There are four worldviews that are currently dominant in nations – State Awareness, Nation Awareness, Wealth Awareness and People Awareness. The following text describes the essential characteristics of each of these worldviews.
State Awareness
The focus of the worldview of State Awareness is personal security through power and strength.
In the worldview of State Awareness, the leader has absolute power; he is feared by those around him and considers himself above the law. If your loyalty to the leader is questioned, you can be locked up for a very long time or expect some form of immediate retribution – torture or death. Fear is rampant in nations operating from the worldview of State Awareness, and caution is everywhere.
Leaders never feel safe. There is always someone in the wings waiting to grab power. For this reason, leaders in the worldview of State Awareness are extremely wary of those around them: there is intrigue and plotting everywhere. No one can be trusted, not even the members of the leader’s inner circle. Only the most powerful, the most fear-inducing and the most scheming leaders survive for significant periods of time.
Leaders who operate from the worldview of State Awareness demand loyalty and require constant praise and adoration – they need their ego’s stroked. They want what they want, when they want it, and you had better beware if you are unable to deliver or if you cross them in any way. Corruption is rife in the worldview of State Awareness.
Leaders who operate from the worldview of State Awareness either have several wives and many offspring or a succession of trophy wives. In the worldview of State Awareness women are subservient to the needs of men. They are little better than servants or slaves and are often treated as sexual objects.
Leaders in the worldview of State Awareness take pride in displays of military strength and accomplishment. They need such demonstrations to feed their self-esteem: they want to feel powerful and they need to show off their strength. They may even resort to displays of their manhood or by making public appearances with beautiful women. They like to father numerous male children. Female children are less welcome.
Leaders operating from the worldview of State Awareness will lie, cheat and manipulate to become top dog. Corruption and bribery are everywhere. This is the worldview of despots and dictators and all those who use fear to manipulate others to gain power. The leaders of State Awareness nations use secret police to monitor citizen activities: hundreds and thousands of people can easily disappear, never to be heard of again. When necessary they use the military to quell dissent and demonstrations. Consequently, citizens are afraid to demonstrate against the regime.
Discrimination is everywhere in the worldview of State Awareness. The worldview of State Awareness spawned white and black supremacists, as well as the Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazi political movements. Homophobia is rife: homosexuals, lesbians, transgender, bisexuals and transsexuals are not tolerated. If they are discovered, they are severely punished.
Many aspects of the worldview of State Awareness can be found in the Mafia, in street gangs, and in networks of drug barons. These groups embrace the concept of machismo – exaggerated forms of masculinity.
The right to bear arms is strongly defended in the worldview of State Awareness, as is the killing and taming of wild animals and the mistreatment of domestic animals. Sports that inflict pain on another human being, such as boxing, or creatures, such as bull fighting, dog fighting, cock fighting are part and parcel of the worldview of State Awareness.
In the Atlas of Consciousness, I have split the worldview of State Aware into three categories. The difference between the categories reflects the influence of Tribe Awareness. In State Awareness 1 there is no influence of Tribe Awareness. In State Awareness 2 there is a moderate influence of Tribe Awareness. In State Awareness 3 there is a strong influence of Tribe Awareness.
Currently there are around 30 nations operating from the worldview of State Awareness 1, 40 operating from the worldview of State Awareness 2 and 30 operating from the worldview of State Awareness 3.
Nation Awareness
The focus of the worldview of Nation Awareness is personal security through authority and education. Public and private organizations in the worldview of Nation Awareness are governed though hierarchies of authority – typical examples include the civil service, the military and organised religions. You can only advance your position through, sacrifice, self-discipline and loyalty. Your pathway to recognition involves decades of service with a promise of a pension at the end. A central tenet of the worldview of Nation Awareness is sacrifice now for rewards later. Awards and decorations are reserved for those who have supported the leader in some personal way or have shown outstanding service to the nation. In this worldview, religious affiliation is important, it can play a significant role in the formation of political alliances.
Leaders consider it admissible to use the machinery of Government to satisfy their personal desires. They meddle in the affairs of State. They use their influence to grant favors to those who are loyal or supporters who wield significant influence. There is a high level of corruption in Nation Awareness because the leaders believe they can operate outside the law. Leaders operating from the worldview of Nation Awareness frequently seek ways to change the laws to allow them to stay in power for longer periods of time. They make grand occasions into lavish spectacles. They love to show off.
The mechanisms of justice in the worldview of Nation Awareness are extremely bureaucratic and tedious and tend to favor the elites. Homicide and treason are punishable by death. Other serious crimes are punishable by long periods of incarceration.
In the worldview of Nation Awareness, the mixing of social classes is frowned upon as is the union in marriage of men and women from different ethnic or religious groups. Belonging to the ‘right’ ethnic and religious group is extremely important. Belonging to the wrong group can jeopardize your safety. People are expected to conform to accepted male/female sexual roles. If you are a homosexual, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, your presence may be tolerated but in most social circles you will be excluded.
In the worldview of Nation Awareness women are regarded as second-class citizens and have much less freedom than men. While women are not totally subservient to the needs of men, they are limited in the roles they can perform. They are often barred from clubs and groups dominated by men. Nation Awareness is above all the worldview of conservatism and religious intolerance.
Currently there 23 nations operating from the worldview of Nation Awareness
Wealth Awareness
The focus of the worldview of Wealth Awareness is personal security through status and influence. Governance systems in the worldview of Wealth Awareness tend to be polarized (two main parties), combative and based on the principle of winner takes all. Voters align themselves with the political party that reflect the needs of their subgroup—for example, the owners of industry and business versus the workers, the rich versus the poor.
In the worldview of Wealth Awareness, the rich and powerful try to influence political decision-making through bribery. Corruption is tolerated if it remains in the shadows.
The poor and the disadvantaged, and the environment, seldom win out in nations dominated by the worldview of Wealth Awareness. Making money is paramount. The gap between the rich and poor consistently grows wider in the worldview of Wealth Awareness. The poor get left behind and inequality is constantly rising. The elites don’t seem to care, self-interest is everywhere, not just in business, but also in politics.
The focus of education in the worldview of Wealth Awareness is to prepare people to compete in the world of work. Reading, writing, arithmetic and science are prioritized in schools. The languages and arts are underfunded. Many young people, once they had finished school, sign up for universities to get a Master’s in Business Administration. For them, this is considered the passport to wealth. Everyone is looking to become rich.
One of the most disturbing impacts of the worldview of Wealth Awareness is the loss of social capital; a breakdown in neighbourliness and connectedness. Municipal planning agencies segregate people into housing areas based on income. Even old people are segregated into specialized homes, some catering for the rich, and some catering for the poor. Families socialize less often, and friends meet less frequently; old people feel lonely and young people struggle to get a start in their lives; everywhere there is an increase in stress and mental disorders.
Although the status of women significantly improved in Wealth Awareness, they continue to be discriminated against. Women’s work is not valued as highly as men; they are not payed the same salary as men in similar positions or with similar qualifications. Women frequently come up against a glass ceiling. In business, they are effectively barred from the upper echelons of management, which is very much regarded as the preserve of men. The only way women can be successful in business and politics is to behave like men. Most women give up. They prefer to value their health and family over the stress of competing in a system that is rigged against them. Very little support is provided for women during pregnancy and the first year of the birth of a child.
What were formerly religious holidays in Nation Awareness became bank holidays in Wealth Awareness: instead of celebrating religious festivals by name, our national holidays simply became reminders that money was not available because the banks were closed.
Health and healing in the worldview of Wealth Awareness is scientifically based. The body is treated like a machine and psychological problems are treated by drugs or behavioural therapy.
Currently, there are seven nations operating from the worldview of Wealth Awareness.
People Awareness
The focus of the worldview of People Awareness is freedom through equality and accountability. People Awareness attempts to correct the inequalities between the elites (the rich) and the masses (the poor) by focusing on social welfare programs which give emphasis to satisfying citizen’s survival, safety and security (deficiency) needs, thereby giving everyone the opportunity to focus on their individuation and self-actualization (growth) needs.
Governments in nations operating from the worldview of People Awareness are usually made up of political coalitions, with members of parliament elected through proportional representation. Compared to the worldview of Wealth Awareness the political parties are much less polarized. To a large extent all parties in nations operating from the worldview of People Awareness have the same central focus – creating freedom and equality through social welfare programs, restraining the adverse impacts of free market economics and promoting conscious capitalism. In the worldview of People Awareness progress is measured through Gross National Happiness (GNH) per capita, rather than Gross National Product (GNP) per capita.
In this worldview, political correctness—the avoidance of language or actions that exclude, marginalize or insult minorities or groups of people who are disadvantaged or different—is the sine qua non for proper relations. Everyone’s voice and everyone’s aspirations are considered important. Conflicts are avoided, and dialogue is used in resolving disputes. Societies operating from People Awareness solve problems by working things out together to discover what is best for the common good. Consensus is important because harmony is valued.
Gender equality is regarded as important in People Awareness. There is a strong focus on the needs of the family: a long leave of absence for parents during the first year of life of a child, free kindergarten attendance, shared male and female participation in childcare, an equitable distribution of labor at home and a better work-life balance for both women and men. As a result of all these policies, there are more women that are economically active in nations that operate from the worldview of People Awareness.
As far as justice was concerned, instead of punishment being regarded as retribution, in the worldview of People Awareness it is regarded as an opportunity to focus on the rehabilitation of wrongdoers—helping people who had broken the law to reintegrate into society. Capital punishment was abolished in nations operating from the worldview of People Awareness.
There is no racial, religious or ethnic discrimination nations operating from the worldview of People Awareness. Significant attention is given to the protection of animals—domestic and wild.
In the worldview of People Awareness, there is a shift in emphasis in education from reading, writing and arithmetic, to emotional intelligence and relationship management.
Health and healing in the worldview of People Awareness is strongly orientated toward alternative, non-invasive natural medicine and psychotherapeutic therapies which focus on the mind-body linkage.
Currently there are nine nations operating from the worldview of People Awareness.