James gander book philosophical diversions where are we going

We are in the early stages of the greatest transformation in human affairs since history began.

We are in no way ready for it.

Context: An Assessment of where we were, where we are, and where we’re heading

PHILOSOPHICAL DIVERSIONS is a book that looks at the coming unprecedented changes in population size, mobility, worldwide communications, cultural interactions, and unsustainable economic and environmental challenges, and shares observations that will promote solutions.

About the Author

James E. Gander has held senior positions in business, international institutions, the Government of Canada and the United Nations. He was awarded a Centennial Canada Medal for outstanding public service.

Contents

• Setting the Perspective

• The Values We Live By

• Economic Foundations

• Personal Beliefs and Behaviour

• The Spiritual Dimension

• Politics and Geopolitics

• Conclusion

PONDERATIONS & PROFUNDUMS

“When you are walking towards the edge of a cliff, staying the course is not a good policy.”

“A great tragedy is that the American people are generous, kind and helpful, but…these qualities are more than offset by the ruthless, imperialistic policies carried out by their government.”

“The spectacular achievements of science, technology and communication have not been matched by similar advances in human society.”

The Crises• The traditional confidence of the American

people has been badly shaken: less than 50% support present policies or expect them to improve

• The same number are against the current military policy, and see no chance for improvement

• The regimes that America supports are repressive dictatorships hated by their people

• New national economies are eroding American prosperity, while income imbalance keeps Americans from rising

• The biggest failure of all is our failure to realize the magnitude and complexity of our problems; this is blinding us to the need for heroic transformations.


Emotions are stronger than reasons. That’s why we get into so much trouble.

Supporting our troops is one thing; supporting the war is something else.

It’s not just terrorists that are the problem, it’s how we respond to them and generate more.

What will happen when China replaces the U.S. as the largest economic power, creates the most pollution, and makes greater and greater demands on the world’s resources?

The Perspective

• The old imperialist empires created such rivalry that they destroyed one another and set the stage for unending conflict

• The stock market crash, the depression, the turmoil of communism and the rise of fascism shattered our smug beliefs

• The Cold War followed by factional wars have created a climate of “perpetual war”

• Every person is exposed to an ever-widening circle of influences, until the whole globe affects our lives


“I’m not as young as I used to be, but then I never was.”

“The old values that made a stable society have not been replaced by new ones.”

“Business and financial institutions ask for billions of dollars of assistance when they are in difficulties. Why shouldn’t poor people seek help?”

“The news we don’t get is often more important than the news we get.”

The Values We Live By

• Terrorism is deliberately being used in the West as a bogeyman to harness people into a political agenda

• Central authority and the common good have lost ground to a belief in ‘doing my own thing’; whatever the merits of that, it creates tremendous problems

• The increasing volume of activities creates more complex systems that are more prone to breakdowns

• The energy problem is not so much finding new energy sources as greatly reducing demand


Tolerance should not simply be indifference.

One of the most destructive forces is a sense of superiority, }”I’m right and everyone else is wrong.” True superiority should lead to greater service, not greater ruthlessness.

In looking at much that goes o in the world, an appropriate question is, “Where does stupidity end and insanity begin? Insanity has many forms we call normal behaviour. For many people, being in their right mind raises definitional problems.

Values (2)

• Great leaders are non-conformists, who emerge to achieve a fundamental change. Currently our crises is not yet clearly recognized enough to trigger coalescence behind a visionary leader

• President Bush, largely because of his own policies, presided over the beginning of the decline of American power.

• American policy seems to run on bogeymen, resulting in needless death everywhere from Vietnam through Nicaragua to Iraq. Where America gives military help, its presence has weakened those involved.

PONDERATIONS & PROFUNDUM

History is very much a function of the leadership that is available. The “c’s” of leadership are certainty of purpose, conviction, capability for effective action, and cooperation from the people.

The Marshall Plan leadership is where America made substantial contributions to help Western Europe recover from WW II. It made an essential contribution to stability and progress, and was an example of what positive, creative initiatives can do.

Thought is rarely given to the high moral and ethical principles that would have demonstrated the true greatness of the United States.

The Economic Foundations

• Great differences in economic structure will now require transformations on a scale never before witnessed in so short a time

• The mega-corporations require levels of consumption that are clearly unsustainable

• We are faced with establishing a completely new combination of private enterprise and government activities that are complementary and that protect the public interest


The greater the mess, the fatter the contracts to those making the mess.

The problem with locking up crooked business people who have stolen millions, is that they take more taxpayers money keeping them in jail.

In some countries young people can make a better living as soldiers or going through city garbage dumps to salvage recyclables than farming or working in the city. Something wrong here.

Economic Foundations: Back to the Future

• Even if they cannot solve all of the problems, some changes require backtracking to less destructive lifestyles

• Smaller, more efficient cars are joined by energy savings from a change in lifestyle to more use of bicycles and walking

• The use of wind power, solar power, biomass and recycling are all local responses to the national crises


We talk about sustainable development while living unsustainable lives.

The more public support for wrong policies, the greater the disaster.

We reply far too much on attempts to dominate; on violence, destruction and attempted mastery over others.

Personal Beliefs and Behaviours

• More people are killed by internal violence than by terrorists; a major objective should be to reduce those destructive forces

• Two programs show how a sense of achievement could be provided:• People Empowering People (PEP) would take

remedial action before trouble begins

• Mi Casa in Guatemala has fed and trained hundreds of orphans to go on the universities and careers


Obsession with power, either personal or national, deprives society of the vital energies and resources to improve civilization or even sustain it.

Genetic engineering can tailor-make kids but it can’t tailor-make adults. That’s the rub.

One small consolation is that a suicide bomber can’t do it again.

Personal Beliefs (2)

• A proper measure of ‘poverty’ is not set by income but by the level of struggle it takes for low-income people to advance

• 100 of the world’s richest people have incomes larger than the 100-million poorest

• Providing proper support to the exploited and to the imprisoned, would produce a tremendous net benefit to society


The biggest of all our problems is our failure to appreciate their magnitude and complexity, the absence of any idea of how to begin to deal with these transformations, even if we did recognize them; the lack both of leadership and a concerned dedicated public to insist that we do better, and that we can do better.

Once we give up our principles of fairness, justice, the rule of law, generosity and humaneness, the enemy has won. We have gone far in destroying the values of our society.

The Spiritual Dimension

• Most people have a feeling that they are part of something more than just their daily lives

• In spite of the fanatics, all religions seek peaceful, productive lives; conflicts arise when the hierarchies collide

• One difficulty with many who claim to be Christian is that they show little evidence of having read the New Testament

• We are not called on to destroy, but to show a better way

• The spiritual dimension must lead to practical actions


A good thing to remember – a better thing to do: work on the construction gang, not the wrecking crew.

The first hundred years of our lives are a learning experience. Too bad that’s about all the time we have.

Events are not just what is happening. More basically, they are about motives, ambitions, understanding, the presence or absence of principle, and what follows from the events.

Politics and Geopolitics

• National dedication can produce outstanding transformation: within two years of the start of WWII Canada had created an army, navy and air-force, and mobilized both public and private sectors

• But a series of wrong-headed policies can be counter-productive• Cold War dominated by over-reaction• Loss of Vietnam, Cambodia and East Asia• Central and South America destabilized• Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Palestine destroyed• Former partners are declared enemies


The tremendous shift in economic power, especially toward China and India, must be accommodated one way or another. That accommodation is made far worse because their economic development rests on much the same structure that we have demonstrated to be unsustainable and destructive.

The U.S. has assumed erroneously that regimes you don’t like must be destroyed by war or subversive intervention of some sort.

Politics and Geopolitics (2)

• When America has 900 military bases in 153 countries, it is not fighting for its freedom – it is running an empire

• It influence is however waning, as new economic forces from China, India, and elsewhere compete

• Think of what benefits could have been provided to society if a small portion of America’s military budget had been spent on infrastructure, health and education

• A contrast: focussing on civil projects, India has unified itself and pulled its economy forward; Pakistan, run by the military, has lagged behind

• Most people are content to live in their small sphere of activity; larger forces will not allow this to continue, and will pull all of us into an active role in the global assembly of interests, rivalries and disruptions


The Iraq war and other violence are symptomatic of a weakening of democracy, especially in the U.S. and U.K. The people had no say in going to war, have almost no meaningful information or understanding of iit, and have mounted no democratic action to stop it. Where is democracy?

Many people in or near political and economic power profit substantially from a crises and its continuation. There is more incentive to initiate a crises and prolong it than to resolve it.

Conclusion

• We are only at the early stages of the greatest transformation in history

• Through our destructive, exploitive imperialistic policies, we have created much of the hatred and violence that is directed against the West

• As long as we continue in our present course, the hatred and violence will increase

• We need to reverse course; to reach for the side of our nature that is positive, creative, constructive, generous and tolerant

• This means switching our social efforts to the support of education, healthcare, and the creation of meaning for our citizens


We try to establish our status and position in the world by a display of wealth and an impressive living style. Wrong priorities. Our worth is measured by what we do with our time and our talent, especially how we make ourselves useful: what we can do to help others and the world.

The epilogue to this book will be written every day, week, month and year as time progresses and reveals the consequences of these past and present acts and how we respond to them.

Should you make the mistake of wanting to obtain this book, it is available in e-pub format at:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/james-e-gander/philosophical-diversions/ebook/product-21774371.html

Thank you for your consideration.

James Gander

http://www.lulu.com/shop/james-e-gander/philosophical-diversions/ebook/product-21774371.html

Values


Leadership & Management

James gander book philosophical diversions where are we going