It is intended that all 7 principles work together , not in isolation.
Oneness
Since the start of space exploration, humans have realised that we are all floating in space on a beautiful living planet.
We are also now appreciating that we are part of a species called humanity and it doesn’t matter what part of the globe we live on, we are all related! It doesn’t matter what colour our skin or eyes or hair is, we are all the same species. With that understanding comes the responsibility of sharing with our fellow beings. It is not ok that some are starving. It is not ok that some have no shelter while others have an over abundance. It is not ok that we are ‘ripping off’ those from underdeveloped countries in order for us to have cheap goods. The list is endless. We are all one people on one planet.
Awareness
Awareness is the ability to perceive, to feel, or to be conscious of events, objects, thoughts, emotions, or sensory patterns. In this level of consciousness, sense data can be confirmed by an observer without necessarily implying understanding. More broadly, it is the state or quality of being aware of something.
We are aware that the systems in place that are running and driving the world, and our country, are failing. It is time to realise the dire consequences of our actions which are threatening our very survival.
It is time to accept that planet earth is a moving living celestial body, that we can think of as Gaia, and not just a lump of rock.
Our planet has had so many toxins dumped on the earth; so much has been mined and drilled and taken that just as a mother can be short of rest and over tired and get sick, so can our home. Seven billion people put great strain on the earth.
Ecological awareness and social justice are the areas that require a new consciousness in order for our society to move forward. This requires a conscious awareness of all that we do and what we allow our governments to do.
Kindness.
Kindness is a word that has dropped from use latterly. It has been given a slightly weak image. Kindness can in fact be sharp and like tough love, and it can be strong and gentle at the same time. It is just what we need to return to a supportive and unselfish community environment. Random acts of kindness will not do. Kindness needs to be on the tips of our tongues and at the tips of our fingers at all times. As Anita Roddick said, “Kindness doesn’t have to be insipid or random to be effective. Far from it: Deliberate kindness can be fierce, tenacious, unexpected, unconditional, and sometimes positively revolutionary.”
See HERE a vision of kindness for New Zealand (and the world for that matter) written ten years ago by Lisa Er.
Compassion.
Compassion is not a luxury, and we see the necessity for it to underpin the decision making in any political party that aspires to serve the people. So when we talk about how people need to take self responsibility, it is from a compassionate point of view. People should want to take responsibility for themselves. We need to teach this in our schools or in society but with compassion and not judgement.
Compassion and empathy are tools that allows us to view life and the lives of others in a warm and inclusive light. It is a tool that grounds ideals and philosophies. If there was no compassion in political philosophies or policies, then we would know that we were off track in creating a world that works for all.
Compassion is explained very well HERE in this TED talk by Joan Halifax.
She asks why don’t VOTE with compassion?
Why don’t we train our children in compassion?
Here is a link to The Charter for Compassion.
Self Responsibility.
The definition of self-responsibility describes the state or fact of being responsible as answerable, or accountable for something within one’s power, control, or management.
We imagine that we are responsible for ourselves all the time but in reality, our culture has turned many of us into viewing ourselves as victims.
Whether we see ourselves as victims of the cold virus, terrorism, or victims of burglary or a car accident, we tend to think these sorts of things are completely beyond our control. We don’t acknowledge that in the long run we have some responsibility for creating our own individual and collective reality.
Although physicists cannot state this with absolute scientific certainty, we do know that a correlation between consciousness and our physical material world does indeed exist in some way, shape or form. The extent of that correlation from a modern day scientific point of view is still not well understood, but we know of the correlation, and we know it must have some sort of significance. So let’s use it where we can!
Our responsibility is for ourselves as individuals, and since our sphere of influence does not end at our front gate, we also have a responsibility for the collective whole, which can be expressed via the “Hundredth Monkey” effect. Change your self and the world changes too!
It is important to have a collective vision for the country and the planet that can be focused upon positively, and actually created. If enough of us envision environmental solutions to climate change, for example, some solutions could arise from the collective desire. Together we need to take responsibility for what is happening around us.
In order to be responsible for the world, we must first be self responsible, only then can we make the conscious choices that lead to right, effective action – and it is through this action that we express our responsibility for the world. It all starts with Self Responsibility.
Balance.
Balance can be described as a situation in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions.
We are certainly not creating any sort of balance in our current economic system.
The Awareness Party is not suggesting that there needs to be a forced equality amongst people, as in communism, however when you realise that Bill Gates has a wealth amounting to $76 billion while there are people starving in the world, we have to acknowledge that something is not working.
Whether the neo-liberal capitalistic system is at fault is not for discussion here. However when a 2013 Oxfam report has found that 80 people had as much wealth as half of humanity, and a few months later Forbes said the number had dropped to 67, we realise that we live in an extremely unbalanced and unfair society.
We need to create economic solutions that establish a better balance in our economy, without damaging entrepreneurship and creative ethical business.
To achieve balance in nature and our environment, we need to learn from the way nature operates. At the moment we are creating imbalance in almost every area of the environment, through human activities.
If one looks closely one can see that health, education, and business, not to mention politics, can all benefit from using examples from nature to apply to operating systems.
For a link to a presentation on Rescuing a World out of Balance by Dr Martin Sharman, Policy Officer – Biodiversity and Ecosystems at the European Commission. Click HERE
Community.
Communal living is how we lived in the past. When resources are short, by living close, things could be shared, and food could be swapped. Now we have the luxury of being able to be separate. This would be wonderful if it made people happy, but instead many people live alone and are unhappy, lonely and perhaps not as well off as they could be in our ideal world.
Today’s concept of having a piece of land with a fence around it has created the nuclear family, which is isolating and un-supporting of some people. So it is wise to promote the building of community housing where people live in association with each other, should they wish, supporting each other and gardening in community gardens.
There is a growing global movement towards collaborative business and local initiatives.
By working together we can share resources and be more like citizens and less like consumers. This will not only save some of the world’s resources, it will make us happier!
We have an over-lighting principle, that of love. Read HERE
We are aware that people might find it difficult to have a political party speak about love. However as long as we keep this principle out of our political policies, the more time it will take to create a better world.
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