A Question of Values
We must move beyond Homo Sapiens and evolve into Homo Verus.
As a society today, we are facing a problem of values.
We need to foster culture, to share knowledge.
We must create an environment and context capable of generating those fertile and guiding circumstances for the individual—whether child or adult.
Circumstances that foster participation and orient the individual toward those absolute and non-negotiable values, such as Life and Peace.
Only in this way—and only in this way—can the mind gradually detox from the many false promises and dominant, misleading models of today.
There is a deception that is presented to us daily by this increasingly extreme virtual-media dimension: effortless success.
However, when we look behind the curtain, we discover that anyone who has achieved meaningful results in any area of life—family, love, friendship, community, wealth, work, spirituality, body—has had to work hard to achieve them.
And even if they began driven by a need for recognition, revenge, ambition, or positioning, the effort itself certainly improved them.
It also improved the lives of others—if, in addition to that effort, they understood the necessity of educating themselves in order to educate others: in other words, of transforming themselves into a model for others.
Only when we commit to this process of ex ducere—to draw out the best within us—can we truly excel, meaning to express outwardly the part of us that is truly the best.
A New P.H.A.S.E.
Each of us feels the need for a deeper humanization.
As my dear friend, neuropsychologist Margriet Sitskoorn, says:
We must leave Homo Sapiens behind and step into Homo Verus.
We must look at ourselves and our history for what we can become—through our commitment to cultivating ourselves.
We must enter a new P.H.A.S.E.
(P.H.A.S.E., to me, is the acronym for the development of our species: Philosophy, Art, Science, Economy.)
Since the dawn of our existence, we have:
- Asked ourselves questions (Philosophy),
- Left marks of our presence (Art),
- Investigated our identity and the world around us (Science),
- And finally, questioned whether what we were producing was sustainable (Economy).
We must consciously undertake this work to build a new P.H.A.S.E. in our history.
We must, therefore, ask new questions, change our actions, and reflect:
Are we learning things that serve us—or that pollute us?
Do they enlighten—or darken—our future?
Finally, we must act so that our history and our relationships are built in such a way that a better world may surround us, a world that is sustainable.
We Must Humanize Ourselves
Can the human being be re-educated? I say yes.
We must re-educate humanity—and more than re-educate ourselves, we must humanize ourselves.
We must learn to read our emotions, not give space to those negative, coercive, or violent ones we sometimes host without even realizing it.
We must become aware that our behaviors are the product of habit, and if those habits are wrong, they solidify into destructive daily behaviors.
We must break that pattern by finding a new perspective—one from which we can see ourselves differently and move from the instinctive question:
“What do I have to do?”
to
“What is the life I want?”
Not the life we are forced to live—but the life we truly want.
Only when we talk to ourselves about what we genuinely love, everything good within us rises to the surface and guides our next step.
Meditation is part of the re-education process of our species, because it helps us become more sensitive, more attentive, and to cultivate compassion toward others—understanding that they carry the same limits, flaws, and struggles as we do.
The Future of Our Children
I’ll close this reflection by reminding us that our children learn:
- Their behaviors from ours,
- Their emotions from ours,
- Their ways of thinking from ours,
- Their way of living from our way of being.
Therefore, we are important because we are educators.
We all are—whether in a positive or negative sense.
Without discipline and attentiveness, we risk harming those we love more than anything: our children.
There are countless tools available right now to begin the journey of self-education and self-improvement, to enter a new state of awareness.
We can no longer afford to say that the world around us offers no opportunities.
The world around us is full of opportunities.
We must ask ourselves to open our eyes, see the infinite chances that present themselves at every moment, and seize the ones we feel are right for us.
