CHAPTER THREE -- B
Arthur M. Jackson
Copyright 2001, 2003, 2006
THE WISDOM GROUP (Continued)
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Each Wisdom Group (WG) with its associated Center for the Practical Application of Wisdom (CPAW), once that is developed, should initially exist independently from other WG/CPAW bodies. This initial separation of such groups is proposed in order to reduce the effect of a power grab by a Pre-Enlightened Person/Persons. Also, having Wisdom Groups and their associated Centers for the Practical Application of Wisdom exist independently of other such organizations might encourage greater experimentation and variety during the initial stages when a working model is being developed. After the formation of at least two successful groups a confederation might be established to exchange ideas and findings, share discussion of difficulties and concerns, lend support, etc. Yearly conventions might be held to stimulate thinking and give recognition to effective people and what they are doing. Such a confederation would help in the dissemination of information. Planning committees might be elected to set up structures and elect persons to hold positions in them. They should plan and determine methods of communication such as publishing newspapers and magazines to distribute pertinent and useful ideas for relevant research and studies, facts, opinions, etc.
Membership should be expanded as possible with particular emphasis on the truly decent persons of the community. Except for especially talented persons it would probably not be wise to make special efforts to alter non-member's core beliefs before the structures exists to support these individuals in their development.
Centers for the Practical Application of Wisdom should spin off groups to take an active part in politics and assist those candidates in whatever party who support goals congruent with an Enlightened Community. They should point out waste, corruption, dishonesty, and anything else within the community that erodes trust and confidence in other people, in a sense of Community. Then CPAWs must initiate measures to eliminate those things that detract an individual from being able to identify with society.
As discussed in "Organizing for an Enlightened Community" a Center for the Practical Application of Wisdom should develop service groups to ensure that a voice of reason and compassion exists in every community. It is obvious that success will not take place over-night or come about automatically. These changes must be introduced as social institutions are changed and individuals educated and prepared for their new role in society. A CPAW must constantly struggle to achieve worthwhile goals. If it is stopped from accomplishing one goal because of barriers, it must then focus energy to overcome these obstacles possibly by making an end run around the obstacle in order to continue the forward motion. The thing of real necessity is that a CPAW sees the direction in which it desires to move and makes the necessary effort to proceed in that direction.
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Enlightened Persons will not achieve mastery of economic and political policy by passive methods or use of violence. They must create a world in which the illusion that oppressive power is a worthwhile instrument for producing change and that beneficial ends can be accomplished by use of autocratic force will be unable to gain support because evils (ignorance) can be eliminated rapidly without the use of autocratic force. Enlightened Persons will not be prevented from battling those who are so confused they claim to be the enemy. However, Enlightened Persons will work to achieve their goals by providing information and assistance to show the opposition a better way. No intimidation beyond peaceful confrontation, discussion, and resistance could be used since punishment, torture, bloodshed, or threat of force is exactly what is being opposed. The best methods for producing change is to provide models showing how a Science of Ethics affects all the persons who embrace it.
If history has taught us anything, surely it is the danger of violent revolution. When a violent civil revolution begins and sweeps away all that preceded it, the only thing that remains is a mechanism for using violence. The least compassionate, insightful, and visionary are almost always the ones left in control.
It is not the Enlightened Person's goal to destroy old ideas. Their goal is to build a useful structure on a solid scientific and ethical foundation. Enlightened Persons must attack bigotry, graft, corruption, error, and bad ideas wherever they are found. But they should normally avoid attacking organizations of any kind, neither clubs, faiths, lodges, nor nations. Any organization can change and become better with the right people working in it. Centers for the Application of Wisdom must confront always the ideas and actions of individual people. Only an individual can be wrong. Who is the individual misleading the organization, the club, the church, the nation? That is the person to focus on. But these individuals are not the enemies of Enlightened Persons. No individual is an enemy to another in this system. A cruel, ignorant, selfish, corrupt, power monger is not an evil person. They are but misguided by erroneous ideas, hurtful experiences, and/or medical, psychological conditions. It is not for an Enlightened Person to ridicule, look down on, or make light of these unhealthy persons. It is the duty of all Enlightened Persons to hold a mirror up to unwholesome individuals so that they might better see themselves. It must be the goal to help them; to truly help them to be "reborn" as an Enlightened Person.
Steps must be taken to aid all persons in the community who need help, but in the form of real assistance, a loving support group. A Center for the Practical Application of Wisdom should strive to become not only a good agency, but also a force for good in the community. Its primary purpose is to allow every person to feel connected, to be supported by every other person so their efforts can help maintain and develop the species. One way of doing this would be to set up the organizations discussed in Chapter Two. These include schools to provide alternatives that help kids understand values and how to live -- how to become an Enlightened Person.
In this regard, Enlightened Persons cannot use methods to extend their ideas and ethical System that are inconsistent with the ideas of a Science of Ethics. The Enlightened Person must support the open search for information and understanding. Knowledge must be treated as an ally not an enemy.
[p. 3]
Because all societies up to this time have lacked Wisdom (i.e., the knowledge to be able to properly use knowledge), they cannot be judged as failures for not having helped their members to become Enlightened Persons. Their efforts have made it possible for us to get where we are now. These societies based on erroneous ideas from the past were as incapable of discovering how to produce a sustainable belief that one's life has meaning as were earlier cultures of discovering the mathematical formulations necessary to support work with quantum phenomena. However, the only individuals who can be used as positive models are those who worked in a constructive manner toward the progress of humanity -- to move humanity toward developing the "wisdom" potential. These were the persons who have been tolerant, loved beauty, had compassion for all their fellow humans, sought truth, felt love, been true to themselves, used power constructively, labored to help other people, discovered, explored, created, searched, resisted tyranny and prejudice, and struggled to overcome ignorance and error, and in every way possible attempted to avoid hurting others. There are few who have embodied all these attributes, but each person must be valued for their positive contributions while at the same time not overlooking their beliefs and behaviors that were based on their raw "tribal" propensities. And these limiting beliefs and behaviors as demonstrated by their associated negative effects form part of the database to help us avoid similar mistakes.
Even today there are few societies which could explicitly adopt the goal to become an Enlightened Community made up of Enlightened Persons. Most societies lack the experience to recongize that they must view the individual rather than the group as primary if they are to function at their best. Their cultural patterns enforce blind obedience to false gods and social authority. Also, few societies have the necessary productive capacity. The United States of America is one of the few societies fortunate enough to possess these attributes. U.S. citizens are not completely free from worshipping false gods. Nor, are they free from pursuing happiness rather than meaning of human life. However, they have enough commitment to individual freedom as well as love and respect for their fellow humans, and ability to consider new ideas to at least potentially be able to overcome their errors, and shortcomings.
As a culture the U.S. is free of several disabling conditions: It is not fatalistic, so it believes an individual can make a difference. It is not indifferent to the pain and suffering of others, so is willing to change things when they know how. They think change can make things better. They do not prize sophistication above compassion. They have enough experience to value skepticism. They respect practical involvement. Dirty hands from honest labor are not demeaning. They appreciate learning, education, and research as tools to make a better life and a better world. They know that people are really what is important even though they sometimes lose this vision. They are not a monolithic culture, but rather a diverse collection of cultures that to varying degrees respect this diversity. And, equally important they have gotten so far from fulfilling the needs individuals have for social bonding that there exists a vast reservoir of individuals longing for a better life[3].
If our species is not only to endure but to thrive we need a new paradigm. All human beings must become capable of working together. All people must realize that they are kin. If one harms another person, they injure themselves more for they perpetuate their raw "tribal" propensities and increase the difficulty of achieving their "wisdom" potential. We must find a way to achieve congruency between the individual and society. When this is done each person will experience a joyful life. This is the result of understanding the meaning of human life in a way congruent with our language ability and with objective reality. Humanity's salvation lies within our "wisdom" potential. Although any individual's existence is finite, their unique contributions make it possible for their effect to be as infinite as humanity, and to extend humanity's existence toward infinity.
Individuals who believe that they are demonstrating religious and philosophical sophistication when they proclaim life as a period of suffering after which one attains personal immortality are being seduced by childish fantasies from folk religions. They are being trapped by those genes that encourage them to believe in magic. These genes allowed humanity to survive after symbolic communication provided us the capacity to question whether living was truly desirable. No other animal can consciously question whether to end their own life or not. Belief in magic and the power of wishing has allowed many persons to choose life over death. Their success has now brought us to a new realm. Now we can understand our "wisdom" potential and see reasons to maintain our life for the proper reason: Because it is worth living.
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Science of Ethics makes clear that our one life on earth is all we have and that it is all we need. However, how we spend that life is our true wealth. We can throw it away or we can use it well. Each individual has two potentials. One is to become an Enlightened Person. The second is to help others achieve this state though they do not achieve it for themself. Most frequently the foregoing is done by using their life to show others which beliefs to avoid because of their negative results. No one has yet been able to accomplish the first. But, all of us are helping with the latter -- moving humanity to the place where every person will achieve a sustainable belief that their life has meaning. That will come about when we can produce a world where there is congruency between all individuals and their communities.
We, therefore, must invent/discover the modality that all other species achieve genetically. Because of our language ability humanity must now create that congruency by our own efforts. That congruency needs to be recreated which was lost when Homo sapiens sapiens became Modern Humans some 30,000 to 60,000 years ago as a result of the evolution of the language. The time since the evolution of symbolic communication has been a time of confusion for the members of our species although most of them have been only dimly aware of this confusion. Now we are ready to move beyond confusion and get down to a whole different way of living. My hope is that out of this effort will come Enlightened Communities made up of Enlightened Persons. And this is now possible because we can clearly see the light at the end of the tunnel!
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1. THE GRAPES OF WRATH, John Steinbeck, p. 476, Viking, New York, 1939.
2. RECONSTRUCTION IN PHILOSOPHY, John Dewey, p. 196, Beacon, Boston, 1948.
3. IN SEARCH OF INTIMACY, Carin Rubenstein and Phillip Shaver, p. 205-206, Delacorte Press, New York, 1982. Or, VOLUME II, Chapter 5-A, "Intimacy and a Science of Ethics," where this important book is analyzed.)
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