Why you are important #1
PersonPlanet Leadership Workshop
Light Paper #1
PersonPlanet Leadership: Working for the Whole

Transformations Start as Religion and End as Technology
One of the great and ancient spiritual truths is that we are all one. In today’s world this has taken on new meaning. “We are all one” is no longer just a spiritual cliché; it is now, thanks to the even more ancient and never-ending processes of globalization, a technological, economic and cultural reality as well. The entire planet in interconnected through the arteries and capillaries of our global, national and local transportation systems and by the nervous system of our global communications systems. This interconnection has radically changed the world and will transform it in coming years in amazing, seemingly miraculous ways. Modern technology of interconnection has concretized the spiritual philosophy of the ages.

Ethics Is Knowledge Of Interdependence
The “wisdom of the ages,” we are all one— had and continues to have important spiritual implications that drove moral and ethical insights, standards and behaviors for millennia. “We are all one” as the techno-economic reality of 21st century globalization also has important technological, economic, cultural and spiritual insights and dimensions.

Technology Is Biology
We are all one— and just as with our personal bodies, our planetary body is not healthy if a part of the body is ill. And if our planetary body is ill, we as individuals are not well. We can no longer resign ourselves to complacent indifference if someone “on the other side of the world” is starving— anymore than we could be terminally nonchalant about “only” our lungs having cancer. We can no longer be on the sidelines because there are no more sidelines in today’s world. Not only are there no longer any sidelines, there are no sides if we are all in this together.

We are all one— and we are now part of a global organism whose health, well-being, and transformation is now an integral part of who and what we are and can become.

We are all one— and if the global body gets really sick, we all will feel it— just as the cells in your brain or toe will eventually be impacted by that cancer in your lungs or the stopping of your heart.

All Service Serves Our Self
We are all one—and when we work on making any of the parts healthier, including ourselves, we are engaged in service to the whole. The larger the circle of our service, the more people whose condition we are seeking to improve, the more we are working for the health of the whole. And, the larger the group of people we are concerned with, the more effective will we be. (This is not to say that feeding one person is not effective or has little impact; it is to say that when our actions are in tune with the largest system of which we are a part, those actions will have more of the larger system’s momentum and trends on their side.)

We are all one—and as we work to help the world, we are helping ourselves— both in the sense that as the potential of the whole system is increased with the increased health of each of the members of that system we, personally, are better off; and in the sense that working on making the whole system better helps us learn about our self; plus the process of working on the whole is a powerful self-developmental technique, both from a Karma Yoga perspective and as a methodology for self improvement.

We are all one— and because of our technology this is not just a spiritual reality. We are all one— with our technology and culture and economics and spirits and Spirit. We are all one— and working with our technology and economy in ways that are spiritually based and informed is also working with our own personal spiritual development.

Serve Humanity. Get Rich.
We are all one— and who wants to be enlightened? Who wants to be rich? Working on your own spiritual development and evolution can be in tune with making the planet work for 100% of humanity. Working on making the planet a success for 100% of humanity can be a path to spiritual enlightenment. Working on making the world a better place is also an economic imperative that is in tune with long term economic trends and filled with viable business opportunities.

Personal Values and Planetary Leadership
We are all one— and leadership in a world that has this as its environmental, economic, technological and spiritual basis is both profoundly different than everything that has been in the past, yet in tune with the imperatives of the future.

Summary: The path to self-development is world development. The fastest path to personal enlightenment is to work for the good of the largest system. Self-development and personal evolution is achieved by actively participating in the solution of society’s problems. Solving society’s problems accelerates the solving of our own problems. Solving society’s problems provides solutions to our own problems. When the person and the planet have their interests aligned, maximum personal progress is attained. Working on society’s problems provides economic opportunities that are moral, just, sustainable, peace-enhancing and immensely profitable.

 

© 2003 Medard Gabel