I would like to reiterate that before we can achieve our goal of eradicating distrust among humans we must understand it and clarify how we became infected with it. That discussion will naturally lead to the costs of distrust as well as the intended benefits to humanity of getting rid of distrust.
Distrust is the lack of trust and it works at three levels. The first level is the one that prompted this series of blogs. At this level distrust can be defined as the absence of certain knowledge that you or others who are like you will not harm you.
At the second level distrust can be defined as the absence of knowledge that you or others who are like you will take care of you in your time of need.
At the third level distrust can be defined as the absence of knowledge that you or others who are like you have your best interests at heart.
Those definitions are important. We have no expectation that other species will not harm us, have our best interests at heart or will take care of us in our time of need. But, we have a sense that we should be able to rely on others like us not to harm us, to take of us in our time of need or adversity, or to have our best interests at heart.
All of these affect our behavior and have attendant costs. They are not necessarily mutually exclusive. They may function in isolation or in combination or one or more may give rise to others. We have already discussed how standing armies exist because nations do not have certain knowledge that other nations will not harm them. Standing armies provide a sense of security. On a personal level that need for security takes its toll in stress and violence. Not knowing for certain that others will take care of us in time of need is one of the reason that some take goods and resources out of the market and hoard them. We must save to preserve our future because there is no guarantee that others will take care of us. Not knowing for certain that others have our best interests at heart sometimes causes us to resist new ideas. A good example is Galileo. Because he was at the bottom of the academic pecking order those at the top of the pecking order refused to look in his telescopes.
These examples show that the cost of distrust goes far above the trillions spent in military and crime prevention budgets. The benefits of eradicating distrust are incalculable.
Imagine a world where trust rules and suspicion and fear are distant memories. A world where one can spend his money on food and other necessities instead of on home security systems. A world where we can travel to any exotic locale we desire without making special arrangements for protection. A world where children can go to school without fear of being viciously attacked. It is within our reach.
With this brief review of distrust and its costs we will next take a look at the origins of distrust. This will provide amazing insights into the nature of humanity.
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
5 comments:
Darius, while I applaud your courage in advancing a notion that carries a substantial risk of ridicule, I also recognize you are arguing agaist the accumulated evidence of 5,000 years of history and uncalculated millenia of prehistoric witness to human savagery.
Distrust is, at its most basic, a survival mechanism. George Will once posited a theory of, what he termed, "rational fears" that improve the chances of humanity being able to survive and thrive. Greed and associated violence are feeders of distrust and suspicion. Getting rid of distrust means overcoming ethnocentrism, racism, nativism, capitalism, and many other dangerous contributors.
I eagerly await your discourse of the true nature of man, but meanwhile, please remember something you likely learned in Kem Wiggins class a long time ago - Utopia is a greek compound form, from the contracted negative particle 'ouk' - not, and 'topos' - a place; literally, NOT A PLACE. I don't believe it breaches my pledge of cautious reaction to suggest your ideas so far are positively utopian.
Part of the genius of Thomas More's Utopia is that it puns not just on outopia but also on eutopia, or "good place." As an early humanist, More did not share medieval theology's assumption about innate and comprehensive human evil, and he intended his description of an idyllic good place to inspire readers' movement towards its reality. Utopia also satirized the dark cynicism of More's own society. Read it today and it will drop close to home.
It will read close to home in other ways too: More himself had not overcome his own unfruitful distrust of people who were different from himself, and when he got power to exercise that distrust it produced a blood harvest. The 16th Century Church wasn't ready to face the reality of universal brotherhood; neither was More: his Utopia included slavery and holy war. Is the 21st Century Church ready? A utopia, a heaven even, that can only appear after Others have been exterminated is far too costly. But we've been trying to pay that cost for centuries, all the while grasping for an ideal that we're not in fact interested in moving towards now. Easier to keep enemies than to treat them as brothers.
Distrust comes from a poor relational sense. It's not necessary to distrust a lion if you respect its territory and avoid making yourself prey for it. Much better to trust it to act out of its leonine nature than expect it to walk on two legs or eat grass. And both you and Lion will be happier for this respect.
We choose, and make our world with our choices.
Not a place, as KM inferred, may mean not yet a place. Not that it is impossible but that it does not yet exist. I have believed in such a place for years; I have preached it. It it cannot exist then the church would do better by shutting its doors and allowing people to keep their money. Growing up Adventist in the Caribbean rid me of any fear of ridicule, and those who fear ridicule are the ones who stay close to home and never venture far afield.
Interesting you should mentions Kem Wiggins because he is the one who encouraged me to think "two deep" and something he told me at CUC features in the solution I have crafted.
Dear Darius, Arthur Schopenhauer once said that all truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed; Second, it is violently opposed; and Third, it is accepted as self-evident. For those who understand, ridicule is necessary because it fosters inquiry in the midst of mockery. Yes, it's a good sign, for while the willful ignorant is laughing, the critical thinker is pondering the matter at hand. Isn't and a first level of consciousness raised? That was the medieval time Galileo lived in.
Do I need to distrust others in order to survive? That's against the natural order, which requires not competition but complementarity. Doesn't the chemistry of life (Organic Chemistry) refute the concept of necessary distrust? If we can create distrust between Oxygen and Hydrogen, do you know where that will lead us? If distrust is a survival mechanism as Trevor posits, it was much later developed after man has lost all sense of community, which is a necessity of his survival.
Is any man an island? Was it not said, believe it or not, that it wasn't good for man to be alone? But this is exactly what distrust creates! Just as we can find evidence of human savagery in the night of time immemorial, we can also find evidence of trustful collaboration over the same period. Which one we accept is what creates trust or distrust among men.
Let us keep on dreaming of the kind of society you described Darius, lest we fall into distrust.
Dal continue preaching it, because the Creator preached it and intended it. Utopia. You just answerd a question which i had since i became an adventist, why did Jesus have to die. It was because the rulers his own did not trust their destiny in his hands. I am saddened because todays church still does not trust its destiny in the Creators hand. It means if Jesus came again we would repeat the same. We dont trust each other as humans, that is why we are where we are. They dont trust Obama, they dont trust gays and lesbians,they dont trust each other, so they prepare to kill each other. Yes if Jesus came to earth again we would Kill him, because humans have not learnt to trust themselves, so they cant trust others. Basically the reason is because we have been preached a gospel that comes with a sting in the tail. If we dont do as the god tells us he will zap us. So we cannot trust god. Why because we are not sure that he is not going to hurt us. So we cant trust anyone. I love you for revealing this answer to me. Yes those who are stuck will ridicule your theory, but i am no theologian and i understand.Jesus was also ridiculed for preaching the same message. He also died for preaching that message. Trust HIm our Creator.
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