Q&Z: State of the Union and Zeitgeist - Moving Forward from “Me” to “Us” to “All of Us”

A Q&A discussion with Zahira


Q: Miss, I’m sorry…I don’t want to bother you. Just wanted to say that you have a beautiful dress.

Z: Oh, thank you ma'am. Very kind of you to say.

Q: I’m guessing you are from India?

Z. Yes ma'am. Here on holiday, to visit my brother. He lives in New York City.

Q: Oh really? That’s great. What do you think of New York?

Z. Oh, so wondrous, so impressive. And this place, Times Square…wow.


Q: My name is Laura? What it is your name?

Z: Zahira.

Q: Zahira? What a beautiful name. 

Z: Oh, thank you.

Q: Does it it symbolize anything? …Oh, I’m sorry if I’m being too nosy.

Z: No, it’s fine ma’am. Zahira, in my country, means “shining” or “luminous”.

Q: Wow. Maybe you can “show me the light”, huh? I could use it. Just feeling like things are looking pretty bleak lately.

Z: If you are ready to see, I will be happy to show you the brightness? No reason for cynicism.

Q: Uh, I was kidding. But what do you mean?

Z: Well ma’am, I have some observations I’d like to share with you…if you are interested.

Q: You got me very curious. I’m just killing time until my boy friend gets here. We can sit on that bench and talk…but you have to stop calling me ma’am.

Z: Okay Laura, ha ha.

Q: So, you really do seem radiant. Why are you so happy? You’re not pregnant are you?

Z: Oh no Laura. I am happy…because exciting and positive times are ahead for humanity. We are on the threshold of global abundance and sustainability, where poverty will be a thing of the past.

Q: Zahira, what planet are you from?

Z: Ha, ha.

Q: I mean last time I checked things weren’t looking so good. I believe in positive thinking and stuff, but come on. Look at our economy. My boyfriend, who’s in construction, has been out of work for over a year. The economy sucks. Climate change is crazy…look at all this snow here in New York City.

Things are pretty messed up for everyone, unless you work down on Wall street. And don’t even get me started on the environment…

Z: You’re right Laura. But we are becoming aware. We are beginning to “see the light”, ha ha. We are now seeing, more clearly than ever, where we’ve been, where we are now, and where we need to go.  We are realizing that humanity’s growth needs to be measured in new terms, not by the current indicators like Gross Domestic Product, that’s all about more and more quantities. What I’d like to talk about with you today is a different way to measure humanity’s growth, that’s instead about wider and deeper levels of care or love, otherwise known as empathy¹.

Q: Can’t tell if you are going to be talking about economic theory or Mazlow’s Hierarchies of Needs².

Z: Very good Laura. So you know something about developmental levels. Actually, it’s all inter-related, as you will see.

And yes, there are many different models of growth. What I’m about to describe is really quite simple. I’m looking at growth by way of what’s called holons³. A holon is something that is a whole in itself and simultaneously a part of a larger whole. So, an atom is a whole in itself. It is also part of a molecule so it becomes a holon, or a whole part. The molecule is also part of a cell, and so it too is a holon. And that cell is part of an organ, then part of an organism, and so on.

Holons form a natural hierarchy of relationships called a Holarchy. The concepts of holons and holarchy are fundamental to an understanding of the healthy functioning of complex living systems.

Q: Okay, that seems intuitive enough. So what does this have to do with how humans develop?

Z: Well, we now know that humans, individually and collectively, grow through levels where we can hold larger and larger circles of care, or what can be called our “We” space. In other words, we can have empathy for more and more people and life itself. So, we grow from a more selfish “egocentric” worldview, where it’s all about “me” or my immediate family, to an “ethnocentric” worldview that’s more about our community or state or nation, or our political party or religious group, or our race.  And then to a “worldcentric” perspective that’s more inclusive of all humans everywhere, regardless of race, color or religion. So we grow our perspectives from “me” to “us” to “all of us”.

Q: I get that, but how exactly does that tie in with holons, or holarchy?

Z: Because we have ever increasing circles of wholeness, or inclusiveness. We can look at one aspect of human development—our societal structures—and see how they have grown from clans, to tribes, to kingdoms, to nation states, to global markets, and now to social democracies. We now see a logical progression towards global governance, such as the United Nations, and then towards structures that will allow humanity to be in a symbiotic relationship with the whole planet. Beyond that, perhaps if we encounter forms of life on other planets, we will develop a “kosmocentric”⁴ interplanetary perspective, or universe-view.

Q: Wow, that’s deep.

Z:  Yes. And with the exponential growth of the human population, we are now realizing that the planet and its resources are not limitless. We are all bumping into each other, literally and figuratively, with people almost everywhere having exposure to all the world’s knowledge and markets and religions and cultures and customs and systems. For all the good that globalization has brought to humanity, it has brought problems as well. Now, all the major problems in the world today are global in nature. Pollution, climate change, economic collapse, poverty, resource depletion, habitat destruction, species extinction, water scarcity, food scarcity—they are all interconnected global problems. In other words, they affect everybody everywhere. So, do you know what this means Laura?

Q: Well, let me guess. If we have global problems, then we need global solutions, right?

Z: Yes, exactly. So, in order to have global solutions we have to take a global perspective, and have global empathy for all humankind. We need to take a whole systems approach and realize that the world is one big whole system, so the solution has to be global in nature. We won’t be able to solve our problems through egocentric or ethnocentric solutions, like protectionism or nation-state competition or divisive political mechanisms or economic/military warfare or dogmatism of any kind (religious or scientific).  Ironically, however, if one really wanted to think selfishly and be concerned only with what was going to be in the best interest of herself and her children or grandchildren, than she would be smart to see that thinking and acting in the interest of the whole planet is also the best way to ensure protection of her own interests. Many  are beginning to see now that climate change, disease and food/water scarcity are serious threats to national security that can actually lead to more of the terrorism that people are so afraid of.⁵

Q: Okay, that all makes sense. So what are the global solutions then?

Z: Perhaps it would be helpful to first look at some examples of what are NOT global solutions.

How about this one… did you see your president Obama give his State of the Union speech on January 25, 2011?

Q: Yes, I did. I thought it was pretty inspiring. I certainly had some concerns but overall…

Z: For now we don’t need to look at specific things he said, or specific solutions he proposed, or whether we agree or not. But instead let’s take a look at the context and see if it is ego-centric, ethno-centric, or world-centric.

Yes, Mr. Obama was quite inspiring, but I couldn’t help but notice a very strong nationalistic and competitive tone. There were many references to “winning the future” and “race to the top” and “competing against other nations” and “our Sputnik moment” which was about “beating the Russians to the moon”. All this is probably as it should be…after all it’s the “State of the Union” address, not the “State of the World”. But is it taking a world-centric perspective? Is it looking to solve global problems?

When he said things like, “We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world. That's how we'll win the future”, I wondered what that meant for me and my future and my country of India? If America wins, doesn’t that mean someone else has to lose? If not you say, just that everybody can win, because we will just have a bigger pie, with bigger pieces for everybody, then where are all the resources to make this bigger pie?

And then your president said, “To help businesses sell more products abroad, we set a goal of doubling our exports by 2014 – because the more we export, the more jobs we create at home”. That sounds like the same old unlimited growth paradigm, where we measure humanity based on more and more consumption. That’s certainly not taking into consideration our planet’s resources.

I think Mr. Obama is a good man, with noble intentions, but his speech was not world-centric, nor did it offer any global solutions.

Q: Wow, I hadn’t thought of it in that light. Okay, let’s go on then…where are the global solutions?

Z: Well, let’s look at something that’s get’s a little closer to being world-centric, but still falls short of being truly global in perspective.

There’s this American man called Chris Martenson who has an excellent online seminar called The Crash Course⁶. Oh, he does wonderful work around what he calls the 3E’s, which stand for economy, energy, and environment. He also has quite a large community of people who frequent his website and work together to spot trends and collect data and discuss the coming issues relating to the 3E’s. Their basic premise is that the “next twenty years isn’t going to look anything like the last twenty years” due to depleting resources, peak oil, exponential debt, the fiat money system, and basically a breakdown of all of our systems, but mainly environmental, economic, and energy systems. Their mission is to first build awareness about the 3E’s, then encourage small steps in our personal lives in preparing for an uncertain future, and then the time will come when we can understand and promote large solutions. There is much talk on their forums about permaculture, and building communities, and developing resilience, and getting out of debt, and getting off the grid as much as possible, and getting to know your local farmer, etc. I think this is all great.

Q: But…

Z: Okay, there is a “but”. Well you see, they are very accurate in identifying many of the underlying causes of our problems. First and foremost, they realize that the problems are indeed “global”. Secondly, they realize that our society’s debt-based monetary system is not sustainable, as it leads to exponential growth and exponential depletion of resources, namely oil. Which by the way is what drives our global society. So we better be preparing for a world without oil. And this is what gets us to the notion that we better get very “local” and learn to live on less, because the proverbial “shit is going to hit the fan” pretty soon, according to them. And when it happens, you might want to be stocked up on canned goods, guns, and gold, and be ready to be self sufficient.

Now, all of that in itself is okay (although I’m not big on the guns). We should know our neighbors better, and be more resilient and self-sustaining. And maybe we have lost touch with nature, so it would be a good thing to grow a garden.  But a lot of this  revolves around the idea that we will be living with less. Now I’m for conservation for sure, but this conjures up a an image of a world of scarcity, we’re we need to get used to the idea that we might have to stockpile and hoard resources, or use guns to fend off starving strangers, or learn how to be a blacksmith so we can put steel shoes on our horses, because we will need them to plow our fields. And if we just go into contraction to our own small rural communities, perhaps cut off from the rest of the world, with no internet, possibly no electric, no mobility, resorting to a laborious agrarian lifestyle—that sounds like a regression to me. And that doesn’t sound like a world-centric perspective that’s looking to actually solve problems, but instead to simply “prepare” for them.

Q: Yeah, that doesn’t sound like a world I want to live in. I like plants and all, but I really don’t want to be a farmer.

Z: Me neither Laura.  However, I do think that is where we’re headed if we don’t change, and if we let things get that bad. If there weren’t anything we could do to prevent the collapse of society—as I think many believe—that would be one thing. But I would never resign myself to accepting that inevitability if I had an inkling of a possible way out, and I do. Much more than just an inkling.

The problems in the world do indeed seem large and insurmountable…if we think within the current paradigm. But if we can manage to think outside our cultural conditioning, radically new possibilities present themselves, with a radically bright vision of the future for us and our your kids. I will tell you now, I see that there is a way out; there is hope. You probably know that quote by Einstein, “that we can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. We must learn to see the world anew”.

Q: Yeah, I love that quote.  Along with his quote on, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.”

Z: Yes that is good, and certainly relevant to what humanity is doing.

Q: Okay, okay Zahira, are we there yet? Can you tell me about the global solution? I can’t wait.

Z: Almost Laura. One more thing. One more example of an organization that gets closer yet to a world-centric perspective, but just falls shy of getting there.

There is an organizational consulting company called Source Integral that has started the “most ambitious project in human history” with something called Project Planet, Inc. to address challenges facing the human race ⁷. They’ve presented a video series called “the meaning of all of us”, where they’ve been exploring the same thing you and I have been talking about…the concept of having a large enough empathy or “we” space to solve global problems⁸. Their project also involves what they call Project, Inc. CEO, where they have initiated a global executive search for the CEO who can secure the “survival and development of the human race”.

Their projects are based on what’s called integral theory ⁹, which I happen to think is the most comprehensive and inclusive philosophy I’ve ever come across, one which is able to synthesize all the partial truth’s in the world. But with that said, there seems to be something not quite right with their project.

Q: I’m not sure I follow you.

Z: Did you catch the terms in the name of the projects? “Incorporated” and “CEO”? Sounds like an “existing paradigm” corporate approach to solving the planets problems. I’m guessing they are thinking that instead of bashing the “modernist” corporations and capitalists as being the source of many of the worlds problems—as many post-modernists would argue—they hope to engage them in constructive, competitive ways to solve the worlds problems. Since that’s where most of the power resides in our society, perhaps it’s better to channel capitalism’s power towards good instead of evil. There are those who believe in what’s called conscious capitalism—green business principles, social entrepreneurship, triple bottom-line, etc.—which all have noble aspirations for the future of business, at least in our existing paradigm.

But even so, do the consultants at Project Planet, Inc. lack the imagination to come up with some new model of organization—other than “The Corporation”—that doesn’t immediately alienate the millions of people who think that corporate greed, and free-market neo-liberal economics, and wall street excesses are what got us into the current global economic crisis in the first place? And now we're going to put the fate of the whole planet in the hands of one chief executive, and make it a business, and measure humanities development by way of profits? Certainly there are millions who fear—and not all that irrationally—that socialist governments will lead to communism and marxism, with a loss of individual liberties and freedoms. On the other side of the same coin, there are many who just as rationally fear the effects of unfettered, unrestricted private enterprise and open markets controlled by a so-called “invisible hand”. If these consultants are supposedly “integral” they would at least try to find a creative new model that would “integrate” or balance the different economic ideologies. But that’s at the very least; we need much more than that though.

Perhaps they could try to go beyond “business as usual” mentality, with the typical top-down, patriarchal, command-and-control styles of leadership which are relics of the twentieth century?

So in short, I think that Project Planet, Inc., in the way that it has framed up and contextualized its project, has violated it’s own premise, that of striving to move from “us” to “all of us”.

Q: Awesome points Zahira. I’m getting that. But hold on a minute. What if Project Planet’s approach works, and they get the business world really bought into sustainable business? Couldn’t they harness the corporate world’s billions and trillions of dollars into discovering new sources of fuel, or new technologies to stop global warming, or ending poverty? 

Z: Uh no.

Q: Just no? What do you mean?

Z: Capitalism has been a great thing for humanity, a few hundred years ago, or even a hundred years ago. It was a good and necessary part of mankind’s evolution that has gotten us to where we are now. But now capitalism and our whole money-based economy is not only outdated and obsolete, but will lead to our destruction if we don’t move to what’s next. We are in what can be called the cancer stage of capitalism ¹⁰, or the crisis of capitalism ¹¹. The global economic system that we have now is inherently set up to thrive off of, and profit off of, humanity’s problems, instead of solve them. This is not some green, or what you call in America “tree hugger” perspective, where money is viewed as the root of all evil. It goes beyond the concept that “money is neutral” and the notion that capitalism can ever be “conscious”. It’s a recognition that the very foundation of our monetary system is itself based on unsustainable concepts of perpetual growth, and that it feeds off of scarcity.

Q: I see that now. Damn, I really get it…the un-sustainability of it all. Please tell me you believe in a new economic solution.

Z: That’s the key, what you just said, about belief. It’s time to stop believing in one economic ideology or another. It’s time to stop believing in the monetary system all together. It’s time to stop “believing” in solutions and start “arriving at “ solutions based upon self-evident truths. So Laura, the solution is not to fix the monetary system but to jettison it all together. Get rid of money. No money, no barter, no trading, no ownership, and most importantly, no poverty, no wealth gaps, no debt, no inflation, no scarcity. But instead radical abundance for all of humanity. Not just for “me” or “some of us” but “all of us”. That’s what I call “world-centric”. That’s what’s next for humanity. That’s the Next Evolution ¹² of humanity.  That’s the solution that will work for “ALL OF US”. And all of this is possible through what’s called a “Resource-based Economy” ¹³.

Now is the time for somebody, or some organization, to step up and not be afraid to show true “WORLD-CENTRIC” leadership, and show that we can live in a world of abundance, in a world that works for “All of US”. And the organization that’s doing just that is called The Zeitgeist Movement. On January 25th, the same day as the your president’s State of the Union speech, the new documentary Zeitgeist: Moving Forward ¹⁴ was released on the internet. After only 3 days it has been viewed by over a million people. And the theatrical premiere has been shown in 30 languages in 60 countries in over 335 theaters.   

Q: That’s incredible, and incredibly hopeful.

Z: It is indeed Laura. So check out the movie, and perhaps we can talk again. But remember, use a new kind of thinking to see the world anew.

Q: I will for sure Zahira, and thank you for shining some light. I think my cynicism is gone…you know, it really is an amazing time to be alive.


~~~


1. RSA Animate - The Empathic Civilisation

2. Maslow's hierarchy of needs

3. Holon (philosophy)

4. Kosmocentric Collaboration

5. Climate Change Reveals Disease as National Security Threat

6. Chris Martenson - The Crash Course

7. Project Planet, Inc.; At TEDxDUCTAC

8. The Meaning of “All of Us”

9. Integral Theory

10. John McMurtry, The Cancer Stage of Capitalism

11. RSA Animate - Crises of Capitalism

12. Jack Reed, The Next Evolution

13. The Venus Project

14. Zeitgeist: Moving Forward