Brain Therapy, Exercise 2: The Architecture of Abundance

The data in my super-secret database that catalogs the beliefs of every person I ever asked if they agreed that a) The Earth is abundant; b) The world is what people make of it; and c) The world should be a better place is at odds with the reality of what we see in the world today. Therefore, in Brain Therapy, Exercise 1, we reverse engineered the current state of the world to posit a few drivers that cause the world’s operating systems to work as they do. The acceptance of hatred, greed, and moral corruption in our day-to-day lives are shown to ultimately underlie the Architecture of Fear. A concrete example of how this works is presented in Brain Therapy, Exercise 1: Extension.

Moving right along, Brain Therapy, Exercise 2 is presented. This positive exercise builds on its predecessors towards a solution in answering the question of “What can we do to make the world a better place.” Once again we use a business architecture view to show at an abstract level key elements required in universal value and operating systems if we are to move from a world of fear and scarcity to one of peace and abundance. 

Ordinarily, in a professional situation with paying clients, we would work collaboratively with the people of the world to address the issues of the Architecture of Fear and earn our premium. Given the scope of the problem – fear is experienced daily, down to the family and individual levels in many communities – the scope of the effort to make the world a better place is necessarily unprecedented. It would be a major feat to involve nearly every person in the world in a sincere and robust discussion of what we can all do, together, to make the world a better place. Interestingly, we have demonstrated with our recent technological achievements that, for the first time in current history, the possibility of humanity achieving such a feat, of having the global family discussion, is technically doable and realistic in consideration.

In this exercise, we assume a starting point for a discussion on changes that all people can make to help the world move from an Architecture of Fear to an Architecture of Abundance.

The Architecture of Abundance frames the discussion and raises serious questions for the people of the world, including the following:

·         Is this something we, every individual, can do in our own lives, starting with a look in the mirror? Within our immediate families? Extended families? Clans? Tribes? States? Nations? Regional cooperatives and blocs? World?

·         Can we, the people of the world, unite around positive, universal core values; disavow the old, negative systems; and implement innovative solutions that improve the lives of people everywhere?

·         Can we live in harmony with nature, allow nature to flourish, and all share in the riches of the Earth?

By example and since we must break this discussion down from the top of the world while simultaneously building it up family by family, I will call my closest people, my people and family in North America, to pause and remember our own history. There was a time in our land, for example, in what is now the United States of America before anyone ever conceived of our present situation, where there were 200 million people, millions of buffalo and deer, rivers and oceans teeming with fish, and great fields of maize everywhere. Plenty of land, plenty of food, plenty of water, and freedom. These shores are surely described in the annals of history, particularly those of Eurocentric history, as the land of plenty.

Contrary to popular historical accountings, the evidence is clear that native American systems were far more effective in providing for all than anything seen at the time in Europe – including advanced sanitation, agriculture, governance, and spirituality. For example, the concept of individual property was foreign to America as the natives had a much more advanced way of thinking about wealth, starting with a core belief that there was plenty for everybody. Understanding this fact and taking a spiritual view of the gifts from the land led them to live in harmony with nature. They believed that God, the Divine Spirit, put everything on Earth for all of us.

Likewise, the concepts of individual freedom and women’s rights are direct adoptions from the flourishing cultures that invading strangers encountered when they arrived to this land of plenty. The people coming on boats, for heaven’s sake and throughout our ages, were indentured servants, political and economic refugees, slaves, explorers, from male dominated societies, fleeing famine, etc., and most of them had no idea what real freedom was until they witnessed it here. The ancestors of these lands, in counterpoint, had no concept of poverty because they lived a life of freedom in a land of abundance.

When foreigners, cum immigrants, first arrived on these shores, they were met with a model of abundance that contrasted greatly with their own experience. These foreigners came from a land ruled by fear in a model of scarcity commanded by kings and popes who took the booty and shamefully claimed their material conquests in the name of God. It was not, but both sides, we should understand, at some point really believed that it was. We are at peace with all of our ancestors for many of them were like so many of us today – trying to get by, exploring and seeking, in search of the Divine, but not really understanding that our separation from the Spirit leaves us operating, driven by, and thus manipulated at our own hands over an Architecture of Fear.

Coming from warring lands of scarcity, chained to commercial interests, some of my ancestors landed in a world of abundance. They did not have cash registers, but it feels like they must have heard the sounds of them (and the historical record certainly agrees). My other ancestors had a land of plenty and in fact offered to share the wealth. We weep for the price of lessons learned during our integration was far too often paid with ancestral blood. From this initial clash, nonetheless, our sensibility has arisen and the truths of our principles prevail. America’s greatest gifts to world, ultimately, may be not only our corn, but also the knowledge and example that diversity, freedom, and a unified spirit are key ingredients to incredible innovation and wealth – and that we are loving, spiritual, and philanthropic people who are willing to share our experience, knowledge, and abundance with the world.

We have learned from the past about our roots of abundance and we understand our history and the roots of the fear, greed, and moral corruption that we overcome. The principles of America, one nation, surely rise as the dust of the red earth that we have sometimes scorched. Both compel us, as do the forces of the Universe reflected through this rich land, to be as we were, and as we are, one people, with freedom and liberty afforded by the richest life for all in this splendidly diverse and abundant corner of the Earth.

My question for my fellow citizens is, “Do you think these lands are any less sacred, rich, and capable of providing for everyone than they were when they were created?”

History is what it is. In a land of abundance there is no need to dwell on the past, but the sensibility to learn from our mistakes is crucial. In a world of abundance, the most important fact is that we have arrived where we are today, remembering and reaffirming what everyone believes – that the Earth is abundant, is what we make of it, and will be a better place. 

One framework for consideration in approaching the questions posed above is The Architecture of Abundance.

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