DAY 92 – MANAGING THE HUMAN HOUSEHOLD

Ten years ago while in college I had an assignment to do a paper on the economy. We had the freedom to take this paper anywhere we wanted to go with it. While I did not know that much about the economy, I started by looking up the word in the dictionary. What I found was something that I did not expect and turned this paper into a different way of thinking about the human world.

The word economy has its origins from the latin word oeconomia and greek word oikonomia and refers to managing the household. Normally when I think about the economy I think about the financial aspects of my country where people go to work to make money in order to have and to do things. But when I started to think about managing the household my thoughts turned to the other aspects of life that go beyond the financial end.

Living our lives we want life to go smoothly. No one wants to have situations that become problematic even when it quickly disappears. Worse yet, we do not want to experience situations that escalate into something that is psychologically disturbing and emotionally taxing. At our most inner core human beings want to find inner harmony in all that we do where personal enjoyment and inner peace enables us to experience loving feelings and show loving actions to all who we meet.

It is a shame that we have the problems that we do not want to have when so many of our difficulties are preventable. It is doable that every human being can have nutritious food to eat, clean water to drink, a decent place to live in and adequate clothing to wear. It is doable that every human being can have harmonious interactions and relationships. It is doable that every human being can live in harmony with their fellow human beings who belong to a different nationality, religion, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation than themself. It is doable that people can experience enjoyment in many of their personal wants. It is doable that human beings can have physical health and psychological wellness. It is doable that human beings can have a good education and have the knowledge that can create a personally better life and create a collectively better world. It is doable that people can have a transportation system that meets their ability to go places and transport products around the planet. It is doable that human beings everywhere on this planet can have an energy supply. It is doable that human beings can contribute towards helping the earth to become a clean and sustainable planet. Achieving the nine basic requirements for a better life and better world for all of humanity is doable.

Experiencing difficulties, even though they have the potential to be prevented, means that we are not managing the human household properly. Everywhere around the planet people are going through the same kind of situations that generations in the past have had to deal with. In those previous generations our ancestors had to persevere through their difficulties whether they lasted a short time or continued on for a lifetime. Today we are persevering through our present day difficulties as our ancestors had to do. Why is it that human beings, whether then or now, have not found, implemented and developed solutions for their problematic situations and why haven’t solutions that can last and stand the test of time been easily available and passed on for each generation to use for their benefit?

An important and essential aspect of managing the human household for everyone’s benefit is setting up our world where people can learn from one another the insights that solve our difficulties. In addition, today’s social outlets on the internet can be used as an instrumental vehicle for organizing people to work together for that better future within their community. To get our world to be a better place sooner than later we do not have to carry on as we always have in a static manner nor do we need real and beneficial changes to develop over decades either. We have the capability to use the desire for something better to carry us to greater heights in the here and now.

Think about something in your life or the life of a loved one that you wish had never occurred. Were you bullied as a kid that left you emotionally traumatized? Was your spouse verbally vilified by his or her parents that left your spouse an angry and excitable person who vilifies you and your children? Was one of your children sexually assaulted and has developed an alcohol and drug addiction because of it? Was your parents financially ruined because of a national economic catastrophe that left all of you homeless? Were you the victim of racial, religious, ethnic or sexual orientation bias where you were prevented from living a better life or were physically assaulted and left for dead? Were you born in a war torn nation that forced your parents to become migrants in a neighboring nation? Were you and your family the victims of a crime that left an emotional scar? Did you live through a category 5 hurricane that devastated the entire region in which you lived?

These and many other situations are the unwanted negative life experiences that human beings have to go through. They play havoc with the lives of those who are at the wrong end of it. Human beings have often tried to lend a helping hand to those who fall victim to the unwanted but there has been an overriding perception that it is up to each of us an individual to take personal responsibility to fix the unwanted chapters in one’s own personal life.

Managing the human household properly requires us to be proactive in helping one another to have fewer personal difficulties as well as being proactive in helping to establish a collectively better world with fewer societal problems. Human beings around the planet need to be in sync with one another where we become part of a cooperative effort that enables us to swim upstream together instead of fighting a never ending current that prevents us from gaining real and lasting changes for the better.

Our best approach to manage the human household with long lasting beneficial consequences is to reach someone while they are young before they develop thought and behavior habits that cause themselves, others or our earth problems. By developing more in-depth understanding about life at a younger age it can stay with each of us throughout our lifetimes and can be the focus each of us needs to create inner harmony within oneself. Such inner harmony can be the essential ingredient that brings each of us to a peaceful place that enables us to calmly and thoughtfully live our lives in a concerted effort to make life better for all of mankind.

While the word economy today is concerned with the financial end of the work we do and what we have, there is so much more to life when we look at the concept of managing the human household. Every personal relationship is a one on one interaction and for harmony to take place each person has to be fully aware of the type of thoughts and behaviors they are having that contribute towards another person finding it a pleasing experience. Every workplace requires the people involved in it to be not only focused on the work but to be treated well by all who they work with and for. Everyone’s health needs requires us to take into consideration how we go about living our lives so there aren’t any negative health repercussions from how we are carrying out our affairs. Every person’s sense of self-worth requires us to treat everyone with kindness, consideration, respect and dignity. When we can go beyond the financial part of the human world we can see that each and every human being has an important role to play in making this a better world not only for oneself but also for our fellow human beings.

I now realize that we can relish in the fact that we are part of something bigger than oneself while not losing sight of one’s own importance as a human being. Acting simultaneously on behalf of oneself and on behalf of our fellow human beings may seem unlikely but when it is achieved we will be managing the human household where human difficulties are minuscule and where everyone thrives in every way possible.

DAY 93 – A SOLID FOUNDATION THAT WITHSTANDS THE TEST OF TIME: STANDING AS ONE; WE ARE ALL TIED TOGETHER

I have an uncle who is an architect. When I was a kid I remember him telling me that every building, whether it is just a small home to a one hundred story skyscraper, must have a foundation that can withstand the pressure from everything that is built upon it. Without a solid foundation something could happen that could tear away at the fabric of what holds a building in place and create a condition that is deleterious to an optimally functioning structure.

Thinking about human beings the same thing can be said about ourselves and our world, humanity requires a solid foundation that we can build our lives upon that give us the necessary underpinnings by which we have fewer difficulties. Such a foundation will do us well since we can count on it to be the structural force each of us needs to carry on in a manner that holds us up to our higher ideals. By having the inner strength, determination and ability to live up to those higher ideals in all situations we will be able to enjoy and fully appreciate life when it is going well but it will also enable us to deal with life’s potential and actual pitfalls with a maturity that is sometimes hard to achieve when faced with the rigors of everyday living.

While life holds many variables that create the unevenness and disruptions that are part of human life there are many constant aspects that when looked at more closely overshadows the turmoil that comes our way. First and foremost is that human beings can act with kindness and consideration. We also have people who go out of their way to change the unwanted and create something that is better than what is going on at that moment, whether it is scientific discoveries for products that enhance life or social movements that end human mistreatment. In addition, when tragedy strikes a community there are scores of people who come to their aid.

No one has first hand experience with those who lived in past centuries. Our global ancestors have had to act in similar fashion as we do today because humanity cannot function without benevolence by their fellow human beings. This is at the heart of the human mosaic where we manage the human household where everyone benefits. This is the solid foundation that will take us to greater heights.

I now realize that the better world of tomorrow will have a solid foundation upon which everything else is built upon. At the base of this solid foundation will be humanity as a whole standing together as one knowing that we are all tied together in a united benevolent effort to create a better life for everyone no matter what nation they are born into, no matter what religious beliefs they hold, no matter what race they belong to, no matter what ethnic heritage they are part of and no matter what sexual orientation they have.

 

DAY 94 – REACHING THE MOUNTAIN TOP: A HOLISTIC HARMONY BY THE YEAR 2100 (THE TOMORROWS WILL NOT BE LIKE THE YESTERDAYS)

DEDICATED TO THE GOODNESS THAT LIES WITHIN THE HUMAN SPIRIT

From the moment each of us takes our first breath we are on a journey of acquiring the necessary knowledge and insights in our attempt for a life with fewer difficulties. As children we do not know this. As adults we sometimes do not appreciate how essential this is in one’s own personal evolution into a mature adult that can reach for and climb to the mountaintop.

This mountaintop represents the summit where most human problems no longer occur. It is where the human consciousness has evolved to a point where people throughout the world freely cooperate with one another for everyone’s mutual benefit. It is a place where inner harmony exists within each person’s body and mind and harmonious interactions are ever present between human beings no matter the diversity of the people involved.

Our individual lives are intertwined with the lives of our fellow human beings in numerous ways. Personal difficulties often ripple their way into the lives of those closest to us and many times they ripple their way into the larger sphere of humanity. If we are to create something better, then we need to understand life, to the fullest extent possible, so we do not create the unwanted for oneself, other people and the earth.

At the base of this mountain is the world humanity has always lived in. There are so many good, decent and beneficial things that are initiated and reciprocated by human beings. We show kindness, consideration and respect not because of a self-centered interest but because it lives inside of us. We help one another in the most mundane of tasks along with the most perplexing of situations. Giving the best of ourselves is worth nurturing not only for those of us who are alive today but also for the generations who will follow.

We also find at the base of this mountain humanity having to simultaneously co-exist with life’s difficulties. Some of our problems each of us creates for oneself and other difficulties are heaped upon us by our fellow human beings and by nature itself.  While people throughout the ages have wanted to get to the mountaintop, it often seems that the climb upward has many pitfalls that make it seem an unattainable task. Yet with specific knowledge and the in-depth insights that come with such knowledge there is nothing that can stop humanity from reaching the zenith of a better world. It is ours to achieve if we set our minds to making it a reality.

Reaching the mountaintop requires us to grasp the immense importance of seeing and understanding the process for the tomorrows to become better than the yesterdays. Because everything of importance is not a sprint that immediately happens but a marathon of human endeavors, we can put our actions into a perspective for what may follow and thus spur ourselves to continue going forward in our quest for something better no matter how long it takes.

We know that progress, whether small in nature or of an enormity that forever changes human destiny, occurs in steps, stages and a sequence to them. When seeing a problem that needs to be fixed, conceiving of a new useful invention or realizing a philosophical concept that raises human consciousness, actions must be taken to achieve something that previously did not exist. Yet with this as an end in mind, we should always remember that the steps and stages along with a sequence to them becomes part of everything we create. Reaching the mountaintop for a world with fewer problems is no different.

When we look back at human beings going to the moon and setting foot on it, we can more fully appreciate the steps and stages along with the sequence of actions that made achieving this possible. At each point in the process there were numerous people who had to figure out the technology to make each advance achievable. From the first experimental space flight in an unmanned capsule, it eventually led to a human being taking flight and circling the earth. Within a few years an unmanned capsule landed on the moon which was then followed by human beings landing and walking on the moon.

Each stage in the goal of taking a human being to the moon required an order to them. Each sequence was necessary because this is how knowledge develops and enables human beings to build upon what was just learned. With each advancement we would not have today an orbiting space station where astronauts do experiments that gives us a better understanding of our universe and discoveries that could lead to potential products that are beneficial for humanity. The people who have been involved in the space program over the decades may have envisioned a realistic possibility for an international space station but not even these experts would know the necessary sequences that would take place. Things in life that are created have a way of developing even without the exact knowledge of how it will unfold.

In everyday life human beings have the capability to persevere not only in normal times but also when faced with the most difficult of circumstances. Carrying out one’s everyday affairs requires a certain amount of perseverance, but it takes on an added dimension when a potentially life altering dilemma strikes (a devastating accident, a life-threatening health issue, a weather event that rips through a community and destroys its peaceful surroundings, a war breaks out in a country or between countries and anything else that has a severe disruption to everyday living) that shatters the normalcy of someone’s world. It is here where people rise to the occasion by persevering on a level they may have never gone to before.

While perseverance is essential for the great human undertakings, we also require patience at the same time to let the process take its course until the end goal has been met. Human beings have the propensity to immediately want certain things to occur no matter how unlikely it is to happen right then and there. This is especially true when it comes to personal and societal difficulties. People do not want to live with a problem for extended periods of time. The longer problems are with us the more people may lose faith and the more impatient people often become.

Most human endeavors take time to go from the initial idea to seeing it become a reality and the larger the magnitude of the objective is the longer it will take. With any goal that we set out to achieve we need to persevere and have the patience to see it through to its conclusion. Reaching the mountaintop and making this the last century for most human problems requires a worldwide perseverance and patience combined with a resolute determination to succeed unlike anything else in human history.

While we are on this journey to reach the mountaintop, we need to become cognizant of the progress that is taking place as it is happening. Such awareness will give us the positive encouragement to not only carry on but also to do more. Seeing humanity achieve great strides towards a tomorrow that is better than yesterday gives us inner strength to the point where the cherished ideals that are part of being human becomes the solid foundation that we continue to build our future upon.

There is a path forward leading to a better future. We can create a world where every human being can always have nutritious food to eat, clean water to drink, a decent place to live in and adequate clothing to wear. We can create a world where every human being will be considered equal to their fellow human beings without being mistreated, discriminated against or hated. We can create a world where violence and war are a relic of a painful past that we only read about in our history books and never personally experience. We can create a world where our earth is treated with the utmost of care so that it functions optimally for life itself by becoming a clean and sustainable planet. All of this and more can be created by us.

The world of the future is where our children and grandchildren along with every generation thereafter must go to that is beyond just surviving but is where they are thriving. Harmony is the key to this. Finding inner harmony within each of us will lead to harmony with our fellow human beings. At the same time living in harmony with our fellow human beings will lead to more personal inner harmony. Both forms of harmony are essential since harmony with our fellow human beings and inner harmony are intertwined with each other with a force that reinforces both aspects of harmony.

When we reach the mountaintop for a collectively better world all of humanity will realize that the reason that we have arrived there is because of the time and effort that billions of our fellow human beings have devoted to creating such a world.