Chapter XXVII of Rio Plus 20 Document by Cho Tab Khen Zambuling (Alfredo Sfeir-Younis)

XXVII.  The 200 Percent Society

Global warming is a result of our human and social interactions.  These are inter-personal as well as collective interactions.  In addressing collective interactions we come to be confronted with defining the type of society we would like to live in.  This demands a change in the way we see our societies, our horizons and our critical paths for a better future.  This is a broad and very complex subject to tackle. However, we would like to introduce a conversation of what we have called The Two Hundred Percent Society. To understand the basic concept of the Two Hundred Percent Society, we would like to repeat and set this as a starting point: we are beings who live in the realm of the collective.  But, there is more than one collective.  We should at least consider three fundamental collectives: the human collective, the living beings collective and nature collective.   This collective nature of our existence results from two very important dimensions: interdependence –we are totally dependent on each other– and inseparable — we are totally inseparable from each other.

However, we notice that contrary to this collective interdependence, our education system, for example, is fully geared to create independent and individualistic beings. By acknowledging and feeling in our heart and souls our interdependence, we will understand

• Why the suffering of others affects us as well.  Poverty is not an individual phenomenon, it is a collective one.
• Why our human transformation is not an individual quest but a collective one.
• Why our mission has a collective component.
• Why our future is a collective future.
• Why our destiny is a collective destiny.

You and we are two expression of the same source: life itself.  Those who feel independent and separable have a serious problem of duality in their lives.  They are experiencing an emotional and a personal problem of great proportions.  They have lost the sensitivity for“the other”.  They have lost the sensitivity for nature and all living beings.  In part, and it has been stated all along, this insensitivity and duality is due to high levels of all forms of toxicity in our societies.   Let us share a preliminary definition of what constitutes a Two Hundred Percent Society.  A Two Hundred Percent Society is one which has as a primary objective to be materially (100%) and spiritually (100%) advanced.  These are societies where the creation of welfare and wealth is based on both dimensions of life: material and spiritual.

Unfortunately, we all know that most of our societies are paying attention only to the material aspects of human lives.  This is why in this millennium we must reconcile the material and non-material dimensions of our lives.  This we have often coined as the reconciliation between economics and spirituality.  Only through this reconciliation we will be able to construct The Two Hundred Percent Society.  Let us focus on the possible alternative scenarios we are living today.  In particular, we may be living in societies that provide little hope to people, as they show to be materially and spiritually poor.

Furthermore, we may live in societies that may be materially rich and spiritually poor.  These types seem to be an outgrowth of modern capitalism, and are drawing the attention of many people and thus the desire to become like that.  In some ways, this type of society represents a real tragedy for every one in the longer term.  In the short term there is an illusion of having higher levels of human welfare.  This societal architecture is very popular as we see immediate personal material gains at the expense of the collective.  In many ways, these two typologies of societies may also apply to other forms of collective organizations.  For example, Could you map your family into this? Could you map your neighborhood into any of those categories? Could you map yourself into any of those possible scenarios?

We should note that those societies that are materially rich and spiritually poor also embrace forms of interdependence as something purely materialistic.  This is why today some societies see their foreign relations, for example, simply as the promotion of free trade agreements and other forms of bi-lateral or multi-lateral agreements.  These agreements are mainly defined in relation to these material dimensions of life (international trade of commodities).    It is an irony to see also that the most powerful international organizations in the world mirror image the above –centered on material welfare.  They are essentially to promote the material advancement of people, sometimes, at the expense of their inner development.  What constitutes a relevant strategic issue for them is mainly in the material realm, like the control of oil fields.  People are completely out of their strategic concerns.   In the language we have used in other places of this note, these societies are mainly based on doing, having and knowing, and little on the being and becoming!!

It is in this sense that foreign policy must change to the being and becoming.  This is not all new as we can see very powerful elements of these new forms of foreign policies in Nordic Countries, for example, in the ways they link their allocation of foreign aid in relation to the compliance with human rights.

Another form of society is that in which there is a high level of spirituality and less material welfare.  These are societies with strong identity, clear values, and powerful cultural patterns and with a major commitment to the welfare of everyone.  They may not be rich in material terms, but each aspect of their material welfare is embraced with the richness of the spirit.  Before we move on, or we are misunderstood, it is very important to say that we are not against material welfare or material advancing.  We live in a material world and we need matter to survive.   Our point is different: if we only devote ourselves to our material needs and leave aside our spiritual needs, most probably we will have little welfare in the longer term.   For those who still need to have yet another example of our collective existence, they should think about globalization.   This concept and the reality it brings to us are all collective.  What happens in one part of the world affects everyone else.  Think about economics and finance, where capital markets behave in a very peculiar way in relation to what actors do in those markets, no matter the country of origin.

Global warming and environmental destruction is another example of our rich and powerful form of interdependence and collective existence.  Using a more religious language one could make reference to the meaning of salvation.  For us individual salvation cannot materialize without being immersed in a holistic process of collective salvation.  Let us add yet another dimension of the Two Hundred Percent Society: the dimension of human consciousness.  In a very rudimentary way, one may measure human consciousness by focusing on the extent to which we are willing to share our wealth with the dispossessed.  In particular, let us think for the moment about the relationships existing between material and spiritual wealth and human consciousness.  In those societies where material wealth is well distributed, and shared, one would say that they constitute “just societies”.  With the same token, those societies where the wealth is totally concentrated in a few hands one would say that they constitute “unjust societies”, and so on.

In the case of spiritual wealth and good distribution, we could say that they are “enlightened societies”, and in cases of high spirituality and low consciousness, we would say they are “contradictory societies”

• Where are you in those scenarios?
• Where is your family in those scenarios?
• Where is your organization, town, country, etc. in those scenarios?

The nick names that we have given to each of these societies are only illustrations of the type of scenarios one is facing today.

This concept of the Two Hundred Percent Society is universal and it must be thought as important in most decision-making and public-policy situations.  Clearly, in its application we must adapt it to the specifics of a given scenario.  Let share a few additional thoughts.

First, the most central element we need to know is that a pre-condition to the creation of the Two Hundred Percent Society is the healing of the world.  It is the healing of ourselves and the healing of all living beings and sentient beings (addressed in another chapter of this book).  Thus, it is important to become healers.  And, to become healers there is only one path: the self realization of love and compassion.

Second, the creation of a two Hundred Percent Society is not just another option, it is our only destiny.  It is the only collective destiny we have and will ever have.  The more we delay the process of construction and consolidation of that society, the more we will accelerate the contradictions we are already witnessing today.  You may decide to get into action, either as a result of war and conflict or as a result of peace.  The choice is yours.

Third, the Two Hundred Percent Society is not a homocentric concept or idea.  The message is not something that concerns us humans only, and alone.  It would be a tragic mistake to see that the welfare of other living beings and of nature is to deteriorate.  The path of exclusion of other living beings and of nature will create the most effective grounds for a collective suicidal path.   We are part of all living beings and nature.  In essence, we are also nature itself.  It is an error of the intellect to think that we are superior to nature, or that we are more intelligent than nature.   The origin of creation is the same and, at the origin, there is no unequal intelligence.  This is just the creation of our intellect.

Fourth, the apathy and lack of commitment to advance in the direction of the Two Hundred Percent Society is at the roots of our problems today.  This apathy and numbness are the result of our intoxication, which now reaches alarming levels.   We must shift the course of human history for the betterment of everyone and everything in this Planet.   Nobody and nothing should be sacrificed.

Let us not be mistaken, we have full responsibility over our destiny and we are also accountable –in matter and in spirit—for this destiny.

To read the entire Rio Plus 20 Document, click HERE.