What basic things do all people want?

July 29, 2013 Monday, 11:19 a.m.

I'm starting this blog to connect with those who have a need to reach out to others about so many of the unexpressed things in their lives...including new thoughts on what truly happening to our own lives on the broader scale in human history.

I want to find what's common among all of us, especially the meaning of our lives. ... Some things are so basic, as they have been since our earliest beginnings – the need for access to clean water, healthful food, shelter from the elements, as  well as nurturing, companionship and love.

As small communities grew with better sanitation, agriculture, fuel/energy and transportation, the need for equal representation in the governance of our communities, education, health care and jobs manifested in political systems that sought to heal the divisions of power structures among the social classes.

For many milennia, our ancestors lived relatively fragmented lives, unable to easily connect with those except in their immediate family or tribe, and unable to nurture integrated perspectives on mind, body and health. Some of those ancestors lived in relative paradise, whether on a tropical island or on a pastoral rural or woodlands setting and largely unaffected by those living in more harsher, four-season environments – outsiders driven by the need to discover "scarce resources" essential for survival. Some were looking for fair trading partners – and others more violent and desperate were willing to commit mass murder.

Essentially, our human history is replete with the trauma of each passing generation's struggles against oppression, natural disasters and wars – struggles which generally advanced the human condition collectively.

And now, we live in the 21st century. There's so much technology and weaponry out there to affect us and our environment, to send information and resources to help anyone almost anywhere in the world, to end the worst aspects of scarcity. There's so widespread potential that our ancestors never had.

So much good that can happen, and yet so much bad....

Something new is happening in human history, I feel that we're on the cusp of something new that can affect our collective human existence profoundly.

We have new technology, this collective knowledge that is certainly "god-like" by our ancestors' standards, but do we have the wisdom to use it well?

One of the most alarming is the pervasive use of today's technology by the U.S. government – with the aid of giant multinational corporations – to  conduct massive surveillance of ordinary citizens here and abroad. What do they expect to find?

Will such collective use of this technology turn out to be positive for common good of humanity – or will it be destructive?

Will they spend billions of dollars only to find all humans everywhere in the planet simply want the same basic things? Access to basic human needs and to be able to productively contribute to the well-being of their family and communities?

Do people really want to continue the same war- and fear-mongering that has plagued our ancestors since prehistoric times?

Wouldn't spending that kind of money be a great waste, money that could have been spent instead to help each other get the resources they need in order to prevent such outbreaks of war?

Are we on the cusp of an era of enlightenment or continued chaos?