Our original intent with this site was to maintain primarily a “higher” approach, to discuss the universe, earth, and humanity hoping to lead to an evolutionary path where humanity as a whole and individuals on their own could achieve their greatest goals and become more aligned with the universe.
But we have reached a point in America and elsewhere where political and other matters have become critical. For now, we feel we must concentrate on our small part of the universe rather than any larger issues or questions.
This is what we plan to be the first of a series of blogs.
In line with what we stated on our About page, some people will love what we say and others will hate it. People will differ on different issues. The same person could love our statement on one topic, but hate our statement on another.
We must get certain ideas and concepts out there for consideration and discussion.
As we noted in a previous post, America is not a perfect nation. No nation is. We have overcome some problems. Others remain to be overcome. But how we overcome them seems up for dispute.
In our opinion, America’s greatest problems today can be derived from 1) the influence of money or wealth and 2) violence, threats, and intimidation against others. Both of those can—and usually do—lead to power. We must deal with and correct both.
From our cosmic perspective, the violence and lack of civility so apparent today are disgusting and have no place in a proper society.
Let’s begin with something simple and straightforward.
People have what are called needs and wants. We treat desires as another term for wants.
Several people have proposed theories and lists of human needs. Probably the most well-known or famous is Abraham Maslow. Others have developed modifications since Maslow. These may vary somewhat in priority or word usage.
Sometimes it’s difficult to distinguish a need from a want. As often occurs with definitions, the differences can be fuzzy. We take a need as something required for survival—whether short or long term—and can encompass both material/physiological and psychological/spiritual aspects. A want is something which is not essential for survival, but that which an individual or group has a desire for.
People do have needs. We view people’s needs in this order:
1 – shelter/security
2 – water
3 – food
4 – freedom
5 – communication/socialization/companionship/love, which can lead to
6 – sex
7 – personal exploration, growth, achievement, success, which can lead to
8 – increased self worth, value—what some people call self-esteem
We must have shelter from the natural environment—to include weather, geological, and non-human creatures. Without this, a human could die within hours. People need some kind of basic security, even from other humans who might choose to do them harm.
We must have water and food—presumably from safe and nutritious sources. Without water, a human can die within days. Without food, a human can die within weeks.
The freedom to learn, move about, and express one’s self is critical to both physical and mental health. People who are confined or oppressed can develop problems.
The freedom to meet, socialize, and communicate with other humans is necessary for learning cooperation, taking on tasks larger than one individual can accomplish, and reproduction.
The freedom to explore one’s world, even to the universe, to gain wisdom and understanding about one’s self and how the universe works.
These freedoms enable one to judge and improve their self-worth (self-esteem), their value to themselves and to their society.
If you read the above, you noticed how many times we used the word freedom. After security, water, and food, we consider freedom the most important aspect of life.
Without freedom, people and societies deteriorate.
Clearly, we cannot have total freedom. If we had that, chaos would result. Actions like yelling fire in a crowded theater when there is no fire, actions which involve taking another’s life for no reason other than a desire to do so, and other actions must obviously be restricted for everyone’s safety and freedoms.
These limitations can be established by law and agreed to as a society. Those violating such laws must be held accountable.
People should be able to live their lives as they desire without being a burden to or imposing on the freedoms of others.