Humans are the ultimate fixer-uppers. Truth be told, in our realm we are the ONLY fixer-uppers. Humans spend every moment of their lives solving problems; fixing things that have gone wrong or seem not to work as we would like them to. So, why have we had such little success in fixing our culture, in solving the most pressing problem that we face as a species? The answer is easier than you think and that very simplicity makes it more difficult than we could imagine.
Take a look at your local bookstore shelves and you will find scores of self-development books devoted to telling us how to become better at something or learning how to do something. Architects can buy books on how to become better architects and people who want to become architects can buy books on how to become better architects. Sometimes we have to use these books in conjuction with a formalized course of study but the idea is the same; that there exists the notion of the optimal. Either we are becoming better at what we do or are, or we are discovering how to become what we want to become.
There is one area that is missing in these books. We are already human beings but you will not find a book on how to become a better human being. That is the book or course of instruction we need. It is true that if all humans become better then the race will be better, but that is a temporal fixe given the fact that good humans became what we are now. It is an even more powerful idea that if the race can be made better all humans will be better. That should be our goal.
Stay tuned.
A systems level discussion on Organizational Leadership and World Peace written by:
© Darius A. Lecointe, Ph.D., J.D., M.A. Join in the discussion here or through dalecointe@gmail.com
2 comments:
Some religions suggest the attempt to become better humans requires outsourcing - we do not have the innate potential to do it without massive intervention. And even then, it's dicey because of an external force beyond our control working against us. This has left us with a skewed - to say the least - sense of causality.
I don't blame them for making that suggestion, considering the success humans have had in finding a solution. What bothers me is that they insist that we will still have the ability to make independent choices. The two just don't go together, so they clearly have not thought it through.
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