Questions - The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC)
Impromptu answers to questions put forth by ARC
Whilst watching a recent interview of Jordan Peterson by Russell Brand, I learned of The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC). At the time of the interview (late October 2023), Dr. Peterson was in the U.K. on his way to speak at an ARC forum. I gather Peterson played a role in the formation of this organisation.
Their website poses 6 questions to the public. For whatever was worth, for the sake of the mental exercise, I took a few minutes to answer them. What follows are those questions and the impromptu answers that came to mind.
As for ARC itself, I’m not convinced. Meaning, after a cursory review of their Advisory Board, I’m not convinced this is a genuine manifestation of an organisational vehicle through which human- and life-centric solutions will emerge. I’ll refrain from commenting further, until after I’ve had time to look more fully into ARC.
If these questions and ideas are of interest to you, please take a moment to comment.
Vision and Story
- Can we find a unifying story that will guide us as we make our way forward?
Yes, but I suspect it's only likely if sufficient numbers of people (members of societies) transcend their limited and mis-taken sense of self ... a “self” that is barely more than a convergence of social conditioning and programming. This conditioned sense of “self” vehemently believes in and defends a superstition of separation and autonomous individuality.
Only by bringing forth conscious realisation of the human "spirit" and the living embodiment of that realisation (it's actualisation), will our natural and innate state of unity be made manifest. What's more, the human soul when illuminated by the human spirit is thenceforth able to perceive the profound oneness manifest as the many forms of life we not only witness around us, but are in fact an incarnating expression of. From this perspective narriatives of togetherness, unity, cooperation, and oneness will be the only stories we can conceive and convey.
Responsible Citizenship
- How do we facilitate the development of a responsible and educated citizenry?
It needs to start with a very conscious understanding of "education." The roots of this word grow from Latin "educere," which refers to leading or drawing something out (of the one being educated). It's based on the presupposition that every human being innately contains all that they would ever need, and that life is a process of drawing that out so that it takes shape and expression. Much of that leading out is through reflection and the internalization of that which is reflected to the soul through worldly experiences and challenges. When we approach "education" from this perspective, education is no longer about programming and conditioning our citizens to dutifully conform to a predefined set of abstract concepts, ideologies, beliefs, and moral precepts. Rather, it is about providing a suitably supportive and challenging environment that will draw forth the inherent potential within the human being. A human being educated in this way can't help but embody a deep-seated sense of responsibility to Life.
Family and Social Fabric
- What is the proper role for the family, the community, and the nation in creating the conditions for prosperity?
The first role of family, community, and nation is to play their necessary part in actualizing what I've detailed in Q1 and Q2. Obviously, in order for family, community, and nation to play this role, the people referred to by these definitions must do their own inner work of digging through their conditioning and the discovery of their spirit, their illuminating consciousness. If education is to "lead out" and if we can really only lead by example, then we must all be constantly engaged in a form of self-education so that we play a more potentiated role of leadership to those around us, and those looking up to us (our children, etc.).
Free Enterprise and Good Governance
- How do we govern our corporate, social and political organizations so that we promote free exchange and abundance while protecting ourselves against the ever-present danger of cronyism and corruption?
If we have been successful in fulfilling the subject matter of Q1, Q2, and Q3, how likely is cronyism and corruption? Not very.
Obviously, however, the fulfillment of what is addressed in Q1 to Q3 will manifest in an emergent fashion. It won't happen overnight. It will unfurl from deep within the human soul through a continuum of steps, stages, and even setbacks. So in the meantime, the danger of cronyism and corruption (and much more) will be a challenge we have to actively face and contend with. There are so many aspects to this that I would be loath to try and spell them out in this format. So I'll leave that for another day.
Energy and Resources
- How do we provide the energy and other resources upon which all economies depend in a manner that is inexpensive, reliable, safe and efficient, including in the developing world?
This too is a vast topic to address here. I will, however, share the following:
Our current level of thinking in relation to energy and resources presupposes universal scarcity and is motivated by fear and greed. In simple terms, this is what makes energy and resources expensive. It's the cost of satisfying insatiable greed and a false sense of separation. I will also mention that until people — individually and collectively — learn (remember) the nature of life-force and regain an appreciation for the power brought about through the conscious harnessing and directing of life-force, and naturally, how to manage our own life-force on a moment-to-moment basis, our relationship to so-called "energy and resources" will continue to be tenuous at best.
The relatively high cost of "energy and resources" is reflective of the internal (and spiritual) cost of our mismanagement of life-force. Addressing and resolving these matters, and the answers to the question of "energy and resources" will naturally emerge.
Environmental Stewardship
- How should we take the responsibility of environmental stewardship seriously?
What I've detailed in my answer to Q1 would provide a useful start.
When people break free from the superstition of separation and the strange notion that "nature" is "the phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations" (the common dictionary definition of "nature"), and we regain our sense of unity with all of life, and we transcend being misidentified with a set of conditions and corporation-serving societal precepts, the phenomena of environmental stewardship arises quite naturally. Just as taking good care of one's own body naturally arises when we know who and what the human being truly is.
In the current state of the modern world, most people don't even have a basic sense of how to (and the need to) take responsibility for the "environment" referred to as "my body". Most of us, when we do attempt to take responsibility for our body, we almost immediately abdicate the brunt of that responsibility to an industrial medical complex and the doctors and pharmacists who have been unwittingly conditioned by that money-hungry industrial complex to act as its representatives.
How can we expect people in such a state of consciousness to feel responsible for the wider environment that their body (their only means to be here in/on Earth) is a unit of? Genuine and truly effective (nature-wisdom aligned) caring for the Earth starts with a deep embodiment of the reality that as human beings we ARE the Earth.
I could go on, but that's sufficient for now.