Give yourself time
Problem-solving is something we must all come to grips with. It is a normal part of life. We may have different words to desribe this activity, ranging from praying to sitting in a chair, looking out the window, and doing a little day-dreaming. It is the brain's natural way of sorting information and organising itself until new insights emerge that can help to solve a problem. Even sleeping is an important part of the problem-solving process, as sometimes the best solutions come from a dream or soon after waking up after having spent time understanding a problem and looking at all the facts. Leaving aside those three important aspects of problem-solving — the problem, the individual, and the environment — as well as the act of finding a solution (whether it is a new skill, a new behaviour, or a new approach to doing things), the actual process of problem-solving does require time to achieve a quality result. As they say, "Rome wasn't built in a day". You need time to not only understand the problem, but also to find and implement the solution. And sometimes time itself must also extend to others in letting them see through the problem and recognising the solution, which in itself could result in the uncovering of different, but effective solutions.
When problem-solving anything, remember to give yourself time to understand everything. Take the time to experience and/or see in your mind the problem itself in all its details. Get to the heart of the problem by immersing yourself in it. And most of all, see how the problem affects people. Understand the interconnected nature of those human experiences relating to the problem. To help you see this, look for similarities and not just apparent differences (which in themselves may not be quite as different as some people might make it out to be). Also, understand why the problem exists in the first place? In other words, when did the problem begin? Why should this problem have begun in the first place? What was taking place for this to happen? What was the principal leading cause for the problem to appear and affect people? etc. When you do all of this, you will reach a moment when you will know the problem intimately. And hopefully within all of these details, an inkling of the solution(s) may start to emerge. Or perhaps during the visualisation process and learning to see yourself in the shoes of others, you may already discover a solution. If not, keep it simple. Don't get overwhelmed by the complexities. Simplify the things that may appear complex and create the simplest picture in your mind. Do the same for all other parts of the problem and soon you can start to see how things are interconnected. Now you are in a position to ask yourself, What is the part that is creating the most problems? How can it be improved? What happens if you remove the problematic part from the problem? Or should it be re-designed? Indeed, what is the essential thing people need that would significantly alleviate the problem at hand? Understand what it is that people are trying to achieve. How has this led to the creation of this problem? Could it have been done differently? What would be an alternative approach that could have solved the original problem if it was done right? That should be the question you should ask. Getting to the essence of a problem and understanding what people need and have to do will often reveal a solution, and usually a permanent one too. If the solution can only be a temporary one, you may have to find a longer term solution or else you may create more or new problems.
Until the permanent long-term solution is found, it is also important to keep in mind that people may have immediate needs to be solved as well while they are waiting for a new solution to arrive. This is a separate problem that must be dealt with at the same time.
Here lies yet another problem . For modern democratic nations, income is used to decide whether people can survive or not. We allow people to come into this world and expect them to pay their way as consumers all the time for everything they need and not just what they want, thinking for some leaders that people can afford practically everything. Certain leaders of these nations, especially those that have run their own business and made profits, believe it is not necessary to provide the things that people need at such a low-cost that it should quite literally be given for free, and thus solve an important social problem. Some leaders do not realise that you must support the people with food, water and a roof over their heads. Or if they do know, they choose to find ways to reduce costs for themselves in providing these needy things by choosing to force people to do things that can result in the creation of new problems. Sometimes it works (such as finding a job), but at other times it is the reason why some people turn to crime to survive. People need jobs because people need the income to buy food and pay the mortgage. Yet in the event people are without a job, some leaders think it is fine to reduce the income to such an extent that it affects the survival needs of a typical human being. And, in some cases, in particular the United States, the income can be cut off after 6 months. This is not how you support people. You want more people to exist in the world so they can become consumers, do jobs, and whatever? In that case, you must support them. In other words, the minimum income people need to survive must be maintained. Obviously not quite to the same levels that some paying jobs provide, but enough to cover the expenses of living and surviving. At the same time, the income must not be used to put pressure on people to find jobs by reducing it to below the minimum level needed by all human beings. This is a common problem in Australia where the R-wing Liberal Party has publicly acknowledged in 2020 the reason for the very low Newstart social security payments to individuals, and the more central L-wing Labor Party does nothing to improve the situation because it knows of the benefits in spending it in other areas. There has to be adequate income for people to survive on and cover their essential needs, including rent, food and an opportunity to attend any reasonable location if it helps to improve the chances of getting a job. And the minimum income must be maintained for as long as it is needed until people are offered a suitable paying job.
Where would the money for this basic universal income for all come from?
It has been acknowledged in 2020 from research work conducted by top economists in the United States that the "trickle down economics" does not work. It does not matter if governments reduce taxes for business professionals on the assumption that more jobs will be created. Not true. It is naive to think this is the case. The opportunity is there to do so, but the reality has shown this to be untrue. People who run the businesses are there to make a profit. Any reduction in taxes means an increase in profits because tax is a form of an expense on a business. When a business has expenses to be paid, it literally chips away on the income earned. And whatever is left at the end of the day is the profit. However, to make things a little worse is the advent of shareholder companies. Here, business professionals who run these companies are more acutely aware of the importance of making more profit. They have investors who expect a return on their investment. The pressure of shareholders looking for a good return and a healthy balance sheet drives this ambition by certain business professionals to make a profit, and a hefty one at that too. The only thing is, this drive to make a profit can develop an expectation among business professionals to think that nothing can ever be provided freely to anyone. Then a situation can develop among certain individuals that it is okay to hoard the wealth within the companies and among shareholders.
Soon, a growing number of business professionals will find ways not to give back to society through the taxes that should be paid.
Or if some business professionals do see the value in contributing to the wider community, it is mainly as an opportunity to make more profit through the development of certain infrastructure with an attached and recurring service fee for consumers within a large population to pay. Only then will these business professionals see this as a worthy "contribution" because, at the end of the day, they know the profits to be made from this type of activity, and that means more money to business professionals (and the shareholders of a company). That is how it works. There is little, if any desire, to help the greater good by ensuring everyone has what they need and can grow and become better individuals with the ability to contribute great things to society without always expecting to make a profit. As many business professionals say, "There is no such thing as a free lunch". And when that view is taken as the reality, other people who are not in a position to achieve great things because they are still struggling to survive can quickly see how another problem developers. Soon, another separate belief is formed to support the idea that business professionals are selfish individuals. And to prove it, they see how the profits are hoarded. Sometimes in obscene amounts. However, to the business professionals, they think this is okay because they deserve it. They are the ones to put the hard work in making the profits.
What many people seem to forget is that it does not matter how hard you work in a business. At some point, you have to find the time, or pay through the income earned, to contribute back to society in some way, including those not part of the company making the profit. There is no choice in the matter. Sure, some governments might reduce the taxes a little for these business entrepreneurs as a kind of incentive in getting the business owners to create jobs, except it is often seen as a reward by those who run the businesses through bigger profits. It is not seen as a way to contribute more to society. That is why you don't see a company like Apple, Inc., after reaching a trillion dollars in April 2020 and whatever hard work was done to earn this amount, that it can pay little or no tax to the rest of society. The company still has to pay tax. The company must contribute to the rest of society no matter how much wealth is accumulated through its activities in society. Indeed, these is a quiet expectation among members in society that the more profit a company earns, the more it should contribute to helping society, including the less fortunate who are alive today.
But as research has shown, reducing taxes are not going to see a company like Apple contributing more to society by providing extra jobs or doing something else that is socially useful and helping the community as a whole. Apple is a shareholder company. Profit is considered a higher priority.
Yet if business professionals want to allow people to come into this world and become "consumers" and, therefore, a chance to make a bigger profit, then unfortunately these professionals have to contribute more to helping everyone be at their best and contributing in their own way to helping others.
What really should be happening to ensure we have prosperous nations and people are contributing new ideas and helping one another. is to make sure the rich and powerful pay their taxes. That is already a given reality in today's economic climate. However, in order to properly solve all problems, including climate change, as well as poverty and everything else we have created in society due to the way we use money to control various aspects of human life, it is necessary to have a system in which the wealth is distributed more equitably. And that means the more profit that is made in a business, the more tax one must pay. But not at a fixed tax rate and let the size of the profits determine the tax amount. Once we get into the extremes of profit-making, we have to place a cap by raising the tax rate. A hard pill to swallow for shareholder companies. But for everyone else, it is a fair approach. We have problems to solve. And it all costs to find solutions and implement them in reality. Some of those costs come from the fact that some businesses have taken out too many resources from the environment to make extreme profits. And those resources are usually not recycled and replenished at the product's end-of-life cycle. The waste just piles up, only to create more problem down the track, and with extra costs. Plus we must consider the growing human population and its needs. Taxes paid must increase with higher profits earned if the money acquired is not being used by business professionals to assist people outside the business in socially worthwhile ways, such as educating people in getting new skills, or investing in new ideas and seeing where it will take us, and not just in basic infrastructure (but not always to make more profit), as well as looking after the environment. And at the same time, ensure people have the things they need paid for by these profits, especially if people do not have a paying job. Otherwise, the more business professionals keep the profits to themselves (and shareholders), the more tax that must be paid to deal with the problems left behind by the businesses. And without enough consumers to afford to pay for products and services, it will get progressively harder for businesses to continue selling more stuff. You need to support people, certainly in terms of their needs, if you want a chance to maintain the business cycle of creating and selling something and for profits to be made. Either businesses who are doing well-off and making considerable profits help people more, or they must pay more tax. Thus a very high amount of tax paid is either an indication of a society on the verge of collapse from not adhering to expected social and environmental norms, or it show how self-absorbed certain business professionals were in their own businesses that they tend to forget why they exist in the first place, or have chosen to become economic islands in a sea of wasted human talent and potential as well as increasing amounts of intractable social and environmental problems in an ever increasing human population. They have spent too much time focused on their own businesses in making huge profits that they cannot find the time to use the extra resources and money accumulated to help society, especially those who are trying to make a contribution to society in their own way and/or still struggling to survive. If business professionals maintain the view that they don't have to help the wider community from their actions and levels of profits earned, then it is necessary to raise the amount of tax to be paid for the increasing amount of profit earned within businesses, and no secret ways of moving off-shore the profits to other countries should be permitted under any circumstances. The actual profits earned in one nation needs to have a corresponding and appropriate tax calculated in that nation. Once this is worked out and paid, this raised tax must be distributed to the mass population of that nation. It is not just for others to build non-profit making infrastructure, such as roads, schools and hospitals (which is where governments come in to help). The money raised must be used to introduce a universal income for all, irrespective of how large the population is. Or else it is clear the population is unsustainable and there must be serious discussions about how to curb population levels.
This explains why Australian billionaire media magnate Kerry Francis Packer once said about the Australian government:
"Now of course I am minimising my tax and if anybody in this country doesn’t minimise their tax they want their heads read because as a government I can tell you you’re not spending it that well that we should be donating extra."
Mr Packer knew businesses must, and should contribute, tax to help society. But he also knew that how the money was spent is just as important. If governments are not spending the taxes well enough in the sense of assisting people in society in the right way, why should businesses pay more tax?
If we are going to solve all the problems in society, everyone has to contribute to helping one another. If there is a cost involved, it must be paid for. We have no choice. For society to progress and achieve many great things, there has to be some form of contribution. If that has to be done through money, then businesses must pay tax, and more tax for the extra profit that is earned. If business professionals are worried the tax is not being spent appropriately by certain governments of the day, society should allow business professionals to contribute in their own way to society. Let them decide how they can help people in society to achieve great things as an alternative to pay lots of tax. However, if business professionals are seen as hoarding the money to themselves and not giving back enough to society and ensuring the problems are being solved, then it is essential that they pay an appropriate level of tax.
It is as simple as that.
In other words, the wealth acquired by certain individuals has to be distributed to the rest of society. That is the whole aim. Yes, give some form of reward for the effort by allowing certain business professionals to live comfortably and use some of the wealth to achieve other great and socially-useful activities. But no one individual should be permitted to keep so much wealth that it can prevent other people from achieving great things.
That is how we should solve the problem of meeting the immediate needs of people.
However, there is one more thing to complete this more compassionate approach to helping everyone in society to achieve great things. The income must include as a fundamental rule, a kind of social expectation, that everyone who receives this "universal" income must undergo some form of education. It does not matter what it is. Any reasonable education seen and confirmed as worthwhile to society is enough to receive the income. Eventually, with time, people will be so well-educated that either businesses must give them jobs (and there would be no need for job applications and proving your worth as an employee in the face of other job seekers), or else people will create their own jobs and run their own businesses. Then the income received from those jobs can increase and replace the universal income source. That is the aim of a universal income and the reason why we apply education for the good of all.
A truly compassionate society does not allow people to "fall through the cracks". Or else we will have a situation as we have seen in the United States in January 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.. The least educated are the ones who do not understand and will do things to bring back justice and balance in their own way that they think works. Yet at the same time, the more educated can also be a problem if they are not thinking in the right way and aligned to the purpose of why they are here, which is to serve the people and help everyone including those that exist outside a company. You need to balance everyone's views through accessible education and an appropriate application of a universal income (especially if no reasonably well-paid jobs is provided) so that people can make better decisions.
Okay. So once you have this "basic needs" problem sorted, it is time to go back to finding the long-term solution to the original problem, whatever it might be.
Eventually, the application of the individual to solving a problem and the passage of enough time will result in the creation of a solution. Do not be surprised by this fact. It happens all the time. Give people time, let them know what needs to be solved, and they will find an answer. for those who are not religious, we should take heed of the wise words from the Beatles' songwriter and singer Paul McCartney:
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.
There will be an answer, let it be.
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.
We just have to remember, curious people (the ones who want to educate themselves and help others with solutions) will always get to the truth and achieve their goals. That is how it works, and it is in their nature to do so. Once they see what needs to be done, they will make it happen for the benefit of everyone.
And if R-wing people, who are often God-fearing individuals, have any faith whatsoever, they should know that time, education, positive encouragement, and meeting the essential needs will guarantee that a solution will be found by any individual. Not only that, but it will be a solution that will benefit society in immeasurable ways. You only have to allow people time to solve the problems and find the solutions.
How do we know when a solution is found?
You will know when it arrives. It will be like a light bulb turning on and your mind is active. Your mind will tell you this because you can see how the solution permanently helps the situation experienced by you and/or others by showing a better way. Imagine what it would be like to go through the solution. Visualise it. Like a basketball player visualises him/herself throwing the basketball into the ring prior to actually performing the action, you have to do the same with the solution you have found. See it in your mind. Be convinced of its reality. See what little else needs to be done to make it real and achievable. The solution will be good when you can see all the likely impacts of implementing the solution on all the things that are likely to be affected. And if it is positive, then you know you are on the right track. Remember to always ask yourself, "Would it help the individual to develop a positive emotion called happiness by solving the problem permanently in the way you see it in your mind?". If so, then you have the solution. If not, you must look more deeply into the problem and look for other solutions until you find something that is simple, effective, and would ultimately be seen by everyone to be the best solution you can implement, and they are happier about it.
Do not procrastinate
Whatever solution you are finding or have found and must be implemented, do it quickly. Don't wait around and hope the solution will be discovered and applied by others. If may not be, for whatever reason. Perhaps some people do not want to see the solution happen in reality. They may have reasons not to see you succeed in the solutions you find. Ignore them. If necessary, be a leader in showing how to implement the solution and show the results in the most vivid, clearest, rational and imaginative way possible. Show that the solution will benefit everyone. And don’t assume that we can rely on technology to solve everything. Sometimes the simplest solution is just being there to help someone in a different way. But whatever you do, it is usually better to tackle the problem early before it gets out-of-hand where it may lead to a host of other problems. And always choose solutions that are simple, cheap, and effective when helping as many people as possible.
Final words
As for a few final words to cap off this research topic about the human mind and world problems, you should remember to believe in yourself and your ability to change the world. Don't let others say you can't do this or that. You decide what is possible and is achievable in the real world. If you are certain it can work, pursue it to its logical conclusion. Make it work. Use whatever reasonable resources is needed to show its reality.
Governments and business professionals may say they know the answer. To them it is simply a matter of convincing you to buy this or that (e.g., a new house), or join this group or that (e.g., the defence forces), or entice you to make babies (and give you some financial bonuses) and build a family (and so create more consumers), get yourself into debt as much as possible such as a paying off a mortgage (the government wants you to have a job), and all the while always make you think all this will presumably solve all world problems. It won't. We already see it in the way the environment is being treated. Climate change and the extinction of other species are a classic example. Governments and business professionals are not experts in solving all world problems. They can only solve a very narrow and limited range of problems, mostly of an economic nature. These people don't have the answers to everything. They only make these suggestions because they think money and jobs will solve everything. Pure economics is not the answer. If there is even a vague chance it could, the jobs themselves have to be aligned to long-term and socially and environmentally beneficial areas such as growing foods, recycling, education, growing trees, caring for the elderly and sick, better and more efficient technologies etc. The money is merely an incentive for you to do the jobs so you can be rewarded and to sustain yourself with the food you need to survive and perhaps to have what you want (if it helps to achieve your own independent goals). However, if you don't get paid very well, or the money is not used in the right areas, you will never be able to solve the problems properly.
Clearly money is not the solution. Nor are jobs if they are not aligned in the right areas.
With not enough jobs heading in the right direction, we cannot expect the current economy to properly solve world problems. The only way we can solve world problems is for you to make the right decisions, decide what it is that will make a difference, and for you to go out there and do it. You know the solution to be implemented. It has to occur at the grassroots level of society. It must be the individual walking down the street that makes it happen. And work together as one to achieve the goals that have to be reached for. Don’t wait for the authority to do this. It goes at the pace it wants and is self-centred in an economic sense if it helps to maintain the way of life it wants. You must be the agent of change. So go ahead and solve the problems the way it should be done. This is the only way world problems are fixed.
And whatever you do, the only thing we can ask is remember to do it with love.
Because at the end of the day, when you have the right education, a creative mind, and a loving heart (beyond pure economics and doing specific jobs), you are the one who will have the answer. You will have the reward through the knowledge you can acquire and implement into the world. Just change the way you see a problem by changing your thinking and perspective on it. Understand the problem at hand, and learn everything there is to know about it. Become an expert. Soon you will see solutions. If not, be a little more R-brain. Don't always rely on the same solutions from others or what your L-brain and memory tells you. Be different. Find a different solution. Problems only become problems when you choose to think about them and think in the same way as everyone else. Think differently and the problem no longer becomes a problem. The mountain becomes a mound. It gets easier to overcome. Then the solution you see will be simple. And it will be powerful enough to achieve whatever dreams you want.
Once you have the solution, you only have to implement it. Put it into action, as action often speaks louder than words. Make it work. This is how dreams become reality.
It is up to us to make it happen. Start small, making tiny changes, and try different things out. Like old habits, we need to practice to make those changes happen and repeat it until a new way of doing things become familiar.
For example, if you are overweight, changing the habit of eating ice cream all day can be very hard. However, if you practice (i.e., put into action) an alternative solution such as substituting ice cream for, say, dried fruits, and eventually move over to more savoury type of foods, the amount of sugar intake into the body will decrease dramatically over time. Before long you will start to notice a weight loss. As you slowly change other aspects of your life, such as exercising a little more, and choosing the right savoury foods that don't come with saturated fats, then the improvements accelerate. And before you know it, you will see the future become a reality. That is, your body will be more balanced and healthier.
Never be afraid to put something into action. And be prepared to try different things if you believe it will make a difference.
Examples of how to solve world problems
For solutions to specific world problems, we recommend going to the end of each world problem section in this research. These will give a brief insight into the kinds of solutions needed to permanently solve the problems.
Summary of world solutions
While humans exist on this planet, there will always be problems. Some of the problems relate to the universe and the Earth we live on, such as earthquake-prone areas and the potential for asteroids to hit the planet. Most of the problems are human-made and the result of poor thinking skills needed to problem-solve and create quality solutions.
All problems have a solution. It is up to us to find that solution and implement it for the benefit of everyone. No problem is ever intractable if all those concerned or linked to the problem are properly seeking a long-term and permanent solution for everyone.
As an example of the problems humans find to easy to create, some humans have forged a system that forces people to rely on money and to have this linked to their survival. The reason for this is presumably because there is a risk that some people may not support the system. Whilst there is no restriction in whether people can do other things, there is usually a price to pay. Unless people have a large enough plot of land with well-established and productive trees and a large enough animal ecosystem to provide all the food and a roof over one's head, it is hard for people to escape the system. Until such a land is provided and is productive enough, people have to work towards this goal. That means earning money. However, in linking the survival of people to money and forcing people to find ways to survive in the system or else be left in the gutters to defend themselves and find ways to stay alive, we create social problems. Then the next generation are not given the love they need to grow and be able to contribute to something that will make them enough money. So, as a result, we see people fight for their survival in ways that can be negative and affect others in that system.
Then, we have another group of people who seem more motivated to stay in power and be as rich as possible for as long as they can. They have to create a system to support this dysfunctional approach. Of course, not everyone agrees as a sign of the imbalanced nature of this system. Therefore, a means of controlling these people will be necessary. This is where a military force and a large enough law enforcement agency (or enough well-supported people given the job of watching others and sending back information on potentially troublemakers) is given what it needs in return for controlling the people and supporting those in power. As people are not generally seen as serving any other purpose except to support the authorities' aims and are not smart enough to come up with new solutions, most are treated as uncreative cogs in a machine that cannot solve problems, or if they can, prefer that it solves problems for those in power. Otherwise, people are used to grows the food on the land or build monuments as memory of the people in power and how wonderful the system allegedly is. We call this the socialist/communist system. Unfortunately, as more people are not encouraged to try different things, problems are not solved permanently, properly and with compassion. Often the solutions are a reflection of the harsh aims of the people in power to force everyone else to support the system. Unless there is a crisis, say, in the environment due to a massive human population growth, things hardly change in this type of system.
As we can see, a democratic system is the closest to allowing people to be their "own gods" (or leaders) so to speak when it comes to solving problems. There is the potential for original solutions to emerge in this type of system thanks to the greater freedoms people have. However, there is a nasty catch. If the solutions are not found quickly enough and sold in reasonable quantities at the right price by these business leaders, people's survival is at stake due to the way the system links one's survival to money. As a result of this need and focus to make money and enough of it, and preferably as quickly as possible, there is little thinking applied by the people trying to make money behind most of the products they make other than to do the basic task and if there are any problems (and hopefully no one injured), some of the money earned might be used to fix them and perhaps add a few more features. Unfortunately, there is a lot of waste when old products are trashed in favour of better made products. Unless they were created at a time when people had reasonable amounts of time (e.g., during school or university time, but hopefully without homework or anything else to drain the creative time to find original and new solutions, such as what we saw with the making of the Apple computer in the early 1980s), it is hard for a quality solution to evolve and reach a level of maturity that properly solves a problem people may have. Or else sometimes people who need to survive can damage the natural environment when extracting resources to sell to others. This is where the system slowly falls apart: as soon as people are unable to make enough money to survive or can't find a way to make money, people will do things that can cause more problems for the system and other people and only gets worse over time. Then the system slowly collapses and costs too much to fix. When it reaches this point, the democratic systems often becomes a socialist system with a military and law enforcement so large to get everyone to hopefully do the right thing, or else end up in prisons or killed by the state for any reason (the quickest and cheapest solution).
A communist system is probably closest to providing the essential survival needs of everyone so long as people support the system. Cost of the needy things are generally very low. However, to support those who want to be rich and powerful, people are not permitted to be creative in finding original solutions. Reduced freedoms are characteristic of such a system. If the freedoms are reduced too much while populations grow, there is a risk that enough people may revolt against the system and return to a more democratic system. It is crucial in such a system for everyone to have what they need and just enough freedom to keep people reasonably controlled, or else other means of controlling the population is necessary.
It seems the more balanced position is somewhere in the middle of these two systems. Somehow people must be given what they need to survive and at the same time have the freedom to express themselves in positive ways and let them solve problems. Then there would be no need for a socialist government and the military to control a civilian population, or for law enforcement agencies in a democratic country to stop unwanted negative behaviours by people looking to survive.
If we are to properly solve world problems in whatever system people create and all the environmental problems created by both systems through large populations and/or the greed or need to survive in a capitalist system, it seems that at some point humans must create a new world order.
As some point, we must apply the following if we are to return to some semblance of normality and balance to human society:
- ACKNOWLEDGE INDIVIDUAL POWER
Acknowledge the importance of the individual in solving world problems. We are all valuable members in our own right, not just to the human community, but also to the natural environment. We have the power and the ability to solve any problem set before us, by changing ourselves and our environment to support the kind of long-term solution(s) we need for the benefit of everyone concerned. - ACKNOWLEDGE THE ENVIRONMENT
As already mentioned in Step 1, we must acknowledge the environment (or system) that humans have created for themselves and how it plays an important part in the way people are driven to survive and succeed in life as well as create certain inherent social problems along the way. - ACKNOWLEDGE THE PROBLEM(S)
Acknowledge that there are problems in the environment (especially the man-made one we have created under our current system). If we do not, then there can be no change in the system. And the problems will persist. It is as simple as that. - UNDERSTAND SOCIAL DIVISIONS IN THE ENVIRONMENT WE HAVE CREATED
Just like the way electromagnetic radiation tries to swing its energy from one extreme and then goes to the opposite extreme and back to balance again, the people and the type of system we have created can push them to the extremes in their views and actions depending on the stressful forces that drive them to those extremes. Those who are not stressed within the system are generally those who have already made enough money, and so consider themselves presumably in the balanced position based on the system. Otherwise at some point, and in order to have true social cohesion and harmony, we need to bring back a sense of balance to the extreme opposites by understanding what it is that is driving people to think and do what they do. Part of the problem is clearly in the system that we have created in Step 2 (whether it is democracy, socialism or whatever) when forcing people to live in it. In particular, we see a rather strong tendency to focus on money as the basis of human existence as if it is the only way of doing things on this planet for humankind and how this is forcibly linked to our survival. Such a system can only create opposites to an extreme in the way certain people think and do things, and eventually we should expect (if the problems persist) to see some form of social chaos or disharmony. We have special words to describe this social imbalance: social inequality, or inequity. are just two words. There are many other words we can find to describe these opposing social extremes. As for the people at the opposite ends of the social tension, they will have opposite ideas of how to solve their problems, such as claiming too much diversity and/or a need to control population levels, or not enough of it, not to mention how helpful having enough money can presumably bring to these people when solving these problems (or so we think). What we must all have to realise at some point is that we have created an imbalance in the system for people to survive and think they can get that feeling of love they are seeking. At the same time, the type of education we provide and how we are encouraged and supported in learning what we need in order to survive and succeed in that system are all important factors too. However, in a system that relies on money and people must feel obliged to be paid for anything they provide to society, not all the support and education is provided freely. There is usually a cost associated with providing these things, and it is often not cheap. Therefore, we should expect the system to create social divisions. The division can be between different classes of those who are well off and those who are not. Then there are further subdivisions creating identities or groups when people need to find a solution to what they perceive to be the problem. For example, those who do not have a job or have insecure and temporary employment may view a group of ethnic people entering a country as the ones "taking all the jobs". Other people may choose to use the colour of our skin, our different names (if they are not sounding Anglo-saxon and/or Christian-based names, such as Mark, Luke, Matthew etc.), culture and anything else to help make the distinctions and further divide society for whatever purposes or gains some people hope to achieve from it. However, true balance requires us to avoid these social divisions by remembering Step 1, but also we need to get back to our roots of what it is that is in common with everyone, such as survival and what we need to stay alive and hopefully achieve more grander goals for one another. Instead, we avoid what is important and look at the problems superficially within our current system or man-made environment. If we are going to bring back balance to this situation, this is where Step 5 and 6 will come into play. - SEPARATE OUR SURVIVAL FROM MONEY
One can understand why people want to link our survival with money in our current world order termed the economic system as we know it today. It is about incentivising people to do work for the purposes of helping others reach the goal of making enough money (but can also be used as the stick approach to punishing people by making them suffer and find it hard to survive instead of the carrot approach of rewarding people, such as what we see in the American welfare system). But we should not have to force people into survival mode for people to work. It is not necessary. People will work on their own, and naturally so, to achieve great things without "forcing" them to do some kind of work. Each person will have a purpose and see a goal that they wish to reach for. They will see what is important and how it can help others and not just themselves. For example, everyone understands how important it is to grow food and create fresh water so people can be happy and pursue their own worthwhile and positive goals. There is clearly no debate or questioning this aspect. If you are not sure, ask yourself how long can you go without food and water? Clearly it won't be long before you have to do something to ensure your survival needs are met. So from this, we can see that we all have to contribute in some small way (a form of work) to supporting the things that helps us to survive. It is just that we have to remember that we should not need money to force us into it. It should come naturally. And it will. Therefore, the first step is to not divide people, but divide the part of the system that is creating the social problems. In this case, it is to separate one's survival from money. This is the first important step. And the corollary to this is that no one should be living in poverty simply because one cannot afford the basic needs of life. No matter who we are, the levels of education we may have, our age or culture, the colour of our skin, or whatever does not matter. We are all the same when it comes to our survival. We all need to help one another by ensuring our survival needs are properly met. And that includes the people on the fringes of society, such as those who have extremist views. - BE AWARE THAT THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE SYSTEM TO BALANCE THINGS
For the previous step to work properly and permanently to solve a large proportion of world problems, we must show to people that one can indeed survive without money (as unbelievable as this may sound for some R-wing people who are generally caught up in the current system of making money and seem to see no way out of it or think this is the only system we must live under) using the natural resources available to everyone. No income does not mean you cannot live comfortably for the rest of your life if you so choose. If you focus on growing the food and water and building up the natural environment and ecosystems, there is absolutely no reason why you cannot have "a free lunch" in this alternative system designed to balance any economic system trying to link our survival to it through its obsessive reliance on money. There must be a balance in what we are doing for one another. So if people create one dysfunctional system, it stands to reason that one has to create an opposing and alternative system that balances the other out with its problems. Once you have this balance firmly established can people make genuine choices about their own lives. For example, which system do they prefer to live in and support? Can they see a solution to the world problems of today? Where will they be most happiest in achieving at least one important goal for society? If people want to make money, fair enough. But if they don't, who are we to deny them that alternative system that could solve social problems. Indeed, we should expect social problems to be eliminated in this balanced approach. People will choose the system that makes sense to them and how they wish to contribute their time to helping others. - REACH FOR THE STARS
If you want more out of life, then there should be nothing stopping you from contributing something else to help others and the environment. Life is not always working on the land, or constantly making as much money as you can. There is more to life than all of this. You can, if you wish, reach for the stars by making it a reality. See what's out there, and how civilisations of the advanced kind truly live. What kind of system have they employed to solve world problems? Or create something here on Earth that will change the way we think about ourselves and what we do forever. It does not matter. You choose where else to focus your mind and body to helping others and yourself in order to achieve other grander things in life. - DO THE THING THAT YOU BELIEVE YOU CAN ACHIEVE
Ultimately, people should be able to choose the work they wish to contribute on their own or together with a group of other like-minded people because they believe it is achievable, or know how important and worthwhile it is for others (such as making food and providing fresh water). Like you may hear from your parents when you were a child saying that you can be whatever you like and contribute anything, in the economic system, it is often qualified by words like, "we really want you to be a doctor, a lawyer or something that pays very well". Parents know how tough it is, and it is better to do something society believes is valuable by the way it pays well. Then hopefully all the problems for the offsprings in living within this dysfunctional system that links money with their survival will dissolve into nothingness with enough money. But in the balanced system, you can truly do what you want to achieve quite literally. Yes, support the environment and grow the food and restore the water supplies. We all know how valuable you are in growing food. No one can take that away from you. You are already doing a valuable service and a worthwhile job and everyone should make you feel a part of that community, as well as the economic one which also depends on the other system in providing the food and water. No economic system can survive without a well-taken care of natural environment being productive and growing the food and water people need. But if you want to do more, you can certainly do so. This is another of your rewards beyond the food and water you need to survive. And you need not have to become a doctor, lawyer or whatever. You choose. If the work involves increasing the wealth of the natural resources by re-building the environment through planting more trees, growing food, creating more fresh water and so on, and this is shared with others, society should see this as a valuable contribution and, therefore, you should be paid a dividend on this wealth creation you have done for the nation (at least from the economic system, if this is the only thing we have got) as well as anything else considered reasonable (from the other alternative system) to help further improve your work and achieve more or as a reward system for your contribution after a period of time, such as more free time to think and find solutions to other problems. It does not matter, If it is not with money, then give more power and freedom in the alternative system to allow you to achieve more, or to try something else while others take over your work. Certainly a place you can call your home in amongst the natural environment and sharing in the bounty should certainly be part of the reward. Access to other resources, including those created by the economic system, should also be made available at little or no cost to you when you are achieving something great. - ENJOY WHAT YOU DO
When we talk about work, it should not be something that you feel you have to do. It should not be seen as a chore. You should actually enjoy it. Regular rewards should make sure of it. Regular access to creative individuals to find ways to make it enjoyable will help. Or use your own creativity. Find better solutions. Make it seem effortless the work you are doing. And if anyone asks how you can do so much work or do it so well, just say it is not work, but just a fun part of life. The aim here is to make the work you do as something you enjoy doing. Perhaps it is enough to know that your survival is no longer tied to a paying job that you do not want to do and do not believe in is ample reward for you. That is fine. Whatever you do, your work is something that you want to, not because you have to. Furthermore you only work to live, not live to work. Not like a number of people in the economic system who feel tied to their jobs at a company because the more hours you work, the bigger the profits and the more likely you can keep your job. It should not have to be that way at all. You work just enough (and should get easier and with less time required) to survive and maintain the natural environment and you should have more time to do anything else you wish. Work well in the winter time and in summer, you may not have to work as many hours. Perhaps only a couple of hours at most for a couple of days, and the rest you can help out in something else, or you can focus on relaxing as part of your reward. If anything else you want to achieve is work in the eyes of others, for you it should not be. It is something that you enjoy doing, and as such, it is not called work. - THE IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD REWARD SYSTEM
Income in the economic system is one form of a reward as a measure of your contribution to other people through the work you do for others. It is a way of saying "Thank you for giving us some of your time to support what we are trying to achieve", so long as the money is adequate (i.e., covers the cost of living) and helps people to survive and achieve other goals. But it isn't the only way. People showing love, and a healthy productive environment, is also another powerful measure of people's contribution and a form of reward. How we reward people for their contribution must go beyond simply providing money. There is more to life than money. We cannot eat money. So give what people truly need. Later, through their ample contribution, they can ask for what they want when they are ready to contribute something else. Or give them more time to relax and be themselves. Let them be more creative and happier. Socialise or do something you enjoy. - BUSINESSES MUST PROVE THEIR WORTH IN SOCIETY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
No person should be forced into any work offered by profit-motivated businesses where the work is clearly damaging the environment or creating social harm. It is up to businesses to prove their positive contribution to society and the environment through the products and services they create, not the other way around. Individuals should not be proving their worth. All individuals can learn new skills and can help any organisation. In an alternative system, people can choose to contribute in different ways. For businesses in the economic system, they must show why they are important and attract people to their cause. And essentially those businesses that can produce fully recyclable and safe products for people and the environment and helps people to make life easier, enjoyable and/or more meaningful will see people support them by working in the businesses. Otherwise, people will choose the work they wish to go into and it is up to businesses to improve their products and practices in order to attract workers. Or else these business people can work in the alternative system and do more thinking about the kind of business they should be creating. - SUPPORT EACH OTHER
Any form of work in creating something that other people can see is of value should be supported. Whether an unconditional minimum income during the development phase and any income achieved from selling the item to others in the economic system, or instead a form of non-monetary support in the alternative system, either way, we have to ensure a minimum standard is provided without strings attached to ensure people can survive. Remember, people are already valuable members of society. They do not need to prove this. We have allowed people to come into this world because we believe in their worth and we love them for who they are (as people with new ways of solving problems and a willingness to help, no matter what it is, even right down to caring for a sick person). - SHOW THE TRUE COSTS THAT PEOPLE MUST PAY, OR SIMPLIFY WHAT WE ARE DOING NOW
All businesses must include the complete costs of creating their products from cradle to grave. That means the cost to unearth natural resources to make the products, and the costs to have the products returned and fully recycled, including repairing the damage done to the environment after extracting the resources, must be included in the final price. If it turns out the price is too expensive and people do not want to buy it, businesses must simplify and search for better products under the umbrella of "Research and Development". Or join the alternative system to find more time to think about exactly why you want to go into business and what it is you want to sell. - HAVE FAITH THAT PEOPLE WILL ACHIEVE GREAT THINGS
We must be trusting and positive of other people. People who see this will do the right thing and find something they want to contribute to society and the environment. They will naturally want to help others. But for this to become a reality, you must always be supportive, and people will do the same for you. Have faith and a willingness to love, and people will do the right thing. The economic system may try to teach people to think that they must prove their worth and show how valuable they are before they are allowed the privilege of love and achieve greater things. But the opposing system already sees people as valuable members of society. What people want to achieve beyond working to meet their own and other people's survival needs will be up to them. And you can be sure they will. No money would be required to achieve extraordinary things in the alternative system. That is the thing we need in order to balance the thinking of those living the economic system.
Of course, critics will argue any separation of income from work would jeopardise the existence of businesses. Not necessarily so. It will only force businesses to think more carefully about what they are producing, and being more considerate of the natural environment when creating products. If they are doing the right thing for people and the environment, people will always support those businesses with anything they need.
Don't focus on the negatives of the alternative "non-economic" system just to force people to accept the current economic system as presumably the only and best one there is. It really is not the best (unless you are rich and powerful in the system). Realise that sometimes the truly positive things to come out of people may require a new system to be created to properly balance what we already have. It does not have to be an "either...or" situation. Let people choose. Don't force people into one system or another. Let them choose. No need to bribe people through money to support the economic system. Can't survive properly in the economic system? Fine. Try the alternative system. No pressure. Learn plenty, meet lots of people, and have increasing amount of time to think on your own or with others to solve other problems. Just work enough to have the food you need and a roof over your heads. get rewarded in the new system with your own small and environmentally-frriendly home and manage your own patch of land and make sure it is productive and looking after the natural environment. Have access to communal services, including access to the internet. Learn the latest from the economic system. As people from the economic system seek out foods from the non-economic system, they will return the favour with new clothes, tools to shape the land, access to older computers and free software, opportunities to travel to other places and work in different communities involved in the alternative system and so on. Either way, one will support the other and vice versa. And if anything, it will force the economic system to be lean and have no corruption in places where lots of money are to be found. When people have a choice of an alternative "non-economic" system that meets all the needs of people and the freedom to solve problems and try different things, it will force the economic system to root out corruption, control rampant profits by unscrupulous business people, stop exploitation of workers and paying them miserly amounts of money and so on. The new economic system has to fight for the workers it wants, and pay well. So long as businesses are doing the right thing, there is absolutely no reason why an economic and non-economic system cannot exist side-by-side. However, maintain just the economic system and nothing else together with all the problems it creates to the environment and the people, and we may not have any system to support. Because by then, we could become extinct. All because of the fact that no economic system can exist without a healthy natural environment.
At some point in the near future (as the world is facing a crisis on a number of fronts, such as the natural environment) we will have to create these dualistic social systems designed to balance each other. In this wau, we can create a truly balanced and more stable society.