Eventually (and quite erroneously) many people come to believe that these tacitly learned desires and acquired traits are inherently part of human nature. The values-in-practice within our societal systems--economic, education, and government--circumscribe how we will to be-in-the-world. In other words the values and beliefs advanced by society become the norms and facts people use to inform behavior. Thus the belief in the universality of the cause not only justifies the action it makes it the norm.
For example, in a society where self-interest maximization and short-term results are deemed important, you would most likely find that people in this society will tend to be self-serving, competitive, materially driven with a short-term focus and that they believe having these traits is just human nature. So they feel justified in placing their own gain first; everyone should take what he/she can for him/herself because looking out for number one is (just) the way we roll.
Time to Consider a Different Way of Rolling
Because the precepts--of self-interest maximization and unlimited wealth accumulation--of our economic system have permeated society's other systems (of government and education ), rendering them ineffective, we must fundamentally change our economic system if we expect our reality to change .
Consider the U.S. government's approach to the prospect of another financial crisis and the corresponding way the budget deficit is debated. It is a classic illustration of our reactive way-of-being. According to Simon Johnson " The right way to think about future budget deficits is in a probability-based fashion: What is the chance something bad will happen, and how bad will that be for debt levels? The odds of another major financial calamity next year are small, but the risk over a 10- to 20-year period is high. That's the right time horizon to use in the coming budget debate." This brings to light the common but erroneous belief that the future is nothing but a series of short-terms, just a series of "next years." Seemingly this is all those in authority are interested in and capable of thinking about--they are mindful of nothing else.
It
is hopeless, and frankly a bit foolish, to think that we can change our life experiences
and the direction of the history of our very existence without changing our
(individual and collective) minds about what it means to be human. If things are to be better tomorrow we
must begin to change our reality today.
Life is all about
change ! So u ntil we choose a proactive way-of-being
and learning we will unfortunately forever be consumed in reacting to our
self-created crises.
Is this any way for a consciously aware responsible human being to roll?
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