DIALOGUE: What should we change?
“It might be more than just a metaphor that the world sometimes changes its nature and that another change is due.” – John Crowley.
______
RAYA
I’m starting a new message for us to dialogue on these ideas you got.
“Anyway. About the ideas…
I liked a lot what you wrote the other time, that global change comes with mental evolution. Could you write me more about how you mean it? Because I agree with it, but I’d like to compare the views on it.
Do you think that the mental evolution is something that humankind will or is just going through… uncontrolablly (whether in a bad or good way) or is it something that can be globally influenced?”
Well this is a big question. Things change. “good” or “bad” is just a cultural religion-based perception. As human beings, we control our evolution because it is a cause/consequence chain. But as individuals, it is hard to feel it. I guess it requires a high level of consciouness. Then, how to access it? How do we get a global perception of life? We have to. How could we leave our kids in a rotting world?
What do you think? Do we have to change our culture?
______
LENKA
So the global change can happen only if millions and millions of individual minds go through mental evolution.
I wonder if human brain stopped with Homo Sapiens and doesnt develop further (maybe just lack of my knowledge). We come with new and new things and I wonder how far can this go.
I think we never really get a global perception of life. Maybe if we learn for the whole life, know about every culture… we are able to have a global perception. We can create our own opinion on things, not just have a received one someone formulated for us.
This is nearly impossible.
I have a friend from Thailand. Every time she talks about her life I am wide-eyed and going whoa. Because no one ever told me and I had no idea. It’s SO different from what I’m living in.
Every country, every nation, every human being exists with the view people have about it and with the one it/he/she has about itself/him/herself. It can differ so terribly.
We can learn from every culture.
Is something like ‘one nation’ possible? Maybe one day we become so global that distance will play no role.
But you know. This feels like absolute utopia.
To answer your question. if we want a global change, we should be preapred we will have to let our culture mix with other cultures.
Same goes for religion… so extremists… adieu!
______
RAYA
I don’t think we – human brains – can go in every directions at the same time. We can’t know about every cultures. We would choose them. Which is what is happening with the globalization. It looks more like an ‘americanization’ than anything us.
So maybe, if a change is due, it should be higher than cultural. Not about directions but about elevations. It’s a metaphor but i don’t know how to say it in a more concrete way.
Couldn’t we just keep our individual culture and become more humanly coherent? I love that word “coherent”.
And i’ve been asking myself about the meaning of “change”? What does it mean? Because, it wouldn’t make sense to replace a thinking pattern by another one. Right? We, obviously, cannot judge of the value of one way of thinking over another one.
We belong to a culture, that’s given by history.
I like what you said – keep our individual culture and become more humanly coherent. I think that’s very well put.
______
LENKA
Your view is realistic.
Realistic views have future. Hopefully.
I still think that the more cultures we know the better. We should respect one another’s cultures, no one should be forcing theirs on anyone else.
But dont you think we need a roofing one? Something that would be connecting us? For international communication there needs to be a language. There needs to be a code. And that is just one thing.
Change, for me, means logical and not forced but wholeheartedly needed and wanted step out of the shadow.
It should arise from the need of every human being so that it’s not forced.
I sometimes think there’s this need in the world already. But I’m afraid it’s turning into negativism and scepticism in many cases…
______
RAYA
Sure, the more we learn about other cultures, the more we learn about humankind. It helps to open minds.
I tend to think that we should all speak three languages: your mother tongue of course, the business one and the one you’d choose. That’d be a great way to find a balance in that globalization.
Societies change. If you live in them, you’re somehow forced to change with their evolution. Now the question is: can we live outside societies? As human beings, we change. And it’s kinda… unchanging. haha! I mean, whatever the paths you walk in your life, you’ll grow old and die. (Am i not being too realistic here again ? haha)
I smell another dialogue coming our way: are we free? 
but we’ll talk about that later.
______
LENKA
Yes, the conclusion could be that: culture gives us an identity.
It could be really dangerous to start breaking this.
So instead of connecting cultures, there’s a need for some… human coherence. So that various (sometimes extremely different) identities and cultures can coexist, in respect and tolerance to one another.
Ohh about the society. I think that when human beings change, the society changes as well…
If you walk a path which is good, revolutionarily good let’s say, and you have followers… you wont grow old and die so easily :p
I mean, every individual has the potential to change the state of things. Now it is kinda balanced – we have wars, criminals, we have rich and poor, we have those who want to help the world, we have fanatics and we have free minds.
I dont know if it’s balanced, I tend to believe it is. (but i dont like this black and white view)
hah.. freedom. THAT’s a thing that comes from every single individual. If individuals are not free, humankind will never be.
But some people will never even come to inner realization what freedom means in their whole lives, I’m afraid sometimes.
______
RAYA
Yeah, beyond our cultural differences, there is this common denominator called humanity. We should rethink our actions, thinkings and words regarding this fundamental similarity. Which means that one of our goal, today, is to get over some insane traditions.
There’s definatly no black and white situation. There are just causes and consequences. I’d rather say what you think, say and do is coherent (or incoherent) to human life. Black/white ; good/wrong, who cares? We should ask ourselves: “am i coherent?”
Now what is coherence? Well, maybe it starts with freedom? I am incoherent when, by my thoughts, words or acts, i break one’s freedom?
______
LENKA
I think so.
When being incoherent means going against humanity, the common denominator of all the world’s cultures and societies, then inocoherency could be in some relation to freedom of individuals.
Then being coherent means giving the basis for world’s freedom.
Do you think the world is free nowadays?
______
RAYA
Definitely not.
There are a lot of dictatures out there. And even in countries where you can find that so-called ‘freedom of speech’ or ‘free of expression’, people are not free. There are so much manipulations. We can tell a thing and mean another. Lies and omissions are part of political speeches. Publicity/advertising and propagandas are everywhere.
It’s not dialogues or sharing ideas, it’s more like everyone wants to convince others to do or think like they do. It’s mental chaos. We lost some rhetoric. I think i already said that.
Do you feel free?
______
LENKA
I agree with your view.
The world is not free. People make one big cage for themselves.
We need to discuss mass media in more detail some day, because it’s a big machinery which has the power to give and take freedom (when talking about the ‘civilized world’).
I feel free.
Deep inside.
I am free when I can do what I feel like doing, what I feel is right, and take full responsibility for my actions. That’s how I define freedom.
You are free when you can do what you want to do. You can go where you want to go. You can do with your live whatever you will.
But you are not free when the responsiblity for your actions falls on someone else’s shoulders.
I often feel free. But not always.
One of the keys to freedom is to learn to appreciate what you have.
Do you feel free? What do you think freedom is?
______
RAYA
This is a hard question for me. I’ve been thinking about that for a while now.
And my answer would be, i’m as free as i can be. Because, i have enough time to write/paint/draw after work. And I feel totally free when i’m writing/drawing. But, this job (that i only do for the money) is still keeping me chained. My complete freedom would be for me to travel the world. But, the job, it doesn’t give me enough money to do so. haha so i guess, i’m partly free.
Freedom, to me, is the liberty to be yourself (as long as you don’t overcome someone else’s freedom).
This leads me to another question: at some point, when there is so many people involved, can we still be free? For example: a city. The more people there is, the less freedom you get?
We came together in societies in order to survive as human beings. Did we give away our fundamental freedom?
______
LENKA
I really like your ‘definition’ – liberty to be yourself as long as you don’t overcome someone else’s freedom.
hm.. about your question… Well, actually I think that the bigger the city the more free you can feel For me, people are a determiner of my freedom. Hm, my freedom is not only mine, because borderlines of people are crossing and … according to me, it shouldnt be ‘one person with his/her own border the others cant cross in order to not break freedom of this person’ …
When other people are free, so am I, because even when we look like separate individuals, we are not. That’s how I feel it… I have my own soul, but it wouldnt exist if there werent other people. So, the more people lives in the city, the more people prove my existance and thus my potential freedom.
I would be not free if there werent other people who I can feel free around. I am as free as much I can respect freedom of others.
And it’s freedom of all of us.
Gives sense?
The system says: you earn money, you can buy living. You can choose to be a homeless person and a wanderer. But when you want to live in a house, you have to earn for it.
So, our freedom has to give in to the system.
But we created it and a free person, according to me, can admit he/she is responsible for it too. He/she can subordinate or rebel. It’s your decision about whether the system is good or not. But you gotta take the responsiblity for that decision.
______
RAYA
Ok, i get it. In order to enjoy a full freedom, we need to be alive. And we wouldn’t survive without people. So, to be free, we need people around us.
But like every things, it needs to be balanced. We need time for ourselves sometimes.
I think you got a point here: there’s a great deal of responsibility that goes along one’s freedom.
i remenber a quote from i-don’t-remember-who : “If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors.”
______
LENKA
Yeah… we definitely need time for ourselves… some solitude, some time just for ourselves… time to analyse and rest from social interaction.
That quote about freedom is a nice one.
I think that personal freedom is one of the most important things in the world.
