A better world for all

In the world I grew up in there was a clear distinction between what was scientifically accepted as true, and politics and economics. Science accepts that what we know is only valid until something better is proven, based on how it interprets our experience. As science evolves and what we can see and measure changes, new questions arise that ask for, and at some point find, a new interpretation, a new theory, i.e. we now consider - see - things differently. This has always been clear. Even religions, those based on a sacred text, they too change over time, according to the interpretation given by their contemporary priests. Politics on the other hand has to do with how we think relationships between people should be managed, and especially economic relationships and those between people and environment and space, and is based on how we perceive ‘self-interest' and ‘collective good”.

Today this difference between scientifically accepted 'provisional truth' and politics has been dissolved. And 'religion' continues to influence both. Everyone now easily claims to 'know the truth' - whatever that happens to be - because we can find groups of people with the same beliefs, and 'experts' who have all sorts of 'knowledge' that suits us- not based any more on any scientific method generally accepted by the scientific community. What everyone believes is now based on what they want to believe rather than on some scientifically and methodologically accepted proof. Plenty of lies exist on the internet to support whichever distorted view suits us. That the Palestinians are not human and therefore our state assisted slaughter of them doesn’t matter. That those who take from the poor and give it to the billionaires are doing it for the good of all of us. That those who stand for freedom and justice are communists and should therefore stop talking.

It is still a personal decision however - your view of what the world should be like. Each of us has that responsibility. Each of us has the ability to have our own opinion and for that opinion we are responsible and will be accountable, even if only to ourselves.

Between those who believe that the Earth is flat, that man has never set foot on the moon, that vaccines are harmful, that the best way to govern is to have a dictator on the back of our necks telling us what the truth is that (maybe) he believes in, and relieving us of the responsibility to make our own decisions - and those who believe in something completely different - between these two there is chaos.

That's why I've come here, to this table, to sit down and talk with you, because I want to understand you, how you think, what you feel about all of this. Maybe that way we can find a harmony between us and make the world a little bit better. Because I believe, I hope, that you want our world to be a better place too. And if so, why shouldn't we together want the world to be a better place for all of us, humans, animals, and all the living things on this Earth that nourishes us and indiscriminately gives us its beauty?

A better world for everyone, not just white men, but for women and children, the community you live in, the region, the country, a better world for everyone, regardless of gender, race, religion, and place, every culture. And why not? But not only because of that, but because it is hard for me to understand how it could be otherwise, that is, how we could be truly and completely happy when others around us are suffering, when children are hungry and afraid for their lives because someone wants to kill them, and the world - all of us - doesn't care. It's impossible for me to see how I could be truly happy in the midst of this hatred, anger, violence, fear, death, and the mocking of someone who finds it necessary for others to suffer, that believes that being inhuman is a good thing and should be accepted.

Why should I have to close my heart so I can sleep at night without crying for the tears of the suffering children of the world? Every time I harden my heart something inside me dies, and it’s the same for you, even if we don’t talk about it.

So let us, who are still human, sit at this table, and let us look at this chaos between us. For a better world for all. Let's remember that everyone suffers in life, not just us. That pain and sorrow are for everyone, they are part and parcel of what it means to be human. If there is anything called sin, it is to cultivate sorrow and suffering for others when it is possible to avoid it. Isn't it sinful to want another to suffer?

Why live in a society where we accept toxic and poisonous behaviour as power, and love as weakness? Shouldn't it be the opposite? We swallow the poisons that politicians spread and we spread them too - why? Do we so hate ourselves that we have become complicit in the hatred? Does it make us feel happy? The hatred? Not love? Fear? Not Love? Being the hypocrites that we are, and since we can no longer love ourselves - and by extension, certainly not others, we go to church, supposedly to praise God, who at least loves us, seeking redemption.

He who sacrificed himself for us, who preached Love for all, do you think he did it so that we might know that someone loves us while we carry the banner of hatred, violence, coercion and inhumanity? Fortunately we are sitting at this table of humanity. Because as much as we may disagree on how we should move forward, at least we agree on the final destination, a better world for all. What is true and what is false -let’s find that out together, on the way. Out of chaos can be born infinite beauty, that expression of Love that after all already exists in the Universe, in the world in which we live. Out of chaos was born harmony, out of darkness was born light, all the old stories agree on this. It is not hidden. We may think we can hide in the darkness, but the light does not hide, and deep down, no matter how much we may not

realise it, we are light, from light, true light.

So let us begin in this way, building with love, on harmony, because it is not so much what you believe that matters in the end, but what you accept and what you do. Let us base our lives on Love and not on hate, so that we leave something to future generations that is worthy of our lives. A basis for a better world for all...