“We’re not going back!” Stories we tell ourselves shape our learning, believing, thinking, and doing and so shall we become. Stories of gender inequality, white supremacy and class dominance have whitewashed history. Are we separate and above nature or dependent and integral; competitive and greedy or cooperative and altruistic; wicked and selfish or good and just?
Biblical stories tell us “be fruitful and multiply,” have dominion over and subdue the Earth. “God, above and beyond nature” sets the stage for anthropocentrism, that Earth is subordinate to mankind. Another story of spirituality places human beings with an Earthly responsibility of stewardship as planetary caretakers and caregivers.
Hobbesian theory (1600s A.D.) has been powerful in persuading that human beings are born selfish, competitive, and power hungry while Rousseau (1700s A.D.) portrayed hunter-gatherers in more generous terms as being simple, naturally good, cooperative, but corrupted by society. Another story tells us we are imaginative, creative and resilient by nature to reorganize and choose another way.
“Those who fail, have only themselves to blame,” is pure rubbish! “Survival of the fittest” nonsense pervades our “rags to riches” stories to “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” hyper-individualism. Unquestioned assumptions and false claims are baseless assertions unsupported by evidence. Scientifically, nothing tells us we’re on a one-way trajectory of evolution with inevitable outcomes. As old prejudices, false beliefs and tyranny of ignorance fade, new possibilities emerge before our eyes.
Neuroscience reveals the brain’s ability to change itself. Accumulating evidence suggests that social beings are adaptable, not “stuck,” but capable of redesigning how we organize ourselves. We are the architects of the social structures we build. Stories that we are basically good and cooperative social creatures may produce happier outcomes. As “Trump’s Watches” run out of time, imagine “A New Way Forward!”
Harold Honkola
Stillwater