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A World-Changing
Discovery
We can make good systems and organizations.
Boston Consulting Group (BCG) advises its clients to mimic the human body. Even looking at a small part of the body can have huge impacts.
THERE ARE PARTS TO SYSTEM WHOLES
...And Many More
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We can make good actions, interactions, relationships and lives.
THERE ARE PARTS TO BEHAVIORAL WHOLES
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...And Many More
Businesses, organizations, and individuals are using this discovery.
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We can apply the laws of nature that exist in the body to a greater extent and to other spheres to make new
improvements and advancements.
The Bionic Organization
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In this book, we describe how we can apply the laws of nature that exist in the body to a greater extent and to other spheres to make new improvements and advancements and to ensure that more balanced, healthy and whole companies last for 100 years.
A Discovery of Parts to Wholeness
The Anatomy of Harmonious,
Whole Actions
Aligning
Whole Body
Whole Acts
The function of aligning is common to both how the healthy whole body works and how healthy whole action works. The whole body aligns by bringing functioning parts together. These functioning parts include the pumping (the giving and receiving) of the heart, the processing role of the brain, the responding role of the nerves, the connecting role of the tendons, and so on and so forth. In our whole aligned actions, we also bring functioning parts (in common with the functions of the body parts) together. These functioning parts include the giving and receiving role in being loving, the processing role in being thoughtful, the responding role in being responsive, the connecting role in being uniting, and so on and so forth. The commonality between the functions of the body parts and the functions of the behavior parts leads us to a discovery of parts to wholeness in our actions.
Pumping (giving and receiving)
Heart
Loving
The function of pumping (giving and receiving) is common to both how the healthy heart works and how being loving works. The heart gives and receives by pumping oxygen and nutrient-rich blood throughout the body to nourish and replenish the whole body. Being loving, we give and receive time, attention, affection and other "nutrient-rich" resources to nourish and replenish the whole of our lives. This commonality tells us that being loving is part of an overall whole and that we can better love by acting more like a healthy heart, by giving and receiving better for more wholeness.
Thinking / Processing
Brain
Thoughtful
The function of thinking is common to both how the healthy brain works and how thoughtfulness works. The healthy brain thinks and processes messages and information for the well-being of the whole body. Being thoughtful, we think and process messages and information for the well-being of our lives. This commonality tells us that being thoughtful acts like a part of an overall healthy whole. We can be more thoughtful by acting more like a healthy brain, by processing messages and information better, for more wholeness.
Responding /
Signaling
Nerves
Responsive
The function of responding (which involves sending signals) is common to both how the healthy nerves work and how responsiveness works. The nerves respond, using signals, to protect us and to direct us for the well-being of the whole body. Being responsive, we respond, utilizing signals to ourselves and others, to protect and direct one another for the well-being of our lives. This commonality tells us that being responsive acts like a part of an overall healthy whole. We can be more responsive by acting more like the healthy nerves, by responding and signaling better, for more wholeness.
Uniting / Connecting
Tendons
Uniting
The function of connecting and uniting is common to both how the healthy tendons work and how being uniting works. The tendons unite and connect muscle to bone for the well-being of the whole body, giving the body a wide range of movement. Uniting, we connect and unite with others, and by doing so, we broaden our range of "movement" for the well-being of the whole of humanity. This commonality tells us that uniting action is part of an overall whole and that we can better unite by acting more like the healthy tendons, by connecting better, for more wholeness.
Individual shaping / Structural supporting
Bones
Individuality
The function of shaping (providing structural support) is common to both how the healthy bones work and how healthy individuality works. Healthy bones provide shape and structural support to our bodies, making each human body unique. In our individuality, we provide a unique shape and structural support for the well-being of the whole of humanity. This commonality tells us that individuality is part of an overall whole and that we can better share our individuality by acting more like the healthy bones by shaping and supporting better, for more wholeness.
Sensing / Detecting
Senses
Sensitive
The function of sensing (detecting and "feeling" the environment around us) is common to both how the healthy senses work and how being sensitive works. The healthy senses sense, detect and "feel" the environment around us for safety and health, for the well-being of the body. Being sensitive, we sense, detect and "feel" the environment around us for the well-being of the whole of humanity. This commonality tells us that being sensitive is part of an overall whole and that we can be more sensitive by acting more like the healthy senses, by sensing, detecting, and using our feeling ability better, for more wholeness.
Moving / Strengthening
Muscles
Meaningful
The function of moving and strengthening is common to both how the healthy muscles work and how meaningfulness works. Healthy muscles provide the body with the ability to move with strength. The muscles grow stronger through repetition and resistance against force. Being meaningful, we move and strengthen our relationships for the well-being of the whole of humanity. We grow our meaningfulness through practice and repetition and by working against resistance (i.e., distractions, habits, fears). This commonality tells us that being meaningful acts like a part of an overall healthy whole. We can be more meaningful by acting more like the healthy muscles by moving and strengthening better for more wholeness.
Energizing
Limbic System
Empathy
The function of regulating emotions and energizing is common to both how the healthy limbic system works and how healthy empathy works. The healthy limbic system regulates behaviors and emotions, providing healthy energy. Having empathy, we heal by regulating our emotions, uplifting and energizing ourselves and others for the well-being of the whole of humanity. This commonality tells us that being empathetic acts like a part of an overall healthy whole. We can be more empathetic by acting more like a healthy limbic system, regulating our emotions to uplift and energize better, for more wholeness.
Assimilating
Cell
Valuing Life's Essentials
The function of assimilating is common to both how the cells work and how valuing life's essentials works. The cells assimilate and house all the essentials for life. They are the building blocks of life. Valuing life's essentials in our actions involves assimilating or housing everything that is needed for life: food, water, and shelter. Assimilating, we put together the building blocks needed to meet our life's essential needs. This commonality tells us that valuing life's essentials is part of an overall whole and that we can better value life's essentials for the wholeness of life by acting more like healthy cells by assimilating better.
Venting / Voicing
Lungs
Valuing Freedom
The function of voicing and venting is common to both how the healthy lungs works and how valuing freedom works. The healthy lungs ventilate, exchanging air in and out of the lungs. In valuing freedom, we allow one another to ventilate, exchanging (voicing) ideas, views, opinions, and thoughts and so on and so forth. This commonality tells us that valuing freedom is part of an overall healthy whole. We can allow the value of freedom to flow more readily by acting more like the healthy lungs, by ventilating, and exchanging and airing our voices better.
Catalyzing
Enzyme
Valuing Happiness
The function of catalyzing is common to both how the healthy enzymes work and how happiness works. The healthy enzymes catalyze (speed up) the rate of chemical reactions. They give us the energy needed for us to work, and for the body to heal, and they provide the building materials from the foods we eat. Happiness in our lives acts as a catalyst for our relationships. Happiness, when performing or functioning as a healthy catalyst, creates constructive reactions. It spurs creativity. It engenders good feelings and emotional energy to motivate, heal and move things forward. This commonality tells us that valuing happiness is part of an overall healthy whole. We can increase happiness in our lives, by catalyzing creative and constructive actions for more lasting happiness.
Distributing
Veins
Valuing Equality
The function of distributing is common to both how the healthy veins work and how equality works. The healthy veins distribute oxygen and nutrient resources evenly throughout the whole body and take away excess toxins and waste throughout the whole body. Every part in equal portion to its needs for the well-being of the whole body. Equality in our lives similarly functions by distributing in balance both material and non-material nourishing resources to all parts of the world body and clearing away excess and waste. This commonality tells us that valuing equality is part of an overall healthy whole. We can realize more equality better when we (taking a lesson from the veins in the body) learn to distribute better for the nourishment and well-being of our whole world body.
A New Discovery
It's all based on an objective model. We haven't just selected a set of traits based on a subjective preference. We've selected traits based on a discovery. Begin to learn how it works...
Let's Take a Closer Look at the Design of the Body and How Wholeness Works, for Whole Systems and Whole Lives.
This is about a discovery of a law of nature that shows that there are parts to harmonizing.
When you know what the parts are, you can change your life and the world!
Action and the Whole Body,
Aligning for Wholeness
ACTION AND THE WHOLE BODY
We can make a more beautiful world by better understanding how to make more beautiful actions. There are actually qualities that comprise beautiful, or harmonious, or aligned, or whole actions. Each of those words, beautiful, harmonious, aligned, whole, are words that describe a very novel concept. A concept you won't, to our knowledge, see anywhere else. The idea is this: the actualization of our potential is achieved when we bring several concepts or qualities or traits into our actions. Particular qualities act like parts of the body, only they are parts of a whole, aligned, harmonious, beautiful action.
How can we assert such a statement?
We can consider an action a whole, like a whole body. A whole body is tangible. We can see it. We can even learn about it, and learn how it has parts, each part serving a main function, and many functions. For example, a heart functions to pump blood and nourishing resources. A healthy heart does that well. Well, our actions can be considered to be a whole "thing", albeit not tangible in the way an object is tangible. To look at an action as a whole, we then would need to see it as having parts. What are those parts? Well, perhaps there is a part that acts like a heart. We suggest that the "part" of our beingness that goes into an action that acts like the heart is the "being loving" part. When we are being loving, what are we doing? What function are we performing? We are performing the function of giving and receiving in ways that nourish. Do you see how that is behaving like the heart? Do you see how that is functioning like a heart? Do you see why we might call the function of giving and receiving or pumping a functional common denominator between the heart and the behavior of being loving? It's important to note, we're not suggesting that there is a metaphor between the way the healthy human body works and the way harmonizing or aligning works. We're suggesting something much more. We're suggesting that there are functional common denominators between the parts of the body and between the parts of a whole action.
Think of a whole action as having parts, much as a whole body has parts. Think of some behavior as acting like a heart (being loving is that behavior - we'll explain further below). Think of some behavior as acting like a brain (being thoughtful is that behavior).
As you begin to see the functional commonalities between several body parts and several beautiful behaviors, you begin to appreciate the power that each trait has to help us create more beautiful actions in our lives.
But the discovery goes much further than showing us how to create whole, aligned, harmonious actions, in our personal lives. The discovery shows that there are also parts to whole aligned systems. Most of us would say that laws are a part of the whole system. But would they think of laws as acting like a part of a whole system? Would they think of laws as being like a particular part of a whole system. There is some historical precedent for thinking this way. Thomas Hobbes, the noted 17th century political scientist wrote a famous work called Leviathan which opens with a comparison of the orderly or well-organized society to the human body. He suggested that we could order a society by turning to the human body as a model. He did not use the term "functional common denominator"and he did not look at an individual action as having parts, but he did assert that there was value in turning to the body to order a system like a society. He wasn't the first to do it. Others before him suggested the possibility that there was a model in the human body. Plato, for one, asserted the value of making a comparison of the societal system to a human body, as did several other individuals. These are only two noteworthy individuals who went down this path.
However, never before has anyone gone as far as we have to suggest that there is a model in nature, the human body, for aligning and harmonizing all systems and actions. Never before has anyone suggested that there is a systems law for harmonizing.
We have a heart, nerves, senses, tendons, muscles and several other organs that play important roles as "parts to a whole" body. So beautiful and important is our heart in our body that it is a symbol of love. And our brain is recognized as a symbol of our thinking power or power for thought, and positive thought we regard as thoughtfulness, closely associated with truthfulness. Alongside the beauty of love, is the beauty of thoughtfulness. See how traits such as being loving and being thoughtful act, or function, like the heart and brain, respectively, and see how societal concepts such as laws and technology, can be made into loving laws and thoughtful use of technology, and you begin to discover that there is a scientific law of nature at work that defines whole, aligned, and harmonious.
You probably cannot help but notice that what we're speaking of as a scientific law of nature, because it makes use of deductive logic, logic which you can assess for yourself, is also seemingly congruent with spiritual notions. What spiritual faith, or even secular ethics, does not also regard concepts such as being loving or being thoughtful and truthful as high concepts, perhaps even pinnacle concepts. What spiritual or ethical body of knowledge does not regard actions as a pinnacle concept. To that point, Aristotle said if a hammer had a soul it would be the act of hammering. His point was that the soul is the act. This is true whether we're speaking of an individual act, or a collective act.
If it is true that there are truly parts to a harmonious act, whether of an individual or a society, then what it means is that there is an order in nature, there is an order in the universe for aligning or harmonizing. It means that we can use that order as a blueprint or model. We can then begin to wittingly, knowingly design our interactions, relationships, processes, organizations and systems to be more harmonious.
Think of the value of this in the following way: if there is some universal law in nature that exists, we, the billions of us that inhabit the earth, can begin to make use of this law, we can begin to make use of this law to redesign and refashion -- what?
We can being to make use of this law to redesign and refashion -- what?
I won't answer that question before stating the following. What are there millions and billions of every single day? If you said actions, you are right. Can you imagine what transformation would be possible if there is truth to the assertion that there are particular parts to a harmonious action? It would mean that the billions of inhabitants who occupy the earth could dramatically improve their actions. To conceive of the significance of this, what you have to do is compare it to something. The best comparison would be to say something like the following. If there are truly parts to harmonizing, and we now as a species are discovering it, if we make use of the knowledge it would be tantamount to the difference between a world with a human species which does not speak or have language versus a human species that does. Let me explain that this way. If it is true that there are particular parts to harmonizing, that we have not known fit like parts to the body, which we can learn about from the way the body behaves, then it means that our attempts to harmonize as a species can dramatically improve based on taking that guidance from the body. If the comparison between a world with and without language does not resonate compare it to the difference between a world of horse and buggy and postal mail versus a world with planes and the internet. That's what we're talking about. We're talking about a dramatic breakthrough. Knowledge that there are parts to harmonious systems and relationships that can be proved with deductive logic opens the possibility that we can bring about dramatically more harmony which means dramatically less harm - more harmonious actions, less harmful actions. We're going to turn to one of the essential parts for harmony, love and loving laws, but before we do, one final point, sometimes people will think of love as the pinnacle concept, and while it might be a tie for the pinnacle concept, realize that action is the manifestation of love - it is love in action that we want; think of it this way, the golden rule is a "do unto others" notion, with the emphasis on "do" - one of the reasons we have a children's book series titled Save the World Dog and the Ucadoo crew is because this notion of you can do it is essential to the actualization of potential - it is a do it, it being love and harmony and wholeness which is so important. If you still struggle with elevating action, and harmonious or whole action, above or on par with love, just recognize that holiness - like wholeness - is an extremely high notion.
What we'd like from you, if you go no further and do not read about another aspect of this scientific law of nature, which can be evaluated with deductive logic, is for you to at least walk away with a new paradigm: We would like you for the rest of your life to think of an action, a whole, a harmonious action as having parts, parts that function just like parts of the body. If you ever experience a harm, or a disharmony, we'd like you to know just as there is a language that allows humans to communicate there is a language - or parts - to prevent harms. The harm that you or another experiences could have been prevented if society brought to our education system the parts for harmonizing much as it brought the parts to a gramatically correct sentence. Our schools teach parts to a sentence, they teach mathematical concepts, the day must come, the sooner the day comes that we teach that there are parts to harmonizing, the sooner we as a species begin to dramatically reduce the harmful actions in the world.
Love and the Heart,
Giving and Receiving for Wholeness
LOVING AND THE HEART
Perhaps you think that there is nothing you can learn about being loving from the human body. Perhaps you think that there is nothing you can learn about being loving from the way that the human body works.
Perhaps you think that there is nothing you can learn about being loving from the way the human heart works.
All your life you've heard and seen comparisons made between a heart and love. What are those comparisons? That the two have a similar shape?
This is Neanderthal thinking.
The human heart, in the modern understanding, with the power of deductive logic is a model to show us how to be loving.
Maybe you don't want to be more loving. Maybe you don't want people to be more loving to you - meaning, maybe you don't want that enough to read about how there is a majestic model right under societies nose - one that has been there all along waiting to be discovered.
If you want to be more loving, all you have to do is learn a very, very, simple comparison. To be more loving, act like a heart in the following way: give time, attention, affection and other resources in ways that nourish much as the heart gives resources to nourish. When we say give, we mean pump, give and receive like a heart pump.
Now, when you read that, it might not sink in to you that what you just read can help you and our world immensely. Part of the reason for that is that until you see how there is a part that acts like the nerve of a body, that part being being responsive, and that there is a part that acts like the brain of a body, that part being being thoughtful, and that there are several other parts, that act like body parts, you're likely not able to see the benefits of this way of understanding life and the world. Part of the reason for it not sinking in is that the world, not Oprah, not Scientific American, no one yet is telling you that there is a breakthrough understanding of how we can align our behavior to make it more fulfilling and satisfying for ourselves and others.
And also, you actually may not be driven to be more loving toward others. If, for example, you are looking to have more loving relationships, you might not also actually be looking to become immensely more loving yourself.
When I say to you, give time to nourish, how do I make that meaningful to you? How do I engender you to share with someone who is looking for more love in their life the simple heart-like function of giving time to nourish? Do I give you examples like empty the dishwasher for your loved one? Do I give you examples like take time out of your day to run an errand or be with a loved one? Aren't these examples so obvious. Yet, the point that isn't so obvious is that "giving time" is an essential aspect of being loving. It's so obvious we might want to not make mention of it. The same could be said of "giving attention." When a loved one is talking to us, do we give them our attention. The heart attends to the need of the body for nourishment. Do we attend to the need for nourishment of our friends, our loved ones and strangers? It is so obvious that giving time and attention, even affection in ways that nourish we behave or function quite like the heart. It is so obvious that it seems to go without mentioning. It seems we cannot learn much from this comparison. Personally, I have learned a lot about being loving from this comparison. It has impressed upon me this aspect of being loving - and it has made it easier for me to be loving to others. Yet, I understand if others are naturally better in this area and so perhaps do not get anything out of this comparison beyond what they already know and do. It is likely though when you see how this concept fits with other concepts that you are able to improve in even the loving category from this knowledge - or, perhaps, it is just a useful way for you to show another how to be more loving.
I would ask you before I move on to writing about another part, what is your opinion,
can we give and receive more love, by learning from the example of the body? By learning from the example of how the heart functions as a pump?
Again, the heart is a well-known symbol of love. Yet, the heart nourishes and it distributes resources throughout the body - that is its main function, or one of its main functions. So too, our love nourishes and distributes to fill the needs of others and society. We can assert to you that the more we want to love, the more we need to become like a heart in our activities and actions, yet, again, you may not want to take this point in and recognize it as a profound realization, one that can dramatically alter lives.
Would it help if we explained also, that loving laws act like a societal heart pump? Would that be more meaningful to you? If we said that it is the laws of a society which direct its resources, would you agree with that? Perhaps, we should better define what we mean by laws. We mean a much more expansive notion than just simple legislative laws. We mean customs, mores, manners, norms, and legislation, even judicial case law and even policy, whether by a government agency, an organization, a business, or even a family or within a relationship, all of these are within the overarching concept laws. We can have loving laws, or unloving laws, and we can have them to varying degrees in between those two ends. If you want people to allocate resources in ways that nourish, then recognize that all laws allocate resources like a heart - a healthy heart allocates resources in ways that nourish. A healthy society, organization, club, family allocates resources, time, attention, affection and other resources in ways that nourish.
Now, since many people have limited ways in which they create policies that allocate, they may not think that it is especially helpful to recognize this societal heart. Yet, if you are a parent, you can think about what you allocate (use of a car, time to be home, time to spend together, time for homework, etc.) as being your role in acting like a heart in your "organization." If you want a healthy organization, including family unit, attend to the way you allocate - it is immensely important. If you do it to nourish, then you are acting like a healthy heart.
Again, this may seem an unnecessary way to think. Do you need to ask yourself if laws must be set to nourish? You may even say to yourself what in the world does it mean to craft laws and policies so that they nourish? Is it worth the time to think this way. My answer is very simple. Imagine a life where you do not care if a loved one gets killed in a car accident because of a drunk driver - or imagine a life where you do not care if a loved one gets killed by a terrorist or a school shooter, it is stark for me to attempt to make a point this way. Yet, I'm trying to compel you to understand that the reason we have not more dramatically as a people, as a society, as a species reduced the volume of accidents and intentional harms is because we have not spent enough time and energy recognize how we can craft laws, policies, norms, mores, customs and manners to give and receive like a healthy heart - to nourish. We have spent countless hours battling about policy differences, this is true. Yet, we have not spent much time at all, overall, as a species thinking about how our laws (including customs, mores, manners, norms) can be made to allocate (or give and receive) in ways that nourish. The only way that I know of to do this, in a scientific and logical - even objective - manner is by turning to the human body to see what it, as a model, has to show us.
There is a field called biomimicry which looks to nature to help us design new products and services that mimic the majesty of animals in nature. It can help in the design of speed trains. This is an active field with a growing interest.
And yet, that field has not devoted itself to learning what nature can show us about designing a societal system or a harmonious ordered organization. Our efforts to reach out to those in that field have so far been unsuccessful. If you are waiting for someone else to tell you we can use the human body as a model for designing loving laws (customs, mores, manners, norms) that may come later than you'd like. The world is facing numerous life-threatening challenges. I won't go into the list of them now. If I could get you to understand how this model - the model of the human body - is superior to any other for yielding harmonizing solutions, in a way that would not require you to study and explore it in depth, yourself - that is, if I could package it in an easily digestible portion I would. To date though, the best we can do is offer it to you in books that do some of the work for you, but nevertheless ask of you some work.
I do not know what it will take for you to see the immense value of learning how the model for a harmonious life and society is the human body. I recognize that if we are to teach this to the society, we need to bring it to schools. But to do that we need a leader who has the power to bring it to schools. And to date, I have not found that leader. We have not found that leader.
With the course we are on, we will not see a dramatic reduction in crime and economic suffering for years or decades. This course can be dramatically altered. If people were to realize that we can, within our existing organizations and structures begin to give more time, attention, affection and other resources to nourish, and that we can create allocations, through laws, customs, mores, manners and norms bent on nourishing, which would require also learning the other parts to a harmonious relationship and society, we could change the millions and billions of actions and interactions that occur each day for the better. It - saving and changing the world, or at least saving and changing lives for the better - will require us to do business, meaning behave in a dramatically different way than we have been. Only a dramatic breakthrough and an objective one, short of some other miraculous event, will give us the direction we need to turn this massive ship in a different direction. Think of it this way, every day the guidebook we are using today for what we will do with our day - this applies to millions and billions of people - is that of the capitalist and democrat, socialist or communist system, along with the moral precepts (whether from religion, spirituality, or ethical beliefs). There is to date, other than this breakthrough discovery, no objective model that can provide us a universal approach grounded in logic. But to use it, it will take some early adopters, some leaders. Not leaders in engineering, not leaders in technology or coding, not leaders in philosophy, or writing or education - it will take some leaders in the field of love. That is the field a person must be interested in in order for them to explore how the body is an objective model for our lives to be more harmonizing - less harmful - and our societies and world to be more harmonizing - less harmful.
Thoughtfulness and the Brain,
Processing and Thinking for Wholeness
THOUGHTFUL AND THE BRAIN
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If you've read to this point, reading first about action and the whole, or wholeness, reading about love and the heart, then one thing you've been doing is been giving thought - you've been giving thought to how to create more harmony or wholeness in one's life and in the world. You've been thoughtful. You've been functioning, in your behavior, in being thoughtful, much as a brain functions. You've been using processing power, memory and storage to compute, or think, about how body parts function and about how a behavioral part (being loving) functions.
Our society, and individuals today, give tremendous thought to things like how much money they spend - they may be thoughtful about how much to give (it's Christmas Day, right now, as we're working on this). Or, they may be thoughtless about how they give. Our society, and individuals today, spend countless hours frivolously, spending considerable time and giving immense resources to entertainment and sports. While some of that time and resources given is valuable and essential for health and happiness some of it is overindulgent, as a whole.
How much time will we, as individuals be willing to give to exploring something like the assertion that there is a breakthrough understanding of how lives and organizations may be harmonized. We, Cathy and I, have reached out to numerous individuals over the last several years, sharing with them this breakthrough understanding. At times, we've been received positively and even been made some promises that we'd be helped to get this message out, only to see those promises not kept. Other times, our efforts have fallen on deaf ears. Part of the reason for this, make no mistake about it, is that what we are sharing and suggesting takes thought. The person reading it must care and give thought. Think about the word thoughtful, it means care and consideration. The heart and the brain are closely related. To give thought requires a big heart. I mentioned it's Christmas today.
Do we have a culture which has members with big hearts, willing to give thought to an idea that takes thought. If not, it leads me to a perspective that we have a culture like the Grinch, with a heart three sizes (at least) too small. Now, my hope is that soon someone - many people - will be compelled to open to the possibility that they - need - they personally need this breakthrough discovery, whether they need it for their own personal desire to be loving and to be loved, or they need it for their own personal desire to see a more harmonizing, more humane world.
So, I ask you: Can we learn to have more thoughtful relationships from the example of the brain in the body? Let's go through it once more.
Being thoughtful is a simple matter of giving something very particular: thought. It is acting like a healthy brain. A healthy brain uses processing, memory and storage to think. Well, being thoughtful, we use processing, memory and storage to think (of ourselves and others in balance). Do I need to provide examples of what it means to be thoughtful, or do you already see - and realize on your own? When you remember another's birthday or what they want for their birthday, you are said to be thoughtful. I could give example after example, but you don't need that. What you need, or will benefit from, is not my stating the obvious but making the point to you that this is how profoundly simple this whole thing is (pun unintended). Being thoughtful, in sync with this scientific law of nature is as simple as putting your mind (processing, memory and storage) into behaving or functioning like a healthy brain. Let's take this a step further.
The brain works in conjunction with the heart and other organs to guide the body physically. It takes information from the senses, it coordinates with the nervous system to guide our actions, and it helps regulate the heart's pace and blood flow. So too, we can move from thought to thoughtfulness by connecting our thinking to our sensitivity, responsiveness, love, and other beautiful behaviors. Sensitivity is a behavior that acts like the senses - we'll look at that below. When we act thoughtfully we don't just use processing, memory and storage to care and consider, acting like a brain in isolation, we do those by connecting our sensitivity and our love.
Learn how the thoughtfulness part works with the responsiveness part and the sensitivity part and others along with the loving part, and you'll begin to realize the reason this discovery is so powerful for your life and the world - but yes it takes work, and a particular type of work: thought work and care work.
Now, again, many people, most people, I dare say are too busy and too preoccupied with other approaches - this breakthrough will not be received and embraced and endorsed by ordinary people. It will take some extraordinarily giving and caring individuals to help bring this to the world. We say this after years of experience sharing it with people. Most people look at it and move on to something else not realizing society needs this if we are going to dramatically reduce crime and harmful accidents, poverty, homelessness, disease and other challenges to the human species. Ask yourself, is it working? Is what we've been thinking about as individuals and as a species working? Or, are we suffering from too many ails? And are we headed in the wrong direction? Do you want to be at the forefront of perhaps the biggest breakthrough in human growth and development? If so, there's room for you. There is plenty to do to help spread this knowledge, and to teach humanity - how we can be truly human - and wonderfully human.
It is particularly important that we do this now. As our society embarks on what it means to develop AI and robots and artificial forms of life, and technologies, it is extremely important that we step up what it means to be thoughtful about how we develop. Tools and technologies are extensions of the mind. Much as a fork is an extension of the hand and fingers, brought about by thought, all tools and technology are extensions brought about by thought. We can extend our ability to harm or we can extend our ability to harmonize. If we use our power for processing, memory and storage to bring about caring, loving solutions we will be aligning for wholeness and the actualization of our potential. If we do not use our power to develop in ways that are thoughtful, we will simply create more harm, the type of harm that comes about with thoughtlessness. Thoughtful use of technology is society's healthy brain part. Thoughtless use of technology is society's unhealthy brain part. Where do you feel we fall on the thoughtful - thoughtless continuum. Are we developing technology in a well thought out harmonizing way?
Many people elevate the value of truth - what they fail to realize that it is the computing power of the behavior of thoughtfulness, linked to the giving, caring behavior that will determine whether we know truth and whether we exhibit truthfulness in our behavior - truthfulness to ourselves and truthfulness to others.
Recognize the role of thoughtfulness in respect to truthfulness, recognize the role of thoughtfulness in respect to being loving, and be driving to bring it about in your own life and in the lives of others and you will be driven to change the world by highlighting for the world the power of traits.
As John Naisbitt said, "The most exciting breakthroughs of the 21st century will not occur because of technology but because of an expanding concept of what it means to be human." And yet, the money, the investment capital is going to breakthroughs in technology. The investment capital must go to bringing about thoughtful technology if we are to get the benefits of the human's healthy brain.
Responsiveness and the Nerves,
Responding for Wholeness
RESPONSIVE AND THE NERVES
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To this point, we've suggested that it is a major breakthrough to recognize that we can model our lives and society on the human body. Admittedly, there is a lot left to explain to show why it is so helpful to recognize that nature, in the form of the human body, has a model for harmony and harmonizing. Besides the need to explain more, what we've explained so far in the sections on Action, Love and Thoughtfulness, or Aligned Action, Loving Laws and Thoughtful Technology may not seem to be of immense value. One of the reasons for this is that when we suggest that being loving we give time, attention, affection and other resources to nourish, it seems were stating the obvious. Yes, we're stating that there is a function in common between the body's heart and the behavior of being loving - that function is giving and receiving to nourish. But, nevertheless, the value of that, at first, to this point, simply seems to be that it suggests only something obvious: that we learn from the similarity and be more giving and receiving of our time, attention and affection in ways that nourish. That again seems only to state something we sort of already know. How many of us would say before we saw the comparison that being loving we give and receive in ways that nourish, and that we give and receive things like time, attention, affection and other resources to nourish. Many of us would think of this as common sense. What's uncommon is the idea that that concept works with another concept and another and another, each like parts of the body. Sure, the same limited value might be said of learning that being thoughtful we process, or think like a healthy brain. How many of us would say it's common sense that being thoughtful we use processing power, memory and storage to think of others, or to care and consider others? Many of us would recognize that and not be sure of the real value of seeing - or understanding - the commonality between the human body and the behavior. Does it matter that there is a functional common denominator, that of thinking well, or processing well, between the brain and being thoughtful? Note, a visual way to depict this is as follows:
To this point, you may naturally think that there is not considerable value in this approach.
You might, nevertheless, have an intuitive sense that this comparison is shaping up to give us, if the comparisons continue, an objective way to understand a concept such as harmonizing or wholeness or alignment or actualization of our potential. Yet, again, just learning that the way the heart works is functionally similar to the way being loving works and just learning that the way that the brain works is functionally similar to the way that being thoughtful works does not seem to have immense value. It is when you recognize the other many parts that all of a sudden things really seem to open up.
When you see that you can be more responsive and you can help create a world that is more responsive by learning how responsiveness works like a nerve, you'll get a better sense for the immense value of learning this approach, and of learning nature's approach to harmonizing.
To help explain, I'm going to share a little story. But, let me contextualize the story. Let's say that the world is like the Titanic, just setting out to sea. It's not necessarily the Titanic on a doomed mission, but let's say that it is. Let's say you knew that the Titanic was going down, could you stop it from going down? If you knew before it set sail that it was going down, could you have stopped it from that fate? If not, could you have stopped some from having boarded? Well, the world may not be the Titanic, our society might not be the Titanic - but some people are getting aboard a ship that is heading for doom. All those using opioids are at a high risk for dying prematurely. All those engaged in high risk or unhealthy pursuits are at a high risk of being harmed. When we say we are trying to teach a message about how to harmonize we are attempting to dramatically reduce the chances of people being harmed.
What we are doing is being responsive. And what we are attempting to do is be responsive in the way that the nerves are responsive. What do the nerves do? I won't go into detail at the moment, but I'll say summarily that what they do is they help the body respond to the body's need for life (and life's essentials), for liberty, for happiness, and its need to be treated equally or at least relatively equally. Isn't it true that all of us value life, liberty, happiness and equality to varying degrees? Sure, some of us may favor liberty over life, or life over liberty, but we all, universally value these. This is why the Declaration of Independence treated and asserted these as self-evident inalienable rights. But understand it is not because the Declaration asserted that these rights are important that we suggest they are important. We suggest they are important because the physical body values them. We'll explain more about why we should value them, by showing how there are functional commonalities between valuing them and how the body values them, later below (in separate sections on each: life, liberty, happiness and equality). For now, simply consider why we say that the body's responding function, the function that the nerves serve, is suggestive of the value that responsiveness plays in our lives and in our world for harmonizing. I'll explain by way of a story, and I'll tie it in to the point I began to make about the Titanic.
This morning, at the cafe, sitting next to Cathy and me was a man with two volumes of Norton's Shakespeare Anthology. I commented that I was glad he brought both parts today, since the other day I had seen him and said to him, that's quite a big book and he had remarked, it's only half of it. Well, today, he had the whole thing. We got to talking more today and found out that he's a professor of literature and philosophy. So, after talking for a little while, we got around to what we write about and we gave him a copy of Creating Harmony. We explained a little about the approach we take, comparing functions of the body to functions of behaviors, and it led him to comment how he teaches (in his college level course at Shepherd University in West Virginia) various different comparisons that are made to the human body. He referred to Plato, Hobbes and even Freud. Those by Freud are very different than what we explain, to be clear, nevertheless, it should lead him to be able to understand what we're explaining more readily than some who have no background in this type of analysis.
Now, one of the points he made to us is that we should try to get an agent. I explained to him that agents tend to want you to have a platform. Yes, Cathy began last week looking to put together a list of agents. She did this after we watched a video from an agent and publishing coach that explained that you should put together a list of thirty agents. But, we understand that unless we have a lot of followers it will be hard to get an agent to respond to us. See this story does have something to do with responding and responsiveness. I said to him, one thing we would love from him is for him to review the book we gave him and give us a supporting quote if he wanted to. He explained he didn't have the money to buy the book, but we were happy to give it to him as a gift and hoped he could give us a supporting quote. I explained that was one thing that would help us to get an agent - if we could get several supporting quotes from knowledgable people in the field that would help. He also explained that he didn't have a lot of time to review the book. So, you can see, we really didn't get very far. And this from someone who has read about the topic and also who has an interest in literature and philosophy. Here's the point: If he isn't able to respond who is.
Whose job is it to understand a discovery, a scientific discovery of a law of nature.
This is where we get back to our imaginary situation - where someone foresees that the Titanic is not going to make it. Whose job is it to say society needs this discovery of a scientific law? Is it the philosophy professor at a college? Whose job is it?
Whose job is it to be responsive if lives depend upon it? If liberty depends upon it? If happiness depends upon it? If equality depends upon it?
Well, fortunately you don't have to think about whether the world depends upon it in order to be motivated to learn it. You can think about other more everyday goals you have. It could just be that learning this will help you with your everyday goals. That's the argument we make. We explain that it can help you to actualize your potential - that's another way of saying it can help you to achieve your goals. So, if you've come this far in the reading, take a few more minutes to learn how you can be more responsive to your own goals for life, liberty, happiness and equality - and to learn how you can engender more responsiveness to those ideals from others, and for others.
It would be nice for me to suggest to you some very simple way for you to learn the benefits of becoming responsive in the way the nerves are responsive. Unfortunately, it is very hard for me to make the following seem appealing. Imagine that you were able to respond well to others, imagine you were to be able to respond in a timely fashion to others, imagine you were able to say just the right thing to make others feel good and uplifted and happy. All by learning how the nerve works. Well, you likely would not be motivated to learn how the nerve works in order to achieve those relatively seemingly extra things that you really don't need to learn. However, if I were to say to you, imagine that the world was more responsive to your needs, or imagine that people were more responsive to you, they called you back promptly, they said just what you wanted to hear, they were complimentary, validating, positive and upbeat - imagine if learning this discovery could bring about those gifts for you. Then you might be motivated to learn this. To a person who might be thinking, "I'd be more interested in learning this if I were going to get something out of it, rather than if it means that I am the one who has to give something more." I'd say, you have the thought process all wrong. You probably would agree that having some control over your destiny would be a good thing. The great thing about this discovery is that you actually do have control over whether you yourself are harmonizing - and it will take some time for you to realize that by actually realigning yourself, you will begin to see more harmonizing behavior from those around you and also you will have more harmony in your life. You even will begin to have a better balance of life's essentials, liberty, happiness and equality in your life.
Now, it will take you learning about the other parts and applying that knowledge before you will see the results.
Right now, next to me as I'm typing this, Cathy is addressing the postcards we're planning to send to some people who have the resources to invest in what we're doing, people who could possibly invest money in helping us to get this message to the world. She's up to about her 200th card, just what's needed to qualify for the bulk rate discount.
I have to say, I understand that a wealthy individual looking at what we're suggesting might be thinking "I buy happiness and I buy personal harmony."Perhaps, there is a reason that a wealthy person who reads about this discovery might think he or she does not need it. I really should say he, because one thing that Cathy noticed in addressing the cards from the list we got(of mostly billionaires), it's like 95% men. But put that aside, yes, I realize that there is the thought out there that people achieve happiness and harmony by working toward and realizing financial and career success, and balancing their lives by having time for family, civic engagement, a social life, etc. That is, admittedly a very different way to think about how to achieve harmony and alignment and wholeness and balanced growth and actualization of potential. What this discovery is suggesting is that you simply put concepts, such as being loving, thoughtful, responsive and several others in the forefront of your minds so that you can bring those qualities into decisions you make and actions you take, guided toward achieving the ideals of life, liberty and happiness for all, and in so doing you will be harmonizing. I know this is a very different way to think. It is also, in some ways, not a very material way to think. That is, it does not place a premium on financial and material accumulation, rather it places a premium on taking steps and taking measures to achieve a balance of life (life's essentials), liberty, and happiness for oneself and for others, equally. So, back to the example of the professor we spoke with this morning (it's now 7:50 p.m., and I've resumed writing after a day of work. Cathy's about six or more hours into handwriting postcards). He is in a position to respond, or said differently, to be responsive to two people who could really benefit from him offering a supportive quote. Sure, he's not a big wig - he doesn't have a big name, he's only a small time professor - we could look at it this way, but he is nevertheless a professor and so his supporting quote would mean something. Additionally, he might be able to have us speak to his class - Cathy wants me to do the speaking, so I should say, have me speak to his class. He might be able to give in that way. If he does that, if he makes the decision to give in that way, he would be balancing his life's essential needs, his liberty needs, his happiness needs with two other individuals' needs for each of those. That is, he will be helping two other individuals to succeed in being happy, living freely, and earning an income from doing so. He, of course, will have to take a little time away from something. Perhaps, from, if not from his work or family, from some hobby or mindless entertainment. This is part of responding like a nerve. When we respond like a healthy nerve we make different choices. It's really hard to see from this brief overview, but what you will find is that when you learn to be responsive to values, such as the value for life and life's essentials, the value on liberty and happiness, for all, you change the way you behave.
"Jeff Rothschild. That's the last one for tonight," Cathy says. 22 pages (of names)."
"So that's about 220 or so, wow," I reply.
Think of what we're responding to, me in writing this, Cathy in inputing into the writing as she does, in editing and reviewing the writing, in illustrating the children's books and in addressing these postcards, and in the numerous other ways, including designing this website. We're responding to the need we perceive in society for a solution to many of its challenges. That perceived need along with a deep belief in the possibility of a solution actually led us to find what we believe is a significant solution. We were in many ways responding to a passion to help bring about life, liberty and happiness for more people.
Now, you have the benefit of learning some things that it took us weeks, months and years to uncover and understand. We're summing it up for you. So, when we suggest to you that you give some thought to why the being responsive we act like a healthy nerve, we realize that it takes some work for you to do this, but we also realize that we've made it, in some ways easier for you.
So, this is going to be a little rough for you to learn, but trust us, it has immense value. Stick with this explanation and it will help you to be more responsive and to bring more responsiveness into your life.
The reason that learning to respond like a nerve has so much value is not simply because it causes us to respond in ways that balance our aims for life, liberty and happiness, it is also that it causes us to think more and care more about the reasons, and considerations for our decisions: that is, it causes us to think about and care more about life reasons and considerations, liberty reasons and considerations and happiness reasons and considerations. To make what I am saying clear, here, I should refer to the current movement among many to question leadership that is profit-focused, and to champion leadership that is people-focused. People focused, or people first, leadership is really leadership that champions the human ideals, and what are they? They are life, liberty and happiness for all.
You see, if this is not making powerful sense to you yet, what I've been trying to get across, perhaps, I can make the point succinctly this way: it is not enough to say we ought to and can be more loving, more thoughtful and more responsive, without also saying what makes us more loving, more thoughtful and more responsive. What makes us more loving, thoughtful and responsive is not just that we love, or give thought, or respond, but rather it is dependent about what we love, what we give thought to, and what we respond to. And we are saying, in this discovery, that what we need to love, give thought to, and respond to is the values of life, liberty and happiness.
Contrast that to loving money, or material goods, or video games, or movies, or capitalistic driven production of goods and services. Loving people having their life, liberty and happiness is a dramatically different type of love. It asks, will that product or service give people more or less of their life's essentials, more or less freedom, more or less happiness.
The challenge here is that we have to think of groupings, or categories. And often people don't want to think in terms of group headings. I can explain it this way. Do you really need to know of the group headings fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins, and dairy? You can probably eat fairly healthily without knowing those groupings. Yet, you might benefit from knowing them. Or, a different example, you could if you wanted a poodle simply get a poodle without ever thinking that you want a dog. Yet, you might actually start out thinking, do I want a dog or a cat. Or a fish. Grouping things can help our efforts. The same is true with striving for overall actualization of our potential. It can help to know that a stepping stone toward the actualization of our potential is achieving some measure, some amount of each of these major values categories: life, liberty and happiness - for oneself and others.
We'll look more, below, at the values of life, liberty, happiness and equality. But for now, just know that learning about life, liberty, happiness and equality is like learning how to eat well.
You might, even after reading this lengthy explanation be asking yourself, can we really learn to have more responsive relationships from the example of the body? It is reasonable to think this way. This is a new paradigm. No one has ever told you learn to respond like a nerve. However, you have heard the expression have nerve and you have heard the comparison of having nerve to having courage. Is it coincidental that the having nerve has become a popular metaphor for having courage? Not likely. More likely is that underlying the connection between the nerves and courage is deep meaning. What is courage but a just and right response to a challenge or opportunity.
We should explain, if responsiveness is a part of a healthy action or a healthy relationship, responsive rights are a part of the healthy society. Responsive rights are what governments, businesses, organizations, and families, and really all of us create on a daily basis. A right is really simply what we give to others. We give others the right to play their music loudly or not, to go first out the door, or not, to use the computer or television, or not... these are all rights - we extend people the right to do this or that, and we assign penalties if others do what we don't want them to do, or if they don't do what we want them to do. This is right-setting - we can set rights which are responsive to life, liberty and happiness, for all, or we can set rights which are not responsive to life, liberty and happiness for all. Responsive right-setting is the nerve of a healthy society.
Perhaps, a short table will help you to see the interpersonal sphere parts and the societal sphere parts along with their functional commonalities with the parts of the body.
