It's about separation AND cooperation.

At the desk, 10:52 a.m.

I'm going to tell you something you already know. I mean, maybe you think something different, when I tell you, you'll know it deep in your gut to be true.

We evolved through cooperation, and to a much, much smaller part competition (survival of the fittest and the like.)

Look around. What do you see? I see ants who survive together, bees who cooperate with each other to survive, and plants who like to be planted right next to a plant of their own species, and grass that grows under ground together, and birds who share responsibility for each other, and squirrels who live together, feed together, and die together, and...

Why would we be any different?

So what's the problem with modern, Western life?

We bought into the lie that competition would make us great. We've lost or forgotten the skills to get along with one another. Instead we compete over who is right, over who will win at life - a game that ends for each and every one of us in death, how we look, and most horribly for social status.

We willingly kill each other a thousand times over in social death with an idea that by killing another we obtain greatness.

We need to learn to cooperate, to get along. Our world, our planet, my country - we have significant problems that will not be solve by competition.

We will only survive if we learn to cooperate.

In the last couple of days, I've posted about separation. By projecting our issues onto other people, we create a false, competitive sense of community. When we learn to own our stuff, we can hold our own individuality in the middle of cooperation.

You see cooperation isn't just the squishy stuff of per-kindergarten classes. The first skill of cooperation is to be able to hold yourself within yourself - or more literally, owning your own stuff.  Later skills are things like sharing, forgiving, overlooking quirks, trusting everyone is doing the very best they can, and stuff like that.

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