There is a great paradox in the human experience right now. We've never understood leadership better and we've never had worse leaders. We're inundated with books on success and yet failure is everywhere. Never have there been as many courses, essays, and studies stressing the importance of ethics, and yet unethical conduct not only surrounds us but threatens to take us under. We've never understood better the need for unity in our world, and yet we've perhaps never been so divided in so many ways. We live in an age of medical miracles, but far too many struggle to have any access to basic healthcare. We're poisoning the air we breathe and the water we drink. Nations threaten nations at a time when there could be no winners. Knowing that we face imminent existential problems as a species, we dawdle and deny and postpone doing anything.
In every case, at the core of each of these paradoxes we see people valuing position over purpose, status over service, and money over meaning. Warring egos become warring ideologies. We need to turn that around. There's no benefit to being King of the World if the world is in ashes. And it strikes me that our fundamental attitudes are key for any likely transformation. Only the right values and commitments can pull us out of this global and cultural tailspin. And that can arise only from a worldview that values Truth, Beauty, Goodness, and Unity above narrow considerations of self-interest. Working for a true revolution in human hearts and populations is the only way to break the paradoxes than now hold us back and threaten our existence. We can't let the human adventure come to such a sad impasse that we're surrounded with riches and resources that we're unable to use because of the turmoil in too many souls. It's my job as a practical philosopher to point this out. But it's everyone's job to help turn it all around.
