Society has a host of problems that seem to be irreversible. Global warming. Obesity. Depression. Each problem is related. For example, obesity is the result of our propensity to drive everywhere and spend most of our days sitting at a desk. Our propensity to drive everywhere is likely a cause of global warming. Sitting at a desk leads to obesity and depression. Currently, there are no institutions that do anything meaningful in the way of making the necessary shifts. Most spend all their time defining the problem and little in the way of providing solutions. The answers most often center around public policy that would provide little in the way of meaningful change. Al Gore's movie -- and book, I presume -- suggest some changes that individuals might make, but those changes are but a tiny fraction of the changes required in order to preserve some semblance of a quality life for all. It should be made clear at this point that by quality of life, we mean the ability to soar like eagles, rather than be caged like battery hens -- paraphrasing a comment by Paul Ehrlich in one of his books.
Project Paradigm will be primarily centered around the concept that it is better to have access rather than to possess. Interestingly enough, this is a consistent theme in all the major religions. The institution proposed also shares many characteristics with the wealthy -- the one exception being the aforementioned emphasis on having access rather than possessing. Possessing is what makes the wealthy unhappy.
Effectively, the institutional structure presented is a new type of family. One centered around life-long learning rather than blood. This structure -- by design -- discourages the boundaries that so shape all institutions today. It is becoming increasingly obvious that our current institutions -- family itself, the state, private enterprise and free markets -- are unable to provide the services that are required for dynamic change.
This is an outline of how we can build an institution that is capable of meaningful change.
The theologian John Crossan described the Christian utopian dream "in which material and spiritual goods, political and religious resources, economic and trandscendental accesses are equally available to all without interference from brokers, mediators, or intermediaries."
--God and the Evolving Universe, p. 42, isbn1585721375
We have not been successful in building this infrastructure. However, it would be fairly simple to do. We create jobs that do not require creativity because many crave routine. In a sense, we have shaped our world for this segment of the population. The routine of the workplace has led to stress at home. The world now requires two breadwinners for each household and lack of security in retirement. Is there another model?
The solution to overpopulation is more monks.
--Attributed to the Dalai Lama
A major contemporary human problem, for instance, is that the rate of cultural evolution in science and technology has been extraordinarily high in contrast with the snail's pace of change in the social attitudes and political institutions that might channel the uses of technology in more beneficial directions. No one knows exactly what sorts of societal effort might be required to substantially redress that imbalance in evolutionary rates, but it is clear to me that such an effort, if successful, could greatly brighten the human prospect.
Source: Human Natures, p.5&6, isbn 155963779x
The goal is to build an infrastructure that can support all of the above circumstances.
Any comprehensive education should include a liberal arts background. (According to a character in Tom Wolfe's I Am Charlotte Simmons, the Greeks allowed slaves to take vocational courses, but did not permit them to take liberal arts courses as this might give them the ability to make a case for their liberation. In addition, students should have a clear understanding of systems. (We were recently told by someone that they did not believe that global warming was caused by man. The speaker had been a biologist at least 15 years ago and maybe more. He had just told us that he doesn't read. Hmmm.) We currently have a failure -- commencing at least 100 years ago -- to be critical thinkers. This has resulted in us not knowing that we are slaves to the corporatist/materialist system.
We must radically adjust our education system in order to speed up the evolution shortfall mentioned by Paul Ehrlich in Human Natures. Education has to be life-long and with no boundaries.
Rather than faith being the foundation for this new institution, scholarship will be the foundation. It is quite clear that in order to soar like eagles in the future, we must tackle the overpopulation problem and we must reduce the amount of consumption per capita in 1st World countries. Why not do it in a comprehensive way that is exciting and provides a quality living and learning environment for participants.
Two more related quotes:
The original universities in the middle ages were simply collections of teachers who attracted students because they had something to offer. They were the marketplace of ideas, located all over town, where people could shop around for the kinds of ideas and learning which made sense to them. By contrast, the isolated and over-administered university of today kills the variety and intensity of the different ideas at the university and also limits the student's opportunity to shop for ideas.
--A Pattern Language, Christopher Alexander, P. 232
What might the company of the future look like? Lawrence Summers, a former Treasury secretary who is now president of Harvard University, suggests in the latest Harvard Business Review that the American research university (IE, Harvard and its few peers) might be a model. He does not mean that firms should set up their own "universities" -- although plenty, from Motorola to McDonald's, have done that. Instead, they should adopt the research university's fluid and decentralised approach to creativity and hierarchy. "If you look at the organisations in the economy where the greatest value is being added," argues Mr. Summers, "they are increasingly the organisations that share the values and characteristics of universities."
--The Economist, July 26th, 2003, P. 62
I don't believe that there is enough flexibility in today's university to get society up to speed. What I am proposing is an institution that operates as a university, a company, and a community with an ethical foundation.
What would this new institution look like? How would it operate? It would look much like a university. Vehicles would be permitted on the periphery only. (It also might be incorporated into existing pedestrian-friendly areas.) The entire place would be operated by scholars/fellows in return for room/board/incidentals. Much like a monk, commitment might be for a lifetime and would involve not having children while in the system. Tenure for both scholars and fellows would be granted after say 40 quarters in the system. The infrastructure and operational costs would be covered by patrons/members in return for being in the community. Access to this "club" would include not just access to first-class lodging and meals, but also access to the latest in integral health care and access to education as well as the chance to participate in cutting-edge research. The ratio between scholars/fellows and patrons/members would be approximately 1 to 1.
Harry Dent gets part way there in the following:
Longer learning cycles for youth, continuous learning throughout adulthood, and multiple-career cycles are on the rise. If we can, we should remain in a learning mode throughout life, trying different jobs and functions instead of getting locked into a single career path, putting off having kids until we gain more wisdom and maturity (so more of us can develop the higher levels of right-brain capacity). And why not? We continue to live longer. What better way to use those years than to take longer to educate ourselves, and prepare for varied and interesting careers, and acquire more complex skills and organizational systems (networks)? Better yet, there is no age at which it's too late to learn. You can develop these more right-brain capacities at any time, providing you already have the basic left-brain capacities that precede them.
Today, human maturity means developing the intuitive capacities to recognize your own needs, your own values, and your own purpose. It requires granting yourself permission to pursue your particular path, via your own learning process. This is what Maslow calls self-actualization in his hierarchy of human needs. This occurs increasingly between the relativistic and nonlinear stages of development. That is where the leading edge of people are moving, at this point in time. The most leading-edge nonlinear thinkers are the visionaries and entrepreneurs who are leading us into this new era, and are setting new moral values consistent with a new economy and new stage of consciousness.
The new paradigm of the right-brain revolution is the individual who determines, through introspection and personal evaluation, how he or she best fits into society. The new organizational paradigm is a school of minnows instead of a whale - a network of vertical and horizontal intelligence and learning that depends on individual creativity and accountability. Since the new organization runs from the customer back, not the top down, such organizations require inner-directed people who, at a minimum, make decisions and are operating in the self-esteem stage, and even better leaders and entrepreneurs who are primarily in the self-actualization stage.
--The Roaring 2000's, P. 200 & 201
This new institution is extremely compelling for those who want an education without boundaries and without out-of-pocket expense. It is also compelling for those who want to conduct integral research and teach without the normal specialization constraints of today's universities. Last, but not least, it is compelling for patrons/members who think that the current system is ill-equipped to handle the challenges of the future.
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