The Transformation of Culture

Human culture is a complex tool or set of tools. Culture provides a meaningful and useful set of behaviours by which the needs of its practitioners may be satisfied: food, shelter, safety, art, et cetera.

However, these cultures which are developed by peoples have a limited period of usefulness, after which their continued use can be counter-productive, a liability rather than a benefit.

As human cultures have evolved they have become increasingly more complex so that in the year 2011 we have a multitude of choices and a plethora of samples - modern, antique or ancient. The Universal Culture has been asserting itself, especially in “western” countries.

The Universal Culture includes hi-tech wizardry like computers and the Internet, flight and other modes of automated transportation, television, food, beverages, belief systems, literatures, politics, science and so much more…all things from all places and peoples are coalescing into a single stream.

If the dominant culture does not fulfill the purposes for which cultures are developed and applied, to “provide a meaningful and useful set of behaviours by which…our needs may be satisfied”, then it is necessary to further examine what we are doing with an eye to making effective changes whereby our genuine needs will be met.

How does one transform culture or bring about a transformation of culture? I do not believe that any one of us can do this. It is by nature a collective activity.

We do have tools by which our needs may be examined or met. Reason and debate and analysis and discussion and imaginative creativity are some effective tools for the pursuit of this collective goal - the transformation of culture to meet our current and future needs.
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Success With Less - examples & taxes

In the past six years I have conducted an effective campaign at local, provincial and federal levels to gain equal rights for children, and for the education reform required to achieve this goal while meeting our real national needs. For me the individual and the collective needs of citizens are intimately related and intertwined.

There was an initial financial outlay of $182.30 for this campaign. At this point I'm over a thousand dollars in the black I am effective in my work and extremely economical.

This amount bought and paid for legal action in Parliament as well as intervention by a Senate Committee [Rights and Freedoms], The Ombudsman of Ontario, media, scholars, and Canadians of all backgrounds. This initiative has also included many national television appearances to help clarify the issue and the discuss the urgency connected to it.

The Canadian Children’s Rights Initiative has been made possible by my analytical, administrative and activist skills, coupled with a practical knowledge of current media, governmental and organizational functionality, coupled with diplomatic and collaborative abilities. I believe in getting the job done and doing it in an unimaginably economical manner.

Another example of my economical approach was my work in Latin America. Like some awkward Forest Gump I once saw an opportunity to bring a peaceful conclusion to the long and bloody civil war in El Salvador.

I grasped this opportunity and helped shape a peace accord between the warring factions. This enabled the introduction of the democratic methods that have served Salvadorans ever since.

This helped to bring stability to Central America and has had incalculable consequences. My own main concern at the time was the boy [Hector] we had adopted through a Canadian aid group. He lived in the most dangerous community in El Salvador and needed relief. This helped him and all Salvadoran children. For war is not good for children.

I have met many people who have spent small fortunes in efforts to build a school in that region, or houses, or local economic initiatives, promoting liberty and democracy. I somehow succeeded where others had met with frustration. This involved letters, phone calls, and finally a week-long tour of El Salvador that culminated in the signing of a peace accord.

I did this while in the midst of a demanding load at work. I used a week of continuing education leave from my job to visit and study El Salvador and Latin America. This project cost me about $800.00.

I tend to be highly effective and very economical. Anyone can do this. I think we all should do it. High efficiency is learnable.

I want to apply these methods widely in government and society and then see how far and how quickly tax levels fall. :)

Peace Pays!
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The Future

The Future is a very important part of the theory of Time. In fact as far as we know the Future does not exist any more than does the Past. There is only this constant incessant Present tense in which we live and act and feel.

However, the very acts of planning, dreaming, hoping or reaching imply that we believe we can influence what will happen after Now. Consequently, although it does not exist and never has, the Future is a very important Focus of human life. 

The Future is the domain in which our dreams come true and our ambitions are fulfilled. In the Future we discover and own another of the key components of Success [Happiness], which is Hope.

It has been suggested by some imaginative philosophers that “Life is but a dream.” It has been my experience that life often emerges from our dreams. 


In the manner of the biblical Joseph I have seen many of my own childhood dreams guide my decision-making until those dreams became real. Like Joseph, I have also seen circumstance unfold independent of my decision-making and desire. 
 
Providence has guided me to become the person I was “intended” to be. This happened in a most timely manner, enabling me to arrive at the places I needed to go - places that once existed only in my dreams.

Had it not been for many unpleasant and undesirable experiences, I would not have the same personality, disposition, character, and outlook. These ideas and experiences have moved me in perceptible ways to shape and preserve my life. 

Within the comfortable confines of Eternity we can see and hear with new eyes and ears.
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Time Is What You Make Of It

Life is [surely] what you make of it. Life is Time. Life is what you make of Time.

I have discovered that Time is malleable. We can shape it, twist it, and make it into many things. We can use these forms to realize our dreams and accomplish our goals. We need not feel helpless in the face of a clock, nor overwhelmed by a day-timer or intimidated by a calendar. These are unfounded fears born of wrong information and inadequate Human Technology.

Many people have been convinced that Time is an enemy that will, by nature, destroy us and subvert our plans. But I would like to suggest that Time is not our enemy and that rather - Time is our friend.

Time is a sacred and holy thing to me. It contains blessings beyond our wildest imaginings. It is that field in which a valuable treasure has been buried. It is one of the means of Success. It contains all of the potential for all things that will happen or might have happened.

If we can compose ourselves adequately to simply look at Time, we will discover that it is a gift. Our way of thinking about Time will determine what we are able to do with it.

I believe that it's benefit to merely think about Time. Thinking about things is an action that changes the substance of Being and reality. Immediately we devote energy to examining and understanding anything, we are better off. So with Time.

I have already outlined a number of the concepts involved in this precious thing – Time. Remember: years, months, weeks, hours, minutes, and seconds and microseconds. Add to this other notions- eons, millennia, ages, centuries, eternity and Moments.

To consider all of these divisions of Time helps achieve some kind of perspective. This helps organize the flow of Life: history, pre-history, personal history, the future.

Thus we are better enabled to understand our personal experience within the vast context of the flow of Time [“…like an ever flowing stream.”]. Time has no obvious limits so it's easy to get lost.

At the same time, if we consider our life in the broader context, troubles and worries shrink and become proportionate with the large tragedies of history: famine, war, pestilence. Considering an error is judgment at a given moment, or even for a year or more is often best seen in the context of an entire lifetime.

A failure to keep an appointment can be seen in the context of an all-encompassing Providence which will turn it to good purposes and results eventually. Life's like that.

These simple meditations alone can lend comfort to the human heart. And Comfort is one important component in true Success, which is that mystery we call Happiness.

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Breaking New Ground - Reaping the Harvest

But there is more, much more we can do with Time. There is much more we can understand about this insubstantial staple of life. One of the key elements in my current understanding of Time is that it clusters into Moments.

These Moments occur in a variety of shapes and sizes and contain varying degrees of experience. A Moment could be of any length. I have seen a culmination of events last for months. I have witnessed the sustained completion of a dream go on for weeks and years.

I have likewise seen a minute become the repository for years of work and dreaming. And I have seen those most compelling seconds and microseconds in which all of life is contained comfortably, when the true meaning of Life becomes apparent and no limitations or subdivisions exist.

Moments! In my experience with God there is an Eternal Moment. Biblically it is called Eternal Life. It has no limitations in any direction. From the point-of-view afforded by this condition, possibilities and potentialities and opportunities and dreams and wonders emerge in a rich, never-ending stream. Yet many people fear that time and place and condition - the Forever in each Moment.

On a practical, day-to-day level, an awareness of these Moments, and an acknowledgment of them, permits many things. One important result is an ever-deepening appreciation of the richness of life. We are permitted to enjoy life with increasing depth, intensity and consistency.

This condition is like a rich garden in which we are free to pluck the fruit of the tree of life, to eat, and to be satisfied. [I write this realizing that many people do not consciously seek satisfaction.] It is like a view from a high tower on a hill, with a panorama laid out at our feet in all directions - Perspective.

It has an element of comfort like reclining after a perfect meal, not too full, but with no remnant of hunger.

Of course I would recommend this Eternal Life to anyone and everyone. However, realizing that many people are uncomfortable with this topic I will discuss other issues associated with Time.

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Time - "See what's become of me..." - Paul Simon

Time is one of our greatest treasures. One very successful capitalist and manufacturer I knew stated the essence of capitalist philosophy this way. “Time and money. That’s all there is.” Although I don’t entirely agree with this position, there is no doubt that a great part of the truth is contained in the statement.

In many respects I find that people take Time for granted. They spend it like a wealthy person spends money. A thousand dollars is nothing to some people, but several years of income to others.
Time is like money in many ways. It has value. It is essentially a symbol for our life. [For words are but symbols to describe how we understand things.] We can spend it, invest it, squander it, throw it away if we wish.

In an age of shortages

In an age of shortages and dire economic predictions the ability to succeed with less has become essential to our survival.

Success and Survival are our goals I expect. These two key themes are intimately connected - and getting ahead with less is required.

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We need to move into the range and application of quantum Maths to find the true potential in the resources we use carelessly at present.

Resources are abundant but hidden to us still. We must develop technologies that put less stress and pressure on the Earth.

Success with Less - Introduction

Success is important to us as human beings. A sense of success elevates the human spirit and results in that elusive tonic: happiness.

At present the general trend of thinking regarding success and happiness is that it hinges upon acquiring a certain [large] sum of money. This sum is not specified, but it is certainly more than we/I possess at present.

However, true success is not measured in the possessions we acquire. Rather, it is best measured in being in possession of ONESELF rather than the acquisition of material possessions.

When things are permitted to become the purpose of life, happiness will likely be displaced with the worries that accompany possessiveness, whatever its expression. [Whether things or people!]

So then how can we summarize what leads to human happiness? Self-respect and self-love, supported by freedom and fulfillment are constituent parts of happiness for many. Some claim that their happiness came part and parcel with large sums of money.

But if happiness could only come in the company of money, it would not be experienced by many. As we know, most children and many people embody and emanate happiness with no exertion.

People with less could have no success if large sums of money were required. And all people below some arbitrary level of earning would automatically be excluded from happiness. You see how ridiculous it becomes, and very quickly.

Yet, generally speaking, a person requires some degree of financial success in order to have the essential elements of life often associated with happiness. e.g. – food, shelter, clothing.

There is little doubt that those who encourage people to seek great wealth in their quest for self-love, self-respect, freedom and fulfillment offer a means to happiness; a certain kind of happiness.

But many people possess neither the ability nor the desire nor the resources to sell cosmetics, make wise financial investments, buy and sell real estate, invent a better mousetrap, move in the desirable social circles, et cetera.

Most people would agree that happiness is something that is accessible. This universal belief prompted the Framers of the U.S. Constitution to guarantee the Right to pursue this precious treasure: happiness.

Among the countless thousands of people I have known there were only a few who believed they did not deserve to be happy. [Those few were generally afflicted with a severe mental illness.] There is a universal belief that we each “deserve” to be happy.

It also seems to be universally accepted that happiness does not depend upon wealth, possessions, titles, positions, accomplishment, fame, acclaim, productivity, or the satisfaction of passions or appetites.

The common wisdom has an uncanny tendency to be proven correct. I have encountered happy people by the hundreds, perhaps thousands. And I can honestly say that happiness has graced my own life to a surprising degree. But let it be said that I have relentlessly sought after happiness throughout my life.

Through trial and error, through listening to the advice of happy people, through reading their thoughts in books and reading their lives, I have learned something about this wonderful possession among possessions.

It can be found and enjoyed a good deal of the time. And there are times, for the growth and evolution of the soul, when it must be absent.

Ecclesiastes: “To enjoy our work in the company of the companion we love, this is happiness, peace, contentment.”

One author wrote that Success can bring Happiness:

Success

To laugh often and love much
To win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation
of honest critics and endure
the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty
To find the best in others;
To leave the world
a bit better, whether
by a healthy child,
a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived
That is to have succeeded.

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