1) A commitment to see the truth that is, not the truth wished for.
Consider how we live today against the way our ancestors lived. In the past 100 years miracles such as worldwide transportation and global communication have become so commonplace we take them for granted as if things have always been that way. Humanity has only been around for 60,000 years. For most of that time we lived in small tribes, died in our 30s, and painted on walls. Now we live in metropoli spanning millions of individuals and play in virtual environments with lifespans 3 fold what they were yesterday. And these changes happened in a blip of our evolutionary history.
So what changed? What strange magic caused the last 1000 years to be so very different from the 59,000 before? The truth is that the majority of humans don’t see the world as it is but how we believe it to be. In the last few hundred years we’ve changed our philosophy on how we understand the world. Roger Bacon outlined a method of observation which was simply “observe, think, test and repeat.” This allowed us to hold personal assumptions at bay long enough for us to see the world as it actually is. This is the basis of the scientific method; a form of thought which is directly responsible for every single technological advancement we enjoy today.
Yet for some bizarre reason modern people are quick to forget where cars, planes and cell phones come from. We get electricity from a plug and assume it has always been like that. We don’t seem to care about the myriad of different logical and manufacturing systems which govern how thousands of different products find their way on the shelves of grocery stores. We even think that living to 90 is natural and has nothing to do with medical advances. We delude ourselves into believing because it was that way as we grew up, that is how it always has been and always will be. The thinking of average people hasn’t changed much from the time when we lived in tribes.
Nonscientific folk often laugh at the convoluted, indirect, and often cumbersome procedures scientists employ to understand the world. They laugh at them for it is so much easier to listen to a story and make assumptions based on beliefs and emotions. Political and religious leaders still wield great influence through emotional rhetoric. Today, very few people take the time to “observe, think, test and repeat” Billions of dollars are exchanged on assumptions, the entire stock market is a case in point.
The true scientist lives in a state of “I don’t know.” It is an uncomfortable profession where they wrestle with problems for years or even decades where solutions defy easy explanation. Research requires work, time, patients, and a willingness to accept the truth that you don’t want to hear. The path to enlightenment rests upon a lone hero suggesting an unpopular truth against a mob of resistance. We support those who seek the truth.
2) Innovation over Tradition
“If it ain’t broken, why fix it.” Or “We do it this way because we’ve always done it this way.” The majority of people like using traditional methods because they like to get used to a way of doing things which give consistent results. They are safe and predictable. On the other hand, innovation requires a great deal of thought, trial and error, and no small amount of courage. The initial results are almost always nowhere near as good as traditional, well polished procedures. This is why the vast majority of people are distrustful of new ways of doing things.
Consider the history of automobiles. The first generation of cars were noisy, smelly, slower, more expensive to own, required specialized knowledge to use and to maintain (as mechanics weren’t widely available). In every single aspect, the mechanical horseless carriage was inferior to standard horses. Yet there were a small group of crazy hobbyists who kept tinkering on their strange objects. Each generation would improve problems cropped up with previous generations. After only 75 years, how many people (in the world) do you see riding a horse to work? In almost every aspect a horse is a less effective form of transportation than a modern car. Yet that would have never happened if someone wasn’t willing to challenge tradition and try a new way of going.
Innovation starts by taking several steps backward, however it is required to unlock new potentials. Angel 777 values organizations that spend time and resources looking for new ways to solve old problems. Our world is changing fast. We need to support new ways of going if we are to survive.
3) Work on Causes NOT symptoms
We ask questions like: “Why did something happen?” or “Who is responsible?” or “What do we have to do to fix it?” far too often. The questions we should be asking are: “Why does this problem exist?” and “What Caused it?” and “How could we have prevented it?”
There are far too many charities working on cleaning up the messes of yesterday. Damage control and disaster relief are important, but what are we doing to ensure the same thing doesn’t happen in the future?
Isn’t it logical that the bulk of activities and resources should focus on preventing future disasters rather than cleaning up old ones?
I understand this sounds obvious, yet nothing in our regular news broadcasts suggests that we as a society think this way. Sadly humans are crisis based creatures; we are more motivated to deal with an emergency situation over a situation that might happen in the future.
We MUST change from reactionary thinking to proactive thinking. This shift may determine whether or not we survive global warming as a species. Angel 777 foundation supports charities who spend time addressing root causes of problems in order to change the path we are on for tomorrow.
