Ideas are what produce the world we all live in. When we can imagine something that we can all benefit from, we all win. I hope to inspire improvement in all of our lives. Who knows.
Ideas can be based on fear of the unknown, resulting in huge illusions created in the mind. Then they can be used to make people choose opposing sides and consume vast resources, aiming to destroy opposition. This is about power for a centralized authority, whether racial, political, national, or religious.
Racial ideologies infect us with fear of unknown people. Real world experiences come to inform and guide us beyond fearful illusions. If a person treats you wrongly, you will have that experience to guide you in relating to THAT INDIVIDUAL. Over generalizations always fail.
Political parties want to win elections and we all know that the candidates make unsubstantiated statements and promises they can’t keep in order to win. We can end up choosing based on illusions. It is not to our benefit to be misguided by them.
National governments create public sentiment, creating fear of “outsiders”, to act against those whom the government creates as the enemy. Would you have willingly died in battle for the Archduke of Austria in World War I? Or in Vietnam for the unproven concept of the domino theory? Proof, the Vietnamese won, and nothing else destroyed Southeast Asia, leaving only the United States and French Military as the destroyers.
Religious leaders promote beliefs to followers as doctrine to be defended. Action has been inspired by some of these leaders to refute the beliefs of others. There have been inhuman methods used throughout history, and they continue. This is not a benefit to our humanity.
Maybe it is time for us, each of us, living humans who care about our own well being, to look at outside authority as often only working for its own benefit, many times at our personal cost.
Maybe it is time for each one of us to regard goals that benefit ourselves, our families, our friends, and our neighbors, and not primarily the outside authority, whether it be political, national, or religious. Each one of these three generate ideas of the mind, creations of thought, and do not exist as part of our true humanity. Be brave enough to define yourself as a creator of healthy ideas.
Otherwise we can end up destroying that which we cherish.