The vales in the left hand column is the wisdom of the world's great spiritual traditions. They all complement each other and they also are a perfect fit for all the other aspects, values and ideals of paradigm shift.
The Wisdom of the World's Great Spiritual Traditions
Paradigm shift needs a practical, appropriate and inclusive set of ideals and values for giving direction to positive human potential and social/spiritual uplift. The Primer looks to the wisdom of the world's great spiritual traditions. To be clear, the Primer does not endorse or advocate any religion. Rather, virtually all the world's great spiritual traditions - Islam, Judaism, Christianity, earth based spiritualities, Buddhism and others, all through history, regardless of geography, language and culture; have basic values in common in terms of ethical behavior towards others and humanity's relationship with the natural world.
These ideals and values can be applied in scale from be the change in our own personal lifestyle to the entire society and its economic system.
These traditions are perfect for paradigm shift ranging in scope from individual lifestyles, to our entire society to an honest economic system. Let's take a look at the wisdom and then a brief very simple conclusion about the fundamental incompatibility between capitalism as we know it and paradigm shift.
The wisdom of the world's great spiritual traditions go like this -
1] Care for the natural world - The teachings of all the world's great spiritual traditions call for humans to care for the natural world. The well being of the environment should be a primary concern for all humanity. Our own lifestyles should create minimal damage to nature and public health. A society should take care of its needs within the boundaries of the natural world.
2] Modesty of lifestyle - The teachings of all the world's great spiritual traditions call for modesty of lifestyle. Vanity and excess are considered contrary to an ethical and uplifted way of life.
3] Service to the community - The teachings of all the world's great spiritual traditions call for engagement and participation in the affairs of the community to assist the well being of others.
4] Accountability for our actions – The teachings of all the world's great spiritual traditions call on us to be accountable and take for how we impact others and the natural world. Best to avoid the need to be accountable in the first place.
5] Uplift of the spirit – The teachings of all the world's great spiritual traditions call on us to become better people to uplift our own thinking and behavior for caring about ourselves, each other and nature.
Here are some brief comments that describe why capitalism and paradigm shift are fundamentally at odds. The Primer website goes into more detail in the section deconstructing capitalism.
Care for the natural world. Capitalism and the consumer culture value profits and economic growth above people and planet. That is why, for example, so little progress is made addressing the problems of climate change and social/political and economic dis-equity. Too much money is made making problems. Fixing problems is not profitable and not causing those problems in the first place is even less profitable
Modesty of lifestyle. The footprint of the average American is near the largest in the world. The economic system totally depends of over consumption and so do the lifestyle expectations of most Americans. The social engineering envisioned by Edward Bernays has been very effective. A modest lifestyle makes way for all kinds of actions on behalf of people and planet.
Service to the community. The consumer culture is an immense social engineering project, it purposefully distracts attention from civic engagement and social well being. Those ideals of uplift and paradigm shift are not profitable. The wisdom calls for building civic culture where we are actively involved in taking care of where we live.
Accountability for our actions. The consumer culture celebrates behavior that is not accountable to people and planet such as over consumption, vanity and excess. Accountability does not fit the consumer culture but is an essential par of paradigm shift.
Uplift of the spirit. The consumer culture depends on degrading personal and social uplift. Uplift replaces over counsumption and vanity with care for people and planet.
In sum, capitalism, the consumer culture - the social engineering we have all grown up with our entire lives present an enormous challenge to paradigm shift. Virtually every ideal of the wisdom of the world's great spiritual traditions and paradigm shift do not fit capitalism as we know it.
This wisdom is not only practical in everyday life at any scale, because it is faith based and addresses nearly all the issues of our time, this wisdom calls on leaders and persons of faith to elevate their own activism to work more effectively and overtly on behalf of paradigm shift by take these ideals more assertively to both people of faith and the wider world. Faith groups should be among those leading the charge for paradigm shift.
The wisdom of the world's great spiritual traditions can guide an individual's own life, an affinity group and a society an economic system in healthy directions. All these wisdom ideals support each other. They can all liberate positive human potential on behalf of uplift, people and planet.
Contact me Donate to the Primer
Paradigm shift needs a practical, appropriate and inclusive set of ideals and values for giving direction to positive human potential and social/spiritual uplift. The Primer looks to the wisdom of the world's great spiritual traditions. To be clear, the Primer does not endorse or advocate any religion. Rather, virtually all the world's great spiritual traditions - Islam, Judaism, Christianity, earth based spiritualities, Buddhism and others, all through history, regardless of geography, language and culture; have basic values in common in terms of ethical behavior towards others and humanity's relationship with the natural world.
These ideals and values can be applied in scale from be the change in our own personal lifestyle to the entire society and its economic system.
These traditions are perfect for paradigm shift ranging in scope from individual lifestyles, to our entire society to an honest economic system. Let's take a look at the wisdom and then a brief very simple conclusion about the fundamental incompatibility between capitalism as we know it and paradigm shift.
The wisdom of the world's great spiritual traditions go like this -
1] Care for the natural world - The teachings of all the world's great spiritual traditions call for humans to care for the natural world. The well being of the environment should be a primary concern for all humanity. Our own lifestyles should create minimal damage to nature and public health. A society should take care of its needs within the boundaries of the natural world.
2] Modesty of lifestyle - The teachings of all the world's great spiritual traditions call for modesty of lifestyle. Vanity and excess are considered contrary to an ethical and uplifted way of life.
3] Service to the community - The teachings of all the world's great spiritual traditions call for engagement and participation in the affairs of the community to assist the well being of others.
4] Accountability for our actions – The teachings of all the world's great spiritual traditions call on us to be accountable and take for how we impact others and the natural world. Best to avoid the need to be accountable in the first place.
5] Uplift of the spirit – The teachings of all the world's great spiritual traditions call on us to become better people to uplift our own thinking and behavior for caring about ourselves, each other and nature.
Here are some brief comments that describe why capitalism and paradigm shift are fundamentally at odds. The Primer website goes into more detail in the section deconstructing capitalism.
Care for the natural world. Capitalism and the consumer culture value profits and economic growth above people and planet. That is why, for example, so little progress is made addressing the problems of climate change and social/political and economic dis-equity. Too much money is made making problems. Fixing problems is not profitable and not causing those problems in the first place is even less profitable
Modesty of lifestyle. The footprint of the average American is near the largest in the world. The economic system totally depends of over consumption and so do the lifestyle expectations of most Americans. The social engineering envisioned by Edward Bernays has been very effective. A modest lifestyle makes way for all kinds of actions on behalf of people and planet.
Service to the community. The consumer culture is an immense social engineering project, it purposefully distracts attention from civic engagement and social well being. Those ideals of uplift and paradigm shift are not profitable. The wisdom calls for building civic culture where we are actively involved in taking care of where we live.
Accountability for our actions. The consumer culture celebrates behavior that is not accountable to people and planet such as over consumption, vanity and excess. Accountability does not fit the consumer culture but is an essential par of paradigm shift.
Uplift of the spirit. The consumer culture depends on degrading personal and social uplift. Uplift replaces over counsumption and vanity with care for people and planet.
In sum, capitalism, the consumer culture - the social engineering we have all grown up with our entire lives present an enormous challenge to paradigm shift. Virtually every ideal of the wisdom of the world's great spiritual traditions and paradigm shift do not fit capitalism as we know it.
This wisdom is not only practical in everyday life at any scale, because it is faith based and addresses nearly all the issues of our time, this wisdom calls on leaders and persons of faith to elevate their own activism to work more effectively and overtly on behalf of paradigm shift by take these ideals more assertively to both people of faith and the wider world. Faith groups should be among those leading the charge for paradigm shift.
The wisdom of the world's great spiritual traditions can guide an individual's own life, an affinity group and a society an economic system in healthy directions. All these wisdom ideals support each other. They can all liberate positive human potential on behalf of uplift, people and planet.
Contact me Donate to the Primer