In our adolescent phase, our species behavior was comparable to that of an individual adolescent, in that it was marked by: excessive self-absorption; heightened insecurity; increased aggression; a focus on competition; cliquishness and bullying; arrogance; the desire for external validation; short-term thinking; a focus on personal and immediate gratification; rapid physical growth; sexual obsessiveness accompanied by sexual insecurity; rashness bordering on the dangerously suicidal; and the need for a punishment/reward system to induce properly socialized behavior.
As we step into species adulthood, the shift may indeed be swift. What changes in the adult being to differentiate it from the adolescent is that the adult mind: becomes conscious of a world bigger than him/herself; develops healthy self-esteem; learns to value non-violent communication; discovers the importance of cooperative enterprises; discovers the importance of being true to one's self versus fitting in with the collective mind; realizes how much it does not yet know; becomes self-validating; is willing to forgo immediate gratification for the prospect of long term success; grows in wisdom and experience rather than in material possessions and through physical growth; seeks intimacy versus sexual conquests to validate the external self-image; becomes more thoughtful and reasoned in decision making; prefers self-actualization and the mastery of personal skills, abilities and passions to external rewards or punishments; finds joy in the manifestation of those talents and gratitude in the simple act of living.
The juvenile position of not being "good enough" and needing external approval and validation to enhance the as-yet unfinished sense of self was served by all our institutions of the past. They also focused on immediate gratification and reacting just in time to what ailed us, versus long term thinking and self-actualization.
Religions taught us that we were separated from God and needed to atone for our base natures in order to be reunited with the divine. Our educational systems taught us what to think instead of how to think for ourselves. Our judicial systems were all about vengeance, shame, blame and guilt - punishment for sins, rather than means to move beyond whatever was triggering antisocial behaviors. Our medical systems were about alleviating the worst symptoms of dis-ease, rather than eliminating the root causes. Our economic systems were all about monetary and material rewards for doing what was expected, and material punishment and physical suffering if we failed to conform to social expectations. Our socio-sexual focus was all about appearance and ego gratification, rather than intimacy and genuine love or commitment.
As we make this shift together, these institutions will be seen for what they are - artifacts of a juvenile species that no longer serve what we are all becoming. As that realization sets in, we will collectively design new systems that better serve and honor the adult species that we are becoming. Of this I have no doubt. And, as Daniel indicates, the fact that the old systems are all failing us simultaneously - and at a rapid rate - means this shift is likely to transform human society in ways that we can't imagine, and faster than many are willing to believe is possible. It won't surprise me if, like the Berlin Wall, what seemed like an unassailable edifice appears to crumble overnight; not because of something massive that transpires, but because the slow and steady cumulative effects of hundreds of years of deteriorating systems and human suffering as their benefits have diminished have finally caused a collapse.//
