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Where there is no vision the people will perish (Proverbs, 29:18)."

"Very little is needed to make a happy life (Marcus Aurelius, 160 A.D.)"

"Wealth is not his that has it but his that enjoys it (Benjamin Franklin, 1743)."

"One ought, each day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words (Johann Von Goethe, 1796).

"A brighter morn awaits the human day,
When poverty and wealth, the thirst of fame,
The fear of infamy, disease and woe,
War with its million horrors and fierce hell,
Shall live but in the memory of time.
(Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1810)."

"That all shall have a good house to live in with a garden, back or front, just as the occupier likes; good clothing to keep him warm and make him look respectable, and plenty of good food and drink to make him look and feel happy (Chartists, 1839)."

"A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone (Henry David Thoreau, 1854)."

"The happy man inevitably confines himself to ancient limits (Hawthorne 1857)."

"A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not even worth glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which humanity is always landing. And when humanity lands there, it looks out, and seeing a bettor country, sets sail (Oscar Wilde,1895)."

"Get what you like or you'll grow to like what you get (George Bernard Shaw, 1931)."

"Private property was the original source of freedom (Walter Lippmann. 1937)."

"Life in More's Utopia, as well as in most others, would be intolerably dull. Diversity is essential to happiness, and in Utopia there is hardly any. This is a defect in all planned social Systems, actual as veil as imaginary (Bertrand Russell, I947)."

"The more liberated one feels, the less one needs (Henry Miller, 1961)."

"What justification is there, in fact, for rejecting the idea of utopia as a beacon of inspiration and a guide to action? Perhaps utopia can sketch a profile of the future (Federenco Mayor, 1991)."

"The bears make the headlines, the bulls make the money (Louis Rukeyser, 1992)."

 

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Utopia awaits us all.

A utopian vision is a guiding principle. We must discover a utopian vision to guide our day-to-day navigation. If we do not, we will continue to float adrift, subject to this wind or that, without destiny.

Webster's Dictionary defines 'utopia' as, "any visionary scheme or system for an ideally perfect social order; any place, state, or situation of ideal perfection."

Most think it is unattainable, and the very word, invented by Thomas More, is Greek for "land of nowhere." Today, most would define it as "never-never-land."

There have been many serious utopian proposals. Nearly all have drawbacks in their vision. Many are authoritarian, reject private property, and discourage individual variation. Plato's Republic (c. 375 B.C.) was to be led by a benevolent dictator. Thomas More's Utopia (l716) was an imaginary island with authoritarian economic and political systems and no private property. Marxism was another authoritarian scheme. Burrhus F. Skinner's Walden Two (1948) was a scientifically-shaped authoritarian scheme.

Living systems must seek harmony with the laws of nature and its inner workings. A utopium would be an expression of evolution, not a barrier to it.

 

 

The Nature of Nature

First and foremost any utopia must be in alignment with nature, so let us list some of the basic characteristics of nature.

  1. Variation

    Evolution gives first of variation. ALL flowers, snowflakes, and persons are different, no two are the same.

    Variation insures there will be small groups different from the majority. There will always be the few who seek the extreme. There will always be those who are few in number. The few would be celebrated by the many as guides to what is possible.

  2. Cycles

    Evolution gives second of order. Even though there is great variation in the universe, there is also great order. History unfolds in cycles: this era, that age Nature's events occur in cycles: the seasons, the stock market, even TV signals and brain waves.

  3. Independence

    Living Systems exist as independent Systems. To be sure, they depend upon one another, but one system need not cease to function solely because of the demise of another.

    If living Systems were totally dependent on one another, evolution would be nothing but a chain reaction. Life would have ended long ago when one system failed and all others followed.

    Within a living system independence exists at all levels. A living system consists of independent and dependent systems functioning as a whole.

    Independence is the result of the natural randomness of evolutionary processes. Not every squiggle or the present writer's pen depends upon the position of the planets. Probably none of the squiggles do.

  4. Multiple Causality

    Unlike purely physical processes, when it comes to living systems the same result can come about through different means. Human personality is likely determined by many forces: genetics, social environment, physical environment, childhood experiences random events, etc.

  5. Survival of the Flexible-est

    The fittest is the most adaptable. Evolution rejects rigid systems and stasis.

  6. Nature is Neutral

Nature gives us disease and earthquakes along with beautiful days and great ideas. Nevertheless, there persists the dysbelief that something is good just because it arises from nature, e.g.. "all natural." There also persists the corollary dysbelief that something is bad if it is made of chemicals. that synthetic processes are intrinsically harmful. The fact is. nature is chemical in nature. We and our food are chemicals.

Another example of this fallacy is the free ‘market’ idea that natural economics, unfettered by interventionist government. will succeed best. While it is true that some free market activity is not dysfunctional, government intervention grew out dysfunctional free-market business behavior.

7. Supportive Hierarchy

Nearly all living systems exhibit hierarchy. Hierarchies are not in and of themselves dysfunctional, but they are vulnerable to dysfunction--ASCOs for example. Their danger lies in the overextension and overuse of hierarchical organization. Theater productions are good examples of healthy hierarchy

A basic question arises, "Monkey monarchy or dolphin democracy?" Life by force or agreement? Utopian hierarchies are supportive hierarchies in Synergetic agreement.

Utopian economic and political systems would likely be relatively free of the rigidity of compulsive political authoritarianism, communism, fundamentalism, and the like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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