The Best of Both Worlds

No, this is not going to be a review of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode of the same name. I have many things that I could say about that particular episode where Picard is assimilated into the Borg collective and how there is a correlation between the Borg race and how many people on this planet would like nothing better than to assimilate those whom they feel are inferior but still have some traits or intelligence which could be made use of by the collective. There is definitely a story there to be told but I will save it for another time. This time I want to focus on the American workplace and how it could and should be restructured to best accommodate the needs of the people. There is also a need to rethink our public school systems and how we might claim our rights as humans beings with needs that are not being recognized within those institutions. I will not venture into the realms of the economic systems that would need to change in order to sustain the new way of doing things.  I will leave that to the experts in that field.

What I wish to say has more to do with the self and what we might become if we had a better sense of self, self-direction, and personal needs. Sounds like something that we should already have if we are adults, but I can assure you that we don’t or we would not be so inclined to create golden idols for ourselves in the form of men of means with a faulty foundation that we are too insecure and ego driven to see past.  This too, would be an opportune time to insert some more Star Trek in the form of the Ferengi, but I will resist the temptation for now.

A person who has grown to be an adult isn’t really capable of seeing past ego and desire without a basis for realizing that these things are a problem.  No one really expects us to deal with selfishness and childishness when these are the very cornerstone of marketing practices.  What can you sell to people if they have a balanced ego?  Basic human needs would be about it. What can you sell to people who have struck a balance with their need for sex, and friendship, comfort and protection from the elements? Not much.  So where is the logic in promoting the idea that people should grow up emotionally? In Capitalism, there is none.

At the beginning of the fear brought on by the Coronavirus there was, in some situations, a panic that was felt in the workplace that those who were capable of doing their jobs remotely should do exactly that and make it easier to social distance ourselves to make the spread of the virus less likely.  I know that locally, many companies only allowed this practice grudgingly, but it did find its place within the population to the relief of many who had jobs that could be done this way. Public school attendance also had to be rethought by letting students attend remotely.  For some people this was a major problem as there are so many parents who depend on school for their child’s daycare while they are working.  I was fortunate enough to be able to home school my daughter when she was school age but that is not usually the case for most parents. Once the panic wore off, many people were sadly required to go back in to school and the office and just take their chances with the disease but the gate had already been opened as many people discovered that remote working was much better for them.  They were less stressed and had more incentive to do their job without the constant workplace fear that comes with being controlled and micromanaged.  This was a great revelation for many and as it turned out, many of them for the first time felt that they had options for themselves that never existed before.  There was, for a time, an opportunity to realize their individual strengths and weaknesses and how best to utilize their skills and abilities. This was a wonderful thing.  To finally see where they truly should be as far as their individual needs were concerned, they began to “wake up” and understand that the previous system of work had zero to do with their needs and plenty to do with management desiring to keep a tight rein on them at all times to ensure that the balance of power remained squarely in their corner.  And now, we are seeing a backlash on remote working except in certain sectors of the country because allowing the people to find their true self is much too dangerous to allow.  Who will kiss the boss’s ass if the threat of the virtual lash isn’t hanging over the employee’s head?  It must not be borne.  So here we are, seeing yet another balance for the people taken away to satisfy the company.  Too many of us do not have the skills or the personal tools to challenge these threats to our basic human dignity. And if you do not see that these are threats to our very existence you miss and may always miss the point of even being on this planet.  I can tell you that those people who did wake up temporarily have lost a valuable right that they didn’t even know that they were entitled to before 2020. Witness the recent shock of losing the right to make your own healthcare decisions by a section of the populace that has decided that too much freedom of choice has been allowed for too long.  As bad as it may sound, even in the worst of times there is opportunity to turn great disadvantage in to a strength and a positive if we allow ourselves to be still and listen. What can be seen from the bottom is barely recognized from the top.

It may appear to be too late in the game for people to stop in their tracks and take a good look at what massive ego and the desire to have all that we want whenever we want it with no regard for the ripple effect upon our very lives has brought us to, but what we are experiencing right now has the power to redirect us if we can recognize that we have allowed much of this to manifest by not knowing the processes that we gave little thought to were the catalysts.  Rewinding our life video back to a place where we can set aside the false idea that we are an entitled species is essential for our survival.  We now find ourselves at a stopping point where it is essential that we take stock of what is necessary to reclaim our birthright.  Knowing one’s birthright is a massive challenge to the ego’s control of our actions, but it can and must be done.  There are many who will not heed the call of a dying society because they are under the delusion that they are winning the ego battle that proves their supremacy. They are a tough adversary because they have disregarded the rules of engagement which they believe don’t really exist.  We have to show them that they are wrong by knowing ourselves, our strengths, and our weaknesses.  Too many of us have never learned what we are except for what media and other people have told us.  The sad truth is that we have been assimilated, but resistance is not futile. While we are at that low point where we now know that we have been had, it is the perfect time to find our individual center. When we have the clarity of a centered mind, we are capable of making miracles.

The best of both worlds; this world, and the world where our higher mind exists can and do coexist in harmony when we have learned to balance the two.  I urge you to explore your place in them. There is peace when you can imagine the possibility.