The Health of An Individual

In order for there to be an utopia, there must be a framework to build and, on occasions, to dismantle communities. Communities are made by individuals; so healthy communities that form utopia, need healthy individuals. In addition to the usual physical health of an individual, there is the more relevant health in spiritual and emotional terms.

M. Scott Peck wrote in his book, "Road Less Traveled", "Life is difficult". Creating utopia is to promote the health of individuals, overcoming life's usual difficulties. Indeed, utopia is when all individuals are empowered to overcome life's difficulties, and live happily ever after NOT because there are no more problems to be solved, but because they are empowered to solve these problems, with tools, with technologies, and most of all, with knowledge and wisdom.

And again we come full circle back to the nomadic technologies that started this blog. Are they tools to free us, or traps to bind us? Are the new technologies, such as the Internet, nanotechnology, biotechnology, etc, tools that will save us and usher in a new age of happiness, or the weapons of mass destruction that will bring us to the brink of Armagadden? The answers to these questions, I believe, can be found in understanding how these technologies affect the health of each and every individual in our society. And since each individual is unique and different, the understanding is complex, and the process to achieve understanding is a long and complicated interdisciplinary journey that includes roadtrips into diverse topics, from psychology to philosophy, from sociology to political economics, and from science to technology.

It seems that this blog began as an innocent attempt to get myself online, to test the waters of the weblog phenonmenan. Yet, it evolved, as all things Internet seem to do, into quite an interesting journey into destinations unknown, with a long itinerary ahead. It looks like I am about to embark on my own Road Less Traveled. It would be wise to prepare for the long journey ahead, and list the necessary supplies.

The skillset listed in Road Less Traveled are four ways to deal with difficulties in life; they are problem solving tools. They are like a Swiss Army knife for life - a generic tool that is useful for many situations. These four tools are:
1. delaying of gratification
2. acceptance of responsibility
3. dedication to truth
4. balance

In addition to these, I think there are also additional skills which are essential in community formation:
1. civility
2. tolerance
3. emptiness
4. love

They correspond to the four stages of community formation:
1. pseudoCommunity
2. chaos
3. emptiness
4. community

The first four tools are for the individual's internal self. They have little to do with relating to others, and more to do with an individual's internal dialog. The second four tools are for the individual's external self. They rely on the first four tools to build beyond the internal dialog, to continue with an external dialog, a conversation with others.