Utopian Dreams

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." Albert Einstein.

Every action we take is to achieve some goal. That goal must first be imagined before we can bring it to fruition. Whether it is to take our morning shower, go on a vacation, walk the dog or any number of other objectives, we must first envision them with imagination. To reach the objective of living in Utopia, it is the result we must describe first, not the actions we take to get it. There is a myriad of methods to achieve any goal.

Goal achievement is a three-part system that resembles a recipe. All systems have the same three components -- Input, Process and Output and all systems have to be connected to every other system in order to be valid. Just like creating a delicious meal, we have to imagine the finished product (output), gather the ingredients (input) and put them through a sequential process. So it is with cooking up Utopia.

We prioritize our goals by their value, or meaning, to our lives at this time, at this place, under the current circumstances. Goals are actually prioritized as their value MINUS the effort required to achieve them. Every life form is busy in every moment activating itself on its number one priority as dictated by the individual's value system. There are no exceptions to this rule. Everyone reading these words is spending time on their number one priority at this time, at this place, under these circumstances. If your tea kettle calls you or your smoke alarm goes off, you will be distracted and address your new number one priority. Most people seldom address their goal valuations but it will eventually be essential to do so in order to create a sane and safe Utopia. If the prologue is not enough to make the reader prioritize daily goals differently, there is no sense in continuing reading.

What would the goal to create a Utopian society mean to humanity?

Utopia is a kind and gentle place. There are no homeless people in it. It is an egalitarian society where no individual is ignored. There are many examples of imagined Utopias in history from Plato, Thomas More and others. The Hippie movement in the 1960s created a number of communes intended to provide solace to the weary by ridding themselves of the corporate world and decadent objectives. There is one major difference between those ideals and the one we are able to create today - Technology. In Utopia, technology is the slave of humanity, rather than the other way around as it is today. To achieve that reversal, the existing ruling class must move aside.

What prevents us from creating the ideal of Utopia?

Everything humans believe and value is based upon agreements among themselves. They form groups that communicate and bolster beliefs and values they desire to hold as true, or real, and live their life according to the mandates of the group(s) to which they want to belong. This is the basic herding instinct of social animals - which we are. Birds of a feather group together. In Utopia, there is only one group and it is all-inclusive.

Splinter groups are created by "Group-Think," or Collective Consciousness of their members. When a laboratory technician wants to see the development of a culture, he places a "seed" in a petri dish containing agar and watches the development. This is similar to placing an idea in society and watching how it affects the population as it becomes an ism. Cultures separate themselves by agreeing to trains of thought that may differentiate them from other groups. Their behavior is governed by the indoctrination of dogma into their group-think. This dogma is also called a tenet -- (French for "to hold,") or ism. Today's society has too many isms that create separation instead of unification, like racism, sexism, Fascism, etc.

Indoctrination: The process of teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs uncritically.

"The United States is unusual among the industrial democracies in the rigidity of the system of ideological control - 'indoctrination', we might say - exercised through the mass media." Noam Chomsky

Mass media indoctrinate people and groups through constant bombardment of confusing messages. They spout isms to program underdeveloped minds into doing things that serve the masters. In the UK, programming that uses flash ads (microseconds of message to influence the subconscious) have to place a warning at the beginning of the show. How could that do any good if the show gets watched anyway? Does this not indicate that mind control is prevalent in the media?

Communicating ideas and ideals is not easy. Accuracy of the messages being exchanged necessitates agreeing on the meaning of the programs being downloaded into the brain as well as how they influence our decisions.

"Wisdom begins with the definition of terms." Socrates

Imperialism: A policy of extending a country's power and influence through colonization, use of military force, or other means. "The sun never sets on the British Empire" is a saying that may still ring true and exemplifies imperialism. Millions of Native Americans murdered and disenfranchised for the sake of extending power and influence is imperialism. Starting wars in the Middle East and elsewhere is imperialism.

"The truth is that neither British nor American imperialism was or is idealistic. It has always been driven by economic or strategic interests." Charley Reese

Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. If we watch the North Korean army marching in locked, goose-stepping order, we can visualize what Fascism may resemble. Hitler's Gestapo has morphed into a militarized police force in most capitalistic countries.

"Fascism is capitalism in decay." Vladimir Lenin

Racism: Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior. Not much more need be said after watching the news. It is not caused by hate, but rather by fear. The only thing that causes fear is ignorance.

"Racism is man's gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason." Abraham Joshua Heschel

Sexism: Prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex. Again, the current news broadcasts surely make us more aware of this ism. It is one of the corrupt behaviors of a patriarchal and egotistical society.

"I mean, what is racism? Racism is a projection of our own fears onto another person. What is sexism? It's our own vulnerability about our potency and masculinity projected as our need to subjugate another person, you know? Fascism, the same thing: People are trying to untidy our state, so I legislate as a way of controlling my environment." Gary Ross
 
Patriotism: The quality of being patriotic; devotion to and vigorous support for one's country. Any government who thinks exclusion from the rest of the world is a good idea needs to be analyzed for insanity. This is a good example of selfish conservatism, again caused by fear.

"Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them!" Albert Einstein

"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism." George Washington

Egotism: The fact of being excessively conceited or absorbed in oneself. This is caused by taking undue credit for being what we are. Ego is the only element in the universe that tries to separate itself from it. Its worst attribute is judging. It is patriotism in an individual.

"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity." Frank Leahy

Conservatism: Commitment to traditional values and ideas with opposition to change or innovation.

The conservative mind is incapable of innovation and creativity. It only knows how to use people and resources for its own goals. Creating wage slaves and mind control are the methods used. If conservatives at the turn of the nineteenth century had any vision, our airlines would be named Union Pacific, Santa Fe, Burlington Northern, etc. Conservatives couldn't even see the connection of commercial transportation to any other method than rail. They maintain control by keeping the truth from their workers and threatening dissenters.

"Republicans today have given the country conservatism in the spirit of Sarah Palin, whose ignorance about the world, contempt for expertise, and raw appeals to white identity politics presaged Trump's incendiary campaign." George Packer

Liberalism: a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race, and the autonomy of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties; specifically : such a philosophy that considers government as a crucial instrument for amelioration of social inequities (such as those involving race, gender, or class).

"I suffer from the same frustration that every decent American suffers from. That is, that you begin to wonder whether decent liberal instincts, decent humanitarian instincts, can actually penetrate the right-wing voice, get through the steering of American opinion by the mass media." John le Carre

Socialism: A political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

"Democratic socialism means that we must reform a political system that is corrupt, that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy." Bernie Sanders

Anarchism: Belief in the abolition of all government and the organization of society on a voluntary, cooperative basis without recourse to force or compulsion. Self-control and self-governance are both necessary to be an anarchist.

"Anarchism means all sort of things to different people, but the traditional anarchists' movements assumed that there'd be a highly organized society, just one organized from below with direct participation and so on." Noam Chomsky

Communism: A theory or system of social organization in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs. This can work only if money is eliminated. It is the natural order of things. Once people start amassing money to gain power over others, they become slave masters.

"The theory of Communism may be summed up in one sentence: Abolish all private property." Karl Marx

Humanism: A rationalist outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters.

"For humanism also appeals to man as man. It seeks to liberate the universal qualities of human nature from the narrow limitations of blood and soil and class and to create a common language and a common culture in which men can realize their common humanity." Christopher Dawson

Humanitarianism: The promotion of human welfare.

"Humanitarianism consists in never sacrificing a human being to a purpose." Albert Schweitzer

Capitalism: An economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state. All businesses and corporations should be owned by the employees to make capitalism desirable.

"Capitalism is against the things that we say we believe in - democracy, freedom of choice, fairness. It's not about any of those things now. It's about protecting the wealthy and legalizing greed." Michael Moore

An ism in a computer is a program, application (APP) or system. When downloading an APP into a smartphone, we inject it with a train of thought intended to perform a specific function or process when we touch the icon (trigger) for that application. Indoctrinated isms activate humans that same way. We can actually send the undesirable isms we downloaded into our brains to the trash bin.