We the people

A world bereft of virtuous leadership. A value system based upon consumerism, narcissistic gratification and fake news, supported and perpetuated by social and mass media. Inexorably the lines defined by decency, sensitivity and genuine self-awareness blur and with the disappearing frame of reference we are called upon to re-define ourselves and our very purpose of being. Change is in the making but its birthing will be associated with the necessary pain. What emerges will be the product of the collective whose choices will emerge from a very different world from the one that we inherited. For it could be said that in creating the technological and consumeristic-based environment, our generation laid the foundations for its eventual demise. But history and indeed the sciences illustrate the cyclical nature of existence. The old is replenished by the new, rising out of the ashes of that which has run its course and invariably has destroyed itself.

I believe that the current world leadership as well as the many in positions of power and influence, are mere players that fulfill the roles that the prevailing circumstances have appropriately fashioned. But this too shall pass. For nothing is more constant than perpetual change. Those that follow us will create a new structure which will inevitably incorporate the sustaining components of the current environment and discard that which has become redundant. Indeed there shall be disruption and pain and the center may not hold. But I already feel the excitement of a new beginning based on the existing, vast resources and the new generation beginning to gain traction. For us caught up in the insecurity of global change it is important to keep our chins up and embrace a renewal already under way. To contribute a little inspiration at this time, I quote from the “Meditations” of Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome, an archetypal Stoic and arguably one of the greatest leaders of all time. His timeless insights once again have relevance to our times.

Book Six, paragraph 50: Try to persuade them but act even if they are not persuaded, whenever the principle of justice so directs. But if someone forcibly resists, change tack to an unhurt acceptance, so using the obstacle to bring forth a different virtue. And remember you set out on a conditional course – you were not aiming at the impossible. So what were you aiming at? An impulse qualified by a condition. This you have achieved: what we proposed to ourselves has been accomplished.

Book Six, paragraph 51: How to understand your own good: the lover of glory takes it to be the reactions of others; the lover of pleasure takes it to be his own passive experience; the intelligent man sees it as his own action.

Book Six, paragraph 53: Accustom yourself not to be disregarding of what someone else has to say: as far as possible enter into the mind of the speaker.

Book Six, paragraph 54: What does not benefit the hive does not benefit the bee either.