02 The Clash of Ideas – Part 1
Our view of the world, ourselves and others determine our purpose in life and shapes our search for happiness. These views which we hold can often result in the clash of ideas. When our hopes or aspirations bump up against other peoples’ wills and desires, when we are forced to contend with the limitations of our natural environment and its’ resources, and then, when we experience the fact that material consumption cannot buy us happiness, we experience conflict.
We’re all aware of how political differences, or differences in social philosophies, lead to clashes of ideas, but I’m not dealing with those clashes here. I want to try and take a larger view, a more macro perspective of the conflict of larger ideas, something which is frequently overlooked in the heat of political or social debate.
For example, the world is madly in pursuit of economic development. As a society we place no upper limitations on this pursuit – “I want to be as rich as I possibly can be.” This desire contains within itself no limiting principle, while the environment in which it is placed is strictly limited. But we fail to see the inherent conflict in this clash of ideas, or if we do, we quickly discard the concern and push on with “making money”.
Yet the consequences of pursuing unlimited economic growth cannot end in anything less than an utter catastrophe for our planet and its’ inhabitants. But why doesn’t the recognition of this danger, even if the recognition is fleeting, incite me to action? Because – to put it mildly, I’ve lost the plot. I am so invested in the philosophy of materialism I don’t really accept I have any other choice than to move with the herd.
The degree to which we have been brain-washed is not even obvious to us. People are mostly oblivious to the reality that what I consider as my ideas, my desires, my values – are not really my own. I did not form them alone. They were often influenced, if not shaped, by others – and I have often uncritically accepted these ideas as factual. Our shift from a “needs based” society to a “desires based” culture, which was the result of focused social engineering in the late 1920’s, is proof of this fact.
If we are to find solutions to what ails us and much of modern civilization, it requires we understand exactly where we are now and how we got here.
Lies That Divide US – An Introduction
We live in a most extraordinary time, a time that has been described by some as the “post-truth era” or an age without a shared reality.
It would seem to the detached observer that truth has become an entirely subjective reality. You have your truth, I have my truth and having an objective truth is no longer seen as important.
I have, for quite a long time now, become increasingly concerned about this growing trend. It has, become common practice for a large percentage of those who seek to shape public opinion, to actively practice the craft of distorting facts. This has been referred to for some time now as ‘spinning the truth’. The distortion of facts is undertaken to further a variety of political, social, educational, religious, and even so-called ‘scientific’ agendas. The result is that society has collapsed into an appalling and lamentable state of confusion and individuals are increasingly displaying a dangerous erosion of civility towards others.
In this new blog series, I will attempt to examine some of the ‘truths’ and changing values we have accepted as a broader society in the hope of stimulating thoughtful discussion, and a reconsideration of where we are heading as a civilization.
We will discuss how opinion makers have consciously decided that we must all become released from the moorings which have tethered society for hundreds and thousands of years. The result has been that society has drifted precariously into dangerous waters.
We will discuss ethics, moral values and the “greater good” while examining how we got to the place in which we now find ourselves. As a society, and by this, I mean the broader human society, we have grown increasingly unhappy. Despite the astonishing signs of growing affluence, unparalleled in history, and the massive consumption of goods and services, we see that society as a whole has become sick. Symptoms of this sickness are; a sense of alienation, a lack of purpose, the pervasiveness of addictions, the growing daily intake of mood-altering substances now so prevalent in society, of depression, and a frightening increase in self-harming and suicide, particularly amongst the young. Surely any sane person would see this with alarm and question what we have become as a human race. We must also question what has become of our “values”? What do we see as the goal of precious human life?
About Me (Allan Tibby)
I have a great interest in social development, in the broader sense, and the general direction of society. I have also recently become involved in Justice Reform and Restorative Justice. This has largely arisen due to my being involved with teaching meditation and mindfulness in the Paremoremo maximum security prison in Auckland for over a year now. I am working with Meditation New Zealand to deliver these programs and are currently working on a structured syllabus for both live classes and a correspondence course.
I am semi-retired but spend a lot of my time now on my real passion as a teacher of meditation and Yoga Wisdom, Eastern Religion & Hinduism. I am also a resource speaker on leading a successful & purposeful life.
Currently living in:
Auckland 0612,
New Zealand
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https://www.facebook.com/Allan.Tibby.page/