HUMANITY’S EVOLUTION INTO A BETTER FUTURE (LOOKING BACK ON HOW HUMANITY CREATED A BETTER WORLD)

What follows is a story from the standpoint of a person born in the latter part of the twenty-first century that looks back at how humanity created a better world for all of us to live in.

It is nearing midnight on December 31, 2099 and I, an eighteen year old girl, am with my parents at my great grandparents home celebrating the end of one century and the beginning of a new one. Since I was a little girl, my great grandparents have been telling me how their generation changed the course of human history. They have been giving me insights into what they had to learn and understand and what actions their generation undertook so that the world of today has so many fewer problems than a century ago. Everyone alive today are the beneficiaries of what my great grandparents generation set out to accomplish and thankfully they succeeded.

At an early age children now understand that human beings are united around key insights into life. We grow up with the realization that there is a common desire for a personally better life and a wish that humanity can collectively live in a better world. We know that the one common purpose human beings believe in is to work together for a better future. We have come together around the concept that the life and world we all want will not automatically happen but we as an entire species have to collectively create it. We fully grasp that the world we are trying to create is one where each of us have fewer personal problems and all of us collectively have fewer societal difficulties.

We do not believe in enemies except when it comes to problems. We work together to prevent difficulties from developing but when they do occur we quickly rise to the occasion in order to remedy the situation so it does not linger or get worse over time. By having problems as our universal enemy we do not focus upon other human beings as being the center of our dislike but instead give our attention to helping each individual and society as a whole to have fewer difficulties.

While people around the planet have many personal belief systems, humanity has become united around a belief system that states “I will make life better for myself, others and planet earth.” This “Better Life Philosophy” grounds us to how we will go about living our lives. Human beings can judge their thoughts and behaviors from the standpoint of whether it enhances or detracts from making life better for oneself, others and the earth. The life and world that everyone wants to have has been greatly affected by this belief system.

Having a belief system focused upon making life better then requires us to understand what constitutes a better life and better world. Breaking down the human world into categories is the next step. We are taught that the following nine basic requirements that when achieved makes our lives and world better.

Survival Needs (water, food, shelter and clothing)
Harmonious Interactions And Relationships
Harmony Between Groups
Personal Wants
Education And Knowledge
Physical Health And Psychological Wellness
Transportation
Energy Supply
Clean And Sustainable Earth

No one wants to have difficulties. The most pressing problems that every generation has to deal with are related to these nine categories. First and foremost, people require water, food, shelter and clothing in order to survive. People interact with and have personal relationships with other people and want harmony to occur within their interactions and relationships. People are members of various nationalities, religions, races, ethnicities and sexual orientations and want harmony to exist between people belonging to different groups. People enjoy having and doing certain things and these personal wants are a significant part of everyone’s life. People need physical health and psychological wellness. People need an education that expands their horizons and the knowledge that will bring about a personally better life and a collectively better world. Society as a whole requires a transportation system that moves people and products. Humanity requires an energy supply that powers all that we do. Finally, and an absolute necessity, is a clean and sustainable earth that enables generation after generation to survive and thrive.

Because of “A Better Life Philosophy” the actions of human beings around the planet have not only been centered around achieving the nine basic requirements but we also give as much attention to what we do and how we go about doing it. Such a focus allows humanity to act in harmony with one another thereby accomplishing so much more than when individuals and groups of people act in a self-serving manner without consideration for what may follow.

From an early age people around the planet go to school to learn different things. From language, reading, math, science, history and so much more, schools have been teaching these subjects in order to give students an education that enables us to go into the world and become a productive member of society. There is another side to learning which takes place in schools and in our communities where we attain specific insights into life that enables human beings everywhere to have fewer personal and societal difficulties.

The knowledge that helps us create the life and world that we want starts off by having us understand that life is similar to how the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle fit together. When you work on a jigsaw puzzle only a specific piece will perfectly fit with another piece. In life only certain actions will fit together with other specific actions to bring about harmony in our lives and world.

Creating harmony also requires knowledge about what lies beneath the surface that is of immense importance. At a glance we can only see and understand what is on the surface and not the underlying aspects of what we do and how we do it. Going deeper into the layers of a shell allows us to have more in-depth and accurate insights which we can then base our actions upon. Our generation grasps that without in-depth insights that enable us to make more accurate assessments our judgements will be left wanting which in turn will lead to unnecessary difficulties.

Another concept that has made us more understanding of ourselves and our fellow human beings is that each human being is just off a little bit. While people go about their daily affairs in a similar fashion, we are unable to conduct ourselves in life enhancing ways in everything we do. Being off one percent is where human difficulties lie.

No human being has ever lived his or her life acting in a manner that enhances life for himself or herself, other people and the earth one hundred percent of the time. Even when a student gets straight A’s throughout his or her entire school life it does not mean that he or she got every question correct all of the time. Similarly, no human being has ever made the right life enhancing decisions in every situation. We are all off one percent because all of us does something that turns out to be detrimental to creating a personally better life and a collectively better world.

The difference in human beings acting in a beneficial manner most of the time and going astray is in our thinking. Thoughts are actually silent words said to oneself each and every day and the person we talk to more than anyone else is oneself. There is no one else inside an individual’s mind to counteract inaccurate and non-factual silent words. Over time when certain silent words are said often to oneself they become so powerful in its affect irrespective of whether those words are life enhancing or detrimental to bringing about a personally better life and a collectively better world.

One of the things we also learn is that every human being may become affected by something he or she sees, hears or reads. This doesn’t happen in every situation but certain experiences seem more powerful in their ability to strike a cord in each and every human being. A thought then develops about that experience and when it is repeated over and over again silently to oneself it takes on a life of its own.

While it may seem difficult to have life enhancing thoughts in all situations the opposite occurs if we are not diligent. By understanding this we gain more control of those silent words each of us say to ourselves. We know the difference in thinking when we act with kindness, consideration and respect for our fellow human beings versus when we act unkind, inconsiderate and disrespectful. We know the difference in thinking when we act out in violence versus when we don’t. We know the difference in thinking when we go out of our way to help our fellow human beings in their time of need versus not helping people when they need help. We know the difference in thinking when we look at life from the standpoint of what will benefit all of humanity versus what will help myself and my group at the expense of another human being or other groups. Being taught this at an early age is part of what has changed the world for the better.

Our history books tell us a story of people disliking and hating people who are not like themselves. Too often in the past people focused attention upon differences based upon nationality, religion, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. They used that to mistreat the ‘others’ with discrimation, violent acts and going to war. All of this was the result of what lies beneath the surface of those who hate the ‘others’, anti-thoughts.

If a person is not careful hateful anti-thoughts can develop at any point in time. All that it takes is for a person to transform what he or she sees, hears or reads into silent words of dislike and hate towards members of a certain group. For some in the past their anti-thoughts had escalated into thoughts of mistreatment and violence which they then acted upon. There has to be no basis to hate and mistreatment of a fellow human being because they belong to a different group, just the underlying silent words that makes it seem rational.

One of the things that makes anti-thoughts appear reasonable and justified is the verb to be. When a person growing up and into their adult lives use the words I am/you are and we are/they are it helps create in the minds of many human beings that I and people like me belong to a specific group and other human beings not like me belong to other groups. The verb to be is like an equal sign and certain human beings think that people who have similar beliefs and belong to the same group are in the equal status and those who have differing beliefs and belong to a different group are in the unequal category. Luckily for my generation our ancestors understood this and the verb to be that exists today that counters anti-thoughts and mistreatment is “I am a human being” and “we are human beings”.

Once “I am a human being” and “we are human beings” became part of humanity’s overall consciousness the next thing that evolved from it were problems became the human enemy and not a particular person or a particular group. There were no demarcation points or boundary lines for a problem. They occurred to people around the planet irrespective of their ideological beliefs, who they were born to or where they lived.

One particular problem that we today understand at a young age is why people in their interactions and relationships become upset with frustration, annoyance, anger, anxiety and fear. There is a desire that people have to get along with other people but when something has already been said or an action taken by another person that does not conform to life as you want it to be then human beings often become annoyed, frustrated or angry. When thoughts about something in the future will not turn out as you want, human beings become anxious and fearful. By having the insight that a lack of inner harmony because of annoyance, frustration, anger, anxiety or fear can lead to arguments and disputes and an inability to get along with your fellow human beings, we are better able to deal with situations that we do not like or agree with and prevent them from escalating into a chaotic interaction or relationship.

My great grandparents were the youth of the era when a warming earth due to climate change became a major problematic issue. It became the central focus of human beings everywhere to solve that problem which then ushered in the beginnings of a new human unity around the planet. A new consciousness was born that said we will all rise together to greater heights or we will all fall together into a world of continuous difficulties. This became the prevailing way of thinking about life.

My great grandparents generation were also fortunate at that time that there were people working on potential solutions to the impending disaster of climate change. They were building more advanced electric cars with increasing battery power. They were transforming power plants into creating energy while not contributing to climate change. Solar power, wind power and geothermal energy were expanding around the planet. They were planting massive numbers of trees and plants and developing other methods that would suck carbon out of the atmosphere.

While these advances were being made there was one main drawback in the early part of this century to an all out assault on climate change by humanity, some people did not think that human beings were the primary cause of the earth’s changing climate. They argued that the climate has always changed and what is occurring now is no different than it was in the past. They also believed that there would be a disruption to the economy if we altered how we conducted our affairs in order to prevent the further warming of the earth.

One question emerged that was presented to each side of the climate discussion that had an effect on how humanity thought about their positions on the changing of the climate. Everyone was asked “what if I am wrong and what will happen” if we carry out my thoughts concerning climate change. They asked those who believed that human beings are responsible for climate change “what if I am wrong and we fully engage ourselves to prevent further warming of the earth, what will happen”. They also asked those who believe that human beings have no or very little responsibility in the earth becoming warmer “what if I am wrong and we do not fully engage ourselves to prevent further warming of the earth, what will happen”. The answers made an impact on everyone’s thoughts about the most important issue humanity was facing.

The answers to the “what if I am wrong and what will happen” question made it evident that the choice was either a quicker way to get to a future world with advanced technology in order to prevent the consequences of a warmer planet that was coming no matter the role human beings have played in the earth’s changing climate or not being as proactive as we can be in our efforts to prevent further warming of our planet thereby having those who were alive then and bequeathing to future generations a planet that is not as hospitable as it was decades earlier. The “what if I am wrong and what will happen” question became so powerful of an argument that more and more people who were leery before and questioned the science of climate change did not want to take a chance that they would be leaving a much worse world to the people they love and to all who would follow.

The actions taken by humanity to stop the continual warming of the earth was the most massive undertaking ever conducted by the human race as a collective body. People realized that time was of the essence so they cooperated together in ways they never did before. Everyone looked at how their behaviors affected the climate. It wasn’t that they just wanted the governments of the world to take action but they also demanded businesses conduct their affairs in a more environmentally enhancing fashion as well as looking at how each individual person could live their lives with a reduced carbon footprint. From this was born the idea that a better world has to be created and that humanity has “one common purpose, to work together for a better future for everyone”.

Believing that a unified world was essential to eliminating problems that people have, my great grandparents generation started “community betterment projects” in community after community all over the earth. They realized that to live in a world with fewer problems required each individual human being to have fewer difficulties. Fewer difficulties in turn requires people around this planet to understand life in more holistic terms. Developing a consciousness of insights into how to create a better world for all of humanity along with contributing one’s time to helping their fellow human beings became the basis for what each “community betterment project” was all about.

Within each community friends would get together in small groups of five to ten people to help raise the consciousness of one another. Each person would then reach out to two other people within their own town telling them the benefits of a betterment project and encouraging them to form their own groups. These groups would share information with one another and within a couple of years entire cities would become united around creating a community where its members become cognizant of how their beliefs and actions affected one another with the ultimate goal of each individual person contributing some of their time to helping one another in their quest to having fewer problems.

One of the things that a community betterment project had to initially overcome to get people involved in creating a better world was that many people said they did not have the time to participate in this project. Eighty years ago, as it is the case today, people had busy lives going to school or working or being parents or just doing things they enjoyed. Human beings had to find a reason why they needed to do something instead of why they did not have the time to be part of creating a better world.

This mindset of not having time to help reduce or eliminate human problems started to change with the realization that without insightful action the world will stay the same with all of its problems. Large numbers of human beings understood that without insightful action the people each of us love may not develop the type of consciousness that help prevent problems for themselves or prevents other people from acting in a detrimental manner that ripples its way into the lives of the people we love. In addition, without insightful action around the planet, the earth will not be as clean and sustainable as it needs to be for all living beings to thrive and survive. Human beings then and now have found the time to work together for a better future because they understood the significance of such efforts.

My great grandparents generation were the youth when all of this transformation into making this the last century for most human problems began. They knew that not only the young wanted to live in a better world but also their parents, grandparents and great grandparents as well. They knew that they had to strive for the ideal because anything less was not good enough. They knew that what was once a human dream for a better world had to be a dream with insights and actions that could make this dream a reality.

It is now the last minute before the next century begins. While there is more to say about humanity’s journey into a better future I have to join my family in a ritual that has been going on for decades around the planet. Before midnight strikes on new year’s eve people everywhere reflect back and show their appreciation to the previous generations and to all of their fellow human beings who are alive today for their contributions to making this a better world by saying the following: we thank you for all that you have done to make our lives better.

Most of the concepts that are described in HUMANITY’S EVOLUTION INTO A BETTER FUTURE are taken from JOURNEY INTO A BETTER FUTURE where they are discussed in greater detail.