Irrational behavior, Number 5

I have been writing quite a bit lately about our irrational behavior in the face of the many problems we need to solve in the world. The last irrational behavior, on 5 February, referred to the Hi -Tech weapons we continue to develop that are more dangerous than the conflicts they could possibly resolve. Why do we stock-pile these at vast investment of money and resources?
Here is Irrational Behaviour Number 5:

"The problems we face call for the commitment and participation of every able-bodied human being, but we put millions put of work to save the cost of labour." 

 
Nearly 10% of the USA labor force are currently unemployed at a huge social cost. In the UK it's not much better at nearly 8% What alarms me even more is that the number of 15- to 24-year-olds classed as Neet (not in education, employment or training)in the UK is around the one million mark, and one of the worst levels amongst the G7 countries.
What a dreadful waste of resource, and no wonder there are so many youngsters involved in crime, both petty and serious, yobbish behaviour, etc.
As Stephanie Sorrell explains in her latest book Nature as Mirror, we all need aspiration. We all need visions and goals, to aspire to the highest we can reach. Our unlived life has a powerful hold on us and feeling unfulfilled can have devastating effects on mental health. This all links neatly with another Irrational behaviour:
"The problems we face call for long-term solutions, but our criterion of success is the bottom line in annual or semi-annual corporate profit-and-loss statements."
We have let money rule our hearts as well as our heads.

In the early 1900s, the American capitalist of that time, Benjamin Ferdinand, wrote: "Remember that time is money.He that can earn ten shillings a day by his labour, and goes abroad, or sits idle, one half of that day, though he spends but sixpence during his diversion or idleness, ought not to reckon that the only expense; he has really spent, or rather thrown away, five shillings besides."

So we "cannot afford" to employ our youngsters, to give them fulfilling and worthwhile jobs, give them some self esteem and a promising future?

(all these Irrational Behaviors are being taken from the essay by Ervin Laszlo on “The World’s Health Problem: an Integral Diagnosis” in A New Renaissance – Transforming Science, Spirit and Society. I keep referring back to this book as it is such an important initiative from the Scientific and Medical Network. I have posted a review for this book on Amazon).

A New Renaissance: Transforming Science, Spirit and Society

Irrational behavior, Hi-Tech weapons, empathy and entropy

I have been writing quite a bit lately about our irrational behavior in the face of the many problems we need to solve in the world. The last irrational behavior, on 1 February, referred to the questionable ethical and health implications of the way we breed animals for food.
Here is another one:
"Hi -Tech weapons that are more dangerous than the conflicts they could possibly resolve are being developed and stock-piled, at vast investment of money and resources."

I was reminded of this particular item when I heard this week that of the $1.5 billion of annual aid from the USA to Egypt, $1.3 billion is for supporting military operations.
Now you can find plenty from a Google search to explain the rationale behind this aid, and this revolves pretty much around Egypt and its military playing an important role in the stability of the middle east generally. OK. And the Egyptian military certainly seem to be playing an important and thus far peaceable role in the current extraordinary events in Egypt itself. Again, OK.

But looked at totally dispassionately what a nonsense it all is. Again I think of Rifkin's new book, The Empathic Civilization, reviewed here a couple of days ago. Is it but a pipe dream that one day we shall have a global and totally empathic civilization? Or will entropy win and we self destruct?

We are wired for empathy. When are we going to realize that we have to do all in our power to nurture and develop that empathy throughout the human race, from the cradle onwards?

(all these Irrational Behaviors are being taken from the essay by Ervin Laszlo on “The World’s Health Problem: an Integral Diagnosis” in A New Renaissance – Transforming Science, Spirit and Society. I keep referring back to this book as it is such an important initiative from the Scientific and Medical Network. I have posted a review for this book on Amazon).

compassion and empathy and irrational behaviors

On 28th January I wrote of our Irrational Behaviors, following the theme of the essay by Ervin Laszlo on “The World’s Health Problem: an Integral Diagnosis” in A New Renaissance – Transforming Science, Spirit and Society. Our Irrational Behavior Number One is that "Millions are suffering from overeating and obesity and a thousand million go hungry."Where, I asked, was our compassion for our fellow humankind? Where is our empathy? Then on 30 January I moved on to Laszlo's Irrational Behavior number 2, triggered by Davos: why do we remain preoccupied with making money and holding on to privileges when our wellbeing and possibly our survival hangs in the balance? Again, where is our compassion? Where is our empathy?

Here is another of Laszlo's irrational behaviors - Number 3 - and this is at rock bottom in the compassionate stakes:

"Vast herds of livestock, consisting in part of intelligent and sensitive animals, are brought into the world for the sole purpose of slaughtering them, a procedure that, apart from its questionable ethical and health implications, is wasting an enormous amount of resources (it takes 5,124 gallons of water and 16 pounds of grain and soy to produce one pound of beef, and not much less to produce a pound of pork)."
Now I know the precise figures are open to debate, but the principle is unaltered. Vegetarians tread more lightly in this world.
Add to this the awful cruelty still involved in so much of our animal husbandry, fish farming and fishing from boats, and I am incredibly surprised that there are not many more vegetarians.

Here is some information taken from the Compassion in World Farming site. "...established in 1967 by British dairy farmer Peter Roberts. Peter and his wife Anna had become increasingly concerned with the animal welfare issues connected to the new systems of intensive farming that began to take hold in the 1960s.

Unfortunately, at the time, Peter couldn't convince any of the major animal welfare societies to campaign against factory farming, so he decided to do it himself and Compassion in World Farming was born.

Originally run from the Roberts' family house, Compassion in World Farming has grown into an organisation with offices in Ireland, France and Holland and representatives in seven more countries, including South Africa and Oceania."

And there is an equivalent in the United States,The Humane Society, which has on its website videos of animal cruelty in factory farming that I found too shocking to watch. It is shameful if we have built a society with so little compassion that these videos do not persuade people to change their eating habits and campaign for better conditions for all farm animals.

So give some vegetarian dishes a try. You may be pleasantly surprised just how easy it is to avoid meat or fish in a few meals each week. And restaurants, be more imaginative in your dishes for vegetarians. There is a lot more to our diet than pastas and risottos. I don't like either!

The Economy - Where is our compassion? Where is our Empathy?

On 28th January I wrote of our Irrational Behaviors, following the theme of the essay by Ervin Laszlo on “The World’s Health Problem: an Integral Diagnosis” in A New Renaissance – Transforming Science, Spirit and Society. Our Irrational Behavior Number One is that "Millions are suffering from overeating and obesity and a thousand million go hungry."Where, I asked, was our compassion for our fellow humankind? Where is our empathy?

Now I want to move on to Laszlo's Irrational Behavior number 2.

"The wellbeing and possibly the very survival of humanity are in question, but most of us remain occupied or preoccupied with making money and holding on to our privileges."

I love this Greenpeace banner:

When the last tree is cut, the last river poisoned, and the last fish dead, we will discover that we can't eat money...

And here is a thought from Satish Kumar from his classic article “Spiritual Imperative,” in Resurgence 2005.

"This notion of spiritless existence can be described as materialism. All is matter; land, forests, food, water, labour, literature and art are commodities to be bought and sold in the marketplace - the world market, the stockmarket, the so-called free market… Business without spirit, trade without compassion, industry without ecology, finance without fairness, economics without equity can only bring the breakdown of society and destruction of the natural world. Only when spirit and business work together can humanity find coherent purpose."

And here is one of my least favorite quotes:

‘What...[is wealth]…to you?’ the headline asked. ‘It’s being able to tell the world to get lost.’ This was from a series of bank advertisements run some while ago on the management of wealth, and it appeared in the popular glossy weekend media. To accompany this particular advert. there was a picture of a lone and pretty girl cantering away on a lovely white stallion into the beautiful and totally unblemished distance.

How can any single one of us afford to turn our back on the world in this way in any sense. How can any of us ride away to an unblemished horizon while so many basic human rights are not available to so many? That surely diminishes us as human beings. But someone, indeed a team of people, wrote that advertisement.

Where is our compassion? Where is our empathy?

But I see a glimmer of hope in what is coming out of Davos, the little mountain village in Switzerland where once a year corporate CEOs, heads of state, and leaders of nonprofit organizations from around the globe gather to reflect upon the state of the world at the “World Economic Forum." Reporting from Davos, Jim Wallis in an article at the Sojourners site Values from Davos, tells us that whilst in previous years he has struggled to bring the subject of moral values within the economy into the mainstream of discussions, now we are in economic crisis, the values conversations suddenly seem far more relevant. In 2009, he tells us,“there were 17 sessions with the word “values” in the title.” Now new buzz topics are “human flourishing” and “the common good.” And business executives have been telling him that they feel alone in their soul-searching for values, and business ethics professors at some of the country’s leading business schools tell him that their courses are over-subscribed, yet they still feel marginal to the curriculum.
But behaviors created this crisis, and unless values talk leads to changed behaviors, it won’t mean very much, he says. This is so much music to my ears - my own thesis really.
Wallis now finds himself the chair of a new Global Agenda Council on Values, its task to shape what the World Economic Forum is calling the “Moral Economy Dialogue.” This is intended to develop serious tools for personal, organizational, corporate, and national values assessments that focus on changing behaviors.

I quote Wallis: "This is all good news to Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of Davos who, as a young Swiss economist many years ago, wrote about the need for business to not only take into account the interests of shareholders, but also of the many other stakeholders — including employees, consumers, the poor, the environment, and future generations…That Davos would take these issues very seriously…is good news…But the headline in yesterday’s International Herald Tribune — “The Super-Rich Pull Ever Farther Ahead” — indicated we still have a long way to go. Many of those super-rich are at Davos, and I indicated yesterday that the only people whose lives seem to have got back to “normal” since the financial crisis began are those whose behaviors caused it in the first place. They are back to record profits, while a seminar I attended yesterday showed how dramatic and devastating unemployment still is around the globe — especially for young people.”

Yes there is hope. But we need two things urgently. We need to develop and feel our empathy for our fellow humanity, in everything we do, at all levels. And we need to address what is a basically flawed economy. I will come back to both these needs in future blogs. This is a big subject, but one we cannot ignore any longer.