DIVERSITY
I see NCN as an organization that will foster tolerance of diversity.
Particularly I hope that we can learn to listen to each other's viewpoints
without having to fight about it, and we can have a meaningful dialogue
despite differences.
Synergy can develop out of differences. That is, different ideas, different
talents and different activities might provide creative fuel for each
other, and we might achieve a whole that is bigger than the sum of its
parts.
However, the strange situation might develop where an openness to the
interaction between different views might appear to clash with strongly
held beliefs that don't allow for such openness.
It is still very common in the old civilization to paint things in black
and white and to fragment into Us versus Them scenarios. The political
system in most parts of the world is a good example of that. We divide into
left and right wing and accuse each other of causing the ills of society.
I hope that NCN can go beyond that and address a civilization as a whole
system made up of a variety of aspects. Possibly a quite chaotic variety,
but nevertheless adding up to a whole with various emerging properties.
A network consists of independent members who freely choose what to focus
on and who to link with. It has some kind of common purpose, but the
members might have quite different preferences, beliefs and interests.
Somebody might come along and latch on to the activities or beliefs of some
members, might extrapolate them out and fit them into some categorization
system of what is politically correct or incorrect. And might then label
the whole network in some negative manner.
Amongst us there is, I am sure, ideas that would be considered very
controversial in some circles, or that might not be all that kosher in the
mainstream.
Some people believe that the abolishment of government would be desirable,
some people believe that psychedelic drugs are a way to a better world,
some believe that gun ownership is a symbol of freedom, some people believe
all guns should be outlawed, some people believe that there are
ill-intended conspiracies behind most governments on the planet, some
people believe the current governments need to be supported, some people
believe in channeling and ascension to higher spiritual dimensions, others
believe there is no such thing as a human spirit.
All of these are represented within the 150 members of NCN. Yet none of
them are the one correct representation of what NCN is about. NCN is about
setting a positive direction towards a better world, based on freedom and
cooperation for the common good, and it is about making the planet work.
Lots of elements might go into that, and we don't necessarily have to all
agree at the same time about what they are.
Just as the Internet might be labeled by somebody who isn't familiar with
it as some kind of criminal drug-pushing child-pornography ring, an
activity like NCN might also be unfairly labeled as something it isn't.
NCN is to some extent a microcosm of a whole civilization. We might have to
work out how to tolerate each other and coexist peacefully, despite our
differences, and then turn our diversity into synergy and unity based on
what we do agree about, which is hopefully to make the world work for all
of us. We might unfortunately also occasionally have to defend the
existence of such a network of free-thinking individuals and groups, some
of which have controversial ideas.
I see NCN as a friendly, tolerant, optimistic, constructive activity. Very
few people should have a reason to have anything against it. If somebody
still does, it can usually be cleared up with a simple explanation. If it
can't, I guess it is just a sign that there is still more work ahead.
- Flemming
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/ \------------------ Flemming A. Funch ------------------/ \
/ * \ World Transformation/New Civilization/Whole Systems / * \
/ * * \ ffunch@newciv.org / * * \
o-------o -------- http://newciv.org/worldtrans/ ---------o-------o
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