Our survival depends on radically changing how we see each other

Source: Shutterstock

It is time to really wake up and stop fighting. The news media overwhelm us daily with social conflict narratives loaded with anxiety, alarm, and anger. There are clashes in our communities, political divides within our nations, and wars amongst multi-state alliances. Populations are forcefully pitched against each other: America against China, Republican against Democrat, Black against White, Aboriginal against Colonizer, Gay against Fundamentalist, Pro-life against Pro-choice, Communist against Capitalist, North Korea against South Korea, Arab against Jew, Turkey against Greece, India against Pakistan, this tribe against that tribe in endless iterations. The basic plot is that each side sees the other as a threat that must be beaten down. Meanwhile, the spectre of the self-destruction of our species becomes ever more real. Nuclear weapons proliferate while the global eco-system deteriorates, pandemics shred economies, and the world population grows towards unsustainable numbers. The need for unity has never been more urgent.

If Homo Sapien is to endure, nothing less than radical change is required. We will never find lasting peace through the standard conflict resolution models: searching for ‘solutions’ as if conflicts are only ‘problems’ to be solved, learning new relationship steps in what is seen simply as a dance, or the dominant approach of finding out who has the most economic or military power. It is crucial to recognize that humans are built for social conflict. Archeological evidence of inter-human violence goes all the way back to our evolutionary beginnings. To survive, humans are physiologically structured to rapidly recognize and react to danger. As well, to prevail, we puny humans band together into tribal groups, attaching to the ‘we’ and keeping at bay the ‘others’. Interpretations of menace in our surroundings are made by our meaning-making minds. Our centuries old cultures inform us who we are, what tribe we belong to, how the world works, and who to fear. They provide the lenses through which we perceive, divide from, and react to one another. To endure, we attack and defend for the sake of our group’s identity, resources and standing. Human existence now hinges on the rapid deconstruction of these narratives. Creation of a fresh paradigm is imperative, one which visions one home planet, one inclusive people, and one future.

How do we revolutionize our inherited and habituated thinking which no longer serves us? The only solution lies in The only solution lies in human consciousness, in waking up from the illusion of separateness. Humans are uniquely capable of seeing the falsehoods in what otherwise seems so real and true. We are able to stand apart from, observe, inquire, and come to comprehend ourselves. Then we can exercise free will and create change. From a balcony perspective we may observe and critically explore the dramas we act out on the stage; the groups we create, the content of our myths, and the conflicts we take on. If we fail to free ourselves from the thoughts and emotions that currently command our minds and behavior we will remain enslaved to them and to our dismal trajectory forward. It may seem counterintuitive in these stressful times to step away from our egos and the cultures we are submersed in. Yet, the ability to do so is our uniquely human gift and ultimately our only chance to successfully adapt and survive. And time is running out.

#socialconflicts #internationalconflicts #worldconflicts #wars #conflictresolution #consciousness