Breaking out of a Broken System

'“Be humble for you are made of earth. Be noble for you are made of stars.” –Serbian proverb

In a world being torn apart by extremism, maybe a potential solution is for the majority of us to practice the opposite of extremism: moderation (to include taking moderation in moderation). Likewise, in a world bring torn apart by “moral” inaction, maybe a potential solution is for the majority of us to practice the opposite: amoral action. This article will discuss how the two concepts eco-morality and ego-morality are linked with the issues of extremism/moderation and moral inaction/amoral action, and what we can do as individuals to balance it out.

Here’s the thing: the world is a complicated system. The human condition is a complicated system. When you put these two complex systems together the complications are drastically compounded. What makes it even more complicated, especially in our technologically advanced postmodern societies, is the extra layer of complexity that human perception, or misconception, adds to the debacle: namely hyperrealism. This hyperreality literally changes the way we see things, and generally not for the better. And in a complicated world where our survival is constantly at risk, seeing things the way they are is devastatingly important. If our hyperrealism happens to be in line with the way things actually work, then it’s all well and good. But, as it stands, our hyperrealism is grossly out of balance with reality, especially with the biosphere. We have become homogenized and diverse to diversity.

The crux of the problem is that most of us live in the comfortable and secure “bubble” of a rampantly unhealthy and fundamentally unsustainable postmodern culture that is grossly out of balance with the way the rest of the world works. This bubble gives us the “freedom” to act out our desperate hyperrealism, despite reality outside the bubble dictating to us that such desperation is unhealthy. Like Noam Chomsky said, “The general population doesn’t even know what’s happening, and it doesn’t even know that it doesn’t know.” This applies to people’s misconceptions of the way the world works as an interconnected and interdependent whole just as well as it applies politically.

However, the main constructs of our hyperreal perceptions are indeed political. They get tossed around in our unsustainable, hyperreal bubble: capitalism, communism, democracy, plutocracy, conservatism, liberalism, along with a plethora of other “isms” and “ocracys.” The ignorance with which these myopic ideals get thrown around is astonishing. Indeed, they each maintain their own hyperreal bubble within which biased information constantly gets pushed around, usually with prejudiced and blatantly parochial agendas. It creates a troubling bubble against bubble (us versus them) mentality, and some bubbles are worse than others. We need to burst these bubbles, lest we become surrounded by inside-the-bubble thinkers. Like Friedrich Nietzsche said, “The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.” Egos run amok within these all-too-precious bubbles, creating socialized egoism and nationalized conceit. Everybody thinks their “way” is the best, damning all others. Meanwhile, everything collapses in on itself. “Like toddlers and tyrants we are quick to take our own stories for the infallible truth,” writes Kathryn Schulz, “and to dismiss as wrongheaded or wicked anyone who disagrees. These tendencies are most troubling for the way they fuel animosity and conflict. But they are also troubling because they make it extremely difficult to accept our own fallibility.”

In order to break free of a broken system, you have to change the way the game is being played. The best way to change the game is to stop playing it the way it has always been played. So far the game that’s being played is a game of greedy one-upmanship. If we can find a way to change “greedy” into “giving” and “one-upmanship” into “relationship,” then we just might be able to change the game and break free of the broken system. But this is beyond tricky. It is in fact an arduously Herculean task, because it requires taming our pride. It requires curbing the smug self-importance we’ve gained within our respective bubbles. It requires balancing ego (psychosocial) with eco (interdependence). In short, it requires us being more disciplined and healthy: individually, socially, and ecologically.'

Read more: www.zengardner.com/breaking-br…