Economics for everyone (episode eleven)
By Dr. John F. Sase
———
Gerard J. Senick, General Editor
Julie Gale Sase, Copyeditor
William A. Gross, Cultural Advisor
“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”
—Arthur Schopenhauer,
Nineteenth-Century
German philosopher
In our previous episode, we explored the dynamics of group size. We considered how communication, authority, and decision-making could be affected in terms of the economic maxim that time is money—a maxim most relevant to Law, Economics, and Music, among other fields. In this episode and the next, we will explore the major functional areas that all small groups must organize and manage in order to remain viable economically. However, given the current state of both global and national affairs, we begin with a focus on the “glue” that holds all human groups together, be they Law firms, Economic groups, Jazz bands, government employees, or other residents of our planet.
An Exercise
The exercise that appears below may apply to any grouping of human beings for productive purposes. In these matters, we focus on underlying factors of ethical behavior. The professions of Law and Economics cannot be separated from ethics—a knowledge and understanding of right and wrong, fairness, and equality.
These human qualities remain universal and ageless. However, we live in a divided society of extreme poverty and wealth, Conservatives and Liberals, and citizens and immigrants. What we refer to as ethics has its source and foundation in ancient philosophy, religion, and basic belief systems for survival and prosperity.
The opening quote by Arthur Schopenhauer infers that truth remains self-evident in any successful human endeavor. However, how do we accomplish the goals that are inherent in these truths? Perhaps an answer appears in the following exercise that comes to us from a variety of sources. The earliest concept that we have reviewed is an ancient one from Asia known as “Dharma,” a term that means “more than a code of law.” The word Dharma, which is considered the cosmic rules and order that makes life and the universe possible, also includes duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues and “right way of living” (Steven Rosen, Essential Hinduism, Praeger, 2006). Various sects such as Buddhists, Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs have followed these principles throughout millennia. For example, Ancient China, Egypt, and India provided their concepts of truth, law, morality, and justice more than 4,000 years ago.
More recently, sources have included the Ten Commandments as delivered by Moses more than 3,500 years ago; the philosophy, law, and ethics of ancient Greek philosophers; and the teachings of Jesus from more than 2,000 years ago. The writings of Muhammad confirmed the beliefs of the descendants of Abraham 1,400 years ago. More recently, Nicholas Black Elk, the revered Lakota holy man, has brought new insights for modern humans.
Think Globally, Act Locally
In this current episode, we provide a synthesis for the 21st Century based on the sources included above. In previous articles, we have introduced and explored the concept of a sustainable economy with sufficient affluence for all. The economics of this concept involves more than the reinvestment of accumulated dormant wealth. We cannot reach our goal unless we develop a strong platform of more humane Law and Economics. Therefore, our task requires the work and commitment of all of us in order to achieve sufficient affluence in a sustainable economy on the local, national, and global levels.
Therefore, our concept includes current events, which are eroding our Constitution, our Democracy, our society, and the fabric of our international relations. In response, we present this lesson plan for moving successfully into the future. These exercises include more than three dozen positive actions for successful business, social, and home life that we have organized into seven sequential Growth Exercises: The Inner Preparation of Self, Preparing for the Outer World, Interaction with Others, Interaction with the Larger Community, The Higher and Wider Social Level, In Respect to Ecology and the Environment, and The Highest Level of Consciousness. We invite our readers to participate in these exercises. Each one leads the participant from the base within us as individuals to the world peak of ultimate consciousness. Here is our list of tasks to accomplish.
The Inner Preparation of Self
• Balance emotions: Emotions play key roles in achieving happiness, success, and lasting relationships as we progress in the process of our life experience. Our ability to remain emotionally intelligent helps us to keep our nervous systems balanced to ensure that our immune and other systems can repair and preserve themselves.
• Practice humility: Life is a living/learning experience by which we grow. By admitting our own mistakes when we fail to hit the mark, we move toward the ideal of humility. We do this by the avoidance of taking credit for an accomplishment while praising others as we help them to succeed.
• Be worthy of trust: Gaining trust stands as a greater good than gaining love. Trust from others comes from our being knowledgeable and well-informed. Only then can we, as humans, be trusted to govern ourselves.
• Follow inner guidance: When we feel lost or confused, we instinctively search for direction in life. In order to accomplish this, we need to turn to our inner selves. Within this space, our internal guidance flourishes because we come to listen to wisdom without judgment.
• Keep our own counsel: We must maintain discretion, circumspection, and care in what we say to others concerning our thoughts, deeds, or situations. This practice extends to our keeping appropriate secrets of others in confidence.
• Live in truth: Truth brings us to a state of wholeness and higher, clearer consciousness. In contrast, following deceptive paths offers only false riches. For example, superficial material success may lead to the inner “death” of our humanity.
• Make genuine offerings: With honest concern for others and the world around us, sincere giving from the heart produces genuine effects in the lives of all.
Preparing for the Outer World
• Honor virtue: In essence, virtue forms the Golden Rule by which we refrain from doing to our fellow humans that which feels hateful to ourselves. Virtue includes hope, justice, temperance, and good manners, to list but a few.
• Esteem purity: When we regard purity, we free ourselves from anything that debases or pollutes us or the environment around us. The nature of purity suggests freedom from evil, guilt, or inappropriate elements that may contaminate our lives.
• Be trustful: In our relationships with others, trust forms the foundation for building strong bonds and serves us as an essential ingredient in any healthy relationship. Therefore, we define trust through our honesty and dependability.
• Converse with awareness: In mastering this art, we need to develop our sense of empathy. When we fail to emphasize the development of our awareness of self and others, we may fail to leverage our other previously untapped personal qualities.
• Remain open to love: The spectrum of love includes all forms of human experience. We may strive for the love of a sacrificing friendship that develops between brothers in arms fighting side by side on a battlefield. This quality of love parallels the kind that parents have toward their children in a desire to save them from harm. Furthermore, we may strive for selfless love that extends to all people by our practice of patience, our care for humanity, and our deep understanding of it.
(Continued) ...
