In the next three articles, I look at being an elder in society. The areas I have chosen are inspired by my sense of needing to evolve from Humanity 1.0 where we currently are at to Humanity 2.0 and what could be. I used some words to describe the current situation where we have competition, greed, selfishness, mono-culture and judgment that are being valued by our culture. It’s not serving us anymore and people are already moving away from that. Elders can be the role models for a different way of being in the world. 

Right now, competition is considered good and normal, isn’t it? I’m wondering though, would we still be here today if competition were truly normal, if we never had to cooperate. Way back in the hunter – gatherer times, we needed to cooperate, to collaborate in order to survive. So what are the benefits of collaborating?

For one, it’s the ability to perceive more, more of what is because we are sharing our perceptions with each other. There is mutual inspiration, there is increased creativity again, because we can feed off of each other’s ideas. I see somebody do something and say: Oh, I could use that in this way. That is collaborating. Work is easier. I don’t have to do it by myself. I can do it with friends, with others, which on some level, makes lighter of the work, pooling skills. It’s also a way of learning how to give and to receive. 

Collaboration is a way to support each other. It fosters the energy of abundance. Scarcity thinking tends to create little islands where I am not letting anyone on because they could take something. away from me. How often is it happening that an invention is made, and other people say: Oh, I was thinking about exactly the same. On some level, it is something that is in the air, that is ready to be born. One person takes it and runs with it. Others don’t necessarily do it. 

Collaboration creates inclusion. We work together – that includes others. Are we collaborating every now and then, or is it becoming a constant way of being, What if we don’t collaborate because it is an obligation, but because we desire to contribute. If I look at the birth of a baby, how much cooperation and collaboration is necessary in order for that to happen? During the birth, the collaboration between the mother and the baby becomes obvious.

I wonder would we be willing to Imagine the cooperation and collaboration it took to birth this nation? How much collaboration and cooperation will it take to keep it alive?  How much collaboration and cooperation will it take to keep the world working for all of humanity? Are we willing to put the self-interest on the back burner and look at what needs to happen for all people to have food and shelter, to have meaningful work?