As a collective, we seem to have the belief that with each passing year mankind is evolving into something better than before. However, as we uncover the remnants of the past and behold our oldest buildings, our beliefs are challenged at every turn.
Even the buildings of a hundred and fifty years ago cause more questions to arise than can be satisfactorily answered. How did one small town produce enough bricks to make several massive buildings within a five year period? How is it the Romans built roads that last 1000 years and yet we can not build a road that lasts 10 years without patching and maintenance? How did cathedrals get built 500 years ago with such intricate designs and yet it costs more to restore one wall of such a building than the equivalent cost of building the whole structure. How is it steam and electrical technologies existed in the early 1900s and it took a whole century later to revisit ideas that were available to everyone back then? Are our technologies actually evolving or are we re-inventing the wheel?
We know that air quality is worse than two centuries ago. We know that food quality is worse that fifty years ago. We know that clean drinking water is a premium in many places despite the fact that we live on a world that is 70% water with huge underground water sources in addition to the oceans. And now we have a housing crisis. People can not afford basic shelter working most of their waking hours at an entry level job. Our food, air, water, and shelter have been tainted or made scarce. Is this what evolution feels like?
We also have a breakdown in traditional roles in society. People don’t know if they really want children. They’d rather have freedom to roam or play without being responsible for anyone else. Young peoples’ suicide rates are higher than before because they can not find any purpose in living. Men can’t seem to figure out what they should be doing. Women can’t seem to figure out how to hold everything together with zero support from anyone else. Is this actually working for us?
It is undeniable that we are at a crisis point on a global scale. Every one of our values, beliefs, and collective goals are up for review. Each individual is required to sift through all the options of lifestyles and philosophies and is made to choose which ones to embody and which ones to leave behind. It’s an amazing time to be alive, but it is also a time of frightening uncertainty. Will enough humans recognize what is valuable in life and choose ideas that put the collective on a path to a better future, or will we continue to follow the current system of misdirection and walk towards even more misery?
Our society is struggling to figure out what is important in life. How can we go forward, if we don’t have an inner compass of morality or a collective conscience, or an agreed upon vision for the future. Those who have that inner true north seem to be in the minority, but we should hope that more people will catch on and start to live in a more conscious and conscientious manner.
In business there is an understanding that if we bring value to people, people will buy what we’re selling. If we can bring a win-win mindset rather than a win-lose mindset, then we have a good chance of actually evolving rather than pitching the idea of evolution while the reality proves to be the complete opposite.
Let our actions be governed by the things that bring us true value and joy, not at the expense of others or the environment, but for the mutual benefit of everyone involved (which, by the way, is also a good business practice). When our cocreations bring joy to others and is in harmony with the environment then, we can say with all honesty, that we are evolving and the world is a better place than it was before. But right now, we are going backwards, and we are called to turn around and find the right direction.
