image courtesy of Pear Biter

Over the last few days, we’ve had an explosion of conversation here on The Sunny Way. It’s amazing to see so many people grappling with this stuff, and so important! Lots of ideas are in the mix, but I’ve noticed that they largely seem to boil down to one major question, and so that’s what I wanted to look into today:

Is development real?

Subquestions: Have humans evolved at all? Are things really better now than they were before industrialization? What should we be aiming for: a return to the past, or a new future that we can’t even really imagine yet?

If you’ve been on The Sunny Way for more than 30 seconds, it’s probably obvious what my answers are. But my goal—really—is not to argue with people who see things differently. My goal is to share the worldview that allows me to be optimistic, in hopes that it might help others find the strength to lay aside their habitual disgruntlement, and the courage to create what’s never been created before.

In short, I want to share with you a rational framework for optimism in the 21st century. Here are the reasons why I think it’s reasonable and accurate to be optimistic. Incidentally, this also gets into the reasons why personal development is a crucial part of changing the world.

We have changed! Which means we can change more!

Now, no one is saying that we are saints. But we’re a damn sight further along than we used to be. Our bloodlust is diminished; our care for the whole of humanity has increased. There are still bloodthirsty and self-obsessed people, sure, but that doesn’t change the fact that most 21st century humans are far more connected with the rest of the world than anyone ever has been.

War is at an all-time low (if you don’t believe me, scroll down to paragraph 12 of this piece), health is at an all-time high, and education is causing more minds to blossom than at any other time in human history.

Does that mean that we should just lay back and enjoy our peace and prosperity when so many others in the world don’t have it? Of course not. It just means that progress is possible. And it also points to a possible good use for all our good fortune ...

Cultural development happens largely through the efforts of people with a higher moral vision

Why was slavery abolished? Why did women win the right to vote? Why was Civil Rights legislation passed? Why did we go to the moon? Each of these questions has a complex story that would fill many volumes. But all of them also share one simple answer: someone had an idea of how things could be better and rallied others who agreed.

Blood, sweat, tears, and toil were also required—I said it was simple, not easy. But we can learn from these great leaps forward. We can study their mechanics and apply their lessons in our own context. Most of all, we can gain strength from their success.

It’s up to us, now more than ever

There are millions of us who feel morally, ethically, and/or spiritually compelled to live in a new way—a way that brings prosperity to everyone, a way that works for the entire biosphere. And many of us have a great deal of wealth, education, and privilege that we can bring to bear on that task.

The reasons why most of us aren’t out there changing the world are many: bad habits, limiting pessimistic attitudes, victimized patterns of thought. But none of these reasons are immovable facts of reality. We can change bad habits. We can cultivate an attitude of possibility. We can leave victimized, us-vs.-them thinking behind.

And we absolutely have to, because our ability to survive depends on our ability to evolve, deeply, now. We can’t hold onto old habits, old thought patterns, old ways of separating the world into buckets labeled “me” and “not me.” We have some major changing to do, fast.

Caring more is rational

We find ourselves alive in a universe that seems to be conducting some sort of experiment in possibilities. Atoms coalescing into planets and stars ... primitive life forms bubbling up in the sea ... music and space travel and ice cream ... this experiment has created some pretty incredible things.

When we connect with the deeply good direction it is moving in,  we start to care more about it and everything in it: trees, dolphins, stars, and even people who see the world differently from us.

And caring more is a good thing, because how much we care determines how much power, creativity, and strength we have available to us. A mother may find herself able to lift a truck off of her child, but she certainly couldn’t perform the same feat if it were a penny under the wheel instead. Love is what makes her strong. Caring makes the impossible possible.

Seeing change happen in real time

What if we endeavor to live up to everything we know? Can we confront our own bad habits, pessimistic ideas, and victimized patterns of thought? Is it possible to transform them?

In my experience, it’s tricky to say the least, and many times I fail. But every now and then, I succeed, and I get to see myself change—in real life, in real time, and with real people! This, more than anything else, shows me that the experiment is in our hands, and that we can be up to the task of guiding it. This is the ultimate rational basis for optimism.

If you are reading this right now, you have enormous power—the course of life on this planet is literally dependent upon your decisions and your actions. It isn’t easy learning to wield that power, nor to handle the responsibility that comes with it. But it is possible. We can change for the better. It’s largely a matter of deciding that we can, and we will.