(Page Original language: English)

Our dream is that the human beings can build a global society of mutual support and protection and enjoy their life time as a the space to develop themselves to their full potential.

We dream of a world in which hunger, war, and abuse will become a strange memory of a long gone past.

We dream of a world in which art, science and spirituality without dogmas will help to increase the happiness and growth of all humans.

In this section, you will find some basic ideas about how we envision evolved human beings may look like, both individually and as a global community.

At a global level, I will introduce here some basic traits that we need to promote in the society in which we live, in order to achieve real civilization. After that, I will include some notes about how to take care of our personal evolution during our life time.

What I will say here, may seem radical for some, but at the end this will be the result of just applying the common sense that we all have, but which unfortunately, is so blatantly disregarded by our political and economic “leaders”, most of whom rather than representing us, represent just their own misguided interest.

When social leaders keep repeating the same non-sense that they learned since the time they were young, the rest of the people tend to repeat and represent the same, because nobody wants to be seen as weird. But, we have come to the point in which some of us have to actually start telling the truth, even if it sounds strange.

In my perspective, there is no use in taking a sensationalist approach, trying to create fear, getting lost in conspiracy theories or promoting the impression that nothing can be done for real positive change.

I intend to be matter of fact, realistic and positive, because I am convinced that there is much that we can do to make our world better, from the level of our home, to the level of community, country and global, and to support the evolution of mankind, .

Lets start.

Predatory Instincts vs Values

During the entire human history there has been a struggle to move beyond the ruling of primitive instinct and the “law of force” to a state of peaceful coexistence based on common values.

In the animal world it would not be strange that the survival instinct would lead individuals to look for their own benefit and the benefit of their offspring. However, no animal has the intellectual capacity or the technology to inflict harm onto others that would compare to the destructive capacity of humans. That is why, while in the animal and even in the vegetable kingdoms, instinct and natural drive, ultimately leads to sustainable balanced ecosystems. But in the human realm, unrestrained instinct based behavior will eventually lead to the destruction of the ecosystems, the extinction of animal and plant species and ultimately to the extinction of the human kind itself.

In this context, the historical appearance of values which lead to respect, cooperation and support for one another and for the life around us, is also an evolutionary drive that is necessary not only to the survival of the human kind, but also to continue its evolutionary path.

Beyond the basic instinct of self-preservation, urge to mate and protection of our offspring, humans can develop the capacity to love, which is of course a very significant sign of evolution beyond instinct. We are capable to love not just ourselves, and our family, but our friends, neighbors, fellow country men, the human kind, animals, plants, our own dreams and more. Evolved humans love more while primitive humans love very little and remain mostly anchored to the most basic instinct level. That is how you have two types of humans: the instincts driven and the values driven.

But both coexist at the same time on the same planet (some times even in the same home) and yes, more often than not, that leads to serious problems.

Predatory behavior is natural among animals. However in the human world, unrestrained predatory behavior, together with the human higher brain capacity, brings about not just another predatory animal, but true monsters which are a danger to everything around them as well as to themselves. That is why there are so many examples of human “monsters” throughout history. If they have political power, they can be dictators or leaders of countries which engage in genocide and other crazy-power-driven fantasies. If they have huge financial power, their influence is devastating for a much larger part of the planet and the world population. On a smaller scale, they still can inflict a lot of damage within their own family and within their community.

It is important to realize that the result of this struggle between predatory instinct and values is not something that will take place and will eventually be solved by itself in a distant future. The battle between instinct and higher values is taking place in the present, in every community and within every individual in the world and the consequences of whatever the result of this battle in each case, are affecting everybody all over the world. This is not a conversation about a human drama in a possible distant future, but about a current everyday reality in everybody’s lives, here and now.

It should be noted that while “animal like” behavior could be typically associated with criminals and other negative characters, more often than not, the average person has not surpassed the instinct based behavior, and just because he or she drives a car, goes to school or uses a cell phone does not mean they are truly civilized beings. The truth is, barbaric behavior is part of “normal life” in many cases. Instinct is also the basic driving force behind so many aspects of modern life, such as sales, fame, fashion and greed.

Also, we should remember that in many cases, animals show a more balanced and respectful attitude toward their environment, as we can see by the fact that most animals never kill more than what they really need to survive.

The Emergence of the Human Soul

The appearance of the human soul in history is as important for the evolutionary process of the homo sapiens as the discovering of the fire was for the development of technology.

We should understand soul here as psyche and without any religious over-tones. For an uncomplicated understanding, let me just represent the human soul as that “abstract something” that we can develop -or not- and which is meant to become the center from which true homo sapiens-sapiens operate; while the primitive homo-sapiens operate mostly from the predatory instinct.

In this context, the soul of the individual would not be a given that we all have just because we were born, but instead a precious part of the self that we have the possibility -and the responsibility- to create and develop. This is how human life and education were understood in some ancient cultures of Mexico, such as the Toltec. They believed that we came to this life to develop a soul and the purpose of education was to support that goal. I think they were spot on.

Octavio Paz, the Mexican writer and poet, who received the Literature Nobel Prize in 1990, paraphrases ancient indigenous poems in his own poem “Sun Stone”, where the human face is the metaphor of the human soul:

“door of being: open your being, awaken,
learn then to be, carve your face,
develop the features of your visage
get to have a face!
so that you can look at my face
and I can look at yours.
So that you can look at life
throughout until death…”

Ultimately, the creation and the development of the soul to become the core directing part of the self, could well be considered as the main purpose of our life and from there, we could even infer that the development of the soul should be the purpose that will lead to human evolution.

I think it is remarkable that the struggle of man´s soul to survive and grow to the point of soul reigning over instinct (once the animal level is finally surpassed), is taking place in a journey of centuries and millennia, but at the same time the same struggle is also taking place in the heart of every human being in the whole world. From this perspective, while we can not know what will be the ultimate result of this struggle in the future history of human kind, we can -at least- be sure that the struggle of values over instinct at an individual level will be solved in our own life, one way or another. And the good news is: the result depends on us.

The truth is, natural evolution has brought our species to a stage in which we all have the biological features required to be a magnificent expression of consciousness among the bigger scheme of all living creatures. We are potentially able to create science, art, philosophy, beauty and technology. We are able to care and protect the other species around us and to support life in so many different ways. We could even get to the point of bringing consciousness into other corners of the universe, and that perhaps is the superior purpose of our species. However, none of this is granted: whether we stay as neurotic, stupid and dangerous apes, or we get to be Einsteins, Mozarts, Rembrandts, Gandhis or just a decent civilized human being, is entirely up to us.

Mother nature has done a remarkable job bringing us up to here. Now, human evolution is in our hands. It is our job to make it happen.

Let´s do what we have to do.

The “Civilized” Barbarian

One of the main topics in this website is to point out that at the present time in history, most individuals on our planet -who are usually considered to be normal- live their entire life in a low level of their evolutionary potential. Remember the samples of barbarism that I mentioned in the previous section of this site? Well, unfortunately, most likely that represents the state of the most people in the world. I know this is not a pleasant idea, but think for a moment of the bad politicians and the bad leaders in societies that technically can be considered democracies. Those unethical, some times stupid and even ill-intentioned characters that later are easy to blame for whatever goes wrong, were placed in power by a majority of “normal” individuals, who either voted for them or did not took the required actions to get a better option into power. Either way, the power that those bad leaders have has been given by the people who latter complain against them. The fact that those normal individuals were not aware of the consequences of their vote, their actions or omissions, does not excuse their limited individual evolution, but instead proves it.

The main idea that I want to communicate here is that an actual battle is being fought between the instinct based predatory side of humans and their higher side, based on and driven by values.

We are all involved in this historical and day to day battle and we all are responsible to do something in favor of the human evolution, both in our own individual self (making sure that we develop our consciousness and actions as much as we can in our life time) and at a global level, making sure that we do something to take care of our collective responsibility, not just for ourselves and our families, but also for the future generations.

To contribute to this important conversation, let me list some of the traits and features that we could see as very likely expressions of what real Homo Sapiens-Sapiens will look like.

I know some will call me crazy, a dreamer or un-realistic. That is fine. I have been seeing these problems all my life. They have bothered me all my life. I have to say it. This is the kind of world and the dream that I want to contribute to create:

Dreaming of a True Civilization:

A really civilized society would know that developing the soul is the most important task for every new human being that comes to life, and because of this, real and effective education will be considered the most important basic right that should be granted for all.

Good health care will be universal and freely accessible, provided by the entire society through the state services. In this world, the state represents all people and simply administers the assets and the services that everybody is paying for with their taxes.

Taxes will be accepted and loved because they are the way for everybody to get access to important goods and services at a much lower cost. This is sustained by the simple fact that when goods or services are bought in massive amounts, they are much cheaper. In the same sense, unlike corporations and business owners, the goal of a truly representative state is not private profit, but to provide the best possible services at the lowest possible cost for all the citizens that it represents; it should be the expression of all people, coming together and cooperating for everyone´s benefit. In this evolved society, the laws to inhibit corruption and the consequences to prevent corruption among government officials would be so strong, clear efficient and prompt, that corruption would be extremely rare.

The importance of universal human rights will be taught before and more prominently than any religious point of view. This way the evolved society will make sure that when people get to the point of choosing or developing their own religious practice or they choose not to have any, their religious practice wont be against basic human rights for all, such as the right to life, housing, health care, education, freedom of speech, right to privacy, etc.

The civilized society, will work for the growth of all humans and all species on the planet and not just for those in its neighborhood, because civilization means –among other things- the understanding that only when we take care of the entire group, we can really grow. Otherwise the survival need of those left outside of development will push them into conflict with who tried to develop alone. Because of this in a developed world, national frontiers will lose importance, and while national culture will still hold some value, the distinction between “us” and “them” will finally fade away, to make us all Earth Citizens and members of the same human family.

In a civilized world, religion will be understood as an emotional need of the humans beings and it will be respected as well as the same other emotional needs should be respected; emotional needs such as love, friendship or art. At the same time, being a personal preference, religion will not be mixed with science or civil laws, which -by definition- should not rely on faith, but instead on rigorous debate, research, proof and consensus.

It is okay if someone choose to believe in Santa Claus, but he or she should not expect everybody else to believe the same and should not even think about pushing that believe into the legislation or the design of the education systems.

Religious groups would have the same rights and responsibilities as any other groups, such as boy scouts, climbing clubs, business groups, leisure activities groups, literary clubs, etc. They will respect the law, pay taxes and will be legally accountable as any other member of society. No religious person will be permitted ever again, to impose their own beliefs onto others or to disrespect the religious beliefs of others, or even come up with the dangerous attitude of “my religion is better than yours” or “my God is the only true God’ ”.

More than religion, the real homo sapiens-sapiens will cultivate developed ways of spirituality, based on experience instead of faith or ideas that they would have to believe. No beliefs or dogma will be necessary and there will be no use for religious authorities, because the spiritual connection between the human soul and the great spirit that connects everything existing, will be respected as what always has been: a private matter to be handled in the intimacy of everyone´s own heart.

Wealth and poverty will be capped to avoid excess of either. It will be illegal to accumulate or possess more than you can actually use and wealth in excess will be directed to the collective goals of human society anywhere in the world. This way, while we will still work to enjoy our time and our life in the way we want and to get the goods we want, we will also be working for the good of everyone else.

The basic point here is, no insane collections of empty houses or of cars that are never driven, in exchange for no child starvation, no child labor, no people dying or curable diseases for not being able to afford health services and free access to education all the way from kindergarten to master´s or PhD degrees.

In a civilized world, violence to solve problems will be remembered as a sad occurrence of the past and wars as a shameful disease of the barbaric times of human history. Guns will be universally rejected by most civilized humans, who will consider them as unpleasant instruments of death. If required, guns will be reserved only for those appointed to prevent crime; however with good education, health care, housing, food and culture available for all, crime rates will be close to zero.

Without the terrible burden of poverty, exploitation and religious fanaticism, the spirit of man will thrive, devoted to art and science and will grow much faster.

Human population growth will be stabilized first and then gradually diminished, until we achieve a sensible and manageable size that can use the planet without abusing it. Later on, when technological development makes other planets available for human life, humans will be able to grow in population again.

In this context, every child that comes to life will have full opportunities for development.

Species will be protected, forest recovered, and some species will be rescued from extinction through the use of DNA from fossils and other organic remains.

Since love is one of the clearest expressions of evolution, evolved human beings will love not only themselves and their children, but their neighbors and the life and species around them as well. Nature will be treated with love and respect, creating the most efficient resource exchange between humans and Mother Earth.

In a civilized world cruelty against animals would be as rare and illegal as cruelty against humans. Torturing or killing animals for entertainment or sport, would be considered as a barbaric behavior that the law but mostly the elevated culture of society would not allow. Hunting and trafficking of endangered species, will be banned and prosecuted as a vicious crime against the entire humanity, as abhorrent as human trafficking.

Children will be educated to love and respect every way of life and to understand that although taking life to sustain life, is part of nature´s eternal cycle, doing it with respect and care for all life forms that support our existence is a quality that ennobles the soul and makes our life richer and happier.

This is the kind of world and the kind of life we want… and we will not settle for less…

Dreamers

“You may say I am a dreamer,
but I am not the only one…”
John Winston Lennon

– Yes John, I know that for sure; you are not the only one… (VS)

I know that all that I am saying here may seem like an impossible dream, but I want to let you know that there are real life societies that are pretty close to this civilized picture, right now existing in some special countries.

I have personally seen this type of a more civilized society in places like Denmark and the rest of the Scandinavian countries. They have followed a peculiar path, which combines some of the features of capitalism, such as personal freedom and non-extreme free market, with some features of socialism, such as the central role of the state to grant and administer the access to basic rights for all citizens, such as education, health, jobs and housing.

Their government is also responsible for preventing big corporations from abusing their freedom, by making business in ways that would hurt the entire society. This creates an unusual type of society, in which you can see the regular everyday people feeling proud of paying their taxes, because of the good that paying them provides for all. They seem to respect the law as the beneficial rules created for the common good and generally trust their elected government officials, who are considered to be honorable and decent people who work for the good of all.

This is a pretty rare occurrence on our planet, and it is encouraging knowing that there are actual societies out there, that are evolving out of values and not just acting out of greed, fear and instinct.

It seems to me that the rest of Europe and the rest of the world, are afraid to seriously look at the “Scandinavian model”, because it would expose so much of what they have failed about, therefore, they just act as if the Scandinavians where not there. But still….they are.

( This story will continue soon…)