Evolution of Humanity

As this is my first post to IEF, a bit of introduction might be in order. I’ve been an active blogger on multiple platforms since 2005. While my interests are rather eclectic, I still tend to take deep dives into topics about strategic framing and organization design even after doing so professionally across a 30-year career. 

More recently, I’ve been exploring how the interplay of social relationships with developments in technologies, tools, and techniques has become an “energizer” for the evolution of humanity. At every stage along our unfolding path, we have been challenged to come to grips with a dichotomy between surviving in the physical world on the one hand, yet leading a well-lived life in accordance with spiritual reality on the other. With each succeeding stage, renewed spiritual guidance and more powerful means are at our disposal to drive us closer to oneness — an immersion in (or return to) the singularity that marked the beginning of the universe as we understand it today.

Typically, I incorporate graphics in my posts in order to spur more thinking and raise more questions beyond what words alone suggest (a picture is worth …). In keeping with that approach, below are a couple of graphics that illustrate my points stated above:

The evolution in tools and structure complements a similar expansion of worldview from stage to stage. The progression starts with “me” in the first stage followed by “you and me” in the second, then “all of us” in the third, and finally, “everything, everywhere, all at once” (they should make a movie about that!) in the fourth stage. Applying this build-up to the framework that highlights the evolution of humanity yields something like this:

In my opinion, we are mid-stride between stages with one foot in the Industrial Age and the other in the Digital Age. Although much has changed, there is much more ahead. Where do you think we are?

The notion of social systems undergoing continuous change in the “evolution of humanity," guided by the light of spiritual reality toward the fulfillment of oneness, first attracted me to IEF. The work of Arthur Dahl and others in IEF piqued my curiosity: what possibilities for favorable, alternative futures can be generated simply by convening additional conversations and encouraging subsequent experimentation among a diverse, global set of actors who focus on the Global Solidarity Accounting framework? Hopefully, my experience with strategic framing and organization design will have relevance. Look for updates on what I’m learning in future posts. Most of all, thanks in advance for your interest in IEF, its initiatives, and worthy work everyone is doing to ensure a successful outcome for all!