What lessons can be learned from the Insanity in the Ukraine?

As I've said before, it may look bleak at times, but, the bleaker the challenge, the more willingness to find opportunities. This is one of those occasions for YOU.

Shout out to Stefan Molyneux and his video "The Story of Your Enslavement". It formed a great deal of the basis for my diatribe today. In simple terms, he explains humans have been dumbed-down and conditioned into domesticated cattle. Cattle on a farm. Their only value is in their ability to be controlled. Not a pretty picture to awaken to.

Side note: I'm hosting a Leadership, Ethics and Organization discussion on the Ukraine this Wednesday (the meeting is taped every Wednesday with a live audience and my guest is my new friend and fellow Autonomy graduate Taras, who was born in Moscow when it was still the USSR and has ancestry and family in the Ukraine. He will be able to provide us with keen insight into the reality of the situation. So, in preparation, I wanted to spend a little time looking into this conflict and what people are thinking. And consequently put together a summary of what valuable lessons might be learned from my point of view.

Here's my top three lessons to be learned. Leadership, Ethics, and Organization. Convenient!

Leadership: If nothing else, it is of high importance to know what excellence in leadership is. Which means that even for the led, it's important to know what great leaders do and don't do and why. And the best way to learn is to practice.

What is leadership? According to Google: the action of leading a group of people or an organization; the state or position of being a leader.

What is leading? Providing direction or guidance (Merriam-Webster:3); the one which is most important or successful (Collins); best, most important, or most successful (Cambridge). 

How does one lead? Being the best. Demonstrating an expertise, a skill, or talent.  Having confidence in their ability. Able to communicate their value to others. Being uncompromised. Having enthusiasm, courage, endurance, and integrity.
These are skills everyone should have! And can develop! Like walking!

Now, looking at the Ukraine situation. Both leaders have sold out their populations for War. They are encouraging conflict and violence. Destruction of many people's property that is not theirs, damage to people's lives, trauma, death, etc. There is much harm being unleashed and few responsible parties at the top. If it goes bad for either of these "leaders" they will most likely be exiled to a billion dollar mansions in some remote paradise. However the people will be left with all the costs, plus the work and expense of rebuilding. Not to mention all the trauma, heartache, loss, and tragedy. This is leadership to ruin! How did it get this bad? How did people allow these reckless tyrants into an authority position? Obviously they had to be ignorant of the distinction between good and bad leadership. 

The good news. We can teach people how to be good leaders and to demand and only participate with good leadership. The best way is hands on and via group involvement and exercises, we can vibe and learn together. While finding and growing each individual's true talents. Then easing them into leadership in their area. Building upon family and good family models and practices we can remove the ignorance and build confidence and trust. Lower risk and become a resilient anti-fragile peaceful and prosperous community.

Ethics: Ethics is a very misunderstood word and has many possible implications so let me clear up what I mean when I say it. I'm referring specifically to applied ethics. What one does in the moment that either benefits them and those around them or harms. This is sometimes described as the difference between intelligent and stupid behavior. this would be one of those moments. If people do harm to themselves or others or both, I define that as stupid behavior and in regard to applied ethics, unethical, if the person is aware of the harm. 

In the Ukraine situation, being on the world stage, it's the responsibility of the world press to raise the awareness of any harm. And if found, give the concerned people the apparent facts so that we can figure out who is responsible for the inequities being created. Obviously, much of the press isn't reporting on many of the harms, including the one's it does when it broadcasts propaganda and lies. Unethical behavior in a sea of unethical behavior. Using force is unethical when a better way exists. A better way always exists as long as both parties are breathing! And this extends down to every trigger puller. Everyone that does harm. There is no glory or honor in participating in War... only losers. Only fools. Fooled into doing something stupid. Something harmful to themselves and others. The worst of stupid acts.


The good news. We have the opportunity to do much better. Almost all of us has a tool to report the news. Identify the harm and broadcast it. Then we have the choice to network with ethical and intelligent people and work together to raise awareness, but also assure each other that risk of harm to the community is being mitigated. There are communities and cultures on this planet that represent far better ways to behave. We have a choice to learn from them and apply it. The intelligent and prosperous thing to do, is to act in these instances.

Organization: Stephan portrays countries as competing farms... I would say it's more like prisons. In my opinion, there's largely no creativity in a developed hierarchy and that's it's most glaring downfalls. But this is why the masses are incessantly taught it as the one and only organizational structure to get things done. They don't know any alternatives and certainly haven't practiced them. 

In the Ukraine situation. People have been encouraged to segregated into opposing groups. Pro-Ukraine and pro-Russia. Gustave LaBon's book "The Crowd" pointed to the tendency in group for people to do things they wouldn't do if they had individual responsibility. This is a narrative constructed so that it is leading people into that trap. They are being encouraged to fear and hate their counterpart and then damage and destruction is being brought about in their name. Not understanding they will all pay a high cost. Both will be the losers. Both will create more scarcity and hardship for each other.

The good news is there is much to learn here about working together in groups. Strengthening bonds and trust with family, friends and business associates, practicing ethical cultural rituals that invigorate the knowledge about and convictions to the advantages of peaceful collaboration and problem-solving. Autonomy, AU, and a number of ongoing projects, some in Acapulco, are certainly laboratories to experiment with these alternative approaches. Simply understanding that there are inherent weaknesses in hierarchy as an organizational model. That alone will help in the pursuit of other ways and areas to better identify and produce excellence in organization.

In conclusion, there are many lessons to learn as well a distinct warning to those who refuse to learn. War in Ukraine is the same technique that has been used over and over for over a century now.  You and I have a choice, it's our responsibility to restore our authority to rule ourselves. Is that something you want? I do! They're operating a broken system. You also have the choice to peacefully collaborate rather than contribute to disaster and catastrophe it's creating. We, you and I, can grow stronger or we atrophy into weakness... it's up to us. No one else. It's getting serious now.