Are we going to Hell in a Handbasket?

Have you heard this question lately? Have you asked it yourself? It seems that most people I talk to think our political climate is getting worse…daily. People are worried. They’re asking whether or not we’re going to make it out of this alive.

A few weeks ago, I read a book recommended by Bill Gates. A book he cites as one of the most important reads of our times. It’s called Factfulness by Hans Rosling. The subtitle is “Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think.”

The book is an interesting read. It begins with a quiz about conditions in the world today, with questions like:

In the past 20 years, the proportion of the world population living in extreme poverty has:

a.  more than doubled

b.  stayed about the same

c.  more than halved

OR

How many of the world’s 1-year-old children have been vaccinated for some disease?

a.  20 percent

b.  50 percent

c.  80 percent

The answer to both questions is “c”. Surprised? You’re in good company. The number of people in Rosling’s research (12,000 participants) that answered the first question correctly was 10 percent and the second question, 13 percent. Overall, the average correct score for all participants on all 13 questions was only 17 percent!

While some of the answers surprised me, I understand why we’re such doubters. We still carry the survival mechanisms from our evolutionary past. We learned to be wary of what’s around the next corner and pay much more attention to bad news than good. It kept us alive. Researchers call this the negativity bias. It showed up in the quiz results and it is still very present in our psyches today.

Similarly, at a conference about the evolution of culture called “What Now?” the theme presented in the keynote was, “Things have never been better…and they’ve never felt worse.” While this statement acknowledges the negativity bias, the overall focus of the conference was decidedly positive.

Things feel bad right now. Many are concerned, worried, even frightened by recent events. But we don’t always know how to contribute. If you consider that culture is the sum of attitudes, values and beliefs of individuals, you begin to see that we do have some control over how our culture evolves. Here are some things available to all of us to ensure that our own contribution adds to the positive, not the negative:

1. Respect the truth; get the facts - Read Factfulness (get it on Amazon here.)
2. Work on your own Self Awareness (take this Self Awareness Quiz ). How well do you know yourself and your impact on others? Do you stretch beyond your comfort zone to make others more comfortable?
3. Question your long-held beliefs. Are they generative and empathetic? Do you consider others when you make judgments or state opinions?
4. Try to understand what it’s like to be in another’s shoes. In this era of me first, many people find this hard to do. It takes practice, but it can be life changing.

You may not have considered that your own growth can make a difference in the direction our culture (and the planet) goes. But in my book, that's how we evolve, one person at a time.

Whether or not you are actively participating in bridging the great divide, you can contribute to the evolution of consciousness and the healing of our culture through your own internal developmental work. 

Because when you change, the world starts to change around you.