Of all the harmful consequences of the Independent Mindset’s assumption of independent existence the idea that each of us is a separate self is the most harmful. This imagined disconnect causes us to treat each other in ways that can be harmful. Instead is seeing one another as interdependent human beings we see each other as separate objects to be manipulated for our own purposes.
This perspective plays out in a myriad of unfortunate ways. It is the foundational belief behind racism, social injustice, and other inequities. It’s most public manifestation is the many forms of violence we practice against others. These include acts of physical abuse as well as psychological harm. The scale of these violent behaviours goes from interpersonal scraps to international acts of war.
Once the other becomes an object rather than a vulnerable fellow human being empathy and compassion go out the window. Relationships become transactional. Disagreements become obstacles that must be overcome or eliminated if we are to achieve our goals. Cutthroat competition is justified in all arenas of human endeavour. Gaining advantage over others, even unfair advantage, is normalized.
Indeed, it difficult to think of any human interaction that is immune to being contaminated by this other-as-object mentality. It is an environment toxic to the building of trust.
The troubled world we are living in is the outcome of hundreds of years of a culturally ingrained belief in the false assumption of The Independent Mindset that we are separate independent selves living in world of separate independently existing things.
Until recently the belief in independent existence could be justified by the fact that we didn’t have any way of knowing otherwise. By all appearances things seemed to exist separately. But over the last century or so scientific understanding of the nature of existence has exposed evidence of its actual structure. It is now known that all phenomena exist as interdependent systems. Interdependent systems have no independent, separate existence of their own. They exist within the all encompassing system of the entire cosmos.
With this relatively new understanding of the actual nature of our existence it is time to restructure our society to reflect the interdependent nature of reality. This paradigm shift is already in progress in the form of countless individuals, groups and organizations working to bring about. All that is needed from each of us is to acknowledge our true nature as living participants in the unfolding of an interdependent cosmos.
As Bob Dylan said, “Your old road is rapidly aging. Please get out of the new one if can’t lend a hand ‘cause the times they are a-changing.