Perhaps we have built a house of cards on a false foundation. What could be the shift that would put our ship back on course?
We must examine our assumptions.
What if the following precepts became the foundation for how we are in relationship with each other. I have named it “The Expanded Family” and see it as the evolutionary step beyond the nuclear family concept:
The Expanded Family
A unit of independent, autonomous individuals, all seeking their unique destinies within the context of caring, consideration and respect for others achieved through conversation, listening, patience, kindness, empathy, compassion, playfulness and truthfulness; allowing the Universal Laws of perfect balance, abundance, harmony and win/win to manifest through letting go of fear, separation and doubt, moving into total trust of a universe driven by unconditional love.
The practical application of these concepts can ultimately create a community that intrinsically understands and trusts:
* The inherent goodness of each child/adult.
* That each child/adult is a genius in his/her own way and at some point before the end of his/her life this genius will flower and the world will be a better place because of it.
* That every person is an eager and natural learner and teacher.
* That every person has different interests, different needs – intellectual, physical and emotional – at different stages in their lives and that these are ever-changing.
* That adults are “enablers of learning” as well as teachers, parents, employers – their role is to allow the natural flowering of each person’s natural gifts of wisdom, knowledge and talent.
* That change is the one constant that everyone must embrace and prepare for.
* That extreme care must be taken from birth to ensure that each individual is provided with conditions which will encourage the development of balanced, open, thoughtful people who will naturally contribute to his/her community in an appropriate manner, by creating systems that:
* Provide a smorgasbord of information and experiences from which a child/adult may choose and then respect his/her choices as appropriate for his/her development.
* Encourage people to take risks and make mistakes, understanding that one learns more from wrong answers than right answers, thereby relieving the stress associated with having to be right and eliminating the fear of being wrong.
* Orient means of educating children and motivating employees around the inner satisfaction of learning rather than the outer rewards of grades and material gain.
* Encouraging excellence through connectedness, choice and discovery, abandoning models of perfection and judgment.
Living these ideas is the challenge, taking each word literally and acting accordingly. In this way, perhaps, we can each be part of the process that will allow peace, beauty, balance and abundance for all to come to pass on Earth.
“We must become the change we wish to see in the world.” — Ghandi
“No problem was ever solved in the same consciousness in which it was created.” — Albert Einstein
“This is a great nation and a strong people. Any who seek to comfort rather than instruct, promise satisfaction rather than reveal frustration deny that greatness and drain that strength. For today as it was in the beginning, it is the truth that makes us free.” — RFK
[tags]Uplifting Evolutionary Ideas, Connie Baxter Marlow, The Expanded Family[/tags]
