Look Inward, Leap Forward -Humanity’s Biggest Challenge is Itself
The science is there, the tech is there, the wisdom, and the wealth. We carry humanity’s knowledge in our pockets, we can green deserts, grow meat in the lab, assemble genes. We have a planet filled with immeasurable beauty and diversity. It’s endowed with a self-healing function, and so are we. We have everything that we need to be happy, safe, and fulfilled.
Yet we see the planetary ecosystem going down, and most of us are unable to truly enjoy it.
We seem to be unable to prevent the loss, harm, displacement, or exploitation of many lives. We are losing maddening amounts of wildlife and beauty gifted to us by the workings of evolution.
In the urgency of all that, the UN, as an assembly of almost all of the world’s states, has initiated the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — a list of 17 goals to advance and protect humanity. Why do people not really care about that stuff? It doesn’t directly impact their life, family, business, income, or so it seems.
So what is it?
Yes, it’s complex and multifaceted. The obstacles and blockages are many, interwoven, and nuanced. They exist on systemic, societal, and individual levels. They include political, cultural, and behavioral changes, involving interest groups, stakeholders, industries, and any number of people, livelihoods, assets, and values.
It’s complex, but there is an origin to it, where change needs to happen first.
It’s inside of us where we need to look. In its very essence, we have to overcome ourselves!
In order to get going, to be open, to be brave, creative, vulnerable, willing to change, ready for compromise, ready to forgive.
At the innermost of this are opposing fundamentals like fear, negative emotions, and trauma. These are deeply rooted within our minds, brains, and bodies. So, we have to do nothing less than hack all three of them. We need to take it in our hands, and it’s got to happen willingly and fast.
FEAR & THREAT-SCANNING
Everyone’s mental composure, experiences, and social environment may be different.
Somebody may be a Putin or a Trump, somebody may be involved with family and career, somebody may be a party animal, somebody may deliver food at night to people on the street.
But if we all take the time to observe ourselves, we will realize that to a significant degree, our reasoning is influenced and sometimes overwritten by negative emotions. It could be the sting of someone we cared for going their own way and not wanting to take us along. It could be someone being where we want to be, perhaps due to a better starting position that we never had. It could be the uncertainty of our fate if we choose a path that is unknown to us or to our family and friends.
These examples all originate from fear and threat — the fear of being left behind, of getting the short end of the stick, or simply fear of the Unknown. In our evolutionary upbringing, fear and threat were useful and necessary to preserve life, with the ultimate threat being death. We had to strive in wild lands for food, constantly on the lookout for predators, hidden dangers, or harsh environmental conditions.
Evolution has endowed us with an exquisite arsenal of cognition and action technology, such as pattern recognition, color coding, biases, stress hormones, alert states, instant mobilization for fight or flight, and even complete shutdown if fight or flight is not an option. However, in the last few hundred years, our circumstances have made it unnecessary for that arsenal to be online all the time.
Being chased, having to watch out for snakes, or finding shelter in the wild at night is simply not happening for the majority of our lifetime. For most potential threats we face, there is a social, medical, and legal safety net in place.
Yet, trying to predict potential threats in the future, influenced by past experiences or what others say, keeps many of us on edge and prevents us from trying something new that we would actually like to do.
It is understandable to have an emotional and physical reaction if our life is potentially threatened, such as being cut off in traffic. The question is, how much does it trigger us and how long does it take to return to baseline as Dr. Jeffery Martin describes in his book “The Finders”. For many, it takes time — hours or even the rest of the day. Until then, reactionary, defensive, and exaggerated responses can be the default mode of operation. The nervous systems of those around are likely to be triggered as well. So there may be chain reactions, butterfly effect. Escalation looms.
In addition to acute risk situations, there is also the low valence of fear and threat with more subtle long-term effects, such as making choices when planning our lives or careers. This is where safety is negotiated against authenticity.
Fear limits us from making choices towards purpose and meaning. It prevents us from being in the moment.
Of course, I am not suggesting that we abandon reason, careful consideration, or giving fair moments of doubt.
Additional Dimensions
The fear/threat predisposition is also known as negativity bias. The media, press, and social media extensively capitalize on this by fear-mongering and attention mining. It helps sell more ads. The reasonable desire to stay informed easily hooks us into the breaking news cycle, leading to continuous subtle stress and fear.
Consequential security needs reinforce ownership and status, which are capitalized on by the consumer and luxury industries. Recently, I treated myself with a visit to a fancy hairdresser. In his lavish salon, a large red neon sign reads “DESIRE.” Desire is a function of scarcity. Do we really want to buy into such a scheme? Wouldn’t “FULFILLMENT” as a motto be much more desirable than the unfulfillment inherent in desire?
Marketing psychology leverages our innate drives to overcome inner resistance to buying or doing something. Self-esteem is exploited with the promise of alleviating fear. It has been a measure of well-being for decades. However, studies clearly show that ownership does not lead to sustainable happiness. It is not a true source of well-being. Self-esteem based on achievements (professional, partner, beauty, sports, etc.) is only maintained as long as those achievements last, as explained by research psychologist Dr. Kristin Neff. Once they diminish, there is no foundation, and we fall into a hole. Diminishing the self-esteem of others through criticism is often seen as a means of motivation. Unfortunately, parents all too often employ this tactic, using withdrawal of love and kindness to inspire higher performance in their children: “This is not good enough!” “You will never make it!” The inner effects of such practices can be seen in therapeutic settings one or two decades later. The outer effects can be seen in senseless competition and the pursuit of winning at all costs.
The overall result of what I am discussing here is that we are living in a culture where we experience stress regularly, and anxiety and depression are prevalent.
TRAUMA
There is ample data suggesting that our prisons are populated by individuals who veered onto negative paths due to adverse experiences in early childhood (ACEs), particularly caused by disruptions in the child-parent relationship and by socioeconomic factors.
Emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, as well as the absence of support, affirmation, love, and care during childhood, are pervasive across all social classes and are causes that lead to anxiety, depression, anger, shame, PTSD and negative health outcomes later in life.
Therefore, it is not only a matter of asking “what happened to you?” but also “who was there for you?” as trauma researcher Dr. Bessel van der Kolk puts it.
In the field of trauma science, we observe how these negative consequences of ACEs are transmitted through the social environment and across generations. Parents often pass their distress on to their children, even if they had intended to parent differently from how they themselves were raised. Frequently, they fail to recognize the connection between their current stress and its origins in the past.
If you repeatedly find yourself in similar conflicts, it is worth examining whether there is an underlying theme rooted in adverse experiences.
The picture that emerges is that blaming, scapegoating, bullying, the relentless pursuit of material possessions and wealth, senseless drive to win, dominating and invading other countries often stem from wounded souls seeking to invalidate prior adverse experiences, particularly the lack of love and security experienced in childhood.
Hack our minds, brains and bodies
What it all means is that we have to overcome a portion of our evolutionary neurology and psychology. Additionally, we have to overcome the chains of trauma as individuals and as societies.
Wow, that’s a biggie! No ordinary task, Is it?
While we have to downregulate and heal fear, trauma, we have to overcome procrastination aad laziness and grow the will for change and transformation. At the same time we have to Introduce, learn and upregulate:
· perspective taking, creativity, creative problem solving
· empathy, compassion, loving kindness
· authenticity, mental freedom
· meaning in life, purpose
· wellbeing, health, joy, unconditional happiness
Is that even possible you may ask?
Yes, it is totally possible, but it is perhaps not where many think it is to be found. ‘Traditional’ intellectualizing approaches of western psychology like talk therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy or psycho-analysis, have some effect, but not an efficacy where we can be satisfied and paling if compared to the efficacy of chirurgic medicine.
It is in the integration of feeling, emotion, embodiment, heart and soul were the power of change and growth is and by using awareness, introspection, mindfulness, altered states and self-expression. Thousands of scientific studies have amounted in an exponential curve over the last few decades that show this.
This in turn is standing on the shoulders of anecdotal evidence of several thousand years. And guess who was there first? The ancients. Particularly in Buddhism, Hinduism, and also in indigenous shamanism. Not any, but many schools of these groups captured in depth cutting edge knowledge of how to change the mind and the body along with it. Scientific understanding and technology have progressed to the level where the groundbreaking effects of their methods are revealed, validated and streamlined.
Compassion for instance has actually become a burgeoning research field in neuroscience, psychology and immunology. It shows outstanding effects for resilience and motivation.
Research shows that we are actually performing sustainably better when we are in states and traits of connection, safety and trust instead of being degraded.
Compassion and kindness is associated with lower risks of mortality and cardiovascular disease, higher vitality and cognitive function during lifespan as reported on in Havard Business Review.
Indeed, in recent years, there has been a resurgence in the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation, which has harnessed technology to strive for even greater efficacy in a field known as Transformative Technology.
While we already possess everything we need within our bodies and minds, there is value in expanding our options and utilizing fun, intelligent, and advanced tools to hack and reprogram ourselves for positive change.
If our perspectives are filtered and constrained by fear and trauma, we will be unable to perform at our best in areas that require deep restructuring of our fundamental concepts and ways of living, like tackling the sustainability crisis on our planet caused by us. As Einstein said, “You can’t solve a problem with the same kind of thinking that has created it”
We will only take genuine action towards fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) if we are mentally capable of doing so.
The Inner Development Goals is a global initiative brought to life by a group of foundations and university institutes. The IDGs encompass 23 skills that individuals can cultivate, including self-awareness, presence, connectedness, compassion, and humility. The modifying of innate fear is an associated factor to nearly of all of them.
The behavior change necessary to address climate change is often perceived and depicted as restrictive, implying that we can no longer have the freedom to consume as we please. However, we should consider the incredible benefits that come with increased calm, connection, and creativity. Think of dedicating yourself to what really brings meaning in life, of indulging in wellbeing, health and longevity while being creative and productive.
It all begins with cultivating awareness of the contents of our inner lives.
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