View From the Top > Esteemed Reader

In the modern world, the deliberate and often official killing of individual judgment and individual conscience constitutes crime on such a large scale that it becomes invisible, and men cannot even imagine living under any other conditions.
—Rodney Collin

That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good for itself.
—Zarathustra

Every promulgator of a new system starts out with a good idea, with an idealistic notion about how a new way of life can develop. The arising of these United States is a prime example. Its formation was motivated by the desire for freedom. What higher motivation can there be? Freedom to pursue happiness, to worship, to express convictions, to create, to live, work, think in the way that corresponds to each person’s values and convictions. And to have a system of government that serves the end of freedom.

Freedom is a noble goal. Perhaps the only goal worth having. But freedom is something earned through work. This is clearly seen in small things. For instance, if I want the freedom to scale a sheer rock face, I first of all need make the effort to learn to climb. If I want the freedom to articulate ideas in a way that is understandable to others I first need to work to learn the a language and how to set it down in a compelling fashion.

Political power is the freedom to affect the life of the collective in drastic and far-reaching ways. Herein lies the crux of the failure of our political systems and power structures. It is that the power-possessors are not required to earn their freedom in any meaningful way. They are able to lie, cheat, steal and manipulate their way into positions of power within the system. Is this a failure of the system itself or a failure on the part of those who participate in it? Well there isn’t really a difference, is there? The point is that the system is once again concentrating freedom in the hands of the few, at the expense of the many.

To be a leader is have the power to serve. This is the only criteria for being worthy of power. A true power-possessor is one who is beneath everyone else. The leader is at the bottom—serving her constituents. Not on top, preying on the weaknesses of others for the gain of a few. The former is the exception to the rule in our system, which is almost utterly corrupt, and which we can say with some confidence has failed. Though we don’t feel this failure (because we are still more or less comfortable) we see the signs of it. The very system that was designed to guarantee representation of citizens in government was corrupted in the last presidential election—and this is but one small example. Can the failure of our system feel real to us now, while we are still eating well, traveling about, and enjoying the good things in life? Now, while we still have a chance to transform the system without massive devastation? Probably not. Probably we need suffering as motivation to find a new way, a way of working together—for, rather than against one another.

What is a system of governance that will make coherent and responsible human life on the earth a possibility? The first answer that occurs to me is anarchy, though this word has unfortunate implications for many of us. Perhaps it should be qualified as “responsible anarchy,” or perhaps we need to resort to a term that is not so politicized like Arthur Koestler’s holarchy. A holarchy is comprised of holons or microcosmic units which are part of a larger world, and are worlds in themselves, which in turn are comprised of many smaller worlds. Koestler gives the example of a living organism which is comprised of organs, tissues, cells and molecules. Though one could as easily speak about the Universe which is comprised of galaxies, suns, planets, moons. Each level or “world” has parts which are complete and whole in themselves, but which are organized by a more encompassing world to form some larger whole. A holarchy is primarily a description of an harmonious interrelationship of worlds, from the largest to the smallest. What allows the whole system to be organized is an intelligence which runs through it, and is available to each level.
So in a human society which is organized as a holarchy each level would adhere to the laws of the largest world—of humanity itself. In order for this to be possible the chief characteristic would be the internalization of law; or, better yet, connection to the native intelligence that is alive in each person; the awakening of the instrument of conscience.

True conscience is not a set of moralistic notions, as we ordinarily think of it. Rather it is a living knowledge of how to function in relation to a larger whole. It includes a direct awareness of ourselves, and a corresponding awareness of others, that allows us to function in a way that addresses the good; that is, not my good, or the good of others, but the good of all, which is the one, of which each apparent individual is an intrinsic part.

Jesus said “love you brother as yourself.” Not as if he were yourself. As yourself. In order to utter such an admonition (and hear it correctly) a person has to actually perceive others as oneself. Which means it is not simply a nice idea, but a perception that is inherent to a level of consciousness more encompassing than the one we ordinarily inhabit. To arrive in such a state of consciousness requires work; work to perceive the world rightly, to depart from fantastic self-involvement and become involved with the real world. Such work would make us eligible for the freedom—both inner and outer—that would make true social holarchy both possible and practicable.

As we are, the absence of controls, restrictions, and laws would lead to chaos. But there is another possibility. It is to connect to the innate intelligence that includes an awareness of and concern for the whole. As we are, we are too selfish and self-centered to be trusted with freedom. The freedom we have we use to benefit ourselves and the few that constitute our coterie of “near and dear,” whether it be our family, company, community, or even the abstract notion of nation. But this is not enough. To be worthy of freedom, we need to care for humanity (and even all sentient life) as ourselves, which it is. We are merely cells within that body. To function as renegade cells is to be a cancerous blight in the body of life on earth.

To recognize the authority of the holarchy we already comprise and take actions that flow from this perception will make government a vestigial institution; will make the selfishness and lies of the power-possessors appear as they are—criminal and absurd. This peaceful inner revolution will make a heaven on earth.

May it be so.

—Jason Stern