Conviction 4 - History/Development

>> The facilitation of transnational human connection and cooperation to assist development and emergence from self-ignorance

The What

Humanity’s emergence from self-ignorance has been the driving force of history. From prehistoric tribes to self-centered Greek city-states, from medieval realms to multinational empires, from militaristic police-states to the modern system of globally interconnected nation-states, we have grown in the expanse of our political and social perceptions. Despite its fragmented nature, the modern system of national states are part of one universal system. It is this universal system, the cultural and economic exchanges that define it, through which humanity has made this era the most prosperity-filled in human history. This comes down to an awareness of itself and the lands beyond one's own. When we only knew of our own country, we were isolated from the resources and the innovations on other continents. When these resources were unlocked by discovery and integration humanity collectively prospered. When certain resources and awareness were not available to humans collectively, we suffered. It comes down, in the most practical terms, to a question of utility. Under the modern system, utility flourishes because most resources are mutually attainable for the objectives of scientific advance and as a result humanity prospers, more than it would if fragments of it were confined in their interactions to their own territories. In this sense, history has not been so much a battle between friend and foe but a conflict between self-ignorance and awareness, waged individually, collectively, and within ourselves. As self-ignorance, that is our ignorance to human societies beyond our own, subsides matters usually evolve and peaceful relations generally follow. The countries of the European Union, for example, waged two of the biggest wars in human history against each other. Now, because of the facilitation of awareness building through EU initiatives and institutions, no war has been waged between the countries of the union for decades.  The process of connection as a facilitator for peace is too uniform in our world to ignore. The only problems are self-ignorance always looms over these accomplishments and threatens to return in times of crisis and such institutions are still dominated by party-interest and nationalist considerations.

 A shift in philosophical perception must be made so that we may better understand historical laws that are nothing more than humanity’s discovery of itself and the prosperity implicit in the acceleration of this of self-discovery. There is more that a geographical component to this. Nowadays, in a world fully discovered, we face something that previous generations have never faced: the transition from a mere drifting together dictated by economic and political conveniences, toward real prospects of an active and cogent policy of human integration. As this integration takes place and with awareness and utility increased, humanity will accelerate its developmental process toward the inevitable conclusion of its unity as dictated by historical law and necessity. The only question remains is how long it will take. Will it take hundreds of years as divided we drag the nationalist establishments and those indulgent in self-ignorance kicking and screaming? Or will it take mere single digit years to accomplish as those humanistic and aware amongst us unite to give humanity an apparatus to accelerate its path on the road of historic development? This is the choice we face. We have made ours. Will you?

The natural evolutionary process is characterized by expansion. This expansion is not defined by bloodily carved out empires but through awareness building – a civilization of consciousness.  Mechanisms must be developed, in technology and philosophy, that prime humanity for greater international cohabitation through a policy of awareness building.

The Why

It is no coincidence that as new dimensions of humanity are discovered and brought to bear through mutual awareness things generally improve. We can point to the European discovery of the Americas as a precursor to the Enlightenment and the economic exchanges between the Americas and Europe (the Columbian Exchange) which in turn can be seen as the basis for the Industrial Revolution and subsequent economic growth. Progress increases proportionately to awareness. This is why we must build provisions for transnational connection on a fundamentally human level. We must cooperate and commiserate, not as this nationality or that identity, but as humans making provisions for our prosperity and survival as a species. Continue >