Aggression, competition and control are NOT part of our human makeup. They are not part of the natural world. If you believe that people are: mean, competitive, aggressive, controlling, then it’s time to let go of that thinking. That is not how God created us and not the truth of who we are.
Gregg Bradon, a pioneer in bridging science, spirituality, and the real world, speaks of how we have misunderstood Darwin’s theory about the survival of the fittest. In an interview he said that science shows that “Nature is in fact based on a model of cooperation and mutual aid, not survival of the strongest. …Violent competition does happen in nature, but it’s not the rule, not the model. … We have strayed from the model itself.”
It’s not you, it’s the sytem
It’s not you, it’s the system is one of my favorite things about systems theory is that it teaches; it’s the system, not the person. Think of examples in your own life. Haven’t you ever worked at a job for a while and then discovered that you were acting in ways that were not in alignment with how you would normally act or wanted to act? I once worked in a place where gossip and being negative were the ‘norm’ and it took me a while to recognize how I was acting “just like everyone else”. I also worked somewhere that being kind and considerate were expected, that’s a job I enjoyed because I got to express myself as the nice person that I enjoy being.
One way to release any negative thinking about how “people are …” is to look at our current system and see how it is driving our actions. In one of my earlier posts, Awake to our Hierarchical Past, I explained how our top-down system has foundational; thoughts, patterns and beliefs that drive how we act. Once we realize how the system is actually dictating our behaviors, then we have the ability to construct together a new system.
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It’s not the person, it’s the system! The system is aggressive but people are love.
Let’s look at how the system creates aggression.
Hierarchical beliefs
In our current system we hold a hierarchical belief that only some people have power. We have defined power as being about an ability to control others, or having power over. In our top-down model we think that you have to be in a top position to have any power. But authentic power has nothing to do with control, or holding a specific title. Authentic power is an ability to freely and fully express who you came here to be. When you are authentically powerful you share power, you share authority, you don’t strive to have control over others.
In the system we are in, we are told that unless you at the top, you are not powerful. I find this so painful, that the majority of us are left feeling that we are powerless. Think of how this system and belief drives people to be aggressive and controlling. We have to fight our way higher up the ladder to have power and to have authority. How many of the violent and aggressive actions that we witness in our world come from a feeling of powerlessness?
Hierarchical thinking
There are two ways that we think hierarchically. The first I call the expert model; we think that you have to earn the right to be at the top—and have power. To be on-the-top you need to be an expert; you have the education, the personality, the experience, to make us believe you are more worthy than we are to be the leader.
The second way that we think hierarchically is that we view competition as necessary. To get to ’the top’ requires being competitive and being in control of, or over others, is the “way things are”. We have been living in a world which is organized top-down. Because this has been the way things have been, we anticipate that others will be competitive with us and think that to succeed we need to be competitive with them. This tension keeps us hyper-aware and we switch between defensive to offensive thinking and actions; often aggressively!
Can you see how we are living in a system that makes us think that to survive and thrive that we need to be aggressive, competitive and controlling? We believe that only those at the top have power and to get to the top we have to fight or force our way into being seen as an expert?
Hierarchal systems are not created by God
Certainly many of our current systems reward control and aggression, but aren’t many of those systems failing right now? When someone talks about a new paradigm this is what is being talked about. We are already leaving that old system behind. We are still using it, but it’s time is over.
God’s system which can be found in nature really is based on cooperation and mutual aid. For me this is the bright light that is shining through the cracks and brokenness as systems fail. The possibility before us is that we have the power and authority to co-create a healthy new system. We are not—power-less over systems; they can be socially constructed and creating a system that invites us to be how God created us is possible.
It’s all possibility
I am excited because I believe that the transformation that we are going through is God is waking us to our true nature. We unintentionally created the existing toxic system that is failing and when we intentionally work together to co-create new systems we will be inviting people to BE who they really are; loving, compassionate, giving, grace-filled and authentically powerful.
I am pretty sure that is who and what God created us to be.
GREGG BRADEN: Internationally renowned as a pioneer in bridging science, spirituality, and the real world. Following a successful career as a computer geologist for Phillips Petroleum during the 1970s energy crisis, he worked as a senior computer systems designer with Martin Marietta Defense Systems during the final years of the Cold War. In 1991, he became the first technical operations manager for Cisco Systems.
Gregg Braden on Red Ice Radio: Quote used is at 13.25 minutes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5Vab_xBV7I
Slime mold intelligence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXeygGxu8-8
Who we really are.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-high-school-basketball-team-incredible-sportsmanship/