DRAFT OPENING???

World Citizens for Universal Understanding of Law

A Vision of the People of the World Learning to Be in Harmony with Creation

Focusing on:

• Peace, Equality, Innovation, and Dynamic Development for All People

• Principled Action that Nurtures the Flourishing Well-Being and Rightful Path of Evolution and Contentment for All Living Creatures

• Reverence for the True Beauty of the Earth able to Shine Forth in Majesty, Glory, Simplicity and Serenity for All

Part I

Becoming Social HealersFreeing Ourselves from that Which Harms—Anger, Division, Unconscious Participation in

Systems of Oppression

“Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.” Albert Einstein

This presentation is about how radical, healing social change CAN happen.

It is not a dream to be postponed or forgotten.

When people have the right knowledge and guidance, it WILL happen.

Our work is to gather and share the deeper human understandings that allow new levels of healing change to happen.

This process involves becoming aware of what heals and what harms, and naming those realities.

“The gravest obstacles to achievement of liberation is that oppressive reality absorbs those within it and thereby acts to submerge humans’ consciousness.” --Paolo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

When we are exposed to harmful realities, the ways of harming are within us, most often

without our knowing it.

“Two wrongs don’t make a right.”Freire quote on oppressed people rising above

limited consciousness of the oppressor to achieve new level of insight and understanding-- …

In his book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paolo Freire provides detailed explanation of the profound challenges of separating ourselves from dominant modes of oppression and creating new healing levels of awareness through language and new forms of dialogue, reflection and action.

To begin to create a new understanding and self-awareness as social healers,

we need to distinguish

that which serves to nurture our holistic human development– making us more compassionately aware, socially creative, healthful and inclusive

from that which stunts or regresses our holistic human development– allowing us to become apathetic, or possibly hostile, isolating, harmful and exclusionary

Quotes – change within the Heart– quote from peace picture book– within individuals

We then need a language that allows us to express our new levels of awareness so that we can separate ourselves from that which is harmful.

We need to define the consciousness that emerges when we affirm or when we deny life.

Here is an example of this use of language to name these types of consciousness--• Qualities of liberation consciousness can be named healing, humanizing, and

creative.

• These qualities emerge in states of bio-philia– a name for pure feelings of resonating love and radiant respect for all life forms.

• Qualities of oppression consciousness can be named limited, dehumanizing , and self-replicating.

• These qualities emerge in states of necro-philia- a name for feelings of contempt or systematic indifference towards life and an inclination to destroy health and vibrancy.

• When we agree to naming, we have a new tool of awareness that allows us to recognize the ways our feelings, thoughts and actions have been shaped by harmful reality and limited by it.

• “Pedagogy of the oppressed is an instrument of critical discovery to realize that all are manifestations of dehumanization.”

• In other words, creating new names and conscious ways of talking allows us to realize that ALL people have been harmed and made less humane by humanity’s harmful ways.

• Although systems of oppression create false perceptions of division in our consciousness, when we enter deepened reflection and discern the causes and effects of relationship, liberation consciousness comes through to us.

• With the ‘critical discovery’ of limitation, that ‘all are manifestations of dehumanization’, can be the release of a yet deeper, blessing discovery of possibility within creation, that, more essentially, we are all manifestations of the same essential underlying unity.

• “I believe in advaita (unity of life), I believe in the essential unity of man and, for that matter, of all that lives. Therefore I believe that if one man gains spiritually, the whole world gains with him and, if one man fails, the whole world fails to that extent.”

--Gandhi (Young India, 4 December 1924)

In this understanding of the individual and our inter-related unity,

our sense of individual power and role in society is profoundly awakened…

while at the same time, the healing insight of the essential equality of all living creatures offers us access to our inward capacity for equilibrium.

All individuals are EQUALLY an expression of their Creator. All are equally vulnerable to the effects of other beings’ actions on the interwoven fabric of our being.

Work on concepts this slide- crystallize

• Reflective equilbrium– mental equilibrium– equality and worth of ideas TO BE RECOGNIZED and integrated

• the integrative mental foundation for just decision-making that affirms power through peace, not through any forms of prejudicial reasoning.

• dynamic structural appreciations of peace, not through static form assumptions of prejudice-- exclusionary

• Quotes from different traditions on unity• self and Self Atman… etc.

With this deepened perception of unity…

We are no longer alone as social healers with distinct, separate causes— we are all developing consciousness and releasing ourselves from the same underlying oppressive mindset.

We are liberating the self-- as individuals, as groups of people who have been oppressed– from all forms of judgmental, divisive thinking, from participating in non-reflective systems of exclusion and harm.

Through profoundly pro-social, relational emotions, we feel the unity of being. It allows us to connect to each other and to other social healers throughout time.

A whole new awareness of friendship in humanity awakens–

people from all different time periods in humanity’s development and from all different parts of the world are revealed to share the same essential message of our universal human need to nurture our noble qualities through education, reflection and action and to eliminate contamination of human character produced by acceptance of any dehumanizing norms.

Summary To become social healers we need to :

• create an awareness and language that gives us the tools to recognize what harms, what heals

• apply our language tools to increase awareness that all are affected by oppressive harmful ways, that we all unconsciously participate in these dehumanizing social norms

• through heightened awareness and compassion for our vulnerability, and through integration of scientific fact and recognition of the coherence of a multitude of theological writings, recognize an underlying essence of being- an essential unity within all life–

• develop develop a feeling appreciation of mysterious inter-relationship in all of creation and support a new unity of friendship with social healers throughout time and place

FOCUS: FINDING UNITY and COLLABORATIVE MENTAL POWER AS SOCIAL HEALERS

As social healers we feel pain and oppression directly in the areas of the

social body that we have had contact with through direct experience and that we have become aware of through our own outreach efforts to educate ourselves and to imagine empathically the perspectives and feelings of our fellow living creatures.

When we experience the blessing discovery of our spiritual unity, we are able to join with all social healers, of our day– those who serve different areas of the social body in different parts of the world, as well as social healers through all different time periods of history and throughout the progression revelation of our World Faiths.

• “Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.”– Albert Einstein

• Peace cannot be attained by the ways of force either.

• This is the same social truth expressed by Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela– and all of our social healer FRIENDS.

• The feelings, thoughts and norms of the dominant system must be recognized, and named.

• What we have accepted as social facts about human nature and progress must be replaced by new knowledge of what our capacities are and what the path of genuine reason and happiness for humanity is.

• This understanding must be integrated and whole new ways of relating, new paradigm shifts in human judgment must be set in place.

• Then we are SOCIAL HEALING in a new paradigm of health, wholeness, unity and we are developing thoughts and actions from the sanctified feeling ground of relational, pro-social emotions– reverence, respect, gratitude, humility, attentive appreciation

• By developing a conscious disposition towards these emotions, a new social-emotional ecology develops-- FEELINGS OF TENDERNESS, TRUST and GENUINE LOVE begin to underlie all social interactions– these are the developmental building blocks for genuine human progress, they create the foundation for peace and justice–

• Relational emotions are possible when we understand … quote– human relationship to grandeur of Nature– Gandhi and Einstein quotes

• Pictures proportionality of design in Nature- Fibonacci– proportionality of emotion

• Haidt– cognitive structure make accomodation to grandeur– relational emotions are HEALTHFUL for learning– attune us to greater intelligence– encourage receptivity and deepened perception based on reality, not fear and constructions

Part II

Becoming Aware of Social RealityLearning to see the difference between human construction

and essential reality…Overcoming habits and assumptions that shape Identifying

codes, agreements and normsRecognizing underlying errors of perception that

“Human beings live in social reality as naturally as animals live in the physical world. It is, essentially, invisible.” Paul Lample, p. ~7 Revelation and Social Reality

When people are given tools and knowledge to feel the promise of a better world, they will feel safer to think more deeply about life, our real purpose and potential.

We are inviting our imagination and our capacity for discernment and high reason to awaken and join together in a new way.

Our strengthened mind allows us to know courage in the face of life-denying , divisive human realities, negative feelings, and deep pain.

Fundamental understanding:

Social reality is the distinct reality that humans create for themselves.

Social reality is made up of codes and agreements . These codes and agreements exist on different levels of awareness. These codes and agreements have allowed us to survive in the physical reality and to be open to an agreed upon level of responsibility for the conscious well-being of other creatures in the larger totality of life.

Social reality is the one reality that humans can change.

When the codes, agreements and norms shaping the society change, the social reality changes.

The message is this:

When the codes and agreements of social reality reflect a conscious, attuned alignment with deeper principles and truths governing the flourishing, well-being of life, then our social reality will evolve on the path towards genuine human progress, peace, and happiness.

We do not create physical reality.We cannot change laws of physical reality.For instance, the laws of physics themselves. We must discover these laws and work with them.

these are truths that directly affect our physical survival. They include laws such as the laws of attraction, laws of entropy, laws governing light and matter, processes of photosynthesis and digestion.

Laws governing the needs of physical survival, birth and death. Learning the laws of physical reality gives us the ability to live in ordered societies together.

We do not create spiritual reality either.There are much more mysterious truths concerning the underlying unity of

life, the principles of design within creation.

As Einstein put it: “Every one who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe-- a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble.”

These laws govern the inner realities of the universe, ‘For every part of the universe is connected with every other part by ties that are very powerful and admit of no imbalance, nor any slackening whatever.” Abdu’l-Baha

• WORK ON THIS—• Moral awakening and consciousness, entering a

moral, spiritual relationship with physical reality– act responsibly with awareness of sanctity of inter-relationship and integrity of the whole, not primitively, individualistically, materially to attain competitive gains.

• NEW RELATIONSHIP to material, physical reality based on spiritual understanding, feelign, thoughts, perceptions

By actively seeking truth, investigating all available fields of knowledge and engaging in reflection, we can begin the journey of discerning the nature of these deeper laws of physical and spiritual reality.

Once we understand these laws, we can apply them to social reality.

“Justice is a relation of congruity which really subsists between two things. This relation is always the same, whatever begin consider it, whether it be God, or an angel, or lastly a man. --Montesquieu

In order to achieve this, we must develop our mind in a new way.

Find quote about—don’t worship nature– it’s about man’s relationship to the larger scheme of Creation (humility, respect)

Human beings must develop new capacities of their mind so that they are able to integrate reverential, respectful understanding of the spiritual nature of reality, our inter-connection, and allow that to shape how we interact with the physical world.

Mystery-science george quote- einstein mystery quote

• The problem is, in the modern world, some people think that social reality reflects the total nature of reality.

• “Human beings live in social reality as naturally as animals live in the physical world. It is, essentially, invisible.” Paul Lample, p. ~7 Revelation and Social Reality

• To counterbalance that invisibility, we need to make an active effort to become aware of current laws and mores that shape our behavior.

• After we do this, we have to investigate whether these agreements are in alignment with what science and spiritual teachings tell us about what is necessary for the flourishing of humanity and all life.

We have to agree to develop our minds and to attain a new level of conscious self-awareness.

Notes on challenges of perceiving our social reality– agreements affect brain processing on deep levels of being– shape our reactive thinking, close in our assumptions as reality

• This is challenging because the codes and agreements of social reality deeply affect all aspects of our inner being including our feelings of fear and safety.

• We are able to participate in social reality without any higher awareness of what the codes and agreements are that we participate in.

• We can live without awareness of how our feelings, thoughts and actions are being shaped being shaped unexamined assumptions of the current agreements of social reality.

• For instance, a person may feel that it is more important to continue a lifelong daily routine of going to work in a job that does not utilize their capacities, does not develop them as human beings, does not bring greater good and service into the world, just so that they will be able to maintain what they perceive as necessary for their physical social survival.

• Without deepened critical thought, it is easy to believe that what we SEE on the outside and FEEL on the inside is what is ultimately REAL and TRUE about reality and life.

• If the social agreements creating the social reality do not integrate deeper biological truths about the conditions for optimal life flourishing and deeper intellectual and moral principles about inter-relationship and the necessity for continual learning and development, than the individual participates in a social reality that is in need of an awakening and a transformation.

• The codes and agreeements of are themselves long-evolved, collective survival responses to the environment and , if left unconscious, they can continue to call upon deep fear and survival mechanisms in the brain to shape our attention on certain priorities, affecting the way we engage our brain’s sensory reward system, how we organize our feelings and perceptions.

• the same neural pathways involved in our bodily, physical survival, pathways that affect our heart, blood, digestion and all internal regulation are deeply involved in social emotions that develop in response to our social environment. (Yang, Affective and Cultural Neuroscience)

There are 2 types of social change.

• Reactive– • Shallow, incremental change at the level of legal code – can generate powerful emotions and create significant movement and change,

but deeper levels of self-awareness and re-organization within the society are still not affected.• These are ‘positive’ gains and steps towards Justice that are made in one field that represent increased access to freedom and rights

and that have the potential to assist in human development within the common framework that is still maintained by the dominant model in existence.

• Ex.: Laws freeing slaves. “At the uppermost levels of this social reality existed the economic system in which one human being could legitimately own another as property. The slave was defined as less than human. The social structure was not reinforced by the casual beliefs of individuals alone; all of the systems of human knowing were brought to bear to justify the social order. Teachings of the Bible were invoked to affirm that the slave must obey the master and that beings of dark skin were inferior; to deny this was to deny the Word of God. Sciences were utilized to justifiy the superiority of the white race; if any were to object, they could be dismissed as unifirom ed and individuals contending with empirical facts of the physical world. And how deep was the change in collective understanding after the bloody struggle in which the existing social order was overturned and slavery ended? Superficial at best. The constructed reality of slavery was legally abolished, only to be succeeded by Jim Crow laws and other forms of social oppression. The economic system of slavery was exchanged for d facto control through sharecropping. It would take another century for the civil rights movement to overthrow certain political and social inequalities. And even those substantial changes did not alter the underlying powerful substructures of social reality that supported white privilege.” p. 9

• Although through the new law, the slaves were theoretically allowed to have access to new range of mobility, greater awareness of biological truth– we truly are one people with equality of capacity– and spiritual truth– we are meant to love each other with pure hearts and to feel each other as one family, not judging each other, forgiving each other, serving and helping each other, participating in beauty –making creativity together and knowledge-seeking. Because deeper truth and law was not revealed, institutions still participated in underlying perceptions of error and ignorance. We contiue to have vast inequalities in education, health care and living conditions for whole classes, sexes and races of human beings.

• Ex.: The movement from reduced mountain top removal to fracking. even if the loophole protecting those in the fracking industry from having to abide by the Clean Water Act and Safe Water Act was removed, the deeper materialistic mindset of using domination and force to acesss resources and dehumanizing labor would still be in place. Brute mechanization

Reflective• Deep, radical change at the level of self-aware realization of

understanding– directs a new course in relationship to change and progress, integrating knowledge, and core beliefs about human development, rights and responsibilities in a new way. These changes require whole new terms of governance and new alignments of purpose in the field of education. They involve radical shifts in how knowledge is shared and in how information is interpreted and regulated by the media. They deeply affect social creative expression through the arts.

• Shift in ‘fundamental agreement which frame belief and behavior’– ‘case of dramatic collapse of communism in countries across Europe and Asia in a matter of months around 1990s’ p. 9 Revelation and Social Reality

Today, all social problems stem from the same one problem: our current social reality is locking in behavior norms, institutional norms of governance, education and the arts based on unexamined codes and agreements. Our range of social action is limited and same fundamental misperceptions about

We need new knowledge and a deep, reflective change in social agreement to affect a large scale re-organization of genuine collective power.

There is a current underlying acceptance of the slow progress model.

This is faith expressed within current governance and mainstream education that the current model of global, free market capitalism is the way of true progress, since it seems to be the way in which we have progressed in the past, and it seems to reflect the reality of nature. The naïve belief, perpetuated by an unexamined internalization of codes and agreements and an absence of critical thought, is that in the long-run, this ‘natural’ system of competition will eventually lead humanity to a state of improved happiness.

Through a rigorous system of competition, material and social rewards and punishments, and through efforts of individual exertion to figure out ways to work adaptively ‘with the existing system’, individuals will achieve their peace of material ‘happiness’ which is basically defined as ‘social success’ and individualistically-based ideals of contentment.

Larger spiritual questions about our true purpose, moral and social concern for our fellow living beings while we are pursuing and affirming this path of work and self-advancement, are not addressed.

The struggle for existence, just in proportion as it becomes intense, impels men to new efforts and inventions. That this improvement and capacity for improvement is fixed

by hereditary transmission, and extended by the tendency of the best adapted individual, to survive and propogate among individuals, and of the best adapted, or most improvedtribe, nation, or race to survive in the stuggle between social aggregates. On this theory the

differences between man and the animals, and differences in the relative progress of men, are now

explained as confidently, and all but as generally, as a little while ago they were exploained upon the theory of

special creation and divine interposition.

The practical outcome of this theory is in a sort of hopeful fatalism, of which current literaure is full. In this view, progress is the result of forces which work slowly, steadily and remorselessly, for the elevation of man. War, slavery, tyranny, superstition, famine, and pestilence, the want and misery which fest I modern civilization, are the impelling causes which drive man on, by elimanting poorer types and extdning the higher; and hereditary transmission is the power by which advances are fixed, and past advances made the footing for new advances. The individual is the result of changes thus impressed upon and perpetuated throgh a long series of past individuals, and the social organization takes its form from the individuals of which it is composed. Thus, while this theory is, as Herbert Spencer says- ‘radical to a degree beyond anything which current radicalism conceives,’ inasmuch as it looks for changes in the very nature of man; it is at the same time ‘conservative to a degree beyond anything coneived by current conservatism,’ inasmasuch as it holds that no change can avail save these slow changes in men’s natures. P. 480

“We have reached such a point that progress seems to be natural with us, and we look forward confidenlty to the greater achievements of the coming race…”p. 481

It is an unexamined trust in the natural course of ‘progress’ and a belief that no deeper questioning of the perceptions and assumptions underlying our social reality is required.

“The vulgar explanation of progress is, I think, very much like the view naturally taken by the money-maker of the causes of the unequal distribution of wealth. His theory those who have will and ability, and that it is ignorance, or idleness, or extravagance, that makes the difference between the rich and the poor.”..p.478