Letting Go to Create an Equitable World; A Needs based Approach to Values

I presented this paper on 20^th January 2016 in Ottawa, Canada as a part of a Canadian Association for the Club of Rome (CACOR) session co-facilitated with Sheila Murray and Gabriela Greff-Innis as an  emergent living inquiry on -The Search for Values that will Make a World of Difference, where we explored ways of “Learning to Live Differently”.  

The Context

Our economic growth model has been achieved at the expense of natural and social capital. The creation of wealth has resulted in an underclass of poverty, inequality and destruction of our natural ecosystem diminishing our bio-capacity. We have put value on GDP based on false assumptions and distortions to favor a growth at the expense of human well being and justice. This model values efficiency over equity, machines over people and development over the environment, leaving a majority of people not meeting their basic needs. 

In this context, this article inquires into Values that drive this world. Realizing the limitation of these superficial values, what other kind of Values should we focus on to create a more equitable, resilient and a sustainable world?.  

I also acknowledge how difficult it is to make transitions when a certain way of being is hardwired in us.  The article presents a few interesting models for transition, to consider both at a personal and a community level.

    

Emotions, Values, Ethics and Morals

A conversation about values, ethics and morals is not complete without looking at how one embodies and lives them based on our needs. Our behavior is shaped by our emotions, which arises through our feelings when a need is met or not met. 

As such;

•  We share many basic feelings, needs and values
•  Many needs go beyond those required for survival, so we can thrive not just survive
•  Feelings are the expression of met or unmet needs and serve to motivate us to fulfill our needs.  Emotions are the combination of feelings and needs.
• Everything we do - even our vile behavior - is an attempt to meet our needs.

As a human, our needs go beyond those required for survival - to thrive, to find power, meaning and purpose in life.  For most living the western multicultural model, apart from autonomy, it is to be valued, appreciated, respected as individuals and for others, especially indigenous and aboriginal communities, it is to belong and to be one with nature.

When those needs are not met, feelings of frustration and anger will arise to form emotions.  Those feelings will manifest themselves in thoughts leading to action - assertive or aggressive, and if there is a power equation, it may be passive. When there is a passive reaction, pent up emotions can arise, which later may lead to aggression or manifest itself as illness or despair.  When emotions arise, we do have a choice as to how we react and this depends on how evolved we are in our brains and minds. 

  

In the Inspiring Transition program of Andrew Gaines -  http://www.inspiringtransition.net/participants, he presents John Corrigan’s work – Group 8 Education - http://gr8education.com/, John Corrigan identifies the brain in two zones; the Red Zone – the child mind and the Blue Zone – the adult mind.

Red Zone – The Child Mind	Blue Zone – Adult Mind
Can undertake simple tasks Respond to reward and punishment Have emotions that are overwhelming Are self-centred Are impulsive Cannot imagine a future different from today Cautious in engaging with the world	Are self-aware Can expand awareness through higher order learning Are social and can adapt to changing surroundings and society Have the ability to imagine, plan and achieve a different future Don’t blindly react to emotions, have availability of choice and the ability to put off gratification

Many adults are yet stuck in the child mind for various reasons of nature and nurture.  The adult mind can reason, differentiate and discern, has high self esteem, and is confident, collaborative and creative.

Values and Needs

Yet we have the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs which informs us of the following;

1.  Biological and Physiological needs – air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep.

2. Safety needs – protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, freedom from fear.

3. Social needs – belongingness, affection and love, – from work group, family, friends, romantic relationships.

4. Esteem needs – achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, self-respect, respect from others.

5. Self-Actualization needs – realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

When our first and second order needs are not met, unless we are highly evolved in our minds to control our emotions (adult mind), our values and ethics go out the window as our primal reptilian survival brain kicks in and we move into our child mind.  Even an evolved adult mind is challenged here and the most vile, reptilian behaviours - even to hurt and kill another, will arise when we are in this state.

Meeting these basic needs are essential for human survival and dignity. When basic needs are met, the person gains space to take positive action to meet the higher order needs. 

This action and behaviour has to be anchored sound values and ethics. Only then can we evolve as individuals towards self actualization, leading to a confident society with high social esteem that is based on respect, empathy and social harmony.                                                                                     

Ethics, Morals, Values and Decisions

If we look at ethics on its own, they describe a generally accepted set of moral principles.  Morals describe the right or wrong of actions.  Values then describe the individual or personal standards we hold these ethics and morals to, in terms of what is valuable and important.

William D. Hitt in his paper Ethics and Leadership: Putting Theory into Practice poses a question;.

What ground rules do you follow to determine what is the “right” decision? .  

He states that most people’s responses fall into four categories and ethical systems;

Category	Ethical System
Decisions based on expected results – the return on investment	End Result
Decision based on what the law states – the legality of the matter	Rule ethics
Decision made of strategy and values of the organizations, nations and the globe	Social contract ethics
Decision made on our personal convictions – our conscience	Personalistic ethics

The Wealth Divide

The modern world where a few of us seem privileged, the ground rules are more and more based on the return on investment, which is controlled by the rule of law that is expedient and transient, to favor those few.

If we do not create a balance, we have a majority of people who do not have physiological and safety needs met - with no respect, dignity and well-being.  This creates a dissonance.     

How can this planet be sustainable and resilient in this dissonance? 

How can the few of us privileged expect those desperate to live by expected values and ethics?.   

When someone is hungry, values and ethics do not figure in their action to survive. 

As such, our sustainability and resilience agenda has to let go of the old paradigms and power structures that created the 19^th century world based on the notion of manifest destiny and social Darwinism.  

All us privileged may have to let go and trust to share in the abundance.  It is morally and ethically imperative that the majority of the world living in poverty have to be invested in, so their basic needs are met. 

That requires then a healthy balance of Hitt’s four categories, not only for profit and end result, but what it does to individuals and to society for well-being and harmony.

The politics of consumerism, oil and terror driven agendas of the western alliances, WTO, IMF and even the opposing Chinese ideology for global control have to change. 

New York Times investigation found, just 158 families, along with companies they own or control, contributed $176 million in the first phase of the 2016 campaign.  

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/11/us/politics/2016-presidential-election-super-pac-donors.html?_r=0

Why are they giving their money to politicians? .  

Imagine the implications of this for the rest of the 318 million people and the 7 billion in the rest of the world that the USA dominates now through the media, business and the gun.  As China also competes with this agenda to control its own people and the world through technology, the people will lose their freedom and suffer.  

As civil society - we have to wake up and act to change this to bring the corporate and government driven political rights to align better with people driven social and civic rights.  This can be driven through an enlightened dialogue and crucial conversations.  

For that to happen, everyone must feel powerful and confident, which is not there when most depend on external sources, yet we do have those internal source driven by the power of the mind.  

Taking the Steps for Change – Inspiring Transition

The “democratic” world yet has people power to change things.  The first is to become aware and inquire into what is going on.  For that, people may have to look for information and news apart from the corporate controlled mainstream media.

For instance, the well researched yet controversial book Earth into Property by Anthony J. Hall sheds light into the history of this new world since the Colombian landings in the Americas.  When we are aware, we can take action based on the root causes of the inequalities we face today.  This interview with Prof. Anthony J. Hall summarizes this history, which may prompt people to a deeper inquiry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45UDDpAdkuM

When we research, think critically and become well aware, civil society can to come together and the worldwide web provides those platforms.  There are thousands of initiatives out there developed by astute people to assist in mobilizing change.

One way is the Inspiring Transition approach.  It is a platform developed by Andrew Gaines to support millions of us seeding transformative ideas into mainstream culture using engaging communication tools.

It is designed as a collaborative platform for communicating to inspire mainstream commitment to doing everything required to transition to a life-sustaining future.

The model promotes organisations and their members that care about climate change and social well-being to devote efforts to public education about the need and hopeful possibilities of systemic change.

There are ready-to-use tools so that communicating need not take an inordinate amount of any one individual or group’s time.  Individuals, communities and organisations can communicate to create action networks to promote change starting from a primary level.

This link provides access to a guide called  Accelerating the Great Transition: Engaging mainstream commitment to a life-sustaining future.  https://app.box.com/s/a8jervgtwkurwz28g430yxh05iwlgikc

Change at an Individual Level

However, all this requires some personal change.  Personal change is difficult as it means letting go.

Letting go may mean becoming vulnerable.  

There are many tools to mitigate this feeling of vulnerability from mindfulness through meditation to more structured process such as the U Theory developed by Prof. Otto Scharmer of the Presencing Institute (PI). https://www.presencing.com/overview

This is an awareness-based action-research community that creates social technologies, builds capacities, and generates holding spaces for profound societal renewal.   Part of this process is to let go.

The word Presencing means to sense, tune in, and act from one’s highest future potential—the future that depends on us to bring it into being.  Presencing blends the words “presence” and “sensing” and works through “seeing from our deepest source.”

Theory U proposes that the quality of the results that we create in any kind of social system is a function of the quality of awareness, attention, or consciousness that the participants in the system operate from.  So it focuses on the individual first.

The practice of meditation is a tool to help us become mindful and present as we open our mind and heart to inquire to comprehend our selves first.  Who are we?  What  motivates us?.    

With this self knowledge we may be able to better transform our thoughts to imagine a different future - perhaps become fearless to become more vulnerable, come out of our comfort zones - yet imagine a future that includes the other - the rest of this ecosystem, rather than a selfish pursuit of power and happiness.  

The Root Causes

Growing up as a Buddhist, I have always known the key teaching of the Buddha – The Root Cause of Suffering is Attachment - https://lalithanandagunaratne.blogspot.com/2016/03/root-cause-of-suffering-is-attachment.html.  

I also know that the laat 500 years of the western paradigm separated mind and matter.  That way, we honored the machine rather than the tree.  Being a product of both worlds, I have been torn between the two.  

I am realizing this folly, but old mindsets and habits do not change easily.   That is where I find marrying the mindfulness practice through meditation to the U Theory process, I can begin to let go without fear, so I feel free and unencumbered to look at things as they are.  

How do I link this to Values?

Many voices are calling for change.  Brave people like John Perkins, who was guided by his conscience, blew the whistle on the US government’s action around the world to promote the terror economy through his book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.  http://www.wanttoknow.info/johnperkinseconomichitman

These kinds of one sided “development work” is what has kept the wealth-poor divide perpetuating, so we have to work to change all this.  

The internet has connected  most people to the web of information, so we cannot keep everyone in the dark anymore.  We have to mobilize when we can to change the world order so those systemically disadvantaged poor meet their basic needs, so they can start living their values and morals.

That means a compromise from us who have. In the Paris climate talks, when India says, it requires coal power for cheap electricity for its people, so their lives can move away from the kerosene age, the developed nations have to accept that or share in the higher cost of promoting renewable energy, as that is what will save the world collectively.

Finally, this world is one - pollution has no borders and its inhabitants do not have borders either, as when their lands become deserts or get destructed by war, they will fill other more hospitable places.  That is why, those of us who can have to come together to help create a more equitable world, then we can expect everyone to adhere to and live by a certain set of Values.

This is my life's inquiry.

Root Cause of Suffering is Attachment

I was surprised to see the tag line for a dance routine, “+ -“, for a third year choreography production at York University in Toronto as, “The Root Cause of Suffering is Attachment”.   

The dance depicted attachment, suffering, detachment and happiness in a beautiful rendition by the two performers.

This statement was Buddha’s, pièce de ré·sis·tance after his enlightenment over 2600 years ago, and not too many people in our civilization since, have really taken heed of it.

Much of the world revolves around attachment as consumerism is about identity that one derives from being attached to whatever thing that is supposed to make one feel good.  Then again, we are also attached to our name, culture, religion, nationality – some even fight to kill when another threatens or insults them.

Of course, the most significant attachment for most is our loved ones – parents first, siblings, spouse, our own children, relatives and friends.  Buddha transcended all that, even his spouse and child, as he went searching for a higher truth.  He was already in another metaphysical plane of existence to be able to do that.

His journey of inquiry took him through many practices as he settled on meditation to quiet the mind to gain deep insights into the way of nature, life and suffering.

The Four Noble Truths

This arduous practice and inquiry led him to enlightenment, when he revealed the root cause of suffering to be attachment via the four noble truths.   

 

The attachments happen through the 'five aggregates': form or material image which is the body (rupa); sensations or feelings received from the body (vedana); when feelings intersect understanding through emotion we have perceptions (samjna); mental activity or formations lead to our worldview (sankhara); and finally our consciousness (vijnana).

 

The fourth truth gave us a path to transcend suffering and find happiness through the Noble Eightfold Pathway, which is essentially letting go of the five aggregates.    

If suffering is the norm, he said, we have to commit to and persevere on a certain path to seek happiness, the deeper happiness that comes from equanimity - state of psychological stability and composure undisturbed by experience or exposure to emotions or pain and suffering that may cause people to lose the balance of mind. 

The power of balance is possible if we are not subjected to an emotional roller coaster - when there is loss or gain; praise or blame; fame or insignificance. Power of balance may result in emotional composure – the equanimity - the Buddha spoke of.

The Buddha also said, don’t take his word for it as he related in the Kalama Sutra;

“Rely not on the teacher, but on the teaching.  Rely not on the words of the teaching, but on the spirit of the words. Rely not on the theory, but on experience.  Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.  Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.  Do not believe anything because it is spoken by many.  Do not believe in anything because it is written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.

...But by observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and the benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it” - Kalama Sutra – the Buddha 

Today’s Misery

The wars of today stem from people defending a nation, religion, a culture, a tradition, a lifestyle that we identify with and attached to.  We define and are attached to our identity through the 'five aggregates' and sometimes we defend it even with vile behaviour, when we feel our honour is insulted and violated.   We may fight to the end, even do the kamikaze or blow ourselves up and others at the extreme for a cause that we are so attached to.

All this happens when we believe in the illusion that we are our own thoughts to identify with and be driven by them. Our thoughts are influenced by our ego, emotions and perceptions which are artificial constructs conditioned by our nurture and acculturation.  Our experiences lead to judgments, biases and prejudices to colour our thoughts that limit us.  

When we quiet our mind through meditation to observe, analyse and inquire, we begin to realize that we can transcend these artificial constructs to alleviate our suffering and move towards the unconditioned - the nature of things as they are.  

How Mindfulness can put our Attachments in Perspective

Mindfulness is an elegant way of investigating the attachment-suffering nexus.  Through the practice of meditation we observe the unconditioned - that everything on this earth is transitory and impermanent.   

This insight gives us a clue as to how clinging and attachment to anything can bring us suffering - as simply - we cannot attach to anything permanently, not even our name, a religion, a nationality, a way of life, even our children, let alone our material possessions.  These deep insights show us that happiness arises from letting go.

My Mindfulness Journey

As I meditate daily - insights reveal themselves in a way that I am beginning to validate what Buddha taught, yet he asked us not to take what he said in blind faith, but to inquire for one's self.    

That alone requires me to take responsibility for myself, as my suffering cannot be blamed on another, but my own Karma.   I may transcend it through the Noble Eightfold Pathway.

Meditation - pointed attention and concentration helps me to check those thoughts that may be full of judgement, prejudice and righteous indignation even.  With mindful awareness, knowing and bare attention I can catch them, before they become a loaded thought that could misdirect me to fix others rather than myself first.    

The reflective, mindful space helps me gain right understanding to redirect my thoughts with positive intention for right thought,  effort and action, so I can act and behave in a way with kindness, compassion and empathy first towards the imperfect 'me' and then others – to every being in nature, from a rock to a tree to animals and to the other humans. 

Our Oneness with Nature

As thinking, reasoning, intelligent people, the modern human has forgotten our oneness with nature through our education and conditioning. We have become arrogant to rule over and subjugate nature through science and technology.  

 

If we are one with nature, how can we subjugate or control nature - we are nature.   Whatever we do – with technology, with machine, with artificial intelligence - to interfere with nature, we are then interfering with our very nature of being.    

Right action is when we celebrate and honour our own life by honouring the very nature of it, as when we are born, live and die, we are changing a state of being, just like ice melts to water and turns to vapour when heated - it is all one and the same in different states.    

When we realize this unconditioned state, we do not need to cling to life through the 'five aggregates' of the body, feelings, perceptions, worldviews and consciousness as it takes it’s rite of passage - as our physical self comes from nature and goes back to nature.  

 

In quietening the mind to listen to nature’s  wisdom reveals that our consciousness and spirit may live on.  When we cling to our physical nature we suffer, when we learn to let go, we can be happy.  

 

This may take a lifetime of a mindfulness practice and inquiry realize. 

Then we may notice that the Root Cause of Suffering is Attachment.