What does the world need most right now?

[Alexi]

Putting what each individual loves/is most talented at aside, what is the best way for a human being to contribute to this world (at this time)?

[ethereal]

"Make a gift of your life and lift all mankind by being kind, considerate, forgiving, and compassionate at all times, in all places, and under all conditions, with everyone as well as yourself. This is the greatest gift anyone can give."

-- David R. Hawkins

"M: Why do you worry about the world before taking care of yourself? You want to save the world, don't you? Can you save the world before saving yourself? And what means being saved? Saved from what? From illusion."

"M: Millions eat bread, but few know all about wheat. And only those who know can improve the bread. Similarly, only those who know the self, who have seen beyond the world, can improve the world. Their value to private persons is immense, for they are their only hope of salvation. What is in the world cannot save the world; if you really care to help the world you must step out of it."

"M: To help others, one must be beyond the need of help."

"M: The only help worth giving is freeing from the need for further help. Repeated help is no help at all. Do not talk of helping another, unless you can put him beyond all need of help.
Q: How does one go beyond the need of help? And can one help another to do so?
M: When you have understood that all existence, in separation and limitation, is painful, and when you are willing and able to live integrally, in oneness with all life, as pure being, you have gone beyond all need of help. You can help another by precept and example and, above all, by your being. You cannot give what you do not have and you don't have what you are not. You can only give what you are -- and of that you can give limitlessly."

-- Nisargadatta Maharaj

Raising one's Level of Consciousness is probably the easiest and best way to contribute to the world in general. All the multitudinous problems of the world come from one source, which is the human ego. Transcending the ego creates a pathway in consciousness that allows others to transcend their egos more easily. Through spiritual growth, your energy field radiates outward to all of humanity and blesses everybody just by your existence. The collective suffering and karma of mankind gets tremendously reduced through one's own spiritual growth and enlightenment.

Just think of all the great avatars of mankind (Jesus Christ, Buddha, Krishna, etc.) and how much good they have done for mankind -- if we can be like them, we can definitely change the world for the better

[amj]

Originally Posted by Alexi

Putting what each individual loves/is most talented at aside, what is the best way for a human being to contribute to this world (at this time)?

Love themselves and show love and respect to all others

[Gene]

Originally Posted by amj

Love themselves and show love and respect to all others

Ditto! Welcome love and peace into our own life and be an example of it to ourselves and others. Be the beacon which attracts others to follow the path.

[Alexi]

I agree with with being a source of love, for sure.

I should have clarified...I was talking more about the occupational side of things. What career, industry, etc. could a human being provide the most value to the world through?

Thanks for the replies!

[Andrew Brunelle]

You can contribute a lot from becoming someone who encourages those around you to fulfill their dreams, passions, etc. To contribute to the success of others is one of life's most rewarding professions and it will most certainly make the world a better place.

[Tanja]

Originally Posted by Alexi

occupational side of things. What career, industry, etc. could a human being provide the most value to the world through?

That's just the thing, you don't have only one or two choices. You provide the most value when you love what you do, thus improving (through your work, hobby?) some aspects of this world as well as people's lives.
Every occupation looks after and contributes to different aspects of the world, so they all provide some value.

[Michael Chui]

Originally Posted by Alexi

I agree with with being a source of love, for sure.

I should have clarified...I was talking more about the occupational side of things. What career, industry, etc. could a human being provide the most value to the world through?

Thanks for the replies!

Teaching.

[StacyT]

Originally Posted by Alexi

I should have clarified...I was talking more about the occupational side of things. What career, industry, etc. could a human being provide the most value to the world through?

I think that everyone has something unique to give. Each one of us was given a different gift to use in this life, so my best advice would be to use your unique gifts and talents to make the world a better place. I think that is the best thing you can give to both yourself and the world.

The world holds a vast number of people who have many different needs. I'm not sure you could say that there is one need above all others that must be met. Some people need to laugh, Some people need love and guidance, others need something completely different. Just go where you feel most inspired and you will be happy and make others happy at the same time.

[ar81]

To create human welfare is the best contribution.

[vartann]

Originally Posted by Alexi

Putting what each individual loves/is most talented at aside, what is the best way for a human being to contribute to this world (at this time)?

just a helping hand - will make a Hell of a difference (O the infelicitous simile )

[Marko500]

Originally Posted by Tanja

That's just the thing, you don't have only one or two choices. You provide the most value when you love what you do, thus improving (through your work, hobby?) some aspects of this world as well as people's lives.
Every occupation looks after and contributes to different aspects of the world, so they all provide some value.

I agree with Tanja.

I'd just said that if I had to choose what need the most human beings on the planet from the material things I would say, food.

Imagine that you have children who are crying for food and you have nothing to give them. And imagine you are not guilty, but the circumstances around you. This is scary. Link and link

[Virtue121]

We should look at the root of the world's problems which is in the character of individual beings. How many virtues are there? How are they related to each other? How may virtues be re-vitalized in us? How may greed and hatred be dissolved away?

Finding true and useful answers to these questions will help in the creation of character improvement techniques that can spread around the whole world. Thus the whole of humanity can be beneficially transformed and uplifted.

[StacyT]

I just realized that I didn't read the question properly the first time around. Upon thinking about it firther, I wonder if you could apply Maslow's Hirearchy of Needs here....it basically says that the human needs at the bottom of the triangle need to be met before going up to the next level....so in this case it would appear that maybe food/health would be the biggest ones to work on?

[Gene]

Originally Posted by StacyT

I wonder if you could apply Maslow's Hirearchy of Needs here....it basically says that the human needs at the bottom of the triangle need to be met before going up to the next level....so in this case it would appear that maybe food/health would be the biggest ones to work on?

I read that some 70% or so of people never reach consistent self actualization. Some days I think I am part of the 30% that reaches that place and other days I am less sure.

[Melchior]

The will to live.

EDIT: The world needs this always...

[ar81]

Interesting, Maslow model. Politicians were focusing on "safety" (national security) while they created enemies. So it makes people not ot be able to enjoy the upper levels of the pyramid.
One more reason to think that politicians are historically agents of mental illness.

Bankers make people to be worried about the lower level of the pyramid.
1 of 6 human beings are starved.
So it seems like politicians and bankers belong to the lowest spiritual levels and their job is to sink humanity, until we set free.

As a side note, these forums belong to the upper 3 levels.

[karentax]

Oh this is good stuff! I have lots of ideas!

About Maslow's hierarchy - new research in motivation and 'authentic happiness' is showing that even when some basic needs are 'in need' of being addressed - reaching for the higher levels of motivation are extremely important for ALL people. In other words, people were indeed born to be happy (self-actualized), not just to have basic needs met. I like to talk about this as 'heartfelt wants' and 'basic needs'. BOTH are important to address especially when looking at where you can add the most value ...


Related to careers needed by the world now - the latest I've heard about is the 'Creative Economy' coming after the 'Knowledge Economy'. So while many professional knowledge jobs are moving to low wage countries, this migration is opening up opportunity (especially in the Western world) for people to combine technical skills with creative ability.

A great example of this is IGEM - a competition in genetic engineering where biologists and artist and chemists are working together to build new biological organisms for all kinds of useful purposes (like finding toxins in water, or imbalances in the human body). Cool stuff!

Another example is from a client of mine who is an artist working as a knowledge manager at a non-profit. She found a way to use her own art, combined with other commissioned art, to tell the story of a successfully implemented project - capturing and sharing knowledge about the project in the process. The art was displayed at the World Bank in DC as part of a end-of-project event - which was highly successful!

One resource I like related to this is Dan Pink's book 'A Whole New Mind' where he talks about the need for both left brain and right brain capabilities to meet future market needs. The Creative Economy will call on us to bring our 'whole selves' to any endeavor - and I think that's really exciting.

I actually think that whatever we do to bring our most 'whole' selves to whatever we engage in - this will ultimately create the most value for the world. Each of us is a gift (truly!) and the world needs us to give our deepest creative desires to it. So by focusing on our own healing and growth first, we are then able to give more and more fully, and ultimately contribute to healing and growth of the world.

Other thoughts?! And I'm wondering why Alexi mentioned putting ones loves and talents aside? What would you do that?!
--Karen

[Michael Chui]

A different hierarchy of needs is Richard Sagor's CBUPO. People, he says, have five essential needs:

The need to feel Competent
The need to Belong
The need to feel Useful
The need to feel Potent
The need to feel Optimistic

It's a bit less dramatic than Maslow's pyramid, but I feel it's a bit more useful.

Source: Lessons from Skateboarders (PDF)

[ArthurHung]

I think the world needs more people who completely accept who they are and their own unique gifts

The world needs more people who can try their finest to be themselves, and work as a team. People who respect themselves and others gifts and are truly aware.

People who do what feels right, not that false sense of what's right, but the courageous heart-centered path right

[suspence]

The world needs consciousness. What if everyone stopped what they were doing, took a deep breath and looked around. Even if it was only for an instant, at that time there would be no wars, no hatred, nothing we label as negative. There would only be consciousness. This is why I focus on being in the now.

[Melchior]

On second thought, the world doesn't necessarily need anything. It'll exist whether or not we do (and if it doesn't exist, then it really doesn't need anything ).

I think the question should be more along the lines of "What do we want most for the world right now? And why?"

To answer the why of my initial desire of a "will to live", it is simply so that the world can continue existing. And perhaps also a "will to change", so that the world can evolve and grow (hopefully in a positive way according to our standards, which I'll let others fill in the details).

[aelle]

Love, sweet love

[nijoleji]

I actually think that whatever we do to bring our most 'whole' selves to whatever we engage in - this will ultimately create the most value for the world

[Jaiysun4]

The world needs to help the starving and dying people in Africa and Asia and South America. It needs to stop the wars. Fairly obvious really, a redistribution in wealth and less mind control and false democracy.

[Explinfin]

To live consciously and to make the right choices. It's easy to do what's right if you don't worry about it and just go with what feels right.

We all need to think a little more for ourselves, and depend a little less on big brother.

Make good choices.

[Saigim]

Alexi (and the others replying to the post),

You Strike a problem which determines a lot of my life right now.

Il give you some recources first to illustrate:

Solutions for the World's Biggest Problems - Cambridge University Press

->This link is a link to a book which makes calculations about which problems the solutions are most urgent. This in order to save as much lives and guaranty a safe future.

Worldchanging: Bright Green

->This is a website, it offers a book with concrete answers to big problems.

WiserEarth: Connecting You to Communities of Action

->This is a website that is a database of institutions worldwide working on development and ecological issues. It holds more than two million organisations right now (and counting).

Spiral Dynamics Integral (SDi) courtesy of Clare Graves, Don Beck, & Ken WIlber

-> a video on spiral dynamics, a system that talks about the concepts of change. I don't think it's thouroughly correct, but it gives a structure to think about global change.

The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard
-> a film about the way we use stuff, read "consume"

My personal opinion is as follows:

We need to urgently start to think about these problems, we need to start making concsious effort to see the reality of the problem in order to make the real changes needed.

I agree on the fact that it's hardly possible to change anything when you yourself are not content. This is partly because we are attracted to people who feel good and suspect bad things from people who feel bad. It is something well discussed and written about in these forums and website.

Transcending your ego makes a lot of things possible which otherwhise aren't.

But there is more:

- We need concepts to think about change. Spyral dynamics by Ken Wilber is such a model, it talks about change. It's a very complex model, it takes time to grasp it fully, but it gives a possibility to grasp change. But according to me it is also just a model. Much more models like this could be made. Think about kapitalism, socialism. These models are obsolete. We need to formulate better ones. We need to make models of how people can change, models which others can understand and relate to. Models that truly invite to action.

- One of the most important things one might do for the moment is connecting people around this subject. I, for instance live in Belgium, which is not a huge country, but holds a very large number of NGO's (non governamental organisations in aid) that all do their own things, they all try to get money to get their projects funded, but they are only starting to interconnect. This means networking, making bridges.

- Information needs to flow better and needs to become more accesible, digestible, more easy to understand. "The story of stuff" for example is a very nice example of a simple explanation of complex problems surrounding us. I vaguely understood the concepts of the film, but seeing it explained changed my realisation about it profoundly.

- This makes up for a big difference - the difference between "knowledge and realisation". Helping people to realize something profoundly will help them to think differently.

Everyone needs to be occupied by the problems of our world, only together we can come to solutions. And for this we need conscsiouc effort, thinking about it and developping ourselves.

I feel I could write much more about it but this gives a first idea to how I percieve it. Hope it helps.

Saigim

[Leondegrance]

Originally Posted by Alexi

Putting what each individual loves/is most talented at aside, what is the best way for a human being to contribute to this world (at this time)?

The best way is to grow natural food, collect rain water, and build energy-efficient homes.

To do this, everyone needs to leave the big cities, get some land, and start farming.

-food
-water
-shelter

Once the majority of the population attains self-sustainable living through this practice, there would be little to no need for money. In its place, we would trade goods (livestock, feed, seedlings, fresh meat, fresh fruits & vegetables, fresh water, lumber, rich soil, hay, wool, cotton, leather, tools, etc...). People would once again know how to do, rather than know how to buy.

THE BIG PROBLEM: Giving up modern-day luxuries.

[Michael Chui]

Originally Posted by Melchior

On second thought, the world doesn't necessarily need anything. It'll exist whether or not we do (and if it doesn't exist, then it really doesn't need anything ).

I didn't really read it as, "What does the world need to exist?" I read it as, "What does the world need to grow?" And I also read "world" as "people".

[ar81]

Originally Posted by Jaiysun4

The world needs to help the starving and dying people in Africa and Asia and South America. It needs to stop the wars. Fairly obvious really, a redistribution in wealth and less mind control and false democracy.

People kill for money, an imaginary concept that can be produced out of thin air. It is not even about "resources" because what matter is not the resource itself, but the money that it represents. People are starved because they have no money.

I seriously think that the world needs to get rid of money.
Between a supermarket full of supplies and a poor the only obstacle is money.
Money could be obtained with a job, but there are not jobs in our capitalist world that rewards failure and punishes hard work. Poor immigrants leave their countries for a job.

I received an analysis of GEAB via email that forecasted that for 2010 we may have any of the following from governments:

1.Inflation
2.Fiscal pressure
3.Cease of payments

It is more likely that it is a combination of those 3.
We have not reformed the basic cause of the crisis.
So my guess is that by 2012 we will have the end of the world.
Economy will not work anymore...