Are we humanitarian?

Today, I would like to explore what lies behind human selfishness. I am trying to understand why we don’t care after each other at a global level, and see if it is possible to maintain hope for a better world. Sometimes, the only way to confront an offensive concept is to understand it.

Initially, it looks clear that we, humans, are not in solidarity with one another. Almost half of worlds population lives with $1 dollar a day. The UN report “The Inequality Predicament” states “…80 percent of the world's domestic product belongs to one billion people living in the industrially developed world, while the remaining 20 percent is shared by five billion people living in developing countries.” 12.000 children die every day of starvation. And we are only talking about poverty, not human rights, violence or diseases. It is obvious that there is something wrong in this organism called humanity. It seems clear that we are uncaring as a group, but, is that true at an individual level?

Charity and Non Profit organizations (NPO) manage multi million dollar budgets. Many governments and private associations send considerable amounts ofmoney for development projects in third word countries, destined to end hunger and improve living conditions. However, those amounts are insufficient, not only in proportion to the GDP of the country giving it, but specially, compared with the amounts that are needed. Since the creation of Unicef, in 1946, and many other organizations that followed, a lot of work has been done, but the situation has not improved. ¿Why are we not able to solve this situation? In fact the contrary is occurring, in 1960 the wealth of the richest countries was 30 times higher than the group of poorest countries; in 1990 was 60 times higher. As the total riches in the world increases, the poor get poorer.

Most people I know are touched by images of children, adults and elders that we see on TV, dying or barely surviving. I believe that if we were able to see that by not buying a videogame or by canceling a gym subscription somebody could be fed or looked after in any way they need, most of us would do it. But we don’t see that direct an effect. It seems to be a never-ending ocean between the two worlds: theirs and ours. We feel separated by an abyss that makes all the good intentions, the solidarity that they initially bring about, even the donations disappear. Never mind all the work that is done, what is left to do is always much bigger. Never mind all the years of effort of many organizations worldwide, the needs are always several steps ahead. Apparently, this is a lost race.

I want to believe that it is the frustration of feeling inadequate and small what makes us ignore the problem, and turn our backs on a painful reality. After all, regardless of the voluntary hours we do or the amount of money we share, it it is not enough compared with what is needed to be done. It even gets worse when we think about the victims of violence, slavery or war. Who is the hero that will fly to liberate all the oppressed and punish the bad guys? It is clear that to wash our hands of it is much easier, and it is also a defense mechanism for us.

In this space, we always look at situations from the point of view of the energy world in which we are living. In this case, what we see as a problem is not so. It is just a symptom and a consequence of our immaturity as species. The core of the problem is that we don’t realize yet who we are; we think we are separated and different from the other human beings around us. The solution is to realize that we are all a unit. Imagine that a cell from one of our fingers thought that it was totally independent of another from the brain or from the blood. What’s happens then when a cell from any part of the body turns against a neighbor? Cancer and other diseases appear. Socially, we should adopt a model that we all have near: our own body. Every cell is an individual, but they all together form a unit. The benefit from the collaboration is that they all develop in the best possible way. Nature, animals and plants are a perfect model of collaboration and solidarity. When there is a problem in a part of the system, the rest mobilize to fix it, giving priority to the parts that are more in need or more vital. The reason for us not to follow that model is that we see each other as separate from the rest. The success of the species depends of the survival of the components. The law of the jungle, the survival of the stronger, is not applicable any more when there is a superior consciousness.

I dream of a world where the term solidarity does not exist; instead, to help each other is the norm. To have problems is part of life, but most of the time they don’t happen to everybody at the same time, so today for you, tomorrow for me. When we live as a unit we don’t say we are supportive. When we help some family member we don’t say we are supportive. On the contrary, we think of it as something normal, as the person belongs to our same group; we are part of the same family nucleus. When the neighbor is the one with the problem, if we have a relationship with them or the problem is very serious, it is possible that we assist; but if they are outside of our social pyramid, it is difficult for us to feel the need to get involved. First of all, we perceive it as somebody else’s problem. Secondly, we feel that our resources will be diminished some how. Both perceptions are deceiving. When we finally understand that we are all one, that we are part of a bigger unit, and that what happens to one of us is shared for all, we will not need to be supportive. We will simply look after each other, because that is the way for all to benefit. It is not a question of being good and altruistic, but to be practical. The better off everybody is, the better for us, because we are in the same ship.

I don’t think the solution lies necessarily in the political arena. I believe it lives in every one of us, and I know that when there are enough people that adopt this view, we will manage to end this situation of injustice. The solution is to know, to feel that we are all one; we have to stop living in an insanely competitive mode, and start living in a positive synergy. Every day, in every situation, to practice this new point of view, like changing our position to look at something from another angle. For me, it gets easier when I remember when I was playing with my son and we made figurines with playdoh. It didn’t matter if it was a horse, a tree, a UFO or a baby, in the end they were all the same, they came from the same material and they were going back to the same bag after we finished playing. It would be very funny for me if one of the little figures believed itself to be different or better than the others, just because it was taller or had more details or more colors.

I want to make clear that I am not, of course, making a call for no action. I am not saying that the little we do is not worth doing. What I am trying to convey is that a true change starts always in our thoughts. There is a metaphysical law that says “The Universe is mind; all is mind”. It is true; everything that exists was created first in the realm of the thought before it gets materialized. To create what we want starts by creating it in our mind, and there are not excuses for that. It is ok if we cannot feed all the hungry, but we can feed at least one, and more importantly, we can change our thought process and know that we are not something different and separated from that other world that suffers. Psychologically, in what Jung called the collective unconscious, the shadow, the instinctive part, we all feel separated from others. In order to reach the change in this collective unconscious, sufficient numbers of individuals have to change, and that change has to be conscious. This way, through consciousness, we evolve as humans.

To sum up, let’s stop blaming governments and rich people for the lack of solidarity in the world. The change is in our hands. It is enough if we realize that we are all one, a whole entity, and we act accordingly at every level, starting with those nearest to us. The good thing is that we will end up finishing all wars at the same time, because it will not make sense to fight ourselves.

Helena Aramendia. Allowed the partial or total reproduction as long as the source and the author are credited.