Excerpt

A SOCRATIC APPROACH

What is the problem?

The problem is that we live in a world whose biosphere is in danger of disintegrating
to the point where all life, including our own human life, will likely disappear, and in a
very painful and frightening way due to both environmental and social problems, which
are interrelated, and which are not being adequately dealt with (on the part of
government, institutions of higher education and the private sector).

What causes this problem?

This problem is caused by people, both among the leaders and among the masses,
who either ignore the urgency of the situation or who commit acts of violence towards
other people, and towards other life-forms, without realizing the sum effect of what
they are doing and how by being so violent they fail to satisfy their true needs and
desires anyway.

What is the solution?

The solution is to be found by understanding how and why people who cause these
problems think, and to find a nonviolent way to motivate and instigate them to change
their incorrect way of thinking (thus behaving). The disease must be killed and not the
patient.

While infinity is the most important thought, love is the most important
emotion, and only by keeping in mind both infinity and love can one find
enough true inner peace and the power to help transform lives.

- The Author.

How do people who are ignorant, neglectful and/or violent, who wantonly start
wars, or join wars, commit crimes, who are corrupt, antisocial and anti-
environmental think?

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source
of all true art and science. To whom this emotion is a stranger, who no longer
pauses to wonder, and stand rapt in awe is as good as dead."

- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

People who are ignorant, neglectful and/or violent, antisocial and anti-environmental
think on the basis of irrational fear(s) (as opposed to caution) and person-directed
hate (as opposed to anger towards incorrect behavior), and as a result they exhibit
what we call greed and insensitivity.

How can we change the way such ignorant, neglectful, violent people think?

"In a gentle way you can shake the world."

- Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

In order to change the way such people think we need to find the common source of
their thoughts, and to find that common source we need to determine what general
world-view such people share in common.

What is the world-view or general perspective that such anti-social and anti-
environmental people share in common?

(This is a rather difficult question to answer, but it helps to consider the opposite
question: what world-view do wise, logical, nonviolent people share in common?)

I know a little about everything in general but hardly anything about anything
in specific. So, all I know is that I don't know all.

- The author

Violent or neglectful people share a world-view that is one of limits, limitation, of
impossibilities rather than possibilities, the finite rather than the infinite. They suffer
from limited vision, and tend to feel threatened, impotent, frustrated and insecure.
They are narrow-minded, short-term oriented and shallow thinking. Their misdirected
anger leads to a sense of alienation from "others" (i.e. hatred towards or distrust of
people who do not share their ways), and this misdirected anger turns into hate when
"others" seem to prevent them from being able to live in what they deem to be safe
and secure circumstances. Their limited sight and insight prevent them from seeing
the real world, and so they become trapped in a false world filled with myths and lies,
from which escape is hard to find.

How can we change the way ignorant people think and make them open-
minded, long-term oriented and deep thinking (i.e.help them become wise)?

"The known is finite, the unknown infinite; intellectually we stand on an islet
in the midst of an illimitable ocean of inexplicability. Our business in every
generation is to reclaim a little more land."

- T.H. Huxley (1825-1895)

If ignorance is narrow-minded, short-term oriented, shallow thinking, and such limited
thinking is the source of violent and neglectful behavior, then we need to get people
who are ignorant to be open-minded, long-term oriented, deep thinking. And to
change the way people think we need to find the one central thought or concept that
is the source of such limited thinking. For people think and behave according to, or in
direct contradiction to, how they see (perceive) the world around them, and their
world-view (perception) is based upon their conceptions and preconceptions about
how the world is, was and should be. If they see the world as one that is finite, of
very limited possibilities, then they are likely to accept the false notion that there is
nothing more worth thinking about, and that there are no alternative solutions. And
then they fail to see the connections, and fail to consider the value of coexistence,
cooperation, tolerance and universalism.

So, what exactly is their central thought or concept?

"Infinity! No other thought has ever moved the spirit of mankind so
profoundly, no other idea has so richly stimulated his intellect; yet no other
concept stands in greater need of clarifying."

- David A. Hilbert (1862-1943).

The central thought or concept of those who are violent or neglectful is that of the
finite! So we must get such people to think about the opposite of the finite, which is
none other than the infinite! If narrow-minded, short-term oriented, shallow thinking
people are given the opportunity to think about infinity and the infinite, then, depending
on how receptive they are (which may be a matter of age and education) they will
start to become open-minded, long-term oriented and deep thinking (i.e. they become
wise). And wise people are never willingly violent, antisocial or anti-environmental.
Wise people avoid contributing to war, crime and corruption as much as possible,
and, in stead, try to diminish and prevent war, crime and corruption. But I must
caution you not to confuse someone who is deprived of the means to be and do good
with someone who, though having sufficient means, willingly partakes of violence.

How do we get people to think about infinity?

"To what purpose should I trouble myself in searching out the secrets of the
stars, having death or slavery continually before my eyes?"

- Anaximenes to Pythagoras, according to Montaigne.

To get people to think about infinity we must use methods of mass advertising and
public awareness campaigns as used by the best advertising and publicity agencies
the world over. For example we must erect large billboards and post posters that
best convey the concept and notion of infinity in the most frequented public places of
major cities and towns throughout the world. Such printed visual tools of mass
communication should have astronomy pictures as their backgrounds (conveying the
image of countless stars, galaxies and the vastness of space) and words that include
a general, yet concise definition of infinity. Such a poster might read: "Have you
thought about infinity today? The reality of no beginning and no end to space, time
and change. Open your mind and heart to the awe and mystery of it all." These
printed items should be simultaneous to a general and permanently ongoing TV,
radio, Internet and printed media public awareness campaign showing a connection
between infinity, mass wisdom, truly functional democracy (as opposed to
dysfunctional democracy) and solving the world’s problems.

"Infinity converts the possible into the inevitable."

- Norman Cousins, in an article in the Saturday Review (1978)

CONCLUSION

Without irrational fear, and person-directed hate there can be no war, crime or
serious corruption, and without violence, be it socioeconomic or outright physical
fighting and terror, we will be able to unite humanity behind efforts to improve our
social circumstances, our environments, and increase our chances of surviving an Ice
Age or an oncoming meteor. Extreme nationalism, religious intolerance, racism and
political extremism will all be seen for what they really are; a terrible waste of life,
time, energy and money to be avoided at all costs. Demagogues, dictators and
elitists will have to change or become history's ridiculed and lonely few. But all this
can only happen if we diminish ignorance and foster wisdom en masse. And that, as I
have demonstrated, can only happen if infinity is applied as the most effective,
nonviolent, mass social psychological tool for global change (i.e. Diminishing
ignorance and raising wisdom). No other concept has the same ability to truly and
sufficiently open minds and make the world one for true homo-sapiens.

We can easily dismiss the assertions contained herein as the words of a well-
intended, naive idealist, but how could we then ever be sure that we didn't condemn
to death a great idea?

The only way to find out is to try it out, and the worst thing that can happen is that we
put a few more wise thoughts in front of the public eye for the world to ponder. But if
it works, as I know it will, then we will thank our blessed cotton socks that we didn't
throw away the winning lottery ticket of all time, namely the ticket to true mass
wisdom.

The old argument that too many wise people running about would make the world a
very dangerous place, if ever true (I think not), no longer holds water. The world has
become an extremely dangerous place anyway, where people can no longer easily
trust their sources of food, water, air and their fellow humans. If someone wants to
cause a whole bunch of innocent people harm then there is little today that can really
stop him or her, and it is impossible that a truly open-minded person, a true infinity-
conscious human being would ever become a terrorist.

The other old argument that contends that if people start to philosophize too much
they will stop attending to their jobs and other social responsibilities is also nonsense.
People who think deeply and have others to share their thoughts with tend to improve
their job performance and show greater concern for the welfare of their family,
friends and neighbors.

So, there you have it. Think about infinity and reap the rewards.