Record of Changes
Change #1: 9 Nov -- added link to the opening ceremony for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing -- changed title from "...and World Peace" to "... and The Human Mission"Change #2: 10 Nov -- added a statement, entitled "The Context for this bulletin, just below the main title, explaining that the source for this is ME and not the Chinese government nor anyone else.
Change #3: 10 Nov -- ADDED A STATEMENT, AT BOTTOM, EXPLAINING A KEY MOTIVE BEHIND THIS BULLETIN
Change #4: 10 Nov -- Declared, in the context section, that the Civic Mentor must, by necessity, inculcate a clearly defined, defensible, and properly humanistic SYSTEM OF MORALITY -- and does and always will.
Change #5: 11 Nov -- Suddenly realized that our much beloved President Lincoln left us some invaluable guidance, completely relevant to the thrust of this bulletin -- from his second inaugural -- placed at the very end of this document.
THE STAKES HAVE NEVER BEEN HIGHER -- AS OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNIVERSE RAPIDLY GROWS
3. Regardless of source -- I think my reasoning is sound -- and, hopefully, stands on its own -- open to your inspection and critique (which I welcome, if kindly expressed). I am counting on eventually high-voluntarism and the collective human wisdom to help perfect these early claims, if corrections are warranted.
THE CONTEXT FOR THIS BULLETIN
1. Please understand, that the only source for the substance of the following (as far as I consciously know) is my own reasoning, many highly-favorable life-exposures; many decades on this earth -- systematically equipping myself for this very task; and a carefully-considered, deliberately-maturing world-view on life's general and specific aspects; and my highest hopes for a good, richly productive life-experience for ALL my fellow humans -- and ONLY that.
2. AND, I SINCERELY BELIEVE AND BASE ALL CIVIC MENTOR OPERATIONS -- ON THE FOLLOWING ASSUMPTIONS -- ABOUT OVER-ARCHING MORAL TRUTHS -- FOR SYSTEMIC MORALITY MUST THOROUGHLY INCULCATE THE CIVIC MENTOR -- TOP TO BOTTOM -- OR IT WILL BE WORTHLESS -- OR WORSE THAN WORTHLESS:
the only MORAL-SYSTEM BASES
2. AND, I SINCERELY BELIEVE AND BASE ALL CIVIC MENTOR OPERATIONS -- ON THE FOLLOWING ASSUMPTIONS -- ABOUT OVER-ARCHING MORAL TRUTHS -- FOR SYSTEMIC MORALITY MUST THOROUGHLY INCULCATE THE CIVIC MENTOR -- TOP TO BOTTOM -- OR IT WILL BE WORTHLESS -- OR WORSE THAN WORTHLESS:
A.
Human WELL-BEING and BETTERMENT are the only MORAL-SYSTEM BASES
we really need and can all embrace,
UNIVERSALLY
This idea is so simple to grasp and apply!
HELPS Human Betterment and Well-Being,
Then It is Good, Right and MORAL.
******
If it HINDERS These Things,
Then It is Evil, Wrong, and IMMORAL
UNIVERSALLY
This idea is so simple to grasp and apply!
B.
If an ACT or OMISSIONThen It is Good, Right and MORAL.
******
If it HINDERS These Things,
Then It is Evil, Wrong, and IMMORAL
C.
Simple! Undeniably, unequivocally, unambiguously true!
OUR GREATEST MORAL TRUTHS,
universally applicable like nothing else!
OUR GREATEST MORAL TRUTHS,
universally applicable like nothing else!
Even the MILLIONS of differing religious INTERPRETATIONS of reality can be measured and weighed against these standards and use them to separate the wheat from the chaff -- though even religious definitions of "help" and "hindrance" can and do vary, significantly. (For example, does "help" mean trying to insure that another enters a favorable afterlife -- even if it hinders self-fulfillment in this one? Does "hinder" mean anything in this life that interferes with the perceived qualifications for entry to a later form of existence is immoral -- even if it helps here? ) And, that's a problem in need of solving. Anything that confuses rather than clarifies truth tends to be a problem.
D.
-- on such a rock-solid foundation
From and with these truths -- we can logically deduce and favorably influence -- MUCH, if not EVERYTHING SIGNIFICANT
-- about ourselves and our world
-- and SECURELY build-up and SPEED the healthy advancement of human maturity and progress toward better days
-- about ourselves and our world
-- and SECURELY build-up and SPEED the healthy advancement of human maturity and progress toward better days
E.
Of course, this correctly implies that human well-being and betterment are humankind's ULTIMATE VALUES
AND, THUS, NO HIGHER STATE OR MODE OF EXISTENCE IS WITHIN OUR PRIVATE OR COLLECTIVE POWER
AND, THUS, NO HIGHER STATE OR MODE OF EXISTENCE IS WITHIN OUR PRIVATE OR COLLECTIVE POWER
Everything can and should be weighed against these values -- at least all of this is what I am taking for action -- SO AS TO TEST THESE IDEAS IN THE REAL WORLD
*********
3. Regardless of source -- I think my reasoning is sound -- and, hopefully, stands on its own -- open to your inspection and critique (which I welcome, if kindly expressed). I am counting on eventually high-voluntarism and the collective human wisdom to help perfect these early claims, if corrections are warranted.
4. I am determined to do my best to help leave this world far better than I found it -- at least as much as this particular human can do!
5. For my own, cogent reasons, I chose to build this essay around the great nation of China -- but this applies, I think, to relations among all successfully advancing and rationally-evolving nations -- on the hope that this effort will eventually help to make "success" an intrinsic part of the definition of ANY AND EVERY NATION -- including those still suffering predominantly chaotic and unreasonable life-conditions -- for the time being.
5. For my own, cogent reasons, I chose to build this essay around the great nation of China -- but this applies, I think, to relations among all successfully advancing and rationally-evolving nations -- on the hope that this effort will eventually help to make "success" an intrinsic part of the definition of ANY AND EVERY NATION -- including those still suffering predominantly chaotic and unreasonable life-conditions -- for the time being.
Many thanks to my friend, AJF,
for calling my attention to the need for this preliminary statement!
A FABULOUS CHINESE MILITARY PARADE AND THE HUMAN MISSION
Say what you will -- this is grandeur on a huge scale. It's a magnificent parade -- and the Chinese people look proud of what they have achieved -- in their own way -- and rightfully so. Another great people of the earth doing the best they can under their circumstances.
Click here and see for yourselves
(but hopefully, you'll consider this bulletin first):
(but hopefully, you'll consider this bulletin first):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVhzu7iIgtY
And who can forget the glorious opening ceremony for
The 2008 Olympics in Beijing?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii-n_QSS0og
And who can forget the glorious opening ceremony for
The 2008 Olympics in Beijing?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii-n_QSS0og
1. I look at the beautiful faces of those young men and women marching proudly in review -- glorious fellow humans, all -- and I hope that this power never has to go up against the U.S. or any nations -- it would be such a tragic waste for them to kill and be killed. A setback for us all.
War is surprising, unpredictable, and supremely "expensive," by nature -- for one thing is certain -- that while it creates lots of economic opportunities for some, it also squanders and destroys even greater, irreplaceable human potential to do good and the human entitlement to be treated well -- so they can deliver their best contributions (a very bad deal for humankind in any sensible analysis) and is harder and harder to justify, when communications and human understanding have never been better -- and are improving all the time. Humanity is growing up.
It is sadly ironic (though, logically predictable) that some of our greatest inventions and advances fall out of this wasteful investment of precious, irreplaceable human lives. But that was when we were young. We have it in our grasp to be much wiser, soon, as maturation accelerates.
IN OTHER WORDS, AGGRESSIVE WAR HINDERS HUMAN BETTERMENT & WELL-BEING
AND IS, THEREFORE, IMMORAL.
DEFENSIVE WAR THAT PROTECTS HUMAN WELL-BEING & BETTERMENT IS MORAL, IF (AND ONLY IF) IT IS THE MOST REASONABLE or UNAVOIDABLE AVAILABLE OPTION, ALL THINGS CONSIDERED (Note: I'm sorry to leap over the logical progression which enabled me to introduce this last point, but that would divert the theme of this bulletin, too much -- yet it still needed to be brought up to complete the discussion -- and I think it stands on its own, without much explanation.)
2. The only enemies China and the US should ever need to face are those who make civilization the target of their destructive ideas. We are permanent neighbors on this small planet -- we may as well become the best of friends -- AND MUST BECOME AND REMAIN FRIENDS.
3. We have much bigger, more vital, and constructive things to do -- that must be done in complete harmony -- as ONE GREAT SPECIES OF LIFE. Such as reaching for the stars, together, within a wondrously abundant, but viciously hazardous universe -- which can kill us all (even without warning) or enrich human life, completely. No single nation or small group of them can do this, alone -- we need almost everyone involved -- all the power and unity and good will we can muster. When we land on other worlds, we have to do so as humans, not as nationalists. And we must defend and nurture our home world in the very same way.
A UNITED HUMAN SPECIES
IS FAR GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS
-- and certainly greater than any single part, alone.
4. "Grow or die" -- those are the persistent imperatives we can not escape and must face -- as individuals, nations, and a single species -- and, this is true for ALL life-forms. Our next most logical, inescapable global mission (as we unify) is, surely, to colonize the universe. If we ever need to escape this planet or else face going extinct -- how can we accomplish this without being as unified as we can become? And the technological and societal struggle in taking the next steps will surely continue to produce favorable side-effects, in many surprising ways, as such struggles have ALWAYS tended to do, down through history.
5. Are we worthy to survive and mature into something even more remarkable than we now are? I think so -- but we have to PROVE IT. We have no sensible alternative but to continue to come together as we are doing -- as technology and our maturation increasingly converts the previously impossible into reality -- and deepens our understanding of the terrible dangers we are in -- in a world which must either be our stepping stone to other worlds -- or our only grave.
6. Human life is ONE great chain-reaction which began with the VERY FIRST HUMANS and will continue until THE VERY LAST have died. We are so interdependent, that our every act or omission affects that ENTIRE chain-reaction, for better or worse. Everyone matters. Everyone who is rational is compelled to seek better days. And the best days are contained in the promise of peace, realized.
7. The world would be a far different place -- for better or for worse -- had any one of us never been born. And we would be in catastrophic error, if we underestimate and waste each other's enormous potential to make the precious life-experience the treasure it can and should be.
David Nelson
AS I CONTINUE TO WORK OUT A COGENT
CIVIC MENTOR POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY,
I FEEL COMPELLED TO EXPAND ON THIS
CIVIC MENTOR POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY,
I FEEL COMPELLED TO EXPAND ON THIS
And, why can't we admire what we see? -- the symmetry, the color, the pageantry, and yes, beauty of the individuals and the whole -- not to mention the astounding resilience of an ancient nation and people who underwent unimaginably cruel oppression over the centuries -- yet, here they are -- standing up for themselves as any self-respecting human or mass of humans would and should do. If they don't then who will?
And this applies to many other nations and peoples. for whom gross cruelty is deeply embedded in the national memory and in their subsequent interpretations of and responses to what they think is real and true. With chattel slavery and harshest bigotry blemishing its record, the United States cannot be excluded from this scenario -- although it's remarkable Constitution has permitted and enabled it to mature from its experiences, into something better and better, more efficiently than most.
Now you may not like their politics -- but they are more aware of what they need to do than anyone else -- and are doing as their circumstances dictate. But humans mature with experience -- they can't help but do so -- if they are sane. And I can assure you that the Chinese nation is not only quite sane, but has constantly produced successful survival and growth strategies, over thousands of dynamic, horrendously hazardous years.
With the way they have been treated, they have every right to be suspicious -- and to feel threatened. Bad memories are hard to shake off. But, time and good-will will cure that. And, when they do, we are going to finally make strong common cause with these, our much valued fellow humans.
Then we can REALLY CONCENTRATE on the work of preserving our species against the horrifying threats from the universe, which we are discovering every day -- and of prospering ourselves by seizing the golden opportunities that beckon from beyond "Spaceship Earth." We must survive and thrive -- and that's going to take the earnest efforts of all of us -- combined -- and even that might not be enough -- but it will be the VERY BEST we can do.
People are basically good, all over the world -- AS LONG AS THEIR MINDS & BODIES ARE BASICALLY FREE TO BE SO -- AND THEY HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO GOOD THINGS -- SO THEY WOULD RECOGNIZE IT WHEN THEY SEE IT -- AND ARE FREE TO COPY, ADAPT, AND ADOPT THE MODEL (i.e. to innovate a better model). But, they inherit systems that have evolved from adverse conditions -- and a lot of safeguards are no longer necessary -- but it is often quite hard to separate and discard the obsolete safeguards that no longer need to constrain human freedom. It takes time and the world's patience and helpful suggestions -- and we all need that. In other words, TRUST is hard to build and is fragile -- but grows from good will, which is also tricky to make secure -- but is always sought by rational humans -- and most of us are reasonable.
And evolution continues, even to this very second -- we all continue to generally change for the better -- much as butterflies do when they are no longer caterpillars. We are all maturing through our life-experiences and the exposures that generate them. And a great people is no exception.
IN OTHER WORDS
If a great and worthy people is constantly and ONLY exposed to secure friendship, minimal animosity, and optimal cooperation --
THEN, how could the maturation process not be greatly aided -- BOTH FOR THE ONES WHO WERE PREVIOUSLY WARY -- AND FOR THOSE WHO HOLD OUT THE HAND OF GENUINE FRIENDSHIP -- UNTIL IT IS FINALLY AND FIRMLY GRASPED?
IN OUR RELATIONS WITH ALL THE WORLD'S SUCCESSFUL NATIONS (As can individuals GET MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY UNSTABLE, so too can societies and nations) -- I think our "American Saint," President Abraham Lincoln -- left another, of many, timeless and relevant injunctions for our attaining our best future. He said this at the peroration of his glorious second inaugural speech:
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations
Amen, sir! My sacred role model -- Mr. Lincoln
Just like a father, a fundamental mentor, to me!
At least that's the way I see this topic, from where I now stand.
David Nelson
MAYBE I SHOULD EXPLAIN ONE OF MY KEY MOTIVES FOR WRITING THIS BULLETIN.
It is imperative that I SOLIDIFY my entire philosophy of life (in this case, my Moral-Base and Political Philosophy). While I am secure on the moral side of things, I know the rest of my deductions are probably just approximations of the truth. I'm counting on fine-tuning inputs from the common wisdom to help to ULTIMATELY turn this rough sculpture into a RELIABLE and SOUND work of art and science.
The REASON this is so important to do is that my philosophy of a moral life permeates, generates, and controls the development and establishment of the ENTIRE Civic Mentor project, under construction -- and being a comprehensive unified-system, each piece affects a lot of others.
A SERIOUS FAULT in the foundation of the idea could cause the whole thing to collapse of its own colossal weight, the moment its effects are felt -- compounding errors as its insidious influence spreads. I must remove as many self-inflicted booby-traps as I can -- leaving me to concentrate on those that the world will surely inflict (and is inflicting) as things go along.
This is why the inputs of others are so appreciated -- the common wisdom at work -- and why I hope for many more, whenever "waiting has been filled."
I'm trying to mature myself, properly,
for the task which fate has placed on my shoulders.
for the task which fate has placed on my shoulders.
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