Approach to make social change

It is a basic premise of Strategic Social Architecture that the people, each individual, are the bricks of the society.  The sum of all their characteristics and behaviors create the reality of the resulting social order.    The development of individuals who share a common perspective of principles and approach is the key to the SSAFview of social change.

Background:

People are culturally programmed by the social systems in which they are born and develop.    Their worldview is limited to the ideas and experiences, which the person has and their ability to judge reality is bounded by the skills and abilities of the person.    It is common for people to go outside the ideological boundaries of their worldview, interact with other cultures, have new and different experiences, and through those experiences their worldview changes.     It is common to hear this process described as an awakening or development of self-awareness.   Ultimately the underlying structure of the person's mind remains the same.    It is what is in the person's mind that is changed.

There are aspects of this awakening process which are common.   People find that the cultural "answers" that they has received are incorrect, inadequate, and provincial.    They may also come to realize that many of their cultural conditioning serves to render them submissive and subservient to the systems of social control i.e. religion, political ideology, government, etc.   The most insidious of this conditioning is cultural personality integration.    Finally, they may see the negative results of the social order they are part of i.e. militarism, corporatism, religious fanaticism, which cause great human suffering.

Throughout this process there are several themes. 

1)    Information that the individual has received from their social order is distorted, false, and communicated in ways which contain messages that are not readily apparent.     The best example of this is "history".     Most history is nothing more than large amounts of subjective opinion wrapped around information which is presented as "facts".   The problem with recording objective history is immense.    In fact it is not possible.   Anything written by any human being will reflect their understanding, perspective, emotional involvement, and ideology.     Further, historical "facts" which are taken out of the historical context become false information and lead to a false worldview. 

2)    The social control methods and mechanisms of the individuals ruling each society ( oligarchs ) are never clearly described.    Clearly describing how a group of people controls the general population obviously would impact the oligarch's ability to exercise that control.    The problem is that the individual ends up with a false understanding of how the social order is governed and controlled.   

If the individual desires social change, but only uses the mechanisms provided by the overt or explicit social architecture, then they will never be able to create change to the fundamental, covert ( implicit ) social architecture.   For example, in a nation where voting is described by the overt or explicit social architecture to be the manner in which the population exercises political power, if the voting system ( recording, counting, reporting ) is compromised and controlled by the oligarchs, then "getting out the vote" will never change the fundamental, covert ( implicit ) social architecture.  

Examples of this are common in the world.   Less clear but just as valid is the state where the machinery of government ( the individuals who administer the government ) are compromised by the control methods of the oligarchs ( bribes, threats, assassination, and other forms of coercion ).   In this case, even if the voting process was allowed to place an individual into public office who desired to change the system, the system itself has been compromised.  

Especially in large nations, no one individual or small group of individuals is going to be successful making changes to the fundamental, covert ( implicit ) social architecture using the methods provided for by the overt ( explicit ) social architecture.  I.e. passing laws and regulations when the governmental agencies that are charged with enforcing those laws and regulations have been compromised is ineffective.

3)    The ability of the individual to integrate new information and experiences into their worldview is limited by the degree to which their personality has been integrated into the cultural programming they have received.    Rigid, inflexible, and deeply rooted cultural programming such as religion which is mixed with ethnicity and nationality create a very powerful personality integration.  

The person cannot distinguish their personal identity from the culturally integrated identity.   For most people, their cultural identity IS their identity.     The problem is that cultural identity is based on cultural conditioning.    We are discussing here the problems that most cultural conditioning has.    The result is that the individual has difficulty accepting new information and experiences which contradict their cultural conditioning. 

Overcoming this conditioning is difficult because the individual identifies themselves with the ideology of their cultural programming.   Information that indicates that the cultural conditioning is incorrect becomes a threat to the foundations of the individual's personality.  

Individuals see threats to the ideology as threats to themselves personally.  I.e. if racism is wrong then I am wrong.  If the political party is wrong then I am wrong.   This is emotionally disturbing.   Unless the person can realize within themselves an identity that is free from cultural integration, they will not be able to get past this point.

4)     In all modern societies the mantra of social advancement is always used to justify the expansion of the materialist system.  The true cost in human suffering for "social advancement" is never described in terms of the complete social context.    I.e.    We ended slavery!  Actually the type of bondage was changed from physical and legal to economic and cultural.       Further, much of the slavery implemented by physical force was driven underground or off shore where it was no longer visible.    The freed slaves were given no assistance to gain the skills necessary to function as "equals" in the social order.   The general population was ( and still is ) not interested in assimilating the freed slaves into the dominant social order.     The change was on paper, not in fundamental reality.  

Once the reality of the effects of the exploitation and oppression necessary to support social advancement as it has been implemented to support modern societies is seen, the full impact is felt at the level of the individual’s humanity.  Once the reality of the effects of the exploitation and oppression necessary to support social "advancement" as it has been implemented to support modern societies, is seen, the full impact is felt at the level of the individual's humanity.   

Understanding that genocide, murder, rape, torture, unending poverty, disease, and slavery are the conditions the majority of the population of the world must endure in order to support the life style of those living the lifestyle of the socially "advanced" can be overwhelming.    This is especially true for people who have been indoctrinated into a worldview that denies any of this is happening except as aberrations.    As noted above, once things like this become evident to the individual, the degree to which they can use that information to update/change their worldview is directly proportional to the type of cultural conditioning they have received.   

5)    The individual is faced with the futility of a single individual working against the entrenched social control systems.    Only groups of people working together effect change.   The idea that a single person can make social change is a fallacy.   A single person may in fact manipulate, cajole, convince, or otherwise influence groups of people into action in a particular direction.   But it is the group that makes social change, not the individual. 

For most people, conditioned by their social orders to function only in established social groups or organizations and using established organizational structures, if there is no group or organization to which they can attach themselves, then they are done at this point.     The problem is that the only groups and organizations which the oligarchs are going to allow to exist are the ones which cannot and will not make changes to the fundamental, covert ( implicit ) social architecture.    In fact the oligarchs make a show of being against these types of organizations but behind the scenes they support them wholeheartedly.    The reason is that groups and organizations which cannot and will not make changes to the fundamental, covert ( implicit ) social architecture divert true revolutionary energy into ineffective channels while giving the participants the illusion of making true social change.

In summary, individuals are initially programmed by their society and their personality/identity is integrated into the cultural worldview.   They may travel outside their worldview either physically, ideologically or both, and they are then faced with new information and experience which contradicts their existing belief system ( worldview ).    Depending on the depth and strength of their cultural personality integration, they may be able to update/change their worldview to incorporate the new information and/or experience.     In the end they are faced with the question of what to do and how to live based on their new worldview.

The Strategic Social Architecture approach:

SSAF is an organization for people who have taken the journey described above in steps 1 - 5 and who have arrived at a similar worldview.    We do not take the arrogant position that our view the "right" one or that our view represents "true self awareness" or anything of that type.    There is, to our knowledge, no objective reference point from which to make those type of claims.     We have a perspective on the world and we  are taking action on it.  Period. 

It is  important to  note that  people  in SSAF hold their views from a personal level.    We hold our views as individuals not as participants or members of an organization.   I.e. I hold x view because that is the position I have arrived at through my own process of development, not because I am a member of Y group.   

An example in the mainstream society where people hold views based on organizational affinity is when people say " I believe in X because I am a christian."     SSAF members do not "believe in" anything.    They develop a position based on their own process of information gathering, analysis, evaluation, modeling, and solution design.   Belief has nothing to do with it.    Personal responsibility for discovering truth does.

The key is that SSAF provides an organizational structure for people of similar perspective to use to work together to achieve a common goal.     Nothing special about that.    What is different is the goal itself.     We want to create a social order/process whereby people go through the steps outlined above, the "self awareness" development process, in an efficient, self aware, intentional manner.     

This does not mean that once they go through the process that they will end up with the same worldview as members of SSAF.    It does mean that they will no longer be slaves to their cultural programming and to the individuals and organizations that use that programming to manipulate and enslave them.   

Those individuals who do end up with the same worldview as SSAF would of course be welcome to join our effort or go start their own effort, whatever they think is best.     But that is the point.   They will make their own decision and in doing so they are applying the principles that we in SSAF are applying as well.    Again, SSAF is just a method for coordinating the efforts of like minded individuals.   The principles stand on their own and are not the sole province of any ideology or organization.

The end result:

In the end, the goal is to have people who apply the principles and have the characteristics defined in Strategic Social Architecture establish a new dominant social order in the world.    It will take generations for this to happen.   At least that is our current thinking.   However, if we are successful in providing the general population of the world with a realistic, implementable process for person development that results in an attainable change and new social order, then things might develop very quickly. 

The down side of that scenario is that the oligarchs and those who support them are not going to just sit back and let free thinking individuals set up new free societies or reconstruct old societies into new free societies.    The psychopathic oligarchs are going to see that as a threat and will respond as they traditionally have, by using all means at their disposal to destroy the new way.

To address this possibility, it is critical that anyone reading our information understand this point:  We hold our views as individuals not as participants or members of an organization.   SSAF members do not "believe in" anything.    They develop a position based on their own process of information gathering, analysis, evaluation, modeling, and solution design.   Based on this position they develop plans of action and act on them.  Belief has nothing to do with it.    Personal responsibility for discovering truth does.  

What this means is that if a person has a wordview and personal perspective such that they agree with the tenets of Strategic Social Architecture and participate in the SSAF organization, they, due to the point made above, are not going to go around saying " I do X because I am part of SSAF!".   Such a statement would be ridiculous to them and would in fact demean their ability to discover truth.    An appropriate statement would be "I do X because I have done the analysis to determine that it is the appropriate course of action".    This is the statement of a self aware individual who takes full responsibility for their actions.   

So it is important to understand that it is the PRINCIPLES of self awareness, "freedom" of thought, and personal responsibility which are the hallmark of the individual who participates in SSAF.   Not the name of the organization.   

You should see at this point that there is no personality integration as far as the culture of SSAF is concerned.   It is the exact opposite of all other cultures on the planet.    Our culture is the result of individuals who work together to build and maintain their social order.   Not the result of people who have been unwittingly indoctrinated into a cultural programming system and who have little or no personal identity outside that system.

How do we go about creating, maintaining, and benefiting from this approach?

This is the heart of the purpose of the SSAF organization.  
 

At this point our approach is to:

a.  Gathering together of people of similar worldview.  

b.  Agreement on and commitment to the principles of Strategic Social Architecture.    

c.  Development of the methods and mechanisms for use to work together on daily basis to support our personal development.    

d.  Development of the methods and mechanisms for us to find and engage other people who share our worldview.   

e.  Support for all individuals who share our principles whether they are participating in SSAF or not.

f.  Creating the physical infrastructure necessary to support establishment of communities based on SSAF.

g.  Ensuring that the approach is sustainable, achieving the stated goals, and beneficial to all participants.

Current status:
 

        We are working at phase a and b.      If you share our worldview, then we invite you to join our effort.     Yes, we've got a big job ahead of us.  But looking at the Issues that demand social change is our motivation.      Together we can change the world.