals and act as a role model for others.

In this view the social paradigm involves monism, discussion and silent meditation. We are enmeshed in a web of multiple, complex and intertwining causes and conditions. Viewpoints are held lightly. Partnership. Everybody can win release from suffering by changing how they think.

The merging of the supra-normals

The above sketch is brutally over simple. It serves to polarise world views and to point to the possibility of a merging - at least at the level of the supra-normals. This might lead to a more systematic and compassionate stewardship of ourselves and the planet. Anderson (1996) noted the potential for humanity to wake up -

"... we have not one Enlightenment project but three: a Western one based on rational thought, an Eastern one based on seeing through the illusion of the Self, and a Postmodern one based on the concept of socially constructed reality. And despite their many differences, they share the common goal of liberation.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau made the famous revolutionary pronouncement that "Men are born free, and everywhere are in chains." A couple of centuries later that still holds truth for us, but now we see that the strongest chains are symbolic ones, mind forged manacles." (p219)

Source: Walter Truett Anderson (ed) (1996) The Fontana Post-Modernism Reader; Fontana; ISBN 0006863701 see http://www.srds.co.uk/begin/third_light.htm

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Asleep or awake?

George Clark , 13 January 2008

You can be either asleep or awake to the illusory nature of the self concept. Most people, including myself, spend most of their time asleep to it. So it is quite normal. But this is regrettable given the good things that come from being awake. In what follows I have tried to map my present understanding of the process of waking up.

Asleep

There is sleeping sleep and waking sleep. Sleeping sleep can be either with or without dreams and we will not say anything more about it here. Waking sleep is a poetic concept that covers both daydreaming and more focussed patterns of thought.

During daydreaming thoughts and feelings appear, hang around for a while, and then vanish. The source can be internal or external. Internal stuff links to an imagined past and future and external stuff arrives when you expose yourself to gossip, telly, books etc. The day dreams often lead to action so as to get what you want and to avoid what you don’t want. Day dreams tend to have limited creativity. They are populated by stereotypes and habits and, in responding to them, you are like a robot.

Sometimes you are able to focus your thoughts and to concentrate on a particular idea or task for an extended period of time. During such times you tend to be unaware of ‘self’ with its likes and dislikes. This can be very comfortable. You can even have flashes of the numinous and feel that the ‘muse’ is speaking through you. This can be exceedingly comfortable. It is therefore understandable that many people are workaholics addicted to busy-ness so that they lose themselves in their work. But few people really know what is going on. They do not have insight. They are still asleep.

Awake

Those who are awake are more in control of what goes on in their mind. They are less robotic and more authentic. They notice what is being noticed and think about thinking. There are the possibilities of being the witness and also of being one-pointed. It is then possible to have insight into our ‘true’ nature.

There is the Hindu image of a bird on a branch eating fruit and of a second bird watching the first. You can be like that. You can be witness to what you are thinking and feeling. And this can be with or without labelling the stuff that appears. The idea is just to notice, label and let go. Remain aloof and unattached to the stuff of dreams.

With practice, witnessing leads to easy one-pointedness and stillness of mind. This can be with or without insight. When the mind has been rushing, the ‘without insight’ version is handy as it brings calm (ie give attention totally to the breathing). Once calm you can move on to the ‘with insight’ version where you allow attention to linger with a particular thought or feeling. There is then an intuitive, concentrated and self-less appreciation of the interpenetrating Oneness and thus of the peace that passes all understanding.

For most people the peace comes while sitting on the meditation cushion. The goal, however, is to take the peace into the everyday world. Mindfulness provides the key. Be awake to the possibility of being asleep. When you notice that you have gone to sleep in the imagined past and future then wake up to the here and now. When washing the dishes just selflessly wash the dishes – reality is no more or less.

“The beginning of freedom is the realisation that you are not the possessing entity – the thinker. Knowing this enables you to be the entity. The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness become activated.”
(Eckhart Tolle (1999) The Power of Now)

Don’t just do something
Sit there

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Quantum to Cosmos – an expanding sense of place

14 Dec 2007, George G Clark

I have been chatting on the phone with a 91 year old lady about planting roses. This provided an interlude to watching videos about "Enlightenment 2.0 – Beyond Belief" from the Salk Institute[1]. I am thus keenly aware of other people's worlds. We live in such hugely different places. And the one thing our world views have in common is their smallness and parochiality.

Cosmic zoom – beyond the parochial
Cosmic	Universe	It
	Solar system	It
	Planet	It
Biological	Ecology	It
	People	Them
Cultural	Cultures	Them
	Tribes	Us
Psychological	Family	Us
	Individual	Me
Biochemical	Organs	It
	Cells	It
	Macromolecules	It
Physical	Atoms	It
	Sub atomic	It
	Quanta	It

We box ourselves in. Causes and conditions conspire to programme both the conscious and the unconscious aspects of our minds (cognitive and affective).

The good news is that our programmes can be tweaked and even dramatically revised[2]. The bad news is that, at the personal level, the revision takes effort and is essentially counterintuitive.[3] But it is not impossible!

The boxing is in layers like the skins of an onion and 'you' are on the inside. It is possible to dissolve the layers one after the other until you are no longer constrained. This leads to reunion with the Oneness – the ultimate boon – the great and fearless peace of mind that passes all (rational) understanding[4].

At a crude level your standard world view can be seen as centred around Me, Us, Them and It. (see the third column in the box).

'Me' is the selfish individual that characterises the 'modern' person in the developed world. But we are social animals and thus are 'Us' at the level of family and tribe where relations can be more or less convivial and altruistic. Given our territorial imperative[5] we can be largely antagonistic towards people in cultures, creeds and nations which are seen as 'Them'. Outside those parochial constraints there is 'It' - the physical world at both macro and micro levels.

We, or at least some of us, now have the knowledge, understanding and technology to visualise 'It' in its micro and macro perspectives. This leads inevitably to uncommon sense and counterintuition but this is OK – we are evolving as a species.

Various Cosmic Zoom type presentations are available on the internet[6]. An easy one to use is Powers of Ten[7] – try it and see if it takes your breath away and helps peel a few skins from your onion.

The 'Enlightenment 2.0' crew would presumably be at easy peace with this perspective – at least intellectually[8]. The 91 year old rose grower might have other things to occupy her mind!

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[1] http://thesciencenetwork.org/BeyondBelief2/

[2] Think for example of the paradigm shifts in science over the years – the world in no longer flat, and heavier than air machines can fly! And it was not all that long ago that we had the Divine Rights of Kings!

[3] This is why we have to 'practice' meditation for mindfulness

[4] Neural correlate = stimulation of the God Spot (or equivalent) – reference the brain scans of Olympic meditators.

[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ardrey

[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_Zoom

[7] http://microcosm.web.cern.ch/microcosm/P10/english/P0.html

[8] being Enlightenment thinkers they are keen to be 'reasonable'

Towards the easy life

George G Clark, 17 December 2007

The mildly blue feeling evaporated as I took the refuse bucket to the back gate and felt the frozen grass crackling beneath my feet.  Then there was the low slung sun spreading its early redness around the garden. Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive[1]. What was going on in my head?

What are the causes and conditions that promote peace of mind and a sense of ease?.

The key thing is freedom from ego. The I-Me-Mine thinking is dropped. Thoughts about the past and future are also dropped. And what is lost is the illusion of an individuated self located in a particular place and time.

This leads to a freedom from emotions (eg craving or aversion). When there is  no self there is nothing for emotions to stick to. This also means that there is no restlessness or anxiety, no sloth or torpor, and no doubt[2]. This means that consciousness is unconstrained by cultural causes and conditions and functions naturally in its pure form.

And the good news is that pure consciousness is marked by Oneness, Interbeing and thus compassion. Where there is no self there is also no other – there is only the oneness which is everything. Everything is connected to everything else. Such at least is the testimony of the wise people from many times and places[3]. It is also the testimony of people gifted with the power of one-pointed concentration (eg top ranking scientists, athletes, creative artists) and even of ordinary housekeepers putting out the rubbish.

How might we win freedom from the self and its emotions?

The simple answer is by being aware of what is going on in the mind[4].  There are two sides to this.

On the one hand you can notice what goes on already  in your life – those fleeting moments or peace and ease while you mindfully put out the rubbish or get absorbed in a beautiful sunrise. Notice, value and label such moments and they will grow.

On the other hand you can develop a formal meditation practice[5]. This involves making time to lay down your burdens and  to sit in stillness. There are various 'schools' of meditation. The  most cut back version comes from Dogen Zenji (1200-1253[6]) – "just sit" – everything follows from that – you learn to "drop off body and mind".

The options can run in parallel and feed each other– the task is to tame and train the mind[7]. When you have detoxified your own mind then you will inevitably be a force for true peace in the world.  Novel forms of engagement and social activism appear[8]. With practice many things are possible.

 

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[1] William Wordsworth http://www.bartleby.com/100/337.108.html

[2] The five  hindrances to meditation as listed by the Buddha are – craving, aversion, anxiety and restlessness, sloth and torpor, and doubt. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nyanaponika/wheel026.html

[3] See Aldous Huxley (1945) the Perennial Philosophy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Perennial_Philosophy

[4] The practice is called Mindfulness (Vipassana) – for an easy intro  see http://www.vipassana.com/meditation/mindfulness_in_plain_english.php

[5] Jon Kabat-Zinn offers instruction in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) suited to people of Western cultures. This has been taken up by mainstream medicine. http://www.mindfullivingprograms.com/whatMBSR.php

[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogen_Zenji

[7] http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/tib/training.htm

[8] Thich Nhat Hahn, the Vietnamese Zen Master, has practiced and written extensively about Engaged Buddhism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Nhat_Hanh and poignantly at http://www.srds.co.uk/begin/engaged_buddhism.htm 

Belief without the middle men - second version

Belief without the middle men

 George Clark, 29 Nov 2007

We are social animals and thus ruled by 'shoulds' and 'oughts'. There are various options for the source of these. Some of the possibilities (mainly relatively recent euro-american) are briefly outlined in what follows. This leads to a broad mapping of future possibilities which may be with or without a God.

 

1	God è	Pope è	King è	Elite è	People	Catholicism
2			King è	Elite è	People	Divine Right of Kings
3				Elite è	People	Protestantism with an elect
4					People	People's Protestantism
5					çPeople	Mysticism
6	No God				People	Anarchy
7				Elite è	People	Humanism
8			Leader è	Elite è	People	Tyranny
9		UN è	Leader è	Elite è	People	World Government

 

The God options (1-5) - our Father who art in Heaven

1. Catholicism

God tells the Pope (and his priests) who tells the King (and his nobles) who tells the people what the Bible says (and therefore what God's intentions are). The abuses to which such a system lends itself (eg the selling of indulgences)  triggered the Protestant Revolution.

2. Divine Right of Kings

After the Protestant Revolution (and especially after Henry VIII's spilt with Rome in 1534) the Pope was often cut out of the picture. The king and his archbishops, bishops and priests tell the people what the Bible says (and therefore what God's intentions are). Trying to convince people led to much burning at the stake and blood on the streets.

3. Protestantism with an elect.

In 1649 Cromwell executed the King and although the Royalty made it back it was with greatly reduced powers. The state was now run by society's elite. The Bible was available in the languages of the common people but the elect (there were still church officials!) had a large say in its interpretation. Also in 1649 the Levellers were butchered for objecting to this new form of authority. These days in the US we have the rise of the evangelical conservatives.

4. People's Protestantism

Cut out all middle men and make people aware that, through the Bible, they have a personal hotline to God. There have always been freethinkers and non-conformists amongst the faithful. Gentle people like the Quakers, Mormons and Mennonites. These days in the US we have the rise of the evangelical conservatives.

5. Mysticism

Cut out all middle men and even the Bible. Encourage people to be mindful and to meditate such that they experience the indivisible Oneness and thus the peace that passes all understanding. This allows an embrace of the perennial philosophy which has existed in all times and all places. This is arguably the best option if we are to give peace a chance. The mind sciences begin to point to exciting new possibilities in this area.

The no-God Options (6-9) – power to the people

6. Anarchy

Cut out the middle men, the holy books and all thought of a divine force that intervenes. Subsidiarity, devolution and decentralisation put power back in the hands of the people such that they manage their own affairs at the local level. Civil Society has a greater say in what goes on especially through community based organisations. This free market line of thinking is popular in mainstream development rhetoric at the moment.

7. Humanism

This is similar to anarchy except that there is a vanguard of the intellectual and political elite to make sure that the people make the 'right' decisions. 'Reason' must prevail and policy must be evidence based. Much use is made of independent consultants and technical experts.

8. Tyranny

We are social animals and thus might be programmed to be  led by leaders. In the old days there were kings; these days we have charismatic leaders whose ideas may be more or less benevolent.  Many feel that they have been elected to make decisions on behalf of the people (the lumpen proletariat).

9. World Government

Some national leaders go overboard and need to be held in check. An evolved UN system might come to serve this purpose. There is also a need to deal with transnational issues such as corporate power and various environmental problems. This begs the question of who supervises the supervisors.

Notes:

Stages 1 to 3 allow hierarchies of shepherds which of course suggest that people are servile sheep who are dependent and childlike rather than mature and independent.

Stages 1 to 4 involve top down patriarchy and the belief that God is 'other'.

Stage 5 embraces the possibility of experiencing the Unitive state and thus of transpersonal interdependence and interbeing. These have neural correlates.

Stages 6 to 9 are based on 'reason' rather than on divinity. The ultimate authority is thus said to be the people – especially if they are 'well informed' (hegemonised) by the intellectuals, the politicians and the business community.

Stage 6 sees the w ithering away of all external authority other than that of your small, native community. This is an ideal of both Protestants and Marxists. It is perhaps unrealisable in its pure form but might enlighten thinking about decentralisation.

Stage 7 – "Be reasonable, do it my way". Hegemony and elegant power – brainwashing.

Stage 8 – "Do it my way, or else". Brute Force and totalitarianism.

The Future?

It would be nice if, in the future, there was less violence, more social justice and better stewarding of the environment. Much thought is needed to figure how this might come about. There is a continuum of options –

Predetermined, blueprint approach	A middle way	Organic, emergent approach
Top down		Bottom up
a global, super elite (democratically selected?) figures things out and causes the masses to go along with their plans (sacred and/or secular?)		the masses are empowered to change how they themselves think and feel about the purpose in life and the best way to live (sacred and/or secular?)

 

Whichever option is chosen there is the question of 'agency'. Who acts and for what reason? How might the people and their elites develop appropriate 'shoulds' and 'oughts'?