From a macro-historical point of view, we owe our current state to an evolution that subjected the genetic material to a selection process and continues to do so. This process is not based solely on the criterion of strength, but on the criterion of adaptability to the prevailing framework conditions. However, the latter do not remain constant. If they change more quickly than new variants are supplied, this will result in the extinction of the species.

The development of the brain enables people to analyze their actual situation and to adapt much more quickly than nature is able to. Choosing the right clothes is just one example out of an incredible number. The variants range from swimming trunks to space suits.

The brain is human capital, which can be developed in a wide variety of ways, starting with early childhood education. The suitability for later life therefore has to do both with the natural predisposition and with support based on the level of education and the life experience of the elders. In summary, post-war generations therefore tend to grow up differently. The aim of this form of adaptation is to prevent life-threatening environmental conditions from arising in the first place. The ability to think ahead is crucial for this, because the adjustments have to be made as early as possible and not only when tanks are rolling. Things are analogous with regard to the global climate. The path always leads from root cause analysis to problem solving. Where this does not happen, people are jeopardizing their very existence.

These facts are simple and undisputed in principle. It becomes complex where influencing factors come into play, and the influencing takes place at all levels. Only a few are singled out here: inadequate training, hindrance to research into causes, dissemination of half-truths or untruths, influencing the formation of opinion, suppression of those who think differently, assertion of one's own worldview, religious or political fundamentalism. There are reasons for this, too, but strictly speaking it is only one: the pursuit of dominance within one's own species.

The cross-check makes that clear.

• Why are children abducted? So that they can be educated elsewhere with a different worldview.
• Why are fighters recruited from poorly educated regions? So that they don't question the mindset of their commanders.
• Why do executions take place? So that fear is spread and different thinking is prevented.
• What is the reason for the arms race? The answer is already given.

Humanity is thus faced with a fateful decision. Is it ready, as they say in Switzerland, to harness together and to implement the findings of the theory of harmony, or is it striving with open eyes towards self-annihilation? We remember that the Greek goddess Harmonia was introduced as the driver of a chariot drawn by a tiger, a griffin and a bull. The ability to bring together incompatible natures is her core competence and we also learn why, because her father Ares was the god of war and bloody carnage, her mother Aphrodite, the goddess of love. So she was seen as a synergetic product of two natures that could not be more different. (Fig. in presentation XXVII: "Didactic tools").

Will the decision regarding the future of humanity actually be made by everyone or only by a few rulers who lack synergy competence? The ability to do this is not to be expected from autocrats in particular, who have seized power and disregard human rights in their own country. Where the law of the strongest applies, no aptitude test can take place in this regard. On the contrary: in dictatorships, a selection is made from the wrong end and something happens that should never happen in the sphere of activity of a homo sapiens, if he wants to live up to his name. Here one of his dispositions went out of control and one cannot say that there were no indications of this beforehand.

"Selection" of Hungarian Jews at the Auschwitz ramp in 1943

In times of war it was the dearest wish of the parents that the children would be better off. What perspective do they offer today? 

The framework conditions were created by the arms race in which the events take place extremely quickly and it is not to be seen that self-awareness and self-control can keep pace. As before, cause and responsibility are ascribed to the enemy in a rough generalization, but not to a common dangerous predisposition. It is up to psychologists and sociologists to define suitable technical terms for the various gradations and degrees of severity in the case of originators and followers and to identify the gateways for any kind of manipulation. In her book How to stand up to a dictator, the fight for our future (Quadriga, Cologne 2022, p. 330), the Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa describes the dangerous situation on the Internet, which can only be described as a theater of war. In a lecture to students, she confessed: "My generation has failed and we are handing you a broken world, which means that you must be stronger and smarter than we are." 

Against the background presented, however, cleverness and strength are not the expedient factors. Strategists are also smart and strong - very smart and very strong even, but the successful model of evolution is now reaching its limits. Self-control would be the virtue demanded by the environmental conditions.

Strictly speaking, the task consists of two parts. The first part requires an omission which, as such, presents no difficulty. Wars are prevented by simple omission. However, the second part, the requirement that this be done by collective consensus, seems an almost impossible task for the human species. The core task is therefore precisely described with the character traits of Harmonia. The fact that the superhuman ability to do this was attributed to a deity reflects the life experience of the Greeks more than 2500 years ago - and they chose didactically valuable images: the bridal chariot of Cadmus and Harmonia is said to have been pulled by a lion and a boar. Strengthening of combat power (armament) would bring them no closer to being able to carry out their task together. Only the acceptance of a higher directive or pure insight make this possible. Joining forces is far more important than striving for dominance. The term neutrality has no place in this context.

Democracies arose out of the need to take arbitrariness away from power. So that individuals do not become dictators, power is distributed to the community, so the idea, and from there it is only granted periodically and under strict controls. Since the cause, like a slumbering danger, lies in the disposition of each individual (see menu "The find"), the term neutrality does not represent a useful recommendation for action for the next generation. It is rather necessary to keep a constant eye on the weak points of the democratic structure and to intervene with civil courage wherever its stability is being undermined. It is something that a civil society does for itself and for no one else, a piece of internal self-defense. This applies equally to the national and global perspective. Seen in this way, dictatorships can be described as the worst states of democracy. The path to it leads through a development and maturing process, not through conquests. Because this process is also reversible, special self-critical attention is required.

Please click to enlarge

USA: Storming of the Capitol by an angry mob in 2021

Israel: 2023 Democracy Protection Protests

Because it is society that, to stay in the picture, is pulling the car into the future, synergy competence is the decisive systemically relevant ability.

The most impressive moment in a democracy is that of the non-violent transfer of power - despite all covetousness. Here man shows himself to be the sovereign of his natural disposition. Election losers who don't take up arms exemplify the primacy of synergy over strategy—knowing that the downside will be short-term, but the upside will be long-term.

Democracy is an instrument for limiting the damage caused by human misconduct when dealing with power, which, in combination with suitable living conditions, is able to enable synergetic coexistence.

A democracy is only credible if, in an international context, the same respect for those who think differently is clear, weapons are used exclusively for defense and self-control takes precedence over instruction. What counts is the example to follow. The exploitation of the world through excessive consumption and excessive energy consumption is in contradiction to this and paints a negative picture in the perception of others. The Global Footprint Network provides information on the extent. A role reversal would undoubtedly be the most instructive measure, because it would give the Confucian principle - which can be found in numerous cultures with the same meaning - the long overdue practical reference: "What you do not want done to you, do not do to others either."

The positive view remains true: The implementation of peace is a step that can be taken at any time, all that is required is the refraining from violence. However, this is contrasted with the reality that arms spending is currently reaching record levels worldwide and the level of destruction efficiency can hardly be surpassed. Theory and practice have hardly ever been so far apart. The reason for this lies in the speed with which it is possible to seize power by force, while providing suitable living conditions and providing every generation with access to education is a very slow process. Therefore, the catastrophes have always come before insight.

For this reason, it would be grossly negligent to trust that things could suddenly turn out differently. Proactive search for causes remains a priority - analogous to the ordering of the acoustic material while tuning. Even musical harmony does not come about by itself. But here, one calculates back from the result and grants each interval the individuality and freedom that is granted to it in the overriding interest of the whole.

The consistent demand for world-ethical values led to a rude awakening for many contemporaries in East and West, because the yardstick is not set for self-interest but for the common good. Concord and discord are only one action impulse away from each other. That brings us back to the charioteer: Ideally, the teamwork can be based on insight or on the basis of higher instructions - be it from a deity or from clever state leaders. In any case, it is not to be hoped that nature will solve the problem that it created itself.

"No human coexistence without a global ethic of nations: no peace among nations without peace among religions, no peace among religions without dialogue among religions" Hans Küng (Projekt Weltethos, Piper, Munich 1990, p. 171)

In terms of outcome, if internal and external peace can be achieved, the mode of its attainment - the form of government - no longer matters. On the contrary, it would be appreciated if there were more than one way to this goal, but unfortunately no such way has been found to this day.

Caution! Wanting to teach other nations about "Western values" is a dangerous contribution to escalation!

Presentation XXVIII "Things worth considering" is dedicated to the topics of knowledge and education.

© 2023 Aurelius Belz