Human potential

Human potential is the best options a person has to benefit the world.

Many see human potential as a personal goal. Personal potential. What am I personally capable of? This way of thought gives people ambitions that are mutually exclusive and impossible to reconcile with the ambitions of others. Keep in mind that there are a limited amount of resources at any given time.

We can't all be rich. For some to be rich, there must be others that are poor. So that some can have more than enough, there must be others that starve.

We can't all be famous. For some to have attention focused on them, the focus must come from everyone else.

We can't all be masters. For some to be masters, there must also be slaves.

People tend to blame greed for this predicament. I think there is a better explanation. There is, current in our society, a motivation to maintain and enhance favorable views of oneself. A placing of oneself at the center of his or her world. An excessive love of one's person that leads to unsustainable levels of vanity and selfishness.

It's almost as if we as a society have never grown up. Somehow, by having all our needs met, we've come to the conclusion that our wants are our needs and that our desires must also be met to survive. That it is automatically a good idea to try and obtain everything that we want without thinking. We are a society of spoiled brats.

Alternatively, Mature thinking follows that "we" are more important than "me". If I'm focused on me, I can't be focused on us, but if I am focused on us, I am also included in that focus. Doing what's best for "us" is a way to benefit myself without compromising the other.

Another problem with seeing human potential as chiefly personal is that there is no end to a person's individual potential. If your goal in life is to have money, how much is enough? If your goal is power, how much is enough? If your goal is love, if your goal is knowledge, if your goal is inner peace, if your goal is stuff, How much is enough? Where does it end?

"My goal is raising a family."

That's a good goal. It takes the emphasis off yourself. But how many people have a stated goal, an explicit goal, when their true goal is safety and comfort.

"I want to be safe and comfortable so I can raise my family."

How safe do you want to be? How comfortable do you want to be?

Is there such a thing as absolute safety? Absolute comfort?

Safety is the illusion of safety. The truth is, we could die suddenly at any time.

Experiencing comfort primes the mind to expect comfort. That which is a comfort one day, is a necessity the next.

There is no clear end to personal ambition. It ends with unlimited power by one individual. Unlimited personal ambition leads to concentration of power in those that already have power. It's as if society is a giant pyramid scheme, but one that hasn't been thought through to the end.

The people in charge that started civilization, (long dead), had the power to organize society along lines that benefited chiefly themselves, others like them and their children.
This is the class based society.
If you are born into power: lucky you!
If you are born without power: believe in reincarnation!

The newly moneyed masses saw the value of being included in such a scheme and fought for greater rights of participation. The pyramid of society started to wobble. The balance was gone. The ones in power then had to compromise to maintain their dominance.
Democracy was born.
Rule according to popular opinion.
Some opinions are more popular than others.
This doesn't mean they are more right.

Democracy takes a lot of thought into the field of psychology to work, (that is, produce the effect you want). The product of working to discover the psychological basis for opinions is a limited ability to influence opinions. The byproduct is commercialism: the manipulation of opinions for profit, the effect of which is concentration of power in those that have the ability to appeal to psychology.

Unless you have the money to support a huge marketing division, your ideas are little more than a shot in the dark. You have no idea if they're going to stick. This very manifesto is similar to a shot in the dark. I had no test audience to analyze the efficacy of the message. There are no fancy colors and pictures. No meaningless statistics. 5 out of 5 doctors don't agree with it. It isn't sold at "rock bottom prices!" or "One day only!". I'm working off pure faith that these ideas are good enough to spread. Before the internet, I wouldn't have believe it was possible. Now that information can be transported anywhere in the world without having to buy airtime and a charismatic host, it could be possible for an idea like this to spread to the entire world.