The Starting Point for Progress is telling the TIME. Life is progressive; it moves forward; so do we. We are creatures of chronology. Progress is impossible without the forward sweep of time. We think that this is trumped by our mortality. But a life of any length progresses too.

The fact of life and death argues the social nature of all existence. We are part of progress whether here or not.

Reason forward

Reason develops over time, science as well. Nothing that lives remains the same. Even what is inert will often change. But reason has the power to consider values and to guide what comes.

Progressive living is the fruit of our meditations.

Meditation is no single school of thought. Values are meditation’s anchorage. Values and words within propel good lives. Learning to reason forward is to be prized.

Frenetic presence

The world belongs to everyone but some do not agree. As power consolidates, corruption grows. Those in power become reason’s enemies, they neither help, nor tolerate, nor love democracy. Our movement forward is harmed when these values fall.

The noise and confusion that seems almost a requirement of life today inhibit moves to make life better. We do not need many of the things that are deemed necessary. Our requirements are more in the realm of what will enable, educate and help.

What truly helps

Progress is not difficult. Simplicity is bliss. What most does good for all is the best starting point. Perfection is impossible but progress understands that success takes time. It aims at steps that will add to the total needed to make better real.

Doing too much at once can defeat. Perfectionism may be the enemy of patient pursuit.

The goals we seek are perfect, yes, but attainment is evolutionary.

The sum of progress

Progressive goals, for now, can be expressed in just four sentences. We need to move from violence to nonviolence, from war to peace, in every area of life. We must agree on, teach, and live by universal action values that are achievable-- tolerance, helpfulness, democracy. We must have fair systems of both economic and social existence.

And we must move from seeing things as two-sided to a progressive, triadic understanding of our common reality.

Getting from here to there

The premises of progress – nonviolence, universal values, pervasive fairness and triadic awareness – are explicit goals that can be stated in several ways. But their sum is the same. Progress is the context of our lives. We move and we move forward. Whether our ride is beautiful or ugly is entirely in our power to determine.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED