Author: admin

Whether there is hope for change

With everything I’ve written about here this year, plus all those things I’ve not touched upon, there’s always the question of whether there’s much hope to be found within it all. In many ways that’s the central concern of all my writing, and it seems a reasonable endpoint for this year.

For me, there’s this sense that we’re being shaped and our lives informed by the systems we inhabit: all the ways this influences us and creates the realities we then have to live through, justify, or make our peace with (see Notes One). We might trust those systems as being the best that’s possible; grounded in a history of deep thought and moral struggle; ultimately in all our best interests; and peopled by those who respect certain principles, standards, and the need for ethical and responsible behaviour. We might believe there’s wisdom there, and that if we walk the paths we’re shown then it will work out well in the end; that its ideas and recommendations are based on an unshakeable understanding of human nature, countless variables, and all possible consequences for our collective futures.

But then, clearly, it’s becoming quite problematic in practice as we see flaws in how things are being run and undesirable impacts it’s having on our lives (Notes Two). We seem to be struggling in so many areas: effective communication; balanced and responsible economic realities that respect the dignity and value of life; inclusive and compassionate social structures and attitudes; personal or collective peace and wellbeing; this list could continue, with each word a portal into a whole world of our hopes, fears, wounds, and efforts. Understanding society, the importance of our roles within it, and the best ways to engage with that is extremely challenging and also tends to come up against efforts to guide or control us, however mistaken that may be.

Within all of that, is there cause for hope that we might be able to improve or redevelop these realities? It seems to me that people are ultimately well-meaning and generally concerned with the bigger picture of others’ suffering and expectation of happiness for now and for the future. That those values originally underpinning modern society could be reinvigorated and find stronger expression through the practicalities of everyday life. While it might be in human nature to exploit and serve our own interests, I see it’s also in the human spirit to be resilient, determined and insist that our shared way of life more accurately reflect our values and principles (Notes Three).

Of course that’s idealistic in a way, although arguably also grounded in practical realism. After all, what choice do we have? It could be that society is best seen as an ongoing project, based on a thorough understanding of what’s most important in life, and requiring our active and constructive involvement in upholding, maintaining and improving the implementation of those values. The idea of that kind of deliberate engagement seems to me where hope might still be found.

Notes and References:

Note 1: People, rules & social cohesion
Note 1: Created a system we seek to escape?
Note 1: Culture selling us meaning
Note 1: Ways of living & those who suffer
Note 2: The web and the wider world
Note 2: Does it matter if others suffer?
Note 2: Nature speaks in many ways, do we listen?
Note 2: Education with the future in mind
Note 3: Hope as a force to lead us onward
Note 3: Intrinsic values on the paths for change?
Note 3: The worth of each life

For a more creative take on this, Thoughts on art & on life explored ways we might look at how the world’s changing.

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Nature speaks in many ways, do we listen?

Writing about nature, I may at times wax a little lyrical or seek comparisons that might appear vast, remote or impractical (see Notes One); but our relationship with and place within the natural world can be this tantalising picture in which it’s hard not to seek meaning. With all nature offers, might it be that it has important lessons to teach us in how to live?

At the end of day, we all live within our environment. It’s true of us, of animals, of nature as a whole: there’s this complex interrelationship of forms, how they live and meet their needs, and the overall usefulness of their actions and by-products in serving the greater whole. And within all that, humanity seems to really stand out as both highly intelligent yet also possibly fairly stupid (Note Two).

That’s clearly harsh, but it does seem justifiable in many ways. I mean, no other part of the natural world seems to operate as we do (at least not anything we would likely consider healthy). Why is that? Why do we see the benefits and examples offered by nature, yet draw some quite different conclusions around how best to live?

It’s a genuine question. Because it seems pretty crazy on many levels: to take so much; to give back mainly waste products, which are not only useless but often permanent and highly damaging. The only reasoning that really seems to be offered here is “because we can” or “everyone else is doing it”, and those hardly seem that mature or compelling.

We might try to convince people to care a little more by pointing out the beauty, the wonder, the fragility, the life forces, or the senselessness of simply destroying these things; but ultimately all those arguments tend to be dismissed as sentimental or uneconomic, else drowned in the almost overwhelming inertia of modern ways.

It seems undeniable that we rely in many ways on the world around us, and – beyond the realm of essential needs – that it also offers much in terms of respite, breath-taking beauty, and varied forms of enjoyment. That we might choose to not only act irresponsibly but maybe even carelessly in the face of that is hard to understand.

Maybe we’re somehow planning to replicate all we now have? Somehow, either here or elsewhere, re-engineer these complexities and recreate the freely sustaining qualities we have in the natural world. Why we would wilfully destroy something in order to need to save the day ourselves is honestly a little beyond me, but it’s one way of grasping what’s going on.

As ever, this veered into slightly deeper and darker territory than I’d anticipated at the start; but is it wise to avoid looking at things that seem to be headed in that direction? What is the right response, the right way of understanding these situations? I might be wrong. But surely if we are to respond wisely then we need to understand, and to understand we need to see clearly.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Living the dream
Note 1: Culture and the passing of time
Note 1: Nature tells a story, about society
Note 1: Nature tells a story, about the planet
Note 1: Gardening as therapy, the light and the dark
Note 1: At what cost, for humans & for nature
Note 1: Aesthetic value of nature
Note 2: Selective intelligence in what we do

Beyond this, “Ecological Intelligence” takes the path of exploring environment as a metaphor for our personal & collective journeys.

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Ideas around education & responsibility

It’s been a while since I wrote about education directly, although it can be seen as implicit in many ideas around society, values and life itself: education being that which prepares us, hopefully bringing us to a workable understanding of the world we live in, our value in it as a human being, and all that we can contribute and enjoy within our communities.

Packed into all that there’s clearly a lot to be done and much of it incredibly important (see Notes One). With that in mind, how might we best approach such a task and enable people to meet modern life with a balanced sense of worth and responsibility?

As mentioned in the posts above, it’s my view that this kind of learning happens much more widely than the walls of formal institutions: that the task of education takes place within communities, cultural forms, social realities, and all the attitudes and ideas more generally embodied within how we live and relate to one another and the world around us.

To expect young people to pick up certain ideas at school yet experience life quite differently outside those walls seems odd, but then life’s much more fragmented and unaccountable than it seemingly used to be. I mean, without social cohesion built around trust and commonly held values then it may seem reasonable to act differently in different settings and experience few consequences.

Yet, if society’s to be peopled by those capable of fully understanding and responding well to all they meet in life, then preparing them to do so seems pretty essential. All the decisions we make, ideas we entertain, words we utter, and things we buy into will shape our world and impact others (Notes Two); arguably making the task of education significant beyond merely economic chances.

Being able to think for yourself; relate healthily to the opportunities of life; contribute intentionally; understand things thoroughly and compassionately; speak wisely; treat everyone with the utmost respect; and act independently are emerging as crucial qualities for engaging constructively with our times.

It seems remarkable to place much of that largely at the door of overstretched and under-resourced systems of education. And while I see that policies in this area are one of the earliest points governments can attempt to influence social outcomes, I personally question if making schools a venue for fluctuating political agendas is ultimately wise.

That said, schools are clearly where much of this conscious and deliberate shaping of future humanity takes place. And I generally have incredible respect for those working in the profession, given the diverse agendas and social problems currently impacting their capacity to effectively meet the undeniably pressing needs of individuals and society as a whole.

Finding ways for educators to respond powerfully, for society to pull together a more coherent picture of what it is to be human, and for young people to step responsibly into the complexities of the world awaiting them are perhaps some of the weightiest challenges of modern society.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Learning to be human
Note 1: Education with the future in mind
Note 2: History as a process of changes
Note 2: Culture and the passing of time
Note 2: People, rules & social cohesion
Note 2: Selective intelligence in what we do
Note 2: Zimbardo & the problem of evil
Note 2: The web and the wider world

The centrality of education in allowing us to rise to modern challenges also emerged out of the dark wanderings of “Brave New World Revisited”.

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Revisiting the question of culture

Culture is such an all-encompassing term, drawing to itself things like art, music and drama as much as film, television and other modern day pursuits. There’s this whole body of human cultural life, then all that we’ve most recently placed around it. In looking more closely at that, how much do we value, treasure, or respect all it represents?

In terms of what culture brings to society, I’ve talked in various ways previously about the meanings it offers us (see Notes One). For me it’s about that sense of understanding contained within the stories we share, ways we perceive things, and how such ideas might serve us as individuals, consumers or citizens.

As humans, we’ve apparently always tended towards these representations of reality, thought or experience. The vast records of ideas, characters, cultural forms, practices, and how they shaped or interacted with societies or civilisations over the centuries are truly fascinating: this age-old pursuit of meaning and all the ways people sought to actively remind themselves of their place, their values, their past.

Then, in our day, we have this incredible opportunity to experience that whole wealth of culture – as much as is possible – while also quite freely developing our own forms to fit with modern life and hopefully sustain it in valuable ways.

I may come across as cynical or negative at times, but generally I just tend to see the riches that have been placed in our hands and have genuine concerns over how aware or intentional we are in what we’re doing. As explored in History as a process of changes, I get this sense of the weight of our inheritance and also the potential for modern society to overwhelm our capacities to respond wisely.

But then culture today also offers us many beautiful, valuable things (Notes Two). The options we now have to express ourselves truly, find our own place within the palette of human experience, and process life in the company of others are so varied and often worthwhile. The power activities or ideas have to unite people, lift us beyond ourselves, and inspire us with fresh perspectives is clearly undeniable.

And writing here around the theme of Culture, I’ve looked to books, film, blogs, podcasts and music, either drawing out specific ideas that seemed timely or contemplating what’s offered more generally through these forms. This opportunity to look to how others have experienced things and relate that to human society, past or present, seems an incredible resource (if a little daunting, given the volume of content we’re now accumulating).

With all that, I just get the feeling that culture really matters in so many ways. Looking to the past, the ideas we held and ways people have sought to grapple with the concerns of their time then present that in different forms for the consideration of others is such an intriguing, powerful and important human activity. In all the noise of modern life, trusting in the power of ideas and experiences hopefully isn’t misplaced.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Culture, art & human activity
Note 1: Culture and the passing of time
Note 1: Missing something with modern culture?
Note 1: How many aren’t well represented?
Note 1: Culture selling us meaning
Note 2: What do we see in beauty?
Note 2: Fashion, self & environment
Note 2: Romance, love & the movies
Note 2: We may as well laugh

Looking to how society as a whole operates, Economy & Humanity considered ways meaning serves us in that context.

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Can we overcome purely economic thinking?

In so many aspects of life, solutions seem to be arising and immediately taking on an economic form; getting packaged, developed and presented to others with this financial language and thinking. But is that really the only option? And what does it mean for society if things are mainly being approached in that way?

When it comes to society there’s many ways of looking at it, of trying to understand how we exist together and what it all might mean (see Notes One). Generally though, there’s this sense of cooperation, of us working towards common aims, and of shared values guiding what those are and how we relate to one another.

To my mind, much of that boils down to the meanings explicitly or implicitly contained in all we do: the attitudes, relationships, customs, practices, standards, priorities, and so on. Human community essentially being this meaningful and wise coordination between people for our individual and collective assistance, hopefully built on ideas that will sustain us all in the long run.

Having said that, however, it’s fairly clear those kind of ideals don’t translate easily into reality (Notes Two). Many of these posts have tried to figure out why that is, generally circling in on difficulties arising when money meets other values (Notes Three); that money has its own agenda and ways of operating, and may well struggle to meet what we’re seeking in a human sense.

And going back to the idea of solutions being packaged, surely approaching things that way naturally leads us to notions of pricing and therefore exclusivity. So when social cooperation becomes a marketplace inevitably some are able to benefit while others cannot. Of course, that is what it is: we tend to look for business opportunities, ways of identifying and fulfilling others’ needs while also providing for ourselves.

But looking at things purely economically undoubtedly affects how we are and the activities finding a place within our local, national or international communities. Powerful companies, strategic chains and the like can evidently thrive in these conditions, but not without certain costs such as character, uniqueness, and many of those things that may differentiate and celebrate our humanity.

So, looking more to local community, what are we creating? These places we live, where needs may best be met, where meanings are arguably most present and involvement both tangible and immediately rewarding (Notes Four). If we need meaning to our lives, can it not be evident in those spaces? Can our lived realities and the administering of practical needs not be laced with humanity rather than merely transactional?

Of course, there are many people working in that way to bring a human face to how we live; acting out of their personal values or habits to show others they matter and our existence together is meaningful, valued and enjoyed. It’s still there. Although it often does seem to be fading or dying out, the more modern economic approach stepping in there; so maybe it’s still worth thinking about.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Economy & Humanity
Note 1: Human nature and community life
Note 2: Created a system we seek to escape?
Note 2: Is sustainable design an impossibility?
Note 3: How it is / Selling out
Note 3: I am not just a sum
Note 4: Community, needs & local solutions
Note 4: Real estate, rental and human nature
Note 4: Reviving local community

From here, “New Renaissance” builds on ideas of communities as purposeful centres of meaning and how well they might serve us.

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Economy & Humanity

Looking at society and the meaning behind it, we can of course focus on the economic: on growth, profit, and all that goes along with that. It’s a fairly well-established method of assessing things, essentially prioritising what we’re doing to meet demand. But there’s also the human side, the lives we’ve made for ourselves and what it all means in practice. How compatible are these perspectives?

And, writing that, I wonder how meaningful the question is – whether there’s any point looking at life that way. But then if economic activity exists to meet our needs, surely there’s some justification in asking what these realities mean for us as humans within that society?

Our systems seem to have evolved, rightly or wrongly, out of paths taken in the past; developing into this quite remote and transactional series of markets, forces, demands, and solutions. Ways our lives fit into those systems and how we might feel about our roles in them is a broader question still, as is how all this sits within the world as a whole (see Notes One).

The bigger picture, I suppose, is one of humans living on earth and cooperating to meet their essential needs. What we know as the economy then being how we’ve come to organise those activities to generate and distribute resources, either as goods or the capacity to buy them. Simplistically put, that seems the basic formula.

Notions of what’s a genuine ‘need’ and the extent ‘manufactured needs’ may indeed fuel the economy and generate greater wealth are separate concerns. I mean, we do have needs – individually and collectively – as well as possibly limitless desires and wants; but the level to which that’s encouraged by marketing seems questionable (Note Two)

Society itself can also be seen as having needs, such as the rational, balanced, informed, and willing participation of its citizens (Note Three). Then there’s the need for an all-encompassing sense of meaning: ideas around what we’re doing, what it contributes, how worthwhile it is, and that we’re valued for the parts we play within our community.

To my mind, much of that tumbles into the realm of culture as the place we create meaning and belonging through the stories we tell and the practices we observe. But then, even there, money’s come to play an important part in defining and shaping our importance in the eyes of society (Notes Four).

Money’s apparently spilled out of purely concerning itself with resources, now seeking to guide our ideas and our ability to grasp what’s going on. Surely it’s important, given how our personal worth, independent agency, and wider understanding enable us to choose what we commit ourselves to, as consumers or as citizens.

Why that is, why everything’s now a marketplace, is one of the stranger things about modern life: that our social world of meaning and self-esteem would be pulled into this other world of goods and services. Because, when it comes down to it, surely the economy was there to support us.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Life and money, seamlessly interwoven
Note 1: Created a system we seek to escape?
Note 1: Selective intelligence in what we do
Note 2: “Small is Beautiful”
Note 3: Media within democratic society
Note 4: Culture selling us meaning
Note 4: Why listen to media that exists to profit?
Note 4: Economics and the task of education
Note 4: The worth of each life

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What is real?

When it comes to reality, is it really as straightforward as we might think? Our fairly recent wealth of knowledge with regard to the physical world clearly gives a certain grasp of things, but beyond that can we be sure of what matters most?

In saying that, I’m thinking in part of ideas around the nature of thought and the complexities of our natural environment (see Notes One): ways we take our fragmented perceptions as independent truths, not always looking to the interrelated realities lying behind almost anything we might meet in life.

Thought, consciousness, and life experiences are fascinating topics. And those ideas articulated by Bohm – of a complex reality perceived, often only in part, by thought – raise so many questions around our ability to see truly, to get beyond our naturally limited perspective with all its intricacies of personal meaning and identity (Note Two).

In a way, there’s life and then there’s this human overlay of thought: the ideas we spin or have spun about life and how it all works; ideas which, in turn, shape how we live and act (Note Three). Because surely our thoughts – invisible as they are – serve to create reality; in small and large ways, our ideas on life determine how we are.

So, in looking at reality, are the contents of our minds to be considered more or less real? If we are intelligent beings, capable of being guided by thought and understanding what we find around us, then is the thinking behind our words and actions more significant than we might generally realise?

All the ideas we may accept, go along with, or passively hold in mind must serve to inform our decisions. These thoughts or assumptions, even if unexamined or less consciously held, surely have consequences for the relationships we forge, activities we form a part of, and the larger social realities being sustained (Notes Four). Behind all that we do we can look to our beliefs and intentions.

In that, maybe our intentions and our impacts could in fact be seen as quite considerable realities: the meanings nestled behind how we are, and the human or natural implications we may or may not see as being ‘our fault’. After all, are we responsible for our intentions or the consequences of what we do or say?

It’s easy to see actions as more real, but words and ideas seem just as powerful in changing things; maybe even more so given how insidious they are, how hard to eradicate or correct once spoken. Many know that words are capable of altering the course of a life for better or worse. And once committed to an idea, it’s often difficult to convince someone of the error of their ways.

Life can be seen as an interplay of ideas and reality, the things we bring to life and our understanding of what we see. In that picture, what’s more real and where our responsibilities stop seem such pertinent considerations for how we live.

Notes and References:

Note 1: David Bohm, thoughts on life
Note 1: Nature tells a story, about the planet
Note 2: Mirrors we offer one another
Note 3: Writings on Education
Note 4: Does it matter if others suffer?
Note 4: Community – what it was, what we lost
Note 4: Age, politics and human reasoning
Note 4: At what cost, for humans & for nature
Note 4: The web and the wider world

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The web and the wider world

It’s pretty much undeniable that technology has rapidly altered much of how we live and promises to continue doing so; often in ways that seem to be outside our control and maybe outside any control, given the nature of these systems. So it seems reasonable to view this as one of the major challenges facing the modern world, and as being fairly unique within the history of humankind.

This way of operating has now become so interwoven with our lives: practicalities around organisation, banking, communication, knowledge; ways we relate, think, and approach things. It really slipped into how things were, making them into this new way of being (see Notes One).

All of which clearly changes things, taking us into uncharted territories where we may come up against unexpected consequences. At this point surely everything is merely theory. No one knows the implications of changing how we relate on this scale, or of making the impacts of our actions remote, vast and essentially invisible. We might have the best of intentions, but does that carry or ultimately make a difference to the outcomes?

The world’s being reshaped by this tool we’re wielding on a global yet very personal scale. And while there may have originally been visions of it becoming a self-regulating force for good, it seems we’re more often demonstrating our need for regulation and the potency of our darker inclinations when left almost completely unchecked (Notes Two).

Indeed, it seems many of those developing ‘solutions’ in these fields actively draw on their knowledge of human nature in order to foster addictive tendencies and other behaviours that may be better off un-indulged. The fact companies are deliberately using our psychology against us seems so concerning, as this then becomes a game played on that level and bearing those costs.

When it comes to life, surely our minds are some of our more treasured possessions? This is how we see the world, how we understand society and our place within its structures; it’s how we know our own worth and that of others; how we make sense of all the information we receive in order to respond wisely out of our humanity (Notes Three). Did we really reach this pinnacle in order to undermine its foundations?

With tech, it’s a difficult conversation. It’s an industry largely driven by commercial interests, so presumably there’s less concern over the human wisdom of paths taken. It’s also fast-moving, with the risk of being so caught up in opportunity or overwhelm that we resign ourselves to a relatively passive acceptance of what’s offered; effectively entrusting ourselves to those in control, their values, and their insight into our nature.

But while it’s complex and may leave us feeling powerless, can we afford to not get to grips with this and find some ground for more conscious engagement with all it offers? If technology is a tool offered us within a marketplace, then responsibility for understanding and using it wisely seems to rest in our hands.

Notes and References:

Note 1: The potential of technology
Note 1: Using internet to construct community
Note 1: “Response Ability” by Frank Fisher
Note 2: Individual responsibility, collective standards
Note 2: Zimbardo & the problem of evil
Note 3: Need to stand alone & think for ourselves
Note 3: “Brave New World Revisited”
Note 3: David Bohm, thoughts on life

Wrapping this up, Patience with the pace of change considered the nature of change & ways technology may alter our perception of that.

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David Bohm, thoughts on life

As far as writers go, David Bohm stands out for me as someone highly intelligent yet deeply caring in how he sought a thorough understanding of life. He really cast the net of his mind wide, exploring quantum physics, social dialogue, and turning thought back on itself to see where we might be going wrong.

Which, of course, gets deep and risks becoming inaccessible; despite how clear a communicator he undoubtedly was, as viewable on YouTube. So for now I will focus on some of his ideas around thought and problems it can lead us into.

For Bohm, thought was a way of perceiving; and one that generally offers up partial reality rather than the whole truth. His work exploring how this fragmented view “is leading to a kind of general confusion of the mind, which creates an endless series of problems and interferes with our clarity of perception so seriously as to prevent us from being able to solve most of them”.

Given this was published in the Eighties, it seems remarkable the extent to which he foresaw this heightening of specialisation and the difficulties it might cause: “Individually there has developed a widespread feeling of helplessness and despair, in the face of what seems to be an overwhelming mass of disparate social forces, going beyond the control and even the comprehension of the human beings who are caught up in it”.

Equally impressive is his clarity on the value and limitation of this approach: “In certain ways, the creation of special subjects of study and the division of labour was an important step forward. Even earlier, man’s first realization that he was not identical with nature was also a crucial step, because it made possible a kind of autonomy in his thinking, which allowed him to go beyond the immediately given limits of nature, first in his imagination and ultimately in his practical work”.

We often seem to struggle in separating the worth of modern thinking from its shortcomings; setting one against the other and reaching an impasse (see Notes One). With Bohm there’s a sense of thought having its place, in how we live and within a larger whole:

“In essence, the process of division is a way of thinking about things that is convenient and useful mainly in the domain of practical, technical and functional activities … However, when this mode of thought is applied more broadly to a man’s notion of himself and the whole world in which he lives … man then acts in such a way us to try to break himself and the world up, so that all seems to correspond to his way of thinking”.

In this light, thought becomes a way of seeing that shapes reality while claiming neutrality – a system we don’t quite see for what it is. Seeking that bigger picture and, from there, integrating our ways of being into a harmonious and meaningful whole seems practical and important (Notes Two); if thought’s indeed capable of matching life.

Notes and References:

“Wholeness and the Implicate Order” by David Bohm, (Ark Paperbacks, London), 1983 (originally 1980)

Note 1: Living the dream
Note 1: The ideas of Eckhart Tolle
Note 1: Literature where West meets East
Note 1: “Small is Beautiful”
Note 2: What inspires all of this
Note 2: Mirrors we offer one another
Note 2: “Spiritual Emergency”
Note 2: “New Renaissance”

Ideas around how we see life fitting together form the central premise of “Towards a New World View”.

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Human nature and community life

It seems human beings have never really been that isolated, generally tending to exist within communities of various sizes and natures; those relationships and the benefits they offered shaping how people have lived, made a living, and given meaning to their lives. How aware we’ve been of these realities and the degree to which we consciously value and uphold them are interesting questions.

Community can describe many different groupings: locations, business interests, wider affinities based around values or concerns, reaching up to international and global alliances; any group with a degree of similarity and a basis for cooperation. Nations, and the societies they contain, being those communities many most strongly identify with.

The extent to which this is natural or imposed is, and maybe always has been, arguable. They could be framed as abstract constructs, theoretical illusions, storylines reinforced because they serve a purpose: to bind and unite us, to encourage consistent collective behaviours, to make life more predictable. Much the same as personality serves an individual, making us relatable.

Then, as ever, there’s the question of what regulates behaviour, how to get us to pull together, ways to eliminate dangers and risks. Communities codifying acceptable ways of being through laws or social relationships (see Notes One), providing a degree of cohesion and common sense around those values serving us all best.

Which is interesting, because society is clearly changing as traditions loosen; moral standards get cast aside as irrational; and we seemingly re-write the rules on how to be, relate, and operate in the modern world (Notes Two). To my mind, these new rules often seem a little careless, self-serving, overly logical, and possibly short-sighted; but it doesn’t seem to be up for discussion.

Moral ideals can of course be seen as a constrictive method of social control: shaming or ostracising those who don’t meet these evolving standards. Ways we try to control others through praise or rejection could also be viewed as manipulative ways of imposing ideas onto others by leaning on our very natural social inclinations. Ways people act to influence others are presumably as timeless as they are effective.

But there may also be social wisdom in the standards and consistency created by such efforts, as humans apparently often do need some guidelines (Note Three). We may be quite rightly shaking off many guiding principles from the past, but that’s not to say society doesn’t still need something to replace that.

The idea of a self-regulating internal logic evolving naturally to step into the role seems a little hopeful however; especially given so many parties seem interested in undermining our intelligence and diverting us into patterns of behaviour suiting their agendas (Note Four).

Clearly, in some ways, community is a construct which holds us together; hopefully imparting ways of behaving, relating and living that make society sustainable. For now though, driving forces seem largely economic – even within our cultural and social lives – and it’s not entirely clear how well that serves us in the long run.

Notes and References:

Note 1: “The Spirit of Community”
Note 1: Laws and lawlessness
Note 1: People, rules & social cohesion
Note 2: Community – what it was, what we lost
Note 2: Antisocial behaviour & the young
Note 2: At what cost, for humans & for nature
Note 2: Attitudes to elder members of society
Note 3: The human spirit
Note 4: “Brave New World Revisited”

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