Our world hurts. Society treats people as objects to be used, managed, sorted, and controlled. Families strain. Workplaces drain spirit. Communities fray. Individuals become isolated and disheartened. Wealth, status, and power rise toward the top. Politics turns neighbors into enemies. These problems are connected; they reinforce each other, woven into structures and systems that move in the same direction. This reality calls for coordinated, mutually reinforcing, egalitarian actions that promote empowerment throughout society — in institutions, culture, and individuals.

 

In his 1946 “The Human Crisis” lecture, Albert Camus addressed 1500 people at Columbia University. He described the situation facing his generation, which, he said, was being met with indifference. He identified its symptoms as terror, dehumanizing bureaucracy, and abstract political ideology rooted a belief in false historical inevitability. Against this, he argued for a revolt that affirms shared human dignity, open communication, freedom, and honesty. He proposed abolishing capital punishment, subordinating politics to its proper limited role (“second place”), and building international communities of dialogue. He said, “(Even after Hitler’s defeat), the French people sense that mankind is still under threat. And they also sense that to continue living, they must rescue a certain idea of mankind from the crisis that grips the whole world.” He closed with cautious optimism, joy, and a commitment to keep fighting. His thoughts are no less relevant today.

 

In his 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature lecture, Octavio Paz reflected on the impact of the end of the Cold War, during which the two great powers stabilized the world by dominating their client states, and warned:

 

The collapse of Utopian schemes has left a great void.... For the first time in history mankind lives in a sort of spiritual wilderness…. It is a dangerous experience…. Men could then become possessed once more by ancient religious fury or by fanatical nationalism. It would be terrible if the fall of the abstract idol of ideology were to foreshadow the resurrection of the buried passions of tribes, sects and churches. The signs, unfortunately, are disturbing….

 

Camus and Paz were right. Worse, the world may be spiraling downward toward an incredible catastrophe.

 

Revenge and hypocrisy rule. In America, Gaza, Iran, Sudan, Ukraine, and elsewhere, defeating “enemies” is more important than achieving positive goals. To consolidate power, autocrats and would-be autocrats inflame ethnic, religious, racial, and other identities. The Chinese perfect the surveillance state, as American corporations advance their own surveillance economy. The climate crisis aggravates extreme weather events, but American network news ignores global warming.

 

The Supreme Court clears the way for the centralization of corporate power, gives the President immunity for crimes committed while in office, legalizes unrestricted Big Money political donations, expedites efforts to make voting more difficult, and reinforces the Imperial Presidency and the Unitary Executive. President Trump uses the Justice Department to charge opponents with imaginary crimes, at great cost to the defendants. The explosive growth of unregulated Artificial Intelligence (AI) poses serious threats; some experts worry it will wipe out humanity. A lack of meaningful community involvement, terror, and horror lead many people to withdraw into passive indifference, self-indulgent fun, or merely taking care of themselves and their family. Empathy erodes. The hope to “save the world” wanes.

 

Seven in ten Americans believe “the system is rigged.” Sixty-two percent said in spring 2025 they were dissatisfied with how democracy is working. Roughly half of Americans feel the political system does not represent the interests of people like them.

 

Selfishness prevails. Depression breeds self-centeredness; self-centeredness breeds depression. People work hard and play hard, and rest up to work more. Ego-driven power trips fracture organizations. Culture celebrates celebrity. Economic inequality, insecurity, and the climate crisis worsen. Big Money corrupts politics. 

Hyper-individualism produces isolation. Genuine, meaningful, supportive, heartfelt connection is rare. Small talk predominates. Folk wisdom reports, "Most people don't really listen; they just wait for their turn to talk." Conversations are often a series of monologues. Related research paints a consistent picture:

• Most Americans sometimes or always feel like no one knows them well, roughly six in ten always or sometimes feel their interests and ideas aren't shared by those around them, and almost half lack meaningful in-person social interaction on a daily basis.

• The average number of people Americans can turn to for discussing important personal matters fell from three in 1985 to two in 2004, and the share with no such confidant more than doubled, from about one in ten to nearly one in four.

• Nearly half of Americans acknowledge that they generally don’t engage in discussions with people holding opinions different from their own.

Together, these findings document a real decline in community, connection, and shared understanding. 
 

Domination and Submission
 

These crises reflect a pattern: In every arena — social, personal, cultural, economic, environmental, political — society trains people to dominate and submit. At times, domination and submission make sense. More often, they don’t. 

 

People dominate, for instance, when they:

• do most of the talking

• interrupt

• don't listen

• display indifference to others' experience

• disrespect people

• look down on them

• compete fiercely with no regard for ethics

• climb the ranks to lord it over those below

• pursue greater profits regardless of the costs to the environment, their workers, and their community

• believe they're superior human beings

• are bossy

• lecture

• preach

• mobilize followers to do what they want

• manipulate or seduce people with hidden agendas

• take charge unilaterally

• defeat "enemies"

• coerce with physical force or threats

• imprison

• discriminate against others based on their identity

• mesmerize with charm, charisma, or rhetoric

• wear the most beautiful clothes and own the most costly consumer goods to impress people

• get the highest grades and attend the most prestigious schools to enhance their claim to moral superiority

• believe they deserve the advantages they have

• take advantage of their relative physical “beauty,” according to conventional standards  
   

People submit, for instance, when they:

• resign themselves to being consumed by conditions that chew them up

• let others monopolize conversations

• agree others are superior human beings and they themselves are inferior

• go along with the crowd because it's easier

• say nothing about the explosion of greed, corruption, and cheating

• go along with bossy or abusive people

• envy and resent wealthy elites

• resign themselves to being isolated without a meaningful community

• accept authoritative directions without evaluating them

• accept and internalize others' disrespect

• worship people who lecture and preach at them

• automatically follow leaders who mobilize them and supervisors who order them

• buy into the notion that we must defeat "enemies"

• do what others want without knowing their hidden agendas

• yield quickly when being subjected to physical force and threats

• allow imprisonment to undermine their spiritual freedom

• accept discrimination against them based on who they are

• are taken in by charm, charisma, and clever rhetoric

• are persuaded or converted without careful thought

• always obey bosses

• envy people with the latest fashions

• think people with the highest grades who go to the most prestigious schools are more intelligent in every respect

• believe everyone deserves their lot and has earned what they have or don't have

• feel intimidated by being less “attractive” according to conventional standards  
   

Domination and submission are two sides of the same coin and depend on each other. Society systematically teaches and encourages everyone to climb social ladders and look down on, exploit, and dominate those below them and submit to and admire those above them and conform to social pressure. A primary goal is to “get ahead” of others. Wealthier and more powerful people use their advantages to accumulate more wealth, status, and power. 

Society weaves our institutions, organizations, cultures, and individual selves into a single self-reinforcing, synergistic social system: the self-perpetuating authoritarian Top-Down Machine that inflames and manipulates the innate desire to dominate and the willingness to submit — and manifests as pervasive selfishness and a desire to get ahead of others. By 'Top-Down Machine,' this book means the pattern — visible across every sphere — of the concentration of wealth, status, and power at higher levels that treats people below as objects to be managed rather than equals to be treated with respect. 

 

This authoritarian Machine is anti-American; it rejects the highest American ideals, including: 

• Everyone is created equal with core human rights.

• The consent of the governed is the source of legitimacy.

• The rule of law must apply.

• Democracy requires the ability to vote.

• Protest and petitions for the redress of grievances must be protected.

• Promoting the general welfare is essential. 

 

In the social sphere, the Machine shapes everyday life — at work, in schools, in healthcare, in families, and in social spaces. It decides whose voices matter, whose time counts, whose comfort comes first, and whose needs are treated as negotiable.

 

In the personal sphere, the Machine is internalized. It shapes psychology, identity, and desire. The Machine programs the desire to dominate and the willingness to submit so deeply that this conditioning often operates below awareness — shaping behavior, judgment, and desire in the unconscious, without the person recognizing it as conditioning at all.
 

In the cultural sphere, the Machine shapes what we notice, what we ignore, what we praise, and what we treat as normal. Culture is the air we breathe.
 

In the economic sphere, the Machine treats money as the main scorecard of human worth. The result is insecurity, rat races, union busting, corruption, obscene profit margins, monopolies and oligopolies, and workplace dictatorships where some decide and others obey. Making more money is a personal goal for about half of Americans; roughly one in three expect they'll actually get rich.

In the environmental sphere, the Machine treats the planet the way it treats people: as objects to be used, extracted, and discarded.

 

In the political sphere,  the Machine concentrates decision-making in the hands of an elite few, shields them from accountability, and turns democracy into theater. Political parties mobilize supporters for elections, and then neglect them until the next election.

From the internal monologue of the activist to the boardrooms of global finance, the Machine reproduces a single logic: wealth, status, and power flow upward and are concentrated, while accountability is crushed. 

 

The focus of this book is America because my associates and I are Americans and know this country well. However, these patterns prevail in all modern societies; they share common characteristics and fit within the same system. Moreover, Americanization is spreading worldwide. The Machine is global.
 

Regardless of social and environmental costs, egocentric hyper-competition pushes people to get ahead of others, creates extreme inequality, and drives nations to dominate other nations. The Machine aggravates cheating, corruption, and unfair business practices. 

 

Society doesn’t oppress everyone equally. Racism, sexism, and other forms of oppressive discrimination target people because of their identity. These durable features are built into laws, institutions, cultural norms, and individual behavior over generations; they aren’t isolated or merely historical. Racist, classist, sexist, paternalistic, and other demeaning behavior dehumanizes the perpetrator as well as the victim. 

 

Common Objections

 

Many people identify other factors as the primary problem for social ills. These claims include:

 

Capitalism. Some people blame “capitalism,” but the problem is unregulated or poorly regulated capitalism — rationalized by the myth of a magical “free market.” Governments have always supported market growth. The question is: What kind of growth? To what end? To whose benefit? Abolishing capitalism is not viable. Capitalism is not the root cause. 

 

Oligarchy. Some people say the primary problem is oligarchy, rule by the wealthy. They say Big Money's power undermines democracy. However, though it’s very imperfect, America is still a democracy. Popular power restrains decision-makers, and elections still make a difference at times, creating space for more progress.

 

Apocalypse. Some people predict or wish for a total systemic collapse, and look forward to “rising from the ashes.” The future, however, is impossible to predict with that kind of certainty.

 

Single systems. Some people say there’s no one system, only a collection of independent systems. These systems fit together, however. They reinforce each other and help sustain a considerable degree of stability. Otherwise, the world would be even more chaotic. All nations share common characteristics and are interdependent.

 

Bureaucracy. Some people identify the core problem as “bureaucracy,” with its hierarchies, standardized rules, impersonal procedures, dehumanization, red tape, and stifled innovation. However, many organizations are learning to counter these patterns by simplifying rules, decentralizing decision-making, delegating authority to teams, speeding up processes with computers, and shifting focus from following rules to performance outcomes. 

 

Welfare state. Many people believe government programs breed dependency and undermine personal responsibility. Poorly designed programs, in isolation and depending on context, can have some truth to this criticism. Cash assistance administered by impersonal bureaucrats to working-age adults who turn down good jobs can breed social withdrawal or anti-social behavior. However, with needed support, most people take advantage of opportunities to advance.

 

Cultural primacy. Some commentators insist that big cultural changes must precede social change. However, as with the argument that personal change must come first, it’s not either/or, but both/and. Social change impacts cultural and personal change.

 

The need for security. Fear is a powerful motivator. The temptation to accept authoritarianism or even autocracy is great, as is the tendency to submit to charismatic saviors who claim to be all-knowing. But balance is possible. A reasonable degree of safety and security can be a foundation for risk-taking, exploring new ideas, and engaging in productive and creative activities that relieve suffering, promote fairness, and spread joy and the appreciation of beauty.

 

 Countering the Top-Down Machine
 

Achieving deep, holistic reform requires controlling instances of inappropriate and unjustified domination and submission. Fortunately, loosely connected, egalitarian bottom-up communities are building alternatives to the authoritarian Top-Down Machine. Members of these communities operate throughout society. Respectfully, with humility, not presuming to have all the answers.

 

In the social sphere, for instance, they 

• Enter health care and human- and social-service professions to help people in need

• Commit random acts of kindness

• Care for family members and friends

• Build co-equal partnerships

• Form member-run organizations
   

In the personal sphere, bottom-up community members constantly work on becoming better people, acknowledge their mistakes and resolve not to repeat them, cultivate joy, and commune with Mother Nature.
 

In the cultural sphere, they create soulful works of art, inspire people to be more fully human, and back consumer-supported, independent media.

 

In the economic sphere, they push for security, justice, and lifelong fair opportunities, form worker cooperatives, build strong unions, fight for economic democracy, and push to reduce economic inequality.

In the environmental sphere, they push to eliminate the harmful impacts of economic activity, work to reverse global warming, and aim to be in harmony with Nature.

 

In the political sphere, they work to get Big Money out of politics, advocate for compassionate improvements in public policy, make it easy to vote, and advocate for a shift to proportional representation, which would enhance broader representation, break up incumbent monopolies, and set aside winner-take-all elections. 

 

Historically, many individuals and organizations have resisted arbitrary, unjustified top-down power and have built alternative institutions and countercultures to empower the marginalized. Often “underground” and out of sight, these efforts have enhanced the informal bottom-up community that cultivates cooperation and compassion. Each element reinforces the others. 

The formalized Top-Down Machine and the informal bottom-up communities press against each other, but the more powerful Machine predominates. 

 

Some activists aim to destroy, dismantle, or overthrow the Machine. A better goal is to strengthen “outside” bottom-up communities, affirm those who work “inside” to reform the Machine and hold it accountable to its highest ideals (some hierarchy is essential), and establish a balance between the two with holistic democracy.

 

Holistic Democracy

 

Holistic democracy addresses the whole person, the whole society, and the whole world. It cultivates friendship and generosity, builds counter-institutions, holds power accountable, overcomes oppressive domination, avoids mindless submission, and restructures society with fundamental social reform.
 

Holistic democracy throughout society could cultivate synergistic growth across all spheres. It could make hierarchies more accountable by giving more power to bottom-up communities. A model for this approach is the worker-owned cooperative, in which members select their managers, who perform particular functions. Another model is the labor union with strong shop stewards — representatives embedded in the workplace who confront management with complaints about working conditions, keeping hierarchy accountable from below. Some spiritual communities also illustrate a commitment to mutual aid and social engagement.

 

As the following graphic shows, power in human societies runs on a spectrum. At one extreme sits autocracy — total top-down control, no accountability, no voice for those below. At the other extreme sits anarchy — the abolition of hierarchy altogether.

​

​​​​​​​

Moving along the spectrum from autocracy, first comes authoritarianism, then moderate authoritarianism, each progressively tilting power downward. Moving along the spectrum in the other direction from anarchy, there’s moderate egalitarianism, then egalitarianism, each dispersing power more broadly. 

 

At the center sits holistic democracy, which integrates authoritarianism with egalitarianism. Most societies live somewhere on this spectrum and can move in either direction. This book argues that maximum societal health involves strengthening balanced holistic democracy.

 

As the following graphic illustrates, bottom-up communities (on the right), with their overlapping, interwoven, synergistic, integrated sectors, could build their own counter-institutions, help reform the Top-Down Machine (on the left), and balance the two.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​
 

​

​

 

The goal here is to reform the Machine so that it more fully achieves its highest ideals. The trick is to criticize it with passion, but not so much passion that it fuels excessive rage and an effort to crush it.

Key to this approach is to avoid false either/or choices; a both/and discipline can strengthen democratic life:

• We can care for ourselves and care for others.

• We can honor particular identities and our shared humanity.

• We can love our country and care about all people.

• We can pursue prosperity and serve the common good.

• We can meet immediate needs and hold long-term ideals.

• We can practice pragmatism and idealism.

• We can focus on short-term incremental reforms and long-term fundamental reforms.

 

Reforming the Top-Down Machine requires more than removing formal barriers. It also requires consciously advancing diversity within organizations and communities. Greater diversity strengthens communities, institutions, and endeavors; it enhances everyone’s ability to thrive. The goal is to build institutions worthy of humanity’s highest aspirations by ensuring everyone has a lifelong, fair opportunity to flourish, benefiting everyone.
 

Basic Values and Principles
 

Some key principles can guide holistic, systemic reform.

Human nature. Humans are torn between fear and hate on the one hand, and trust and love on the other. These deeply, genetically embedded instincts are powerful, rooted in humanity’s origins. For two million years, egalitarian, cooperative hunter-gatherers have met their basic needs and flourished. When they’ve lived in lush environments, they’ve been relatively peaceful. Population growth and environmental changes, however, have led to greater scarcity, competition, and conflict. 

 

Modern-day economic insecurity needlessly aggravates this pattern; scarcity is artificial; humanity has more than enough to meet everyone’s basic needs. Fortunately, cooperative instincts remain strong, ready to act on. Love and generosity are deep, powerful motives that fill lives with purpose.
 

The personal and the political. Both outer political changes in public policy and inner personal changes in thoughts and emotions are essential; they reinforce one another. The Top-Down Machine’s social conditioning inflames assumptions of moral superiority, a lack of respect for others’ essential equality, and the instincts to dominate and submit. Consequently, groups and individuals focus on their own power, driven by the desire to get followers to do what leaders want. 

 

Selfish power struggles divide organizations and undermine their potential power. If people become more humble and learn to cooperate more fully by solving problems together, they’ll be more effective. Personal growth can enhance political effectiveness by eliminating, reducing, or controlling divisive behaviors that weaken organizations. As the later chapters address, empowered organizations, while enhancing personal growth, can also help reform institutions to live up to their highest ideals, build alternative institutions as models, cultivate countercultures, and save the planet — in short, they can promote fundamental social reform.

 

The personal is political in that relationships involve the exercise of power; however, adopting and implementing legislation is also political. Improved living conditions enhance personal growth, and political struggle can be liberating personally, in and of itself. This legislative definition of “political” calls for integrating the personal and the political, while recognizing that interpersonal relationships entail important political dynamics.

 

Countering the Machine’s conditioning requires honest self-examination — uncovering unconscious, automatic patterns, acknowledging them without self-punishment, and talking about them with trusted others to consolidate what's discovered. 

 

The “System.” Many people understandably complain about “the system.” They intuitively realize that self-perpetuating, interwoven hidden social structures hold society together. However, there’s little agreement about the nature of this system; most people only refer to political and economic structures. This book argues the problem is much deeper. The Top-Down Machine (though other phrases could be used) is the primary problem we face. Deep change requires confronting it. So this book is neither anti-capitalist nor anti-socialist, nor pro-capitalist or pro-socialist. It draws on both; it affirms economic democracy. And it assumes widespread grievance about “the system” could help energize a movement focused on opposition to the Top-Down Machine.

 

Scapegoating. No individual, group, or nation controls the Top-Down Machine. Everyone is a pawn. Every manager is replaceable. Everyone is a victim — dehumanized by the Machine, rendered less than fully human — whether or not they realize it. That no one controls the Machine doesn't mean no one can change it: systems with no single commander can still shift when enough people, at enough points, act differently — the way norms move an entire culture without anyone making it happen. Placing primary blame on particular entities distracts from the deeper problem: the Top-Down Machine itself. 

 

Consider Donald Trump. He’s a symptom, not the root cause. He holds office because powerful elites backed him — billionaire donors gave over three times as much to his 2024 campaign as to his opponent's, with Elon Musk alone contributing $291 million, more than any other donor. The composition of the Supreme Court reflects that same elite interest in freeing corporations from constraint — and making it harder for the less powerful to vote. This is a hard claim for many readers — especially those harmed by Trump’s policies — to accept. But calling him a symptom doesn't mean he escapes accountability; it means that removing him, by itself, would not necessarily change the Machine that produced him and could merely produce a replacement. 

 

Violators must be held accountable and punished humanely, but this can be done while remembering that the primary problem is the authoritarian Top-Down Machine. Holding others and yourself accountable for mistakes and offenses need not lapse into demonization. The trick is to make judgments without being judgmental, without making harsh judgments that discount others’ essential humanity. 

 

Inflaming anger can mobilize people in the short run, but fails to sustain a caring community in the long run. While acknowledging righteous outrage, activists can frame anger within positive, winnable reforms that achieve accountability and control the Machine step by step. Pragmatic idealism focused on winnable, systemic reforms can be sustainable.
 

A National Movement. 

 

Compassion calls for major changes in national public policy to prevent suffering, as well as action to relieve suffering. Local and state policy reforms can help, but they will never be sufficient. Federal policies create widespread injustice and suffering, often reducing compassion-minded people to merely helping individuals cope — without correcting root causes. This reality necessitates developing a massive movement, similar to yet more powerful and sustained than the union, civil rights, and women’s movements. 

 

Widespread grievance about how “the system is broken” could be the focus of a movement that starts small and scales up. Many substantial movements began with a small number of members and scaled up.

Can a few people start something big? Yes, they could, by setting an example that inspires others to do the same — and then join forces. As Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” 

   

This book suggests that diagnosing the core problem as the Top-Down Machine that dominates and exploits society could be the foundation of a grassroots movement (though the movement might choose different language). The key point is to push for structural, systemic reforms that address root causes by integrating mutual support for personal growth with sustained nonviolent political action focused on winnable goals. A winnable first step, for instance, might be banning members of Congress from trading stocks — a reform with overwhelming bipartisan public support, already advancing through Congress in a narrower form, that would directly loosen the tie between elected power and personal wealth accumulation. 

 

With good jobs, four-day work weeks, economic security for all, and economic democracy, more people could relax, enjoy life, and contribute to their families and communities. 

 

These reforms are realistic. The problem is not lack of good ideas. The problem is the lack of people power, the lack of political will, the lack of a powerful national movement.  

+++++

 

Limited grassroots unity weakens activist effectiveness, as organizations typically concentrate on their own self-interest — boosting funding, recruiting more members, building their own power. 

 

Individual activists are similar — generally, personal power is primary. They want to dominate, and they curry favor with more powerful people to advance their own position. They seek to dominate, and they’re willing to submit.

 

The focus of most activism is electoral politics — getting like-minded politicians elected. The quest is to look for charismatic leaders who can basically operate as top-down “saviors” — the mirror image of demonizing opponents. No politician is using their office as a tool to help organize grassroots power rooted in democratic, supportive communities.

 

Leadership is commonly defined as the ability to get followers to do what leaders want. Problem-solving collaborations are neglected. With arrogant egos, activists assume they know what action is needed.

 

This ego-driven activism results in division. Activists compete for power and fight each other, within organizations and between organizations. The solution is unity, rooted in mutual respect and humility, and problem-solving dialogue. 

 

To move in this direction, individuals must overcome or unlearn the Top-Down Machine’s conditioning. They must control their desire to dominate and their willingness to submit for personal gain. They must continually remind themselves, I am not the point. The point is the work.

 

And this learning will be more effective if they do it with one another, as well as in the privacy of their own minds. Digging deep and acknowledging problematic automatic thoughts and feelings that are often unconscious until surfaced is critical; these instincts tear organizations apart. Discussing discoveries with trusted friends, perhaps confidentially, helps solidify and set aside these thoughts and feelings.

 

Also critical for the growth of a new national movement is agreement on a set of basic values and principles. A focus on “the Top-Down Machine is broken” could help motivate this movement with real passion. The terminology and ideas presented here are not blueprints. No one assumes a new movement would adopt them as written. They’re food for thought.

 

In every sphere, throughout society, this movement could build alternative, egalitarian, bottom-up institutions as models. It could also counter the Top-Down Machine by changing the structures and institutions society operates under. The movement could strengthen families and friendships. It could hold leaders accountable. It could widen the space in which people treat one another with respect and fairness. 

 

+++++

 

Ideally, this movement would commit to Kingian nonviolence. Martin Luther King, Jr. affirmed, As the King Center states,“We must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers." King’s philosophy offers a compelling guide for holistic and systemic reform. As spresented in the King Center’s Definition of Nonviolence:
 

Nonviolence Is a Way of Life for Courageous People.
It is not a method for cowards; it does resist.
It is active nonviolent resistance to evil.
It is aggressive spiritually, mentally, and emotionally…

 

Nonviolence resists violence of the spirit as well as the body. Nonviolent love is spontaneous, unselfish, and creative….

This approach focuses on winnable objectives, is open to compromise, and constantly seeks reconciliation. As such, it differs from many recent actions that are performative or symbolic with no focus on winnable goals, and other actions that demand submission, unwilling to compromise.

 

King's framework, which proposed systemic reform rather than patching, offers a way forward. Everyone who seeks truth, cultivates fairness by relieving suffering and promoting justice, and appreciates beauty, awe, and joy nurtures bottom-up community.

 

+++++

 

None of this guarantees success. Pragmatic idealism isn’t wishful thinking or the expectation of definite success. It’s the willingness to work toward what's possible when we join our efforts with others. Avoiding unrealistic hope frees us from fantasies of inevitability and keeps us rooted in real, shared action.
 

Together, anger and hope can power disciplined, durable reform. Both/and discipline can balance freedom and responsibility, dignity and limits, self and society — and move toward a more compassionate world.

 

James Baldwin said, "I really do believe that we can all become better than we are. I know we can. But the price is enormous, and people are not yet willing to pay it." He referred to "the price" as the immense psychological and social pain required for America to confront its history and shed its delusions. He argued that this was necessary not just for the sake of Blacks, but also in order for whites to liberate their own moral character and save their own souls from the spiritual damage of white supremacy. 

Compassion-minded people are unlikely to transform the world into a fully compassionate community. Still, we can move in this direction and make progress more possible. We can do our best to build a holistic, systemic reform movement.

This vision will never be fully realized, but something like it is sorely needed. If activists support one another's personal growth and engage in Kingian nonviolence, the world will be better for it. 

Future chapters in this book will elaborate on the problems in each sphere, report on what compassion-minded people are doing to address them, and envision new proposals for action that could move humanity forward even further.