Introduction

When I received Toni’s invitation to participate in her “Because you’re beautiful” project, I was initially hesitant. I wondered if helping improve women’s wellbeing was the best focus for my work, which is centered on improving the wellbeing of women and men, of One and All.

But in having chatted with Toni, I learned of her passion and commitment, and her belief that focusing on improving the wellbeing of women helps all of us¹.

My journey has largely been one of ’suffering for my art’ – devoting great ’slabs of time and effort’ to thinking, questioning, reflecting and writing on the deeper issues and frameworks of life, most of which has been done at the expense of my financial well-being. As I’ve said to some whom I’ve met or known, thinking about the deeper processes of life is for me as natural and as necessary as breathing.

It seems an odd coincidence but in admitting it here on Toni’s site, I’m coming to recognize that while I’ve often felt at odds with life (due to the ’suffering’ bit, as well as having a somewhat argumentative, socially-awkward persona), throughout it all I’ve naturally questioned and reflected.

Feeling at odds with the world; of not finding one’s place within it; of not feeling a valued member of one’s community can be a difficult place to be. And as I was to learn some years ago, it was for me the catalyst and the cause for a serious illness that left me bedridden for months.

With the benefit of hindsight I can now see the purpose of my past upsets and ailments, and the deeper rhythms of my life.

The coincidence, energy and focus on sharing my experiences for this project, and that it has already triggered some realizations, will hopefully shine some light on the deeper rhythms and processes of life for those who are interested. My interest is not primarily focused on the latest trends in psychology, science,
philosophy or spirituality, but in the underlying principles that will remain valid, meaningful and useful independent of circumstances and belief.

Toni’s “Because you’re beautiful” affords me the opportunity to help others expand awareness of the deeper causes of the ills experienced by women (and men), including violence and depression.

This focus has helped me tune my radar to articles that offer valuable insights into this issue. One that caught my attention recently was the Sydney Morning Herald’s report “Women’s secret revolution stops tribal violence.” It reveals how women from various opposing tribes met in secret to begin campaigning against decades of violence that had resulted in many deaths and considerable destruction. It took the village women to face their fears in order to organize a better world for themselves and their families.²

Such stories echo a common theme throughout humanity’s chequered history of violence against women, and more commonly against men. As many fail to appreciate, or perhaps prefer to ignore, violence against men far surpasses that against women.2 And as far as domestic violence is concerned, research reveals that “women are as physically aggressive, or more aggressive, than men in their relationships with their spouses or male partners.”³ It behooves all of us, in my opinion, to understand the deeper causes of violence in any form, if we are to seriously and effectively begin our journey to a violence-free world.

My work here is to highlight our filters concerning the causes of violence and self-harm, and how our current world-views (cultural belief-systems) have hitherto been relatively superficial perceptions of life.

To that end, and if I may use such a pun, I pull no punches when searching and questioning on such matters.

With good wishes,
Steaphen Pirie
Director/Author
Belief Institute

How can it be?

How is it possible that with our historically high standards of living – enabling most of us to be plugged in and connected via cell phones, Internet, social media and computers – we now have the World Health Organization declaring that “Depression is the leading cause of disability as measured by YLDs” (Years Lived with Disability).⁴

It seems odd that as we get better at making and using technology, we see higher rates of depression and mental illness. Could it be that with all our marvelous inventions, machines and gadgets, we’ve forgotten something important?

Recently I read a report that during the Global Financial Crisis, many people, although obviously not all, were happier.

Why?

The report concluded that many were happier because people had gained a sense that “we’re all in this together now”.

Some years ago a major ‘bush-fire’ swept through and destroyed the national park adjoining the townhouse where I was living at the time. Normally some of the neighbors in the complex barely said hello to one another, or at least to me, yet during and after the fire, those same people were open, friendly and joined in the common cause of fighting the fire. The sense of camaraderie and community was palpable. It was a warm, comforting and reassuring experience, despite the immediate dangers presented by the fire. Yet soon after the fire, within days, many people started to return to their old ways, becoming again aloof and distant.

It seems evident that we enjoy community and camaraderie, but not too much! We also enjoy our privacy, freedom and space, but again, not too much it seems – as evidenced by the trend for people to live in cities throughout the world. We enjoy our freedoms and our connections, but we don’t enjoy (as the above report suggests) being left behind financially, culturally, socially. We enjoy and need a balance between what I like to define as ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ energies and focuses – we enjoy and need a complementarily of community and individuality; intimacy and solitude; cooperation and competition; spiritual and physical; ‘heart’ and ‘head’; intuitive and logical; oneness and separateness, respectively.

If many were to recognize this fundamental duality to life and that we naturally need both, we would save ourselves a great deal of upset. For example, if we were to recognize the underlying cooperation that enables competition, the recent (and current) ‘Global Financial Crisis’ would have been avoided (for reasons that, with courtesy to Toni’s goals here, are perhaps best explained another time, another place).

Another example is the natural bias of ‘masculine’ people towards solitude and keeping a “stiff upper lip” (fortitude, silence) – the “man in his cave” (or garage) aspect to men’s behavior that has been well covered by others. If more people were to understand the natural balance that occurs in relationships – that if the man is feminine, the other partner, be they male or female, will find an urge to be masculine – far more fulfilling relationships could be experienced. The same applies to politics and cultures – a complimentary left-wing/Eastern and right-wing/Western bias by politicians and cultures (collectives) is readily evident in the world today. The vitriol in politics would be avoided simply because we would acknowledge and value the complimentary nature of public and private ownership, of regulation and free-markets.

But what of violence, self-harm and depression? How do they factor in the complimentary nature of human relationships?

Back to basics

It has been widely reported that when Albert Einstein was asked, “what is the most important question facing humanity today?” he replied, “I think the most important question facing humanity is, ‘Is the universe a friendly place?’”

He went on to explain that if we find it unfriendly, we will build walls and weapons to keep out the unfriendliness. Had he been alive today, he might have also suggested we would invent ever more potent chemicals, poisons, weapons and fundamentalisms to kill unfriendly germs, weeds, insects, animals, people, ideas and freedoms. Judging by current world circumstances, and our recent fears concerning unfriendly germs (’swine flu’), unfriendly neighbors (warring tribes and nations); and an increasingly unfriendly climate, we might expect the vast bulk of humanity has answered Einstein’s question.

“Is our universe, and our world a friendly place?” can reveal much about whowe are, and what we believe.

• Is our unconscious, or subconscious a friendly portion of our psyches that can be trusted to safely lead us into spontaneity, surprise, creativity, fun and fulfillment – i.e. do we trust ourselves enough to act on our hunches and gut-feelings, to create a better life for ourselves?
• Is what we experience after death a friendly loving experience that enables ongoing growth, evolution and fulfillment – i.e. do we fret about death unnecessarily, thereby wasting the here and now, and the rich sensate experiences that life has to offer?
• Is genetic evolution of ourselves and our planet’s creatures and plants a friendly process that is invited and guided by loving intent towards individual and collective fulfillment and growth – i.e. do we work with nature to realize a better world, or compete against her, breeding ever more potent viruses
  and antibiotic-resistant bacteria as a result?
• Do we live within what acclaimed physicist John A. Wheeler believed to be a ‘participatory universe’ in which we are all helping to create the reality we know – i.e. do we believe we’re victims to chance, in a
  meaningless universe, or valuable co-creators?
• Do the deeper processes of life join together to form a friendly cohort that nurtures and supports love, peace, health, well-being and growth – or are our religions, sciences, psychologies and social policies out of step with the fundamentals of life?

It would seem many who suffer depression have not found their world, and particularlytheir inner world a friendly place.

In light of all the apparent unfriendliness in our lives it would seem we are justified in working harder, faster and smarter to outpace our competitors, so we can stay safe in this competitive ’survival of the fittest’
world. But is it wise to do so, and moreover, is it helping us to live with more health, wellbeing, ease and peace?

What would happen if individually, and collectively, we began to appreciate, believe and expect that our universe is fundamentally a friendly place? How might our world, our sciences, politics, laws and religions be different, if we were to open ourselves to the possibility that such a simple idea might actually be the fundamental base of life?

What evidence, if we were to begin seeing with fresh vigor and intent, might we find that reveals deep down our universe is a not only friendly place, but one that is overwhelmingly geared towards our personal growth, fulfillment and happiness? Feeling relaxed and supported by life, as one might feel when reclining in a comfortable lounge-chair, requires that we first begin to trust the chair and to use the chair in a way that is productive and sustainable.

If we were to feel amply supported by life, rather than being in a competitive, ‘dog-eat-dog’ world, we’d not feel the need to be quite so rapacious and greedy. We’d not be so anxious that we’d been left behind in the stampede towards money, fame and glamour.

It is this stampede towards the seemingly safe harbor of money and fame that causes much of the world’s ill, and disease. The challenge here is that money (wealth) does actually provide significant protection against disease and premature death. We now know from around 30 years of research by Sir Professor Michael Marmot and others, that, beyond a basic level of living conditions, it is our lack of wealth and social status, relative to our neighbors, that causes the vast majority of diseases and early deaths in the developed world.⁵ What the research is revealing is that it our level of control over our lives that is the primary factor in our health and well-being.⁶

So it is here, on the social issues within our communities and the world, that we need to focus if we are to alleviate the underlying causes of violence, depression and ill-health. Banning alcohol, for example, will do little to address the underlying causes of anxiety and frustration in peoples lives. Vaccinations will likewise do little to stave off infections in those who are in vulnerable demographics. In general, treating or focusing on the physical symptoms does little to address the underlying ‘psycho-social’ causes of ill-health, violence, depression and premature death.

The way forward

I often suggest to people that if we were to model our world on a  small village’ basis, most of the rapacious, greedy behaviors, the violence, the enormous disparities in wealth, and the associated illnesses and rates of depression, would be curtailed.

It is our ‘disconnect’ with the plight and conditions of others that enables the troubles to begin and grow. It is our fundamental disconnections with, or ignorance of the world around us that provides the conditions favorable to disease, depression, corruption and violence.

But most of all it is ignorance of, and a disconnect with our own inner-world, the deeper metaphysical nature of the human psyche, and the deeper meta-physical nature of life and our universe that is the primary cause of current world circumstances.⁷

We now have the benefit of quantum physics, a science that is revealing just how enmeshed, and interconnected, and powerful we really are – with our thoughts we are indeed making our world. With our heart-felt expectations and choices we are realizing possibilities into lived experience. As recent research from Harvard Medical School has confirmed, through belief and meditation we’re able to switch on disease-fighting genes. We are not victims to some fixed past that has fated us to experience disease, poverty and a decrepit old-age.

Culturally we are about to fall off a philosophical cliff. Fortunately a safe landing in a far more compassionate, sane and exciting world awaits those who come to the edge with the understanding of how to fly.

In the months ahead I’ll share my understanding and experiences in coming to terms with these ideas, and the wondrous possibilities that lay ahead for those willing to understand, imagine, engage and fly.

Footnotes:

1. This is a theme that will covered in more detail in the articles ahead – of needing to face our fears in order to bring about a better world.
2. “In comparison to men, however, women have much lower rates of victimization for crime overall and for all major individual criminal offenses, with the exception of rape and sexual assault. For example, according
   to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), men were 42 percent more likely to be victims of violent crime“” [Source: David Levinson, Encyclopedia of crime and punishment, Volume 4, Sage Publications,
   Inc; 1 ed., March 18, 2002. p. 1726]
3. “References examining assaults by women on their spouses or male partners: An annotated bibliography.” [Martin S. Fiebert, Department of Psychology, California State University, Long Beach. Web URL reference
   http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm]
4. ‘Depression’, World Health Organization [web URL – www.who.int/mental_health/management/depression/definition/en/ ]
5. “Even in the most affluent countries, people who are less well off have substantially shorter life expectancies and more illnesses than the rich.” [Source: Michael Marmot & Richard Wilkinson, Social Determinants
   of Health: The Solid Fact (Second Edition, 2003). World Health Organization (Europe), p7. (Introduction) Ref. www.euro.who.int/document/e81384.pdf]
6. “Autonomy – how much control you have over your life – and the opportunities you have for full social engagement and participation are crucial for health, well-being, and longevity” [Source: Michael Marmot, The Status Syndrome: How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity, Holt Paperbacks, 2005, p2. ]
7. The use of the hyphenated meta-physical term is in deference to the solid scientific research in the field of quantum physics which is revealing a deeper, at-once (literally a super-physical, faster-than-light)
   interconnectedness of our universe. Our psychologies, politics, religions and sciences have lagged behind these advances. Our awareness of the deeper and ubiquitous meta-physical, interconnected nature of life will begin our evolution beyond the belief in a mechanical, competitive, deterministic world.