YL & GLOBAL CULTURE

A Note on Culture that will Surprise You

– Creating a World of Peace, Joy and Abundance for All –

That is, by scientific definition, the global culture that we all share at global level.

Culture = values + rituals / acts + heroInes + symbols”

All other “cultures” that we know of are local variants, that in the course of history have been befallen by “viruses”, leading to today’s situation that people don’t live the inherent values … and display grossly “bugged” behavior.

The global culture that we all share turns out to be the best guiding star ever for helping us re-connect with our pure, true values and cleanse out the impure interpreteations, words, terms and habits we have unconsciously adopted through untrue philosophies, extremist religions taking on faces of satanism, totalitarian regimes, all kinds of malicious groups…

Weeding out the confusing hurtful memes is complicated, but becomes easier by simply living as pure heroInes as teenage and adult changemakers do today – view Role Models below, and view the Note on Ethical Values.

Re-connecting with our true values and living them in heroIne behavior – implementing the myriad of model solutions for peace, joy and sustainability, and thereby creating a sustainable civilitation – naturally also re-unites us as one human family and overcome all troubles, problems, wars, bad feelings, injustices, unfair trade, castes, sexual abuse and all the other ugly bullshit inherited from earlier, suboptimal forms of society – monarchy, fascism, racist, colonialist – stuff no one really wants but still weighs heavy on us, influences our thoughts, emotions and acts, suffocating and impeaching us from living the dear, beautiful lives and world that our hearts know is possible.

This is no longer acceptable. Now is the time to shed all those inherited garbage memes and false hurtful myths.

Now we know – if we don’t live like the teen heroInes, we are part of the problem, of the fearful onlookers, Deatheaters and Orks.

MANIFESTATIONS OF CULTURE

Cultural differences manifest themselves in different ways and differing levels of depth.

Symbols represent the most superficial and values the deepest manifestations of culture, with heroes and rituals in between.

  • Symbols are words, gestures, pictures, or objects that carry a particular meaning which is only recognized by those who share a particular culture. New symbols easily develop, old ones disappear. Symbols from one particular group are regularly copied by others. This is why symbols represent the outermost layer of a culture.
  • Heroes are persons, past or present, real or fictitious, who possess characteristics that are highly prized in a culture. They also serve as models for behavior.
  • Rituals are collective activities, sometimes superfluous in reaching desired objectives, but are considered as socially essential. They are therefore carried out most of the times for their own sake (ways of greetings, paying respect to others, religious and social ceremonies, etc.).
  • The core of a culture is formed by values. They are broad tendencies for preferences of certain state of affairs to others (good-evil, right-wrong, natural-unnatural). Many values remain unconscious to those who hold them. Therefore they often cannot be discussed, nor they can be directly observed by others. Values can only be inferred from the way people act under different circumstances.
  • Symbols, heroes, and rituals are the tangible or visual aspects of the practices of a culture. The true cultural meaning of the practices is intangible; this is revealed only when the practices are interpreted by the insiders.

LAYERS OF CULTURE

People even within the same culture carry several layers of mental programming within themselves. Different layers of culture exist at the following levels:

  • The national level: Associated with the nation as a whole.
  • The regional level: Associated with ethnic, linguistic, or religious differences that exist within a nation.
  • The gender level: Associated with gender differences (female vs. male)
  • The generation level: Associated with the differences between grandparents and parents, parents and children.
  • The social class level: Associated with educational opportunities and differences in occupation.
  • The corporate level: Associated with the particular culture of an organization. Applicable to those who are employed.

Not surprisingly, the analysis leaves out the Global Level – a level that people and humanity have trouble getting a grip on.

YOUTH-LEADER REPRESENTS THIS GLOBAL CULTURE

Globalization, the natural phenomenon of our time, forces our societies to transform, causing turbulences, especially at cultural levels focussed on the superficial symbols and rituals, but also highlighting where our words and actions are incongruent with the values that our cultures are meant to be based on, to purify our ways, habits and traditions from “adoring or fighting over ashes” to “passing on the fire” in celebration and wild, uplifting creativity. It forces us to upgrade to our finest heroIne selves. And this overcomes all challenges.

IT SEEMS that we have found the definition of our global culture that unites us all. Not surprisingly, our unity in diversity is reflected in our universal ethical values. The new realization is that these values manifest in acts of “creating a good world, of peace, joy and abundance for all”, and are embodied by changemakers – this culture’s shining HeroInes, that we all share.

Now it is on all of us to LIVE OUR CULTURE, by what Charles Eisenstein calls creating “the beautiful world that our hearts know is possible, but our minds don’t yet understand how to do”. What Charles ignores are the myriads of solutions available and the groundbreaking possibilities of establishing high impact youth leadership in all schools.

For those of us not tuned to spirituality and culture, it means living our favorite adventure novels – Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings – living League of Legends – for real. It means keeping our eyes and hearts open when we close the book, switch off the screen – to see Voldemort and Mordor polluting, eating and shredding the world around us – learn to wield the magic wands of today – and ally with the angles, elves and beautiful beasts around us – for The Liberation Of Paradise.

Choose your favorite way of perceiving the world – a game, an adventure, the sacred, humane values. But hey, at last start living it. Let that heroIne entity of yours take place in you, and touch and transfrom the world through you. Do like the changemaker heroInes. Follow intuition, passion and serve.

USE IT – IN EDUCATION, FAITH, CULTURAL EXCHANGES!

Think about how culture is instrumentalized, called upon, stigmatized in today’s multiple crisis. It has become a source of confusion, division, fear, ego and war, instead of celebration and upliftment. We can now change this, as ditch the remnants of obsolete kingdoms and unsustainable societies, their rituals and superficialities that we are all sick of, and upgrade to what we all really like, we really care, for really matters – to us and our planet – and for the first time re-connects with the core of us, of culture – our values. Because our culture, that’s US!

“Tradition means passing on the fire, not adoration of the ashes.”

This makes the Global Culture (embodied in youth leadership / changemaking / creating a world of peace and abundance for all) today’s most significant, maybe the only unifying thread among all our societies and citizens, across age groups, cultures and professions, and it is so positive that it overrides the differences in symbols, memes, dress and ritual causing so much confusion.

Let us use this thread to weave our dream future, and protect ecosystems, our families, societies and dreams from dissolving.

Only this dream, this beautiful thread (aka dream) can weave that magical beautiful future.

Other dreams are bugged.

A note on Abundance

Abundance is not about accumulating obscene wealth. On the contrary. Inner and Outer Abundance align with the findings of Gross National Happiness, that wealth is four-fold, and when ecological, cultural and spiritual wealth are high, there is only tiny need for material wealth.

Remember what Free The Children co-founders Craig and Marc Kielburger report on their charity trips to Kenya, Ecuador, Haiti: “The people were so poor, they had no shoes to wear, did not know if they would have food next week, and still they were laughing, sharing their last resources with us. At the same time, my peers in Canada, are so depressed. What made these people so happy? We found that it is that they give so much, they love so much. And we decided to bring this spirit back to Canada”. That’s when they co-founded METOWE, today WE, with student clubs in 12,000 schools.

This view helps us recognize that industrial nations are rich in materials aspects but so poor in ecological, cultural and spiritual aspects that people have become miserable, fearful, depressed, aggressive at mass scale, including those with all fame and wealth.

Think a little about your state of Inner Peace, when it is disturbed, and when established.

Think about what gives you Inner Abundance. So you don’t have to compensate with “outer” stuff through buying nonsense, showing off with clothes, overeating, chocolates, staring at glittering screens, films, and … at other people’s clothed or naked bodies.

Nurture a state of Inner Abundance, and you don’t need any of that.

And – surprise – you’ll re-connect with your finest nobel virtues, love and respect for yourself.

The ticket for a good global future – for people and planet.

A Fascinating Note on Ethical Values

Hiya, ethical values are something rather vague, even though we feel they might be important, really important. Those of us aware of their importance and working in fields of education, spirituality etc often experience in limit and frustrations in raising awareness in our students, colleagues, employees, volunteers, children…

We have discovered something precious:

Once upon a time, Eric sat pondering

“HeroInes inspire us. There is a spirit transfer. It makes us feel, cry, feel on fire, dream, take action. But this is sort of vague. Can we uncover a few more concrete details what’s happening inside us? I think that this will help mobilize people, by supporting their sudden short-term feeling with a long-term cognitive angle of understanding what’s going on. And be better able to understand, evaluate and situate this in their personal context, values, goals, ideals and expectations for life, as well as their self-image.”

Soon after, Eric met renowned Austrian artist Nikolaus Eberstaller. Niki was preparing a follow-up to his wildly popular HONEYS Currency – “Home Made Money” banknotes illustrated with the 7 Deadly Sins, their ghastly medieval depictions and a logo of a corporation embodying this Sin through their harmful behavior to people and planet.

Now, he was preparing a follow-up, on the 7 Cardinal Virtues : Love, Justice, Temperance, Faith, Hope, Fortitude (courage over a long-time), Wisdom/Knowledge. When I asked “what logos or faces he was going to put on the banknotes to represent the Cardinal Virtues”, he responded. “No doubt, the only people who qualify are these youth in your program. You know them best. You select Seven for the Seven Virtues.” That was a magical moment.

And Eric instantly detected the Seven who perfectly embody the 7 Virtues in their personality and work.

Eric noticed that this is precisely what the teen heroInes are living, what touches us to much, inspires us like the heroInes in our favorite adventure novels : Emma and Julia’s sense of justice for Aboriginal kids in need, Babar’s caring love for underpriviledged kids, Rachel’s fortitude in face of the gargantuan GMO industry and dark ocean of ignorance.

And heroInes they are, because it takes darn courage to dare follow one’s heart and vision against all odds of an apathic environment, to stand up, be in the spotlight of attention… you know that … if you do… or don’t do it. The world needs us to live this now. WE need it, to live our convictions, virtues, protect what we love and create a world of peace and abundance we want to see.

“You never change something by criticizing reality. To change something, create a new model making the current model obsolete.”

The solutions exist. But now we also need the “human model” solution. You see it in action. This is what it means to Be The Change. Be a HeroIne. Live your truth, and rid the world of injustices, dare seeing Voldemort and Mordor, purge yourself of orkish habits and live the values of chivalry, Krishna, God, Mother Earth, your heart, whatever you’ve grown up to call it – to the max – in the context of this time, of this world, of this Matrix, of this Middle Earth. YL is your Hogwarts school of magic, these teens your elder students.

These TEENS have unique value for everybody caring about or working with ethical values and spirituality … for themselves, in faith groups, in education… they help us

  • see concrete application cases of the Virtue in today’s broken world
  • recognize what living this Virtue means in practice
  • feel the passion pertaining to the Virtue
  • hear what inner mood, vibe, sound, pitch expresses this Virtue

ergo : What does it feel, live and act like to be a HERO.

FOR US AT YL, this revelation about the 7 Cardinal Virtues comes as a great gift. It enables us to raise this awarenes, connect with ethics, faiths, spirituality, novels, people’s and young people’s values, convictions, ideals, idols, truth, strength, sense of what’s GOOD and PROPER and the right thing to do … and to AFFIRM THEM in their views in ways they have never been affirmed by corrupt, impure, backbroken society. Yes, that’s how it is.

We’ve got a dedicated collection of 7 Cardinal Virtues media that we suggest to explore.

A Note on Civilizational Transformation

… that the shift that we are experiencing is from centralized to de-centralized to distributed.

Here is an example showing you how profound this change IS:

“Centralized” decision-making in a society is monarchy, a king. This gradually softened up to “de-centralized” forms, early democracies. Those democracies were created to create compromise between extreme opposing special interest groups, such as : monarchists, workers, religions, fascists, environmentalists. Palaces have become museums. It went fast.

This “party democracy” model, bugged by dishonorable egoistic interests and corruption, is now coming to its end. Note, that democracy is “co-creative decision-making for the common greater good”. That’s not practiced by political special interest groups, or “parties” today. In fact …

You notice how specific power groups have been turning the wheel back to “monarchy” – focussing government on one person only, styled up as messiah king or demon king, depending on what side you sit, but both are wrong; the messiah kings have proven to do nothing better… only putting people to sleep with their comedian, babyface or lipstick smiles, while also secretly and openly eroding citizen rights, en masse fast-tracking, omnibus-billing laws no one wants, impoverishing the people, ignoring chronic illness at mass scale, turning public goods earned through revolutions back into private hands – closed to the public, like the forests belonged to the shining “nobles”, as well as re-installing the kings favorite play : war – as normal, and creating myths about other peoples as evil. You see it all play out live on television. 

But there’s good news: Just like dying organisms, the old civilizational model of empire (pretending that others are different, as a justification of subjugating them and feeding on them), is making its last big breath before – dying. 

This is our era right now as – unmistakenly – as new, thriving, fun and sustainable models are rising on all sides.

As we are continuing to evolve to “co-creative decision-making for the common greater good”, parliaments will soon be museums (or rather dance halls, since who wants to visit those places) as we are moving from “de-centralized” to “distributed”.

This distributed model is coming up big time in the form of “blockchain” technology, you may have heard of it via bitcoin, and a model to make de-/centralized “banks” obsolete. But that’s just one form. Blockchain will change dozens of major fields, including – governance.

Listen up, because you are dissatisfied with how “politics” are happening today. But you don’t really know how this is going to be changed. Here is a general idea, so that you know that “civilizational shift” doesn’t mean a few solar panels!

At the level of our life in a group, community or society, “distributed” means that all cells of the societal body participate in decision-making … being knowledgible, competent, responsible and active in implementing the decisions of “what we want society to be like”.

The old model of being a powerless subject to “the blue-blooded, elected leaders or idols” and victim to their hurtful, egoistic decisions is coming to an end. Not the king will be the sovereign, but you and everybody else will be sovereign. This is not anarchy or chaos, because people will be smart. And kind. But this requires you to level up!

The new lifestyle where well can live common sense and the good life we all agree about requires us to be people able to inhabit and qualify for inhabiting such a society. And first of all we have to bring it about! There once was a first generation inhabiting a democracy.

We are to be the first generation to be active, co-creative Fair Citizens in a society of peace and abundance for all. Responsibility is no longer shifted away to others. Responsibility can be a heavy thing when feeling incompetent, never having tested one’s limits, evolved one’s skills… but project-oriented creative learning evolves those skills …. and as confidence in oneself and others grows, responsibility becomes lightweight and super fun, with many Hi5 and celebration!

Note, that

  • these new models are rapidly emerging, and much enjoyed by those living them, while
  • the old tyrannic, violent, deceiving model is going crazy with unbridled violence and destruction, and no one enjoys it, not even those who vote it into power by clinging to obsolete myths

The new model is totally different. It is already happening in many places:

  • Volunteer facilitators involve all citizens in how to evolve the city
  • Citizens decide on how the city’s financial budget is used
  • There are “liquid” models of online-based democracy at regional and planetary levels
  • Harming ecosystems is a crime, putting managers, investors and heads of state on trial and in prison
  • Profiteering from war is a crime, ending wars faster than you imagine
  • Animals, rivers and the Earth have citizenship status and rights
  • Every decision must respect the rights of seven future generations

All this is already happening by individual cells.

Now you know.

This shift right now is like than from monarchies to democracies. Just way bigger.

That is the REALLY BIG DEAL!

There is nothing to fear. It will be awesome.

All you have to do is not cling to the old hurtful model, but fly high up with the new!

So learn to spread and flap your wings.

This is what YL and Change Generation Rising are for.

You see the benefits on this very website.

Welcome to a Bright New World!

Happy Birthday!