This article is about fostering a culture based upon Bottom-Up Cultures. Isn't it about time that we empower ourselves? Do we truly need to have a curse on our heads that states "the Man shall rule over Thee." Thus we have been in a several thousands of years that we need to let go of. Or, do we continue surrender our power to the likes of Trump to destroy our lives and the planet.

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Burl B. Hall, MA, Meredith S. Hall, PhD

In fostering a "Bottom-Up" culture, we need to take a good hard look at what we have become. In this age of "Top-Down", most of us are under the thumbs of corporations (i.e., their rich owners) and their underling governments. Meanwhile we speak of "Freedom". Guess what? There is no freedom. As George Carlin states of our government and corporations, "we have owners." The owners are those in the top 1-5-10% of income.

For example, how many of us regular people will never "own" a house. Why not? Consider how long we have to carry a mortgage with interest. Usually 30 years! That's twice the length of the indentured servitude of our immigrant forebears. In never paying off a debt, aren't you under the thumbs of the elite who own you? Thus is living in a "Top-Down" schema. We have no power. We "haul sixteen tons and what do (we) get? Another day older and deeper in debt!"

In our world of divide and conquer (Top-Down), we have killed the wholeness of our world and our lives. What we have created is a wasteland in many places. In our world, we polluted land, seas and human beings while mountaintops were removed, and other tragic destruction of our planet and our lives. I am sure the reader can come up with some tragedies in our world.

Where and when did "top-down rule" begin in our world? The beginning of top-down management was referred to in the Judea-Christian-Muslim Bibles inherit in Genesis 2. I am going to try and quiet those who believe that an idiot wrote Genesis.

For many in the radical religions, there was a literal Adam and Eve who were created by a Man-God. I am going to dis that idea. Adam and Eve were human beings in general, who were male and female i.e., they were not individual people. They were a movement within Middle Eastern philosophy and religion. Adam and Eve ultimately manifested in thousands perhaps millions of people living throughout the world.

The Adam and Eve story states that humanity was "cursed". It further said the "Man shall rule over Thee (i.e., women and those of the labor classes in modern days)." In our modern world, Eve is not only a reflection upon women. She is also working men. Thus the curse states, "Your labor will be in pain." And to this day, we continue to fall under the thumbs of today's Adam, be he in the form of a Trump, Clinton, or your top-down supervisor who wants more from you while giving less.

Spiritual stories are most often not literal. They are metaphor. Metaphor is not a lie. Indeed, the term meta literally means great, while phor means sound. In my "Bottom-Up" analysis, the story of Adam and Eve continues to play itself out. And it will continue until we, the people, stop believing in it.

In today's world, who has become our "Adam"? Obama? Donald Trump? Queen Elizabeth of England? (There are hundreds of names possible, but we must remember that each is just a metaphor for the authority we cede to the rich and powerful.) Who is the Man that shall rule over Thee? Is it OK for us "Eve's" (working men and women, those of minimal resources) to continue falling on bended knee for those rich elites and politicians?

Do we have to live under a curse where the Man Rules? My thesis is that curses only work if we allow them. We need to stop believing in them. We need to end the curse of "Eve's" being under the thumb of "Adam"! Nor shall Donald Trump and his kind ever rule over us! Indeed, we will fire him.

In fostering "Bottom-Up" governance, the first step we need to engage in (after firing Trump) is an intense questioning of where we are, and where we are going. This needs to be within you, and those you bond with. In our own game, no suit is declared i.e., "trumped" over all the others. (Even in bridge the bid of "no trump" ironically trumps all suits, even the spades!)

The power to end the rule of Adam (Trump) is within us. Curses only work if we believe them! Games (including the whole financial game) will only work if everyone agrees to abide by the rules. And it's that curse that has made the feminine into underlings for the "top-down" masculine. And what of men in the "Labor Class?" Isn't labor a feminine process of giving birth? Who contains the potential life of all of us if not our ability to conceive, i.e., the function of women?

In our trumpless game, we need to agree to new, humane, earth-friendly rules. We need to evolve a whole new game. To begin this "Bottom-Up" evolution, we need to empty ourselves regarding current conditioning. As Lao Tzu states in the Tao Te Ching, "Be newborn, be free of yourself." Or as Jesus states, "Be like an infant." That means we move beyond our programming (brainwashing) by corporate institutions.

We also need to accept the seminal influences fostering different mindsets. It is for this reason the number "0" is reflected in the feminine egg shape. This is what lies in potential. The number "1" thus reflects the linear shape speaking to the male penis. It is the "1" (that which sparks a potential via Eros) that marries the "0" (the container of all potentials).

Ultimately, we need to realize everything fosters everything else. For example, consider (a) the history of a fetus in relationship to the mother's DNA and ancestors; (b) the father's DNA and ancestors; (c) what the fetus experiences en utero (e.g., a mom who is under stress and drinks 6 glasses of wine daily), (d) A mom and/or a father who decides not to drink and goes through withdrawls; (e) the father's mood in relationship to the mother's pregnancy; (f) the effects of the moon, and ultimately, the entire universe. What else would you come up with?

Let's consider "Bottom-Up" via the following words from Their paper was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences :

But don't hold your breath. These evolutionists from the University of Zurich and from Princeton, respectively, address the topic, "Resolved: Bottom-up approaches are superior to top-down approaches for explaining the origin of hierarchical biological organization."

In modern science, this speaks to the idea we regard as Chaos Theory. Chaos is not randomness or being 'out of control'. It is the idea that everything affects everything else.

Guided by six central questions, we propose an integrative bottom-up approach for studying the dynamics underlying hierarchical evolutionary transitions, which builds on and synthesizes existing knowledge. This approach highlights the crucial role of the ecology and development of the solitary ancestor in the emergence and subsequent evolution of groups, and it stresses the paramount importance of the life cycle: only by evaluating groups in the context of their life cycle can we unravel the evolutionary trajectory of hierarchical transitions.

These insights also provide a starting point for understanding the types of subsequent organizational complexity. The central research questions outlined here naturally link existing research programs on biological construction (e.g., on cooperation, multilevel selection, self-organization, and development) and thereby help integrate knowledge stemming from diverse fields of biology. (Boldface is mine.)

Could taking this passage seriously move us beyond top-down governance in which those with money and political clout rule the roost? Can we foster a bottom-up movement that acknowledges everything affects everything else? On a spiritual level, can we realize that we are participants within the relational whole? What would that look like?

Thus is the lot of "Bottom-Up". Everything you do, even breathing; you are participating in an earthly and cosmic dance. Thus, I ask you to identify what you can do to foster a just, sustainable and equitable future from a "Bottom-Up" perspective.

Authors Bio:
Burl Hall is a retired counselor who is living in a Senior Citizen Housing apartment. Burl has one book to his credit, titled "Sophia's Web: A Passionate Call to Heal our Wounded Nature." For more information, search the book on Amazon.

Burl's philosophy entails the idea that "everything effects and causes everything thing else." His spirituality of Sophia i.e., Wisdom is universal as well as within each of us. He also sees the idea of Chaos as not being "all over the place" but as infinite relationships.

The question I present in my articles speak not so much towards the politicians, but how WE the people can empower ourselves within a planet that is healthy, wealthy and wise.