Rebirth…

I have believed in reincarnation since I was a little child. Not sure who introduced me to the concept, but for me it was obvious that someone who dies, they have to come back.

However, in their new life, they won’t remember their past life. I have learned that it will be present in their attitude and their way to see the world, their virtues and their defects, their differences with their community and also their natural similarities.

So, I was thinking of this pandemic as a kind of death of a society. It means we are living in a reincarnated society.

A society that has forgotten what has happened.

A society whose people’s attitude is similar to their past attitude, even though they are claiming it is different.

Their way of seeing the world is not so different than before.

Virtues and defects are almost the same.

Back to the reincarnation, when there is that awareness, people are also cautious with their actions, trying to avoid the repetition of former mistakes and create a new life. Some would call it a rebirth, not only in the physical sense.

My hope is that our society also experiences a rebirth and people change their way of seeing life. Maybe I am the one to start with it…

Privacy at very public times

One thing I notice is that most people I know knows where I am. By the way, I know where most people I know are right now…

It seems that the time for total surveillance – and we could say matrix surveillance since everyone can check on everybody else – is here, for a few years now. So, what about privacy?

In fact, the feeling of privacy is needed to build a strong sense of self-esteem. Without privacy, it is hard to understand a person’s role in the society and, as a result, to love and appreciate the self, the very basis of self-esteem. Without self-esteem… well, we may have a society, but people won’t thrive for success, they won’t try their best and they will normally drift away.

However, in certain human civilizations, that is not so true. The example of Ubuntu in Africa comes to mind and it implies that self-esteem may also be built on the basis of a strong bond with each other, where everyone’s welfare means a person’s welfare.

Maybe the lack of privacy is pushing the rest of civilization to rethink itself; Ubuntu and other cultural practices and systems can provide a model for a new era where privacy wouldn’t be an issue due to its absence.

Focus and concentration as a resource

When we talk about resources, we normally think about things or people, however a definition of resource indicates it is not only based on things that one day will finish or need to be replenished. According to the Oxford Dictionary, it is also one’s personal attributes and capabilities regarded as able to help or sustain one in adverse circumstances.

In relation to that we have many resources within ourselves to be used and reused. In fact, the rule is the opposite: the more we use our inner resources, the more they will be available to us. Among all of them, there is a resource that is extremely valuable since it is not often found: concentration and focus. Although they are not the same, they are quite a tight couple. While focus may refer to narrow your attention onto something, concentration is more about intensity of thoughts and feelings.

In a world where people have a few minutes (or seconds?) of focused attention, times when people are 24 hours busy and an age where people reach their retirement age in many cases around 40 years before they pass away, the importance of this resource it is important to develop the ability of focusing and using that power in a person’s life.

The result will be a healthier society where people will actually finish whatever they have started, they will be able to prioritize and their life post-work will be an accomplished one.

But, how to do it? Of course, we would have to include the education system, media, etc., but I do believe in the fact that if a few people are able to generate a change, eventually that change will influence others. And those people starts with a single letter: I.

It is time that I work on my focus, inspiring others to do the same. But, that is not easy because present culture value the slashers and to watch many things at the same time (just go to any Café and watch people reading their messages, watching people walking on the street and talking to someone, at the same time…).

Maybe the East may help us. I feel meditation has helped me to focus on my own potentials and that enabled me to overcome several obstacles. I have learned to be concentrated and avoid dispersion, giving all the power that is within me to the projects I am involved.

That is one possibility, not the only one. It is important to do something and train your own focus and concentration as we reach a point where everything will be so superficial that even life won’t worth much.

Empathy and society

As we evolve as humans, we become more and more aware of what is happening with our relationship with others and the need of a new society.

Our way however is not straight as we would expect. As I write, the big trend is to live alone, to work alone and probably to share society as we understand using Internet. I do hope that is not the case of whoever is reading this, but it is the case of so many.

And I can relate to it, as I would probably prefer to not have much interaction with others, but life is wise and I am kind of in the spotlight most of the time. I started to appreciate others’ company not that many years ago, learning to deal with so many differences, all because I do believe in the power of a community with empowered individuals.

This is why I feel at some point, these lonely people will find their way into the new society we are building – more tolerant, more interested in people than in things, greener and better. It may take time, but I have that certainty it will happen.

So, if you want to be part of this new society, you need to learn a very important skill that is not so natural after all.

Although many people describe empathy as feeling what others feel, I disagree. I don’t think I can feel what a mother feels when she loses her son, or someone who just finds out he or she has cancer. But I do care, and out of care I look into the depth of that person, of that soul.

Sometime ago, a friend lost her child and it was in a bad timing of our relationship, since she did something I could not approve. Still, I just put that bad sensation I had aside and I gave her unconditional support, from the heart.

Empathy makes the best of us emerge. It makes us to be unconditional and understand the other in dimensions we wouldn’t imagine there are. It binds us together as a big family, with respect for each other’s thoughts and perceptions.

Former societies were not formed on the base of empathy – from which solidarity comes. History shows they came from mutual interests, ethnic similitude and other very physical and visible traces.

One of the few cases I know of a society based on empathy is related to the flight of Zoroastrians from Persia. According to the legend, King Jadi from Gujarat, India, in the initial meeting between with the newly landed emigrants denied asylum to them. The King motioned to a vessel of milk filled to the very brim to signify that his kingdom was already full and could not accept refugees. In response, one of the Zoroastrian priests added a pinch of sugar to the milk, and Jadi Rana accepted the refugees.

This is an example of empathy from both sides, by the use of wisdom: the King trying to explain why he could not receive more immigrants, and the priest, showing that they would just melt into the Indian society. Whether it is a legend or not, centuries later, the Parsis (as they are known), have adapted to India. Their importance in terms of neutrality has created many stories hen religion conflict affects India, where families of Parsis risk themselves to save other people.

As a suggestion, just look at another person. Right now, if you can, otherwise, just think of her or him. Understand their need and see what you can do, from the heart, even though you cannot do that right now. Feel the sensation of mercy and the desire to help others, and extend your mental hand…

One day, we won’t need empathy, as it will be natural to care, but right now it is an important skill to be developed. Our society is the basis of humankind and it needs our help to reinvent itself.

A better world

Everything we do is related to a better world we want to create. When we build a new building, a house or just take a child to a school, our best hopes is that will create a better world.

Of course, a better world will have economy, social structure and science operating. It is part of human civilization to have a culture, customs and ideas to share among all. That means to create a better world is to create a better economy, a better social structure, a better science, better culture, better customs and better ideas...

The implication is that it is something difficult, even impossible. As an individual I can't see how I am contributing for that, we can never forget the effect we have on each other. In a subtle and obvious way, we influence others through our behavior, reaction, gestures, ideas, thoughts, vibrations, feelings and words. In this way, we help direct others towards a better world, or to remain in this old and worse world (after all, that is the implication of creating a better world...).

I feel personally that all of us could be in heaven right now. If we share what we have, if we help each other... but then I remember the only thing I can do is to create a better me and I start doing all of that.

Yes, a better world won't be created by a coup d'état or some marvelous invention. Many better people working with that aim in mind, they will generate a better world.

So, why not starting right now? From your mind and thoughts, from your vibration and feelings, from a smile and a phone call to someone, from recycling and using resources in a better way... We can start right now. I, you, can start right now.

Let's do it.

Can democracy survive?

As a social species, we need to organize ourselves. Even when anarchy or chaos reigns, still we, as humans, organize ourselves in some way, as it is shown in the many attempts during history to establish a society without a government where everyone was equal. As some people say, these societies naturally reached a point where "everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others".

Therefore, one of the crucial questions we have to ask ourselves at this new century is: what is the best way to organize our societies?

That is a question for world scholars and those people who are engaged in these topics. "Organize" does not only mean defining the type of government, its meaning is broader than that. And it is so important that an idea comes, and very soon.

As we see, the world looks like a ship without a captain, trying to find its route on the waves of life. There is no logic in what is happening, and there shouldn't be as we are during a confluence period.

Before, we had the horrible struggle between democracy - a system that started in the past and provided an enticing way to put people on the rule of themselves - and non-democracy - varying from dictatorship to systems where a party, a small group of people, ruled over the rest.

I am saying before... I am aware this struggle still exists, but I can see it is part of a transition period.

On one hand, democracy got corrupted, sorry, there is no other word. At some places, dictators openly use democracy to justify their rule, as they are able to convince others to vote on them forever, taking one of the big benefits that came with democracy which is the variety of opinions and possibilities. At others, corruption is literal and power is split between those with more money or more influence.

On the other hand, people are awakening, and fast. They are overthrowing their own governments, demanding more participation and fighting for their own liberty. Sometimes, just as it happens when you awake after a deep sleep and you are not sure what you are doing, they make more wrongs than rights, but it is their learning process...

So, what will come then? That was the question, more focused into economics, Peter Drucker used to ask too. In fact, he predicted a time when poor would cross that invisible line and will fight the rich.

Economy is just part of the whole picture, and a small one, as we move from one world system to another.

While others probably are seeing a big hurricane coming, and very fast, where governments will be replaced either by chaos or tyrants, I am on the side of the dreamers. I think we are creating a new world, where all our learning from past mistakes will make earth into a real paradise. I do believe in that...

What about male leadership?

There is no doubt that not only women are ascending to power, but men are losing that power. There are many articles and essays on that, especially in United States and the reality is that a new paradigm is being created.

However, I was in a retreat on Leadership. My co-facilitator is an old friend, and one of her topics was female leadership. It was then I had an interesting realization.

First of all, she commented at some point that what is happening now is that women are increasing their status, but it shouldn't be that men lose theirs. It was then, I have started to look at the male leadership issue with different eyes.

Another point came from myself: leadership will be different performed, according to the person, his/her culture, the moment they are living, etc. So, why not to be a male leader?

First, let me clarify: female or male leadership does not have anything to do with gender, as we have seen women who were typically male leaders, and men who were female leaders. But, of course, it is easier for a man to be a male leader than a woman.

Male leadership stands for creation and creativity, zeal, enthusiasm, courage, energy, power, greatness, honor and all the things you have watched in old movies or read in books of such a times. Nowadays, what we see, is a travesty of that leadership where creativity destroyed nature, courage killed other people, power became a tool for self-serving, greatness turned into arrogance and, the worse probably, honor was lost forever.

To recover that kind of leadership will be a hard task, but my realization is that female leadership won't work without is counterpart - and possibly in the past, they were together providing the best from humankind to humankind.

It will require a new version of a man, a softer and firmer version, but I think it is really possible. It will require to see the world in a different perspective where violence does not have a place in a new society.