A week ago I offered for your contemplation four questions posed by Deepak Chopra as part of a EnlightenNext Magazine web article (questions repeated in bold below). I thought I might give you my thoughts on them as of today. One caveat — these answers are subject to change as I grow and change!
1. What kind of world do you want to live in and what kind of world you want your children and grandchildren to live in?
I’ve answered this question a number of times in the context that humanity needs to set a vision of its highest possibilities that the vast majority of us can buy into and then collectively work towards it. However instead of repeating a full positive vision for humanity’s future, here is a short version — I want to live in a world where everyone honors and respects everyone else, a world where everyone has an opportunity to express their gifts and to succeed.
2. What is your role in bringing this about?
I see my role as a teacher. To the degree that I have any ability to bring clarity to others through either the written or spoken word, I hope to inspire them to work in their sphere of influence towards a world that works for everyone.
3. Regarding the organizations that you’re part of, what kind of team do you want to have and what kind of relationship do you want to have with this team?
Obviously, all teams of which I’m a part must work in a manner that respects all members and helps each to reach their highest potential.
4. What do you see as the primary need in our current cultural moment?
Our greatest need is to foster a shift in consciousness such that humanity no longer defines success primarily by one individual or group gaining at the expense of others. The greatest good for all must be our greatest motivator for all.
So these are my current thoughts… how would you answer the questions?
Mark Gilbert
Mark, I’ll “play” in Chopra’s game. 1) I wish we lived in a world where life-after-life had already been confirmed much like the movie “Flatliners,” so that we would know, rather than just believe, that our actions have consequences (and that atonement is central to a good life after this one).
2) Since I can’t bring about such a world, I choose to live within Pascal’s Wager such that I am as current as can be by the end of each day in regard to matters of “thank you, I’m sorry, and I forgive you.” If I’m wrong about life after life, no harm done as I will have helped fashion a better world, and if I’m right, then the afterlife might be relatively better when I arrive.
3) The kind of team I want to have is one in which I have selected them so well that I am the weakest link, but they see that you do not harm yourself by surrounding yourself with talent greater than and different from your own.
4) The primary need these days is to understand that each one of us is one of those “difficult people” that we’ve all taken a course about dealing with better.
Some interesting answers, Bernie.
You raise an interesting point….someone who has a personal knowingness about the oneness of everything and how life goes on eternally beyond this dimension leads themselves to understanding why it is important to live with a broader sense of care and concern for the All. Such a sense of caring comes naturally…if we are all connected and I harm you, then I harm me.
But what if one does not have that knowingness? They are stuck with the choice—either I choose to see that we are all separate and apart and its every person for themselves (leading me possibly to living with the sense that I have to grab all I can now at the expense of others because there are no ‘ultimate’ consequences for my selfish actions) OR I choose to see that we are all possibly connected (leading me to playing the wager you describe).
I particularly like your response to #4—as much as we may be confident in our abilities and in our personal growth, we must still maintain humbleness and recognize that as “enlightened” as I may think I am, I am still someone’s hot button and their “difficult person”….keeping that perspective allows us to not take such moments of personal conflict personally….but rather to see the growth that can occur for both of us in that relationship….
Thanks for commenting and for wagering that it is better to treat all with love and kindness.