ABOUT GROWING OLD AND TAKING CARE







A Study in Thought

sa094



by





Marius Heuff

Chapter 1

Content

The only alternative to growing old, is to die young.
We worry about the future, without addressing the problem, how to age gracefully.
We tend to forget, that our requirements and ambitions are changing continuously.
Can we die in peace?
Thinking about life, and the gift of time.
A combative method to solve the problem of death.
Death is, once again, what it appears to be.
The concepts of natural evolution may give us a "bad taste" about the nature of living existence.
The "evolutionary" view of life takes-away the promise of eternal life, but it also removes the fear for eternal damnation.
The processes of death are a necessary and inevitable corollary to the processes of life.
We can cope with death, adequately, in a framework of reflective understanding.
A gradually diminishing flow of vital energies.
A life-form is a temporary actualisation of a possibility to exist.
Anonymous contributions and contributors.
Being grateful to those, who have made a conscious effort to reduce the impact of their existence upon the environment.
Living a life-style of as much independence and self-sufficiency as possible.
The last contribution we can make.

Let us agree about one thing; to grow old is a privilege, because the only alternative to growing old, is to die young. Certainly, to grow old may be a painful experience for which we have failed to prepare ourselves properly, and, in some isolated incidences, the burden of infirmity is so crippling, that people prefer to die voluntarily, before nature takes their life at the end of a long and hopeless illness. However, most of us cling to life as long as we can, and, we learn to cope with the problems of old-age, as they happen to confront us.

I think that it is worthwhile to talk about old-age, because we are so inclined to waste our time, together with most other commodities that are at our disposal. We waste time by worrying about the future, and not relishing the feeling of being alive at this particular moment. We worry about the future without approaching the problem of ageing rationally, and we let time slip-by. However, the most curious aspect of our worries, is the fact, that we rarely acknowledge to be getting older. We worry, whether or not we will have enough money if we retire; whether we will have to give-up our ambitious travel plans, which we dream about when we are still young and hemmed-in by financial and family responsibilities, but, we forget, that we are growing older all the time, and, that our requirements, wishes and ambitions are changing continuously.

I have been thinking, here, primarily about those people, who have a fairly clear idea what they want to do, and, that it takes planning to get somewhere. These people know, that no ambitious goal or achievement is possible, without a great deal of careful thought and a determined will to get there. Yet, if we look at people, who live more or less from day to day, and, who are unable to bring much self-discipline to their plans and behaviour, we see a largely useless and, often, detrimental life-style, which results, finally, in the sad judgement, that nothing has been accomplished; that one has responded, slovenly, to the whims of passions and instincts, and, that one has done, on balance, more harm than good to the social and natural environments.

However, it is difficult to judge someone else's life, and, let us concentrate, first, on our own. Let us set, as one of our goals, the hope and expectation that we can die in peace, if we have been granted the privilege to die a natural death at a ripe old-age. Even so, it is difficult to overcome the nagging suspicion, that we may still not be satisfied with the way we have lived. We may have to die with the feeling, or judgement, that we could have done better, and, that we have made serious mistakes.

The more alert we are at the time of our death, the more likely it is, that we feel a twinge of regret that the end has come, but, then, we may also have learned to see, that these feelings of regret about the impending end of our life, are nothing more than a residual spark of vitality, protesting against its imminent dissolution.

The goal of dying in peace and being resigned to the fact, that life is coming to an end, is, therefore, not so much an "absolute" goal in itself, because we have little control over the time and circumstances of our death, (unless we take our own life). The real purpose is to think about life, as well as the gift of time. We have to think about the question, how we are going to spend this time, and, it may be wise to speculate about, or anticipate, the thoughts, feelings and emotions that may be going through our minds when we are about to die. These are all helpful aids in organising our life and building-up realistic and harmonius objectives, which will give us, at least, a good chance of living a life, we, and others, will not have to consider as a waste and failure.

We see, then, that, even, the art of dying in peace, or, the art of living a useful and harmonious life, depends a great deal upon the way we interpret our realities, and, how we see the essence and existence of human life. The religious reality interpretation is the most explicit, and, often, the most combative way to solve the problem of death, because death is, then, "overcome"; like an enemy in battle. It is, indeed, a remarkable denial and conversion of the primary "facts of death", that this process, which is so inevitable and irreversible, is totally "denied" in many religious perceptions of reality, including Christianity. Death is, then, not seen, anymore, as the end of life, but, only, as an important phase of transition, where life is transformed, either, into an existence of bliss, united with the Creator, or, as an existence of eternal condemnation, as just punishment for a life of sin.

With the advent of the sciences and a much more precise grip over the nature of the living organisation, we also gained a more realistic approach to the problem of death. Death is, once again, what it appears to be; the cessation of the processes of life, followed by a process of entropic dissolution, which is the result of the varying energy-levels occupied by a large number of labile, biochemical substances.

For a long time, the scientific, physiological interpretation of reality left us with a gloomy and unsatisfactory imagery about the nature of death. Gone was the glory of dying for one's Faith, and the images of hope and victory in an eternal existence disappeared, too, as it became clear, that all forms of conscious awareness were linked to the existence of a living, intact organism. The concepts of natural evolution gave us a "bad taste" about life as well, because, initially, these concepts showed us, only, the ruthless mechanisms of the "law of the jungle", where love and tenderness seemed to be out of place, and became a curious aberration that was not really viable in the fierce competitive struggle for existence; where victory and life seemed to be merely a matter of strength and endurance.

Now, we have a more complete picture of natural evolution. Certainly, competitive struggle, together with the survival of the fittest and most adaptable organisms, accounts for most of the genetic molding of a species, and, we understand, now, why such a molding process is necessary. However, the tensions and problems of competitive existence are solved, not only, by a ruthless struggle for survival, but, also, by the mechanisms of "socialisation" or social integration.

The "evolutionary" view of life takes-away the promise of eternal life and a possible unification with our Creator, but, it also removes the fear for an eternal damnation in Hell. This last factor, however, was always considered to be a major obstacle to the viability of a scientific-philosophic interpretation of existence, because it did not seem possible to organise society successfully, without a number of sanctions and taboos, which required the authority of a divine commandment.

The mechanisms of social integration as an alternative and complementary method to solve the problems and tensions of competitive strife, have given us a much more solid basis to construct a viable framework for the larger human societies, and, at the same time, these insights have provided us with a solid foundation for a system of natural ethical guidelines. The possibilities of life, given by the symbiotic harmonies of numerous biochemical substances and socially integrated organisms, also explain the inevitability of death. We are able to appreciate, now, more clearly than ever before, that the processes of death are a necesssary and inevitable corollary of the processes of life.

Without this fluidity of the living organisation, where a constant search for viability is under way by combining, dissolving and recombining, we would never have seen the evolution of such a large variety of living organisms, and, we would, certainly, never have witnessed the evolution of the faculty of conscious, reflective, verbalisable awareness. The abilities of the living organisation, as well as the existence of all life-forms, including the human being, were only possible, after a long evolutionary search for existence possibilities, and, this means, that each individual organism must have a limited life-span.

We can not conquer death, anymore, in a blaze of combative victory, but, we can cope with death, adequately, in a framework of reflective understanding, and, the latter approach, to solve the emotional tensions associated with the inevitability of death in a reflective insight, is far less destructive for other human beings, compared to the solution of obtaining ultimate victory for a fervent religious Faith.

The solution of competitive pressures and tensions has to shift from a predominantly combative one to a symbiotic and "harmonising" mode of co-existence, where inter-dependence on the basis of essential equality, (under the supervision of a strict but fair behavioural code), is, ultimately, the most viable, and, perhaps, even, the only viable way for continued human existence. In a world, where the stresses of combative strife and incomprehensible injustice are sharply reduced, we do not need, any longer, the death-defying heroism of a religious creed. On the contrary, such a creed would be a matter of serious concern because of the inevitable rise of polarising attitudes that are associated with a fervent and absolute belief. Such a polarising belief prevents an attitude of harmony, as well as a willingness to exist in state of large-scale inter-dependence.

We understand life, now, in a broader, evolutionary view, and, this interpretation of the living organisation also colours our outlook on death and old-age. In stead of looking upon old-age as the nearing of the moment, when eternal life is going to begin, we see old-age, now, as a slow, steady and gradually diminishing sparkle of life, just as a dying star, past its prime, is on a slow, steady and long-lasting decline that gradually fades into a state of total darkness.

What, then, is the esence of the living organisation? In what sort of time-periods, or phases, can we divide the existence of life? What is the period of maturity and senescence; what is death, and, can we prepare for it; what can we do with our time. Can we give a valid meaning to our life, which goes beyond the meaning of a purely physiological search for possibilities of existence? In the biological meaning of life, we see, that a life-form is nothing more than the temporary actualisation of a possibility of existence. Do we have to have an ultimate or absolute meaning for our existence, or, can we be satisfied with a meaning that is "man-made" and socially oriented in nature?

Can we find ultimate happiness in the knowledge, that we have, at least, minimised the detrimental effects of our existence upon the environment, as well as for other people? Obviously, few can pride themselves to have made a significant social contribution, and, even, then, every living generation has to make this judgement anew. Perhaps, we are lucky, and, perhaps, our contribution has gone somewhat beyond the boundaries of our immediate social environment, but, we know, how quickly people forget. We know, to what extent we made use of the anonymous contributions of millions of people who have lived and worked before us, and, we know, how little we cared about their names or personalities.

We used, nearly all contributions from other people in a completely anonymous manner, and, even, those contributors we knew by name, were only acknowledged, if these people had made or done something out of the ordinary; something, that really caught our imagination. We still care little about the names of people, who have made our way of life possible, and, even, the master-pieces of great artists may leave us cold. Then, we do not care one iota about those, who devoted their life to creating a thing of beauty.

We know, that future generations will only "know" us, if we happen to stand-out for one reason or another, but, they can only feel a glimmer of gratitude, if we have made their existence more hopeful and enjoyable. This is the reason, why future generations will be more aware of the value of those people, who have made a conscious effort during their life-time to reduce the impact of their existence upon the environment. Soon, it will be a recognised virtue to direct our attitudes towards a goal, where we have only consumed what we needed; where we have cleaned-up behind ourselves, and, where we have caused little damage to the environment and the people around us.

Just as we appreciate the neat guest who is considerate, unobtrusive, helpful and modest, so is it about time, that we consider ourselves to be temporary guests on earth. Let us consume, carefully, and, let us not waste anything. Let us not waste any commodities or energy, nor, should we be wasting our time and life with useless and often harmful objectives and ambitions.

Perhaps, the greatest contribution we can make to ourselves, as well as to the people around us and the future generations, is the cultivation of an attitude of wisdom and understanding, where we live, frugally and unobtrusively, a life of as much independence and self-sufficiency as we can; where we spend our time thinking and learning about ourselves and others; where we learn about life, as well as the inexorable passage of time; where we recognise the wants and needs of others, and, especially, the vital energies of the younger generations; where we teach silently, by example and a precise remark at the appropriate time; not by long lectures, which bore the young, because they do not really understand. The last contribution we can make, is to disappear quietly and without resentment, as we die peacefully and without undue fanfare.

These attitudes of wisdom and tolerance will penetrate and facilitate the relationships between people like a social lubricant, and, let us not forget, that, those young people, who seem so refractory to the wisdoms and lessons of old-age, will represent the older generation in a few short decades. Then, these same impatient people will be grasping for the same old wisdoms to cope with their old-age, and, they will feel the same frustrations and resistance, when trying to teach these same insights to their own children and grand-children.

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Chapter 2

Content

The hall-mark of maturity is the ability to take care.
The instinct of "holding-on" to what we have.
Becoming less productive, without realising it.
Various ladders of achievement.
The dream from rags to riches has become an irrealistic expectation in our modern, conglomerate societies.
The parameters of personal achievement, bureaucratic advancement, and financial success.
Living a rather "submersed" life-style in our own particular world.
Our social position at the end of maturity.
The stress of living-up to expectations.
A time for sober reflections.
Many of us remain anxious and frightened children all our lives.
We all have to earn a living.
We have to give an honest day's work for our wages.
Why social justice brings the inevitable corollary of the need to make a contribution to society.
The need to anticipate the stresses we are likely to encounter.
A large variety of circumstances.
The ability to survive, be content, and stay alert.
The freedom and ability to reduce the stress-load to a level we are comfortable with.

The hall-mark of maturity is the ability to take care; to take care of oneself and one's dependents, as well as the environment from which we receive our sustenance. As we grow older, our responsibilities diminish somewhat, because our children are growing-up and are becoming independent. Eventually, we also lose our position in society, and, it is often difficult to acknowledge and accept, that we are not needed any longer. Our children do not need us anymore in the strict sense of the word, and, if we fail to see the normality of this situation and give-in to the instinctive desire to maintain a hold over our children or position in society, we become "possessive". We may try to direct our children's behaviour, long after it has become unnecessary to do so, and, we may be tempted to keep them artificially dependent on us, for as long as we can, by doing things for them; giving them money, or promising them a portion of our assets, etc.

We may adopt somewhat similar attitudes at our place of work, unless we are glad to get rid of our job. Most of us develop a comfortable routine during the latter years of our maturity and the slow slide into a state of decline. This means, that we are becoming more rigid and defensive, watching younger competitors vye for our job and social position, and, a significant part of our later years is spent defending this job or position. However, in doing so, we run the risk of becoming even less productive and useful, and, by the time our mandatory retirement comes around, everyone around us utters a sigh of relief.

It is logical, that we try to hold-on to our position at work, and, that we try to maintain a measure of influence over our children, but, only very few people are lucky and talented enough to keep climbing the ladder of their profession throughout their career. Most of us stagnate, to some extent, as we grow older, because we are unable to adjust, fully, to the disappointments and failures we had to face, and, our personality becomes somewhat stifled by hidden pockets of anger and resentment. This makes us less flexible and less willing to learn. It makes us less able to follow directives carefully. We become less attractive for our superiors, and, consequently, we are "shunted away" from the ladder of promotion onto a sideline, where we can not do much harm during the remaining years of our working life.

This is a short description of the "bureaucratic model", where the level of our power and influence is measured as a position on a hierarchical ladder of bureaucratic functions. We can also be absorbed by a "career", where our position of power and influence is measured by the prestige and acclaim we receive for our productivity. This productivity may be in the form of an artistic achievement, or it can be scientific and technological in nature.

Perhaps, the most common ladder we are trying to climb, is the gathering of assets, or the goal of financial security. Yet, in our modern, complex societies, it becomes increasingly difficult to begin the climb towards a financial empire, unless one has a "head start", in the form of family-ties and connections with the world of "big business" and "high finance". Even, in a relatively "fluid", Capitalist society, where a hard-working individual could amass a fortune during a single life-time, starting from scratch, the dream is becoming a legend. The dream from rags to riches has become an idle dream, rather than a realistic expectation.

In the parameters of personal achievement, bureaucratic advancement, and financial success, we see three important elements that determine the position of an individual in nearly every social environment, in spite of the fact, that these parameters may be mixed in ever varying ratios. The road towards bureaucratic power may become inter-twined with political power, in particular, in one-Party States, but, in a pluralistic, democratic society, political power is often the result of a combination of publicity, financial assets, and the ability to project an appealing image. Certainly, academic achievements, experience in holding public office, a genuine concern for people, as well as a knowledge of politics and society, are all contributing factors to the success of a political candidate, who has to get a sufficiently large support from the electorate, in order to become and remain successful.

Most of us climb the ladder of power, influence and success less ostentatiously, be it in the maze of a civil service, the hierarchy of a large company, or, in the financial success of a small business-venture; or, perhaps, as a professional expert in one field or another. Some of us may become highly visible during our career as a popular artist, but, most skilled people in the sciences, the professions, or the arts, live a rather "submersed" life within their own particular world.

Certainly, the world of our career is often so large, that we can "lose" ourselves completely in it, and, we feel, then, somewhat uncomfortable, whenenever we meet people who fall outside the circle of our social horizon. Yet, these worlds are large enough to absorb all our ambitions and goals, and, they provide, then, the total input to a specific, specialised personality.

Ultimately, our position at the end of maturity depends on a variety of factors. In part, (and, perhaps, it represents the most important part), our position is, indeed, a reflection of our skills and the consistency with which we have worked towards a goal, and, our position in the social environment reflects the skills with which we have made use of opportunities as they came along.

However, there are also other factors that are largely beyond our control, or, at least, beyond the sphere of our skills and productivity. Did we happen to be in the right place at the right time, which gave us an opportunity to evolve together with a pocket of rapid development? Did we meet the right kind of people and receive a great deal of help from our superiors? Did we develop the social skills to make us feel comfortable with a position in the center of attention? Did we have the health and energy to work hard for many years in a chosen career?

Whatever factors played a role, we find ourselves, at the end of our period of maturity, in the late forties or, perhaps, early fifties, in a position, where the constant demands of a highly visible and responsible position are going to take their toll in stress. These demands also take their toll in money, time and effort, which has been spent in order to live-up to the expectations that were created by a life in the lime-light. Perhaps, the only exception here, is the bureaucratic form of power, because there, the responsibilities, or, at least, most of the work can be delegated to younger "work horses", while the older bureaucrat can reduce his work load, and, yet, retain the ultimate powers of decision-making. Most bureaucratic systems of government favour such a set-up.

However, most of us, ordinary people, never get so far on the ladder of social achievement, that we occupy a position in the lime-light, or in the board-room of a prestigious company, as a powerful bureaucrat or politician, or, as a University professor. Most of us measure our success or failure a little differently. We reflect, soberly, at the end of our maturity, whether or not we have been able to bring-up our children to become decent citizens; whether or not they have been able to finish high-school and secure a trade; whether or not they have work and can look after themselves and their family.

If we try to measure our financial success, we are thinking in terms that are quite a bit more modest than any dreams concerned with amassing a fortune; do we have work; have we been able to pay-off the mortgage; have we been able to pay-off our car and other debts? Do we have a pension that will see us through our old-age? Do we have friends, and are we accepted by the people we like to associate with? Have we been able to hide our failures and short-comings?

Many of us remain anxious and frightened children all our lives, always afraid, and, always dependent upon others. Our personalities are never fully developed, and, if we remain in a large city, we may face a poor quality of life as we grow older. Yet, if we try to live in the country-site, after we have reached maturity, without relatives to go to and without a place of our own, without some financial security and experience, then, we see, that the road towards a frugal country-life is not easy, and, we realise, that we should have started earlier in life; when we still had plenty of energy to learn and adapt to a new and self-sufficient life-style.

Throughout life, we are subjected to various demands, and, old-age is no exception. During childhood and adolescence, we are given shelter and food, as well as varying degrees of freedom to do what we want, but, we have to listen to our parents and teachers, and, we have to learn and behave according to the instructions we receive. As we grow older, more and more demands are made upon us. We are expected to prepare ourselves for a role in society, but, we do not always get to do what we want. Most of us find ourselves, eventually, drifting into one direction or another, and, we will have to accept, to some extent, the situation we find ourselves in.

A simple basic truth of our existence is reflected by the fact, that, we are, eventually, expected to "earn a living", which may mean different things in a complex and large social environment. If we have developed a few talents that are useful to society, we are usually able to make this living fairly easy, because most skilled jobs, (and we are not thinking, here, about exceptionally demanding artistic, athletic or scientific skills), are easier to accomplish, once learned, than heavy physical work of an unskilled nature.

If we neglect, through ignorance and lack of guidance, through emotional difficulties or plain stupidity, to develop, at least, some of our talents while going through adolescence, it will be difficult to find a job, later-on. Unfortunately, too many youngsters and adults seem to forget the simple truth, that a job, means, that one has to fulfill a function or do something of value for someone else. Even, when employed by a large, impersonal government, we are, in the final analysis, working for the community we live in, and, if we do not give anything in return for the wages we earn, we are defrauding society, and, eventually, we will lose our job.

Social justice means, to provide a great deal of security to each member of the social environment, but, a condition of social security, together with the monies and energies it represents, still has to be earned and provided by the hard-working, contributory and honest members of society, before the social environment can dispense these securities as a matter of birth-right amongst all its members. This is the reason, why social justice and security bring the inevitable corollary of having to make a contribution to the well-being of the social environment, whenever the health and skills of an individual, together with the opportunities of the moment, make such a contribution possible.

Therefore, even, in a social system that protects us against poverty and helps us in the misfortune of a serious illness, we see, that the principle of having to make a contribution is alive and well. It is true, that a wise and compassionate society will provide most of the security and shelter that become increasingly needed with advancing age, but, in the absence of such a benevolent and wise social system, we are faced with the responsibility to understand and anticipate, at least, to some extent, the stresses we are going to be subjected to, as we live our lives through a few decades of existence of our social environment.

I mean this; our own individual life goes quickly through the stages of childhood and adolescence, through maturity into old-age, while our social environment only evolves slowly during this same period of time. We may happen to live in a tentative and poorly organised society, and, we are then largely thrown-back upon our own resources. We may be lucky and live during the maturity stage of a well-developed and socially concerned society. Then, we will grow-up with a plethora of opportunities for development and personal fulfilment, but, still, we will have to face old-age, and, we will have to understand some of the fundamental facts about the living organisation, if we want to understand the circumstances we find ourselves in, and, the way we inter-act with our social environment.

We may happen to live during a period of rapid social decline and increasing chaos, and, the quickly changing social circumstances will cause a great deal of stress, because we are confused. The old guidelines are disappearing rapidly, and, we suddenly find ourselves abandoned and without the shelters and guidance-patterns, which our society still possessed a few decades ago. Here, again, survival depends upon our ability to grasp what is happening, as well as upon our ability to foresee, at least, some of the trends and problems, the pressures, as well as the opportunities, which make themselves felt during periods of rapid social change, including the transformations of decline.

Regardless, where we find ourselves in society, as a leader, a responsible citizen and a professional, a skilled artist or scientist, or, as an average law-abiding citizen with modest qualities and virtues, our abilities to survive and be reasonably happy and alert depend upon our willingness to learn and observe. We have to rely on our ability to evaluate our own strengths and weaknesses in a changing kaleidoscope of force-fields, and, we have to be able to anticipate our own declining ability to tolerate stress and adapt to changes, as we grow older.

Rather than anxiously testing, time and again, whether or not we can still function as well as we could when we were younger, we are much better of, if we learn to acknowledge, that our faculties are going to decline, and, that we will be much happier during the later years of decline and old-age, if we have provided the opportunity to reduce, at will, the stress-load and the demands society can make upon us. If we can reduce the stress-load to a level we feel comfortable with, and, if we can keep reducing this stress-load as infirmity and old-age are creeping-up on us, we have understood, at least, the principles upon which a healthy and sound old-age is based.

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Chapter 3

Content

A brief review of the organisation of life.
The requirements of the living organisation.
The cell, and the city; comparisons.
Cellular mechanisms of "ageing".
Mechanisms of uni-cellular and multi-cellular reproduction.
A symbiotic unit of many billions of cells, requiring efficient channels for the supply of energy and the removal of waste-products.
The multi-cellular organisation.
The science and art of medical diagnosis and therapy.
A good grasp is possible, without an intricate knowledge of details.
An inter-twining of ageing and disease processes.
Conditions that are too severe to be tolerated by living tissues.
Changes in the organisation of life, taking place "from within".
A variety of abnormal mechanisms.
Some ageing processes are not clear-cut pathological in nature.
A gradual decline of the ability to tolerate stress.
Understanding what is happening to us.
Excercising our mental and physical faculties gently, and with care.
When we accelerate the processes of wear and tear

If we understand the processes of life, we also understand, why an organism ages, and, eventually, dies. We have traced, on previous occasions, how the organisation of life developed from a protoplasmic primordium, consisting of symbiotically functioning biochemical reactions. After a billion years or so of evolution in an unimaginably vast natural experiment, the independently metabolising and reproducing cell arose. The key to the coherence of this cellular unit of biochemical protoplasm, is the genetic code, which steers and regulates the biochemical functions, including the metabolic functions of everyday life, as well as those of reproduction.

This genetic key reflects the many generations of evolutionary experimentation with the living organisation, and, the slow "molding", or adaptation, of the genetic code is the reason, why life is still possible under a large variety of circumstances. The many evolutionary end-results of this never-ending search for possibilities of existence, are represented by the numerous species' still living and existing today. Since the genetic code is carried, and transferred, from one generation to the next, it disappears without a trace, after a species has become extinct and all cells have died and disintegrated. Then, there will be no chance for this species to ever arise again.

The large, multi-cellular organisms seem to be far removed from the vulnerable uni-cellular organisms that arose in the primordial seas, but, we know, now, that, in essence, each and every large, multi-cellular organism is made-up of billions of individual cells, each containing a blob of labile and vulnerable protoplasm. Every cell of a multi-cellular organism needs a constant supply of energy in order to maintain its existence. This constant metabolism of the cell requires, not only, a constant supply of a suitable energy, but, many noxious or toxic waste-products have to be removed.

Just as a large city requires a constant influx of food, water, electricity and fuel, as well as the disposal of all sorts of waste-products, so is the cell easily harmed and damaged, if there is a delay in the delivery of food and energy, or, if waste products are allowed to accumulate. Just as we see, that, industries and production plants tend to wear-out and start to produce somewhat defective products after the equipment has become worn, so is the machinery of the cell subject to a process of wear and tear.

The combined effects of disturbances in the supplies of energy and food-stuffs or building-blocks, the incomplete removal of unwanted and dangerous products, together with the general wear and tear of the numerous production processes that are taking place in the living cell, constitute, together, a process called "ageing".

In the uni-cellular organism, the processes of division, or mitotic reproduction, lead to a nearly complete renewal of the cellular machinery and protoplasmic constituents, and, this negates the process of ageing. However, the multi-cellular organism can not reproduce with the mechanisms of a mitotic division, and, even most organ-systems are made-up of cells that are so highly specialised, that they have lost the ability to reproduce.

The multi-cellular organism has to be built "from scratch", meaning, that each organism has to go through a stage of embryonic development, where a fertilised egg-cell unleashes a sequence of developments that transform a single cell, (with a full complement of genetic instructions), to a multi-cellular organism, with the many specialised organ-systems such a multi-cellular organism requires in order to live and function, normally, in the habitat into which it has evolved. This means, however, that the processes of ageing can not be compensated for by cellular division, and, there is another mechanism of vulnerability as well, compared to the ageing processes of the single cell.

The multi-cellular organism is a symbiotic unit of many billions of cells, which is organised into a number of relatively large organs and functional systems that are completely dependent upon each other. This means, that the supply of energies and building-blocks, as well as the removal of toxic and noxious waste-products is taken-over by the circulatory system, assisted by a strong pump, the heart, as well as a variety of organs that take care of the removal of unwanted products from the blood. (the kidney, liver, spleen, as well as organs that put the necessary building-blocks, oxygen and energy into the blood; the digestive system and the lungs.)

In addition, there are protective systems, such as the skin, the lymphatic and the immune systems, a large number of regulatory mechanisms, such as hormones, and, there are systems that allow the organism to inter-act with its environment and obtain food or escape from a predator; the central nervous system, the general and special sense-organs, as well as the musculo-skeletal systems. In short, a highly developed and strongly inter-dependent organism like our own body, is so tightly inter-woven, that a serious injury or malfunction of an important organ is likely to be followed by the death of the entire organism.

We see, how serious the consequences are, when we lose a finger, or, when the blood-supply to a finger or toe is interrupted, and, we know, that injuries or circulatory problems affecting the heart and the brain, the kidneys, liver or intestines, are quickly followed by a severe deterioration in the functions of all the other organs throughout the entire body, leading to death, unless the natural defense-mechanisms of the body are able to halt the escalation of damaging consequences. Because of the strict inter-dependence of the cells in a multi-cellular organism, the failure of one essential system leads, eventually, to the death of all cell-groups, just as the lack of one essential element in the environment will lead, sooner or later, to the death of the entire organism; e.g., a lack of oxygen or water, etc.

We are all familiar with the fact, that, the essence of the science and art of medicine, is to understand, first of all, what is happening, when someone is sick, or has been involved in an accident, and, secondly, based upon this mental imagery of understanding about what is going-on in the body and mind of a stricken individual, medical knowledge has the task to devise a course of action, or "therapy", that assists the healing processes of the body and halts the pathological processes that are taking place.

A good understanding of these processes is possible, even, without an intricate knowledge of many details, which can be left to the fields of the various specialties; not only, in the field of medicine, but, in the many fields of science upon which medical diagnosis and therapy have been based. The "lay person", or, the individual who is not specifically schooled in any of these sciences, can still obtain a good grasp of the essential biological features of the living organism, if we would design a secondary school curriculum that teaches the overall lines of the processes of life, together with the functions and structures of the human organism.

As we grow older, we see, inevitably, a variety of disease processes and alterations in functions and structures come to the fore. These changes constitute together the process of ageing. It is difficult for us, at this point in our understanding of these processes, to make a clear distinction between a disease and a process of ageing, and, perhaps, such a distinction will turn-out to be somewat artificial and unnecessary. At the present time, we understand under the concept of disease, a process that is, in essence, alien to the "normal" variety of metabolic activities that are going-on. This "alien element" may be something from the outside; a microbial or viral invasion, a toxic chemical, absorbed through the digestive tract, inhaled, or otherwise absorbed; it may be a thermal, chemical or mechanical accident, where, suddenly, the environmental conditions have become too severe to be tolerated by living tissues.

There are also numerous disease processes that come "from within"; e.g., many of the cells maintain reproductive potentials, even, if, during the normal course of their existence, these reproductive capabilities are kept in check. We still know little about the numerous regulatory mechanisms that must exist to maintain the many billions of cells and the many organ-systems of the multi-cellular organism into a functional unit. If some of these regulatory mechanisms fail, or, if the sensitivity of the cells to respond to these regulatory signals has been altered by some sort of biochemical "injury" or influence, we may see all sorts of abnormalities of behaviour come to the fore.

Cells may start to multiply without rhyme or reason, distorting local structures, or, if these cells are seeding-out throughout the body, such an uncontroled process of proliferation will damage many vital organ-systems, leading, eventually, to death. Or, cells may suddenly "attack" other body-cells, if the immune mechanisms fail to function properly. Cells that produce all sorts of regulatory hormones, may fail, leading to a variety of diseases, or, a variety of disease processes may come to the fore that are based upon faulty or defective genetic instructions.

If genetic defects are severe, it is unlikely, that the organism will survive long after birth. Severe genetic defects lead, often, to intra-uterine death and an early abortion. However, subtle defects may not be apparent, untill some time after birth, and, these genetic defects are responsible for a number of complex diseases; from mental retardation to all sorts of enzymatic defects, leading to a variety of abnormalities in metabolic behaviour, such as diabetes and a variety of lesser known illnesses.

Nevertheless, it seems, that a number of changes take place during ageing, which, at the present time of our understanding of physiological mechanisms, do not seem to represent a clear-cut disease process. For example, as we grow older, our hair gets grey, or, we lose a lot of the hair on our head. Our bones become more brittle and break easier; our joints become more stiff, we lose flexibility, and "stretch-ability", of our tissues. We have less energy and slow-down somewhat. We can tolerate discomfort less easily than we could before, our skin may show some yellowish deposits or skin-tags, etc. We become a litte more forgetful. We become more set into a comfortable routine, our opinions and ideas become more inflexible, and we can express our opinions more clearly. In short, we become more rigid and inflexible, in body and mind, and, we tolerate stress less well, mentally, as well as physically.

There are other changes. The fat distribution changes as we grow older, and, we all know about the tendency to put-on weight. Men tend to develop a pot-belly, and changes in the contours of arms and legs. We can also see changes in the cells, where pigments and other waste-products tend to accumulate, and, we may state, that, at all levels of observation, from the intra-cellular protoplasm to the overall appearance of body and mind, a variety of important changes take place as time goes by, even, in the absence of specific disease processes. Yet, almost everyone who lives and dies at a "ripe old-age", will show a variety of disease processes as well, if his or her body is extensively scrutinised, after death, in the form of an "autopsy", or post-mortem examination.

We have to understand, at least, the outlines of the processes of life and those of ageing, because, then, we understand, what is happening to us, as well as to everyone else, who is getting older. Certainly, the rate at which a living organism ages, varies remarkably, and, we see this variability, also, amongst the members of mankind. If we do not understand life or the processes of ageing, we may engage in a long, but, essentially futile fight against the fact that we are getting older, and, we waste a lot of time and energy in a foolish attempt to prove to ourselves, and others, that we are an exception to the rule, and, that we are escaping the inexorable progress of time.

Rather than fighting the fact, that we are getting older, and, rather than trying to prove, incessantly, that we have lost nothing of our vigour, a far more healthy and physiological adaptation to the processes of ageing, is a gradual lowering of our exposure to stress. This does not mean, that we should not remain active and excercise, but, the purpose should be just that; to excercise our faculties and physical capabilities, and not, to prove, anxiously, that we can still do as much as we could twenty years ago. By excercising gently, and with care, we keep our body and mind mobile, but we make sure, that the level of stress remains well within the limits of what is easily tolerated.

If we give-in to the temptation to prove, time and again, that we are still as vital and energetic as we were twenty years ago, the level of stress we impose on ourselves, is chronically above what we should be experiencing, and, in stead of a healthy mobility of our physical and mental capabilities, we are only accelerating the processes of wear and tear.

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Chapter 4

Content

Why we have to acknowledge the unavoidable processes of ageing.
The trap of voluntary financial slavery.
We are all inclined to "live it up" to the hilt.
We forget, that our energies are going to decline.
The road of "diversions", to make us forget the stress of our contemporary existence.
An ever more efficient web of enticements.
Why is it so difficult to adopt a life-style that does not consume all our energies or earnings?
The harsh world of free-enterprise.
Sliding, imperceptibly, from a search for old-age security, to power-hungry empire-building.
Fore-sight is a fragile and elusive quality, especially, for those, who never excercised their faculties of initiative and endurance.
The consequences of a "collective insurance" against adversity.
The ambivalence of a state of intense inter-dependence.
Leadership requirements.
The Socialist Society.
An interesting parallel with the multi-cellular organism.
It is still rare to see the quality of "obligatory social inter-dependence" in human societies.
Are we still talking about the processes of injury, ageing or stress?

The significance of acknowledgeing the unavoidable processes of ageing rises far beyond the chronic anxiety and strenuous efforts to prove that one has not lost any physical capabilities in the past twenty years or so. If we fail to acknowledge the need for a gradual reduction in the level of stress, we will be trapped in an increasingly unpleasant situation. The most common entrappment is financial, because we have, foolishly, taken upon ourselves financial obligations that stretch over a prolonged period of time, without realising, that the fulfilment of these commitments is going to get more difficult and stressful, as we get older.

Not so long ago, the practice of slavery was abolished, but, with the rise of affluent consumerism and the constant lure of advertising, many people get themselves into a trap of "voluntary slavery" by accepting a prolonged financial debt-load. Yet, we rarely realise to what extent we are compromising our freedoms, and the quality of our existence, by carrying a burden of financial indebtedness. In particular, the practice of buying a house with the help of a mortgage is so widespread, especially, by the middle classes of professionals and wage-earners, that it has been acepted as "the norm". As long as living standards and financial incomes were rising, and, as long as a manageable level of interest-rates and inflationary pressures was maintained, people could budget for the monthly expense of the mortgage, but, as soon as the threat of unemployment arose, or interest-rates climbed steeply, the financial burdens became intolerable and posed a real threat of personal bankruptcy; with the loss of all assets.

The point we want to make, here, is the fact, that we are all inclined to "live it up" to the hilt, but, this means, that we are quickly caught in a situation, where maintaining the status-quo requires all the energies we can muster, and, if we forget, that these energies are going to decline as we get older, or, that they may be suddenly disrupted by an illness or an accident, we are inviting "big trouble". In our modern, affluent societies, we have come to regard a life-style of maximum energy consumption, (our own, as well as the energy resources of the environment), as "normal", but, prudent citizens cover themselves with a series of insurances. This may give them some protection and some peace of mind, but, again, such precautions raise the financial burdens associated with an affluent life-style.

There is another major objection against the affluent way of life. Chronic pressures and anxieties constitute, not only, a constant factor of stress, but, they actually enhance the ageing processes and tempt us into the use of alcohol, as well as other "diversions". These may temporarily relieve our anxieties, but, they also weaken us more and more, resulting in an extra stress-burden, after the effects of our soothing habits and escapades have worn-off. In addition, a chronic level of stress, together with the unhealthy and transient measures to sooth the awareness of this chronic level of stress, dulls the mind. We do not have the time, nor the right frame of mind, to relax and think clearly. We are caught and trapped into a web that is largely of our own making, but, we were constantly enticed to do so by the commercial pressures that are all around us.

Ironically, the constant pressures to remain financially solvent make us work strenuously at our job, but, if our job is to sell something, or to lure other people into spending their monies, we see, that this chronic anxiety to make money, contributes to a mutual momentum of "economic activities", which results, in turn, in an ever more complex and wide-ranging web of enticements. This web is so difficult, if not impossible to resist, because we are "educated", or, rather, indoctrinated, into the belief, that we need this way of life; that we owe it to ourselves, and, that our level of success in life is measured by it. Here, we see affluent consumerism at its worst.

Why is it so difficult to adopt a life-style that does not consume all our "energies", and would leave us with a prudent reserve? Why is it so difficult to anticipate illnesses and accidents, or, the inevitable decline of our energies as we get older? Why is it so difficult to build-up a basis of financial and physiological security upon which we can draw when we get older?

Ironically, the harsh world of free-enterprise, whith its ruthless competition for financial success, made people well aware of the fact, that they had to look after themselves in case of illness or old-age. The drive to build a fortune, or an empire, became an integral part of the philosophy of free-enterprise. This drive was partly motivated by the desire for security, but it slid, imperceptibly, into a drive for power, as most, if not all "empire builders" amass a far greater fortune than is necessary to secure a worry-free old-age.

However, as social environments became more socially conscious, and tried to mitigate the most glaring inequalities between the rich and the poor, a web of social provisions and services arose, which would take care, at least, in part, of our needs, whenever we got old or sick. Every attempt to bring the goals of justice and equality nearer was hampered by a corresponding rise in the attitudes of laxity, short-sightedness, and a complete reliance upon the social provisions of a benevolent society. The desire to look after the requirements of old-age or sickness seems, indeed, to be a fragile flower, especially, in those, who never excercised their faculties of initiative and endurance.

You may look somewhat surprised at these sentences, because, if you know my thoughts, you will remember, that I have always condemned the ruthless practices of free-enterprise, just because it leads, inevitably, to strong class-divisions, where society is, eventually, dominated and ruled by a small, rich and powerful elite, while a great majority of people lives in poverty and serfdom, literally dependent for their daily bread on the meagre wages they receive from their over-lords. And yet, as soon as a benevolent government steps-in and gives the poor a great deal of security, while creating a social environment where our needs are taken care-of, from the cradle to the grave, we see, gradually, but inexorably, the rise of an attitude of carelessness and apathy, where people live like spoiled children; unaware of the fact, that the benefits that are being provided by society, have to be earned by someone.

The crux of the matter is, of course, that, in any socially integrated entity, the collective insurance against a lack of the basic needs, has to be associated with a collective contract of obligations to contribute whenever possible. Only, if we have a viable social contract of rights and obligations, can we, indeed, afford the luxury, not to worry about those basic needs, but, we will have to accept the responsibilities, as well as the obligations that come with such a social contract of essential equality.

A society is nothing more than a group of people living in a status of symbiotic harmony, and, if we see, that society provides for us from the cradle to the grave, we see, that, countless people in our social environment, are working and contributing to provide these services and functions for us. The beneficial effects of such a state of intense inter-dependence in a highly evolved social system, are clear; if the system works well, and, if nearly everyone contributes his or her fair share, we see a degree of well-being, trust, enthousiasm and openness that can not be paralleled in a society, where the instincts of competitive strife are given a much free-er reign. Yet, at the same time, we see, that such a highly evolved social unit requires an efficient, honest and capable leadership and bureaucracy, just as a multi-cellular organism needs a good coordinating network of neural and hormonal connections, before it can function efficiently as a living unit.

As soon as the leadership makes serious mistakes, or, as soon as the bureaucracy becomes inefficient and slightly corrupt, this network of trustful relationships starts to fall-apart. People become disillusioned with the system, and the high level of inter-dependence becomes, quickly, a burden and a trap, rather than a trustful blanket of security. The highly evolved Socialist State is, therefore, more vulnerable to quick decay and social unrest compared to the less coherent and more freely enterprising societies, but, on the other hand, such a free-enterprise society, with its inevitable class-divisions and social tensions, is not capable to rise to the same level of communal effort and emotional cohesion as a highly integrated, successful and inspired Socialist Society.

If a Socialist Society is felt to be truly fair and honest by most of its members, it will be invincible, as the citizens will be able to work together and sacrifice for their society, to an extent, that is unheard of in a more egocentric, class-ridden, Capitalist society. However, if a majority, or, even, a significant segment of the population in a Socialist Society is thoroughly disillusioned with its government, this society will experience a level of tension and turmoil, which is more de-stabilising than the turmoil in a socially less organised or integrated society. The reasons are simple; because the people in a Socialist Society are far more dependent upon the social system, compared to the people in a free-enterprise society. The feelings of gratitude when things are right, or, the feelings of frustration when things go wrong, are so much stronger in a well-organised, highly inter-dependent Socialist society, compared to similar fluctuations in the free-enterprise, or "laissez-faire" societies.

Here, again, we see an interesting parallel with the multi-cellular organism. The more tentatively organised free-enterprise society, which gives the citizens a great deal of freedom in the way they make a living and survive, resembles one of those early, tentative multi-cellular colonies, such as the slime-mold, where the cells can live, either, in a loosely organised social unit, or, as independent cells. A highly organised Socialist Society resembles a much higher stage of social evolution, where the fate of each individual cell is more stringently bound to the fate of the community as a whole. Certainly, the parallel has many imperfections, and none of the Socialist Societies, even, those that are doing extremely well, resemble the level of coherence that is displayed in the unity of a multi-cellular organism.

Yet, in isolated pockets of socially integrated existence, even, in the more loosely organised free-enterprise societies, we see, that the viability of the unit as a whole is going to determine the viability of each individual member in this unit. It is inconceivable, that the astronauts of a space-mission could survive, if the social unit of their space-ship would break-down. This does not mean, however, that a whole space-mission would be doomed to failure, if a member would die. A multi-cellular body can lose many cells without dying itself, but, there comes a point, when injuries, loss of life and other processes, such as a lack of communication or flexibility, may jeopardise the viability of the unit as a whole. If a space-mission loses a critical faculty or capability because of the death of number of its crew, the function of the space-ship as a whole may be incapacitated to the point, that it is incapable of carrying-out the required manoeuvres, and, as a result, it may be unable to return to earth or reach a safe haven. This would lead, ultimately, to the death of everyone on board.

Are we still talking about the processes of injury, ageing or stress? These processes represent a combination of all three factors. Just as we have seen, that it is difficult to distinguish in the physiological happenings within our body between the processes of disease, injury, ageing and stress, so can we see a similar inter-twining of these phenomena, whenever we look at the mechanisms of stress-adaptation in a complex social environment.

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Chapter 5

Content

Is a social entity, indeed, a living organism?
The qualities of organisation and regulation.
Varying degrees of inter-dependence and cohesion.
The inter-dependence of "national units".
Human nature makes it impossible to force a state of social cohesion entirely by "raw power", but, neither can it be done by persuasion alone.
The functions of the genetic and cultural codes.
The central nervous system of a large-scale social environment has to be "created" by a conscious, collective effort.
Ageing and disease processes in society.
Can a social environment "take care" of itself, and age in a state of health and wisdom?
A flowing and un-interrupted line of developments.
Getting worn and stifled by imperfections.
A tentative parallel with the social unit of multi-cellular existence.
Inter-dependence in a framework of essential equality.
Prudent fore-sights.
When we tighten the noose of financial enslavement for the rest of our lives.
Looking forward to the time when mankind grows older and overcomes the turbulent upheavals of its early youth.

Is society, indeed, a living organism? What are the criteria of a living organisation, and, does a society qualify? We have seen, that the living unit of a cell consists of a large number of labile biochemical reactions that have to be controled and replenished in order to maintain their existence and organisational relationships. It is this combination of an organisational structure, with guidance-mechanisms and the presence of labile, reactable substances, which gives the unit as a whole the capability to react to a variety of mild stimuli; to move, or, to alter its chemical reactions; to reproduce, to take-in energy, to grow, or to slow-down its chemical reactions and stagnate, accumulating harmful waste-products and falling-apart, eventually, in a process called "death".

We have also seen, that the multi-cellular unit is, in essence, a similar structure, where the mechanisms of organisation and regulation have transformed a large number of individual cells into a flexible, inter-dependent unit, which can also grow and multiply, move and react to a large variety of stimuli. Such a large, multi-cellular organism is also subjected to the processes of ageing, which begin with a loss of flexibilty, a reduction in the ability to endure stress, and, these processes culminate into a process of death and decay, whenever the society of cells can not be held-together any longer. The death of the multi-cellular unit as a whole, leads, also, to the death and decay of all the cells that constitute the multi-cellular organism.

Society is a similar organisation, where a large number of multi-cellular individuals form an organisational unit that regulates the behaviour of each individual, just as the body of the multi-cellular individual regulates the behaviour of each cell. Certainly, the level of inter-dependence and cohesion between individuals in a social environment, is much less apparent and clear-cut, compared to the level of inter-dependence of the cells in a multi-cellular organism, but, the mechanisms at work are essentially the same. The antagonistic and competitive behaviour-patterns of cells are transformed into a high level of inter-dependence and specialisation, which mutes these competitive drives and replaces them with a state, where the well-being and viability of each cell and cell-group is dependent upon the viability of all the groups that make-up the unit of the multi-cellular body. A similar process takes place in society, but, to a lesser extent, and, we have discussed the fact, that the level of inter-dependence varies a great deal, whenever we look at a variety of social organisations.

Some of the small, highly specialised social groupings acquire a level of internal inter-dependence and mutual dependence that mirrors the inter-dependence of the cell-groups in our body, as we saw in the example of the space-craft and its crew. However, if we talk about society, we tend to think about a political unit, represented by a national entity. Even, then, we run into difficulties, if we try to see a nation as an independently "metabolising" social unit, because one look at international trade and other contacts and relationships, shows us, that, there is a strong tendency towards the development of inter-dependencies. However, the ambitions of national sovereignty, as well as the competitive atmosphere between large nations and groups of nations which are beginning to form a competitive "block", are hampering the trends towards inter-dependence on a global scale.

Yet, you may wonder, whether or not it is really fair to consider the society a "living entity". Is the level of organisation sufficient to say, that a social grouping behaves as a unit? Does it respond like a living organism to a variety of stimuli? Are we justified to say, that it grows and consumes energy; that it may be aggressive, competitive and domineering; that it may get into a fight? All these characteristics are undoubtedly present, and seem to support the argument that a society of human beings qualifies as a living organisation, but, the organisation is, often, so tentative, and, the regulatory functions are so rudimentary, that we do not see a clear-cut "head", nor a central nervous system. We do not see clear-cut organ-formations, nor, do we see this characteristic of physical coherence and structuring between the individual members of society, which characterises the organisation of the individual cells within a multi-cellular body.

We have discussed, on previous occasions, what the reasons are for these discrepancies, and, we have discussed the fact, that the individual human being has a far greater repertoir, or range, of behavioural responses than a single cell, and, we have seen, that human behaviour has a measure of flexibility with the unique capability of a "conscious will", which makes it necessary to streamline the "will" and the motivational drives of people into a spirit of cooperation, before regulatory functions in society can be carried-out successfully. The nature of human existence makes it impossible to force a social cohesion entirely by raw power, but, neither can it be done by persuasion alone.

Besides, there is another crucial difference between the human society and an organisation of socially integrated cells. The multi-cellular organisation is entirely under the control of a genetic code, which has been developed over a very long period of time in the laboratory of natural selection and evolutionary change, and, the results are securely locked into a genetic code, which guides the behaviour of the cell, as well as the multi-cellular unit. This guidance occurs with an "iron hand", dictated by the invariable laws of chemical reactions and energy relationships.

However, the human society has few, if any, genetically determined behavioural regulators. Certainly, early man evolved in a small-scale social setting, and, fortunately, many of man's behavioural characteristics are, at least, potentially, motivated towards cooperation. However, none of the mechanisms, institutions and bureaucratic functions of the larger society are "genetically given", and, man has to create the brain and the central nervous system of the large-scale society with his own conscious mind.

In spite of the many differences we can see between the organisation and function of the large society, on the one hand, and the functions of our own body as a society of billions of cells, on the other, we can still regard the large-scale society as a living entity. The social organism is not as clearly defined as the multi-cellular unit. Its members have a measure of freedom in mobility and behaviour that is unparalleled in the multi-cellular unit, but, many of its functions are similar, in spite of the fact, that these functions are executed more primitively. Yet, let us ask, then, whether or not we can see the same sort of ageing processes taking place in the larger societies of mankind, as we see taking place in the cell or the multi-cellular organism. Can society be "getting old", or getting sick? Can it die? How do the processes of birth and death compare with those of the individual members? Is it useful to compare the society and the living members in this way? Can we gain a better grip over the happenings in society, if we consider it as a living organism?

It seems worthwhile to try to answer these questions, but, they are, in essence, a repetition of arguments and view-points we have considered before. Let us, therefore, go quickly through these questions, in order to concentrate on the processes of ageing, dying and decay. Let us see, whether or not a society can "take care" of itself, after it has reached a certain age, or stage of development, and, let us consider the question, whether or not a "society as a whole" can age in a state of health and wisdom. What conditions are necessary, before an individual or a society can age in health, wisdom and harmony?

Perhaps, the greatest advantage associated with a perception of reality that lets us see the evolution of society as a living entity, is the perspective it opens-up. Now, we can see, in a flowing and un-interrupted line of development, how life evolved from a conglomerate of biochemical reactions into the entity of a living cell, and, how it developed from a conglomerate of cells into the unit of a multi-cellular organism, including the human being, and, from a group of independently existing human beings to the tentative unit of a social organisation. Such a perspective upon the evolution of the living organisation gives us a scope of vision we have never had before, and, the processes of living and dying, of becoming and ageing, are inter-woven into a persuasive view, with a remarkable degree of conceptual coherence and logical extra-polations.

Just as the biochemical conglomerate, eventually, gets worn and stifled by imperfections and the accumulation of waste-products, as well as the cumulative effects of small injuries and minor aberrations, so is the multi-cellular organism subjected to a similar deterioration in the perfomance of its constituent components, as well as its organisational mechanisms. Similarly, the tentative social unit of human beings is, often, so fragile, that its fleeting moments of function and a rapidly accumulating series of short-comings, seem to blend together during a brief moment of existence, and, we have a difficult time recognising the phenomenon of the living organisation during its brief existence.

Indeed, the parallel is so tentative, that many people will find the idea strange, and, yet, our own existence, our needs and behaviour-patterns, are so well explained in such a broad evolutionary perspective, that this view has to gain ground, even, if it will probably gain ground only slowly. Not only, will we be able to recognise our common biological heritage, but, we will also see, ever more clearly, that, in nature, the solution of an all-out fight is only one of several methods with which the tensions of a competitive strife can be solved.

In the phenomena of harmony and symbiosis, (as seen in the harmony between biochemical substances in the cellular protoplasm, as well as between the cells in a multi-cellular organism), we become aware of an equally important and successful method to solve the problems of competitive strife; nl. inter-dependence, in a framework of essential equality. We have to add the condition of essential equality, here, because we know, that, without it, a symbiotic harmony slides, quickly, into a state of parasitism, or, perhaps, even, outright predation.

As an individual grows older in society, he or she learns to see, ever more clearly, that the vital energies are slowly diminishing, even, if such a process is not hastened by accident or disease. We also learn, that life will become much more pleasant, in spite of our ageing, if we have the freedom to adapt our way of life, and, if we can reduce the stress-load according to our particular needs. If we are fortunate, and, if we have been successful in planning a wise and far-sighted course for our declining years, we may, even, be able to reduce the stress-load quicker than we actually need on physiological grounds, and, this has the net effect of a gain in the amount of "surplus" elan-vital we have at our disposal.

If we reduce the stress of making a living or functioning in society more quickly than the deterioration of our stress-tolerance dictates, we will have a life that is becoming easier, rather than more difficult, as time goes by. This means, that we may be able to do things according to what we would like to do, rather than according to the obligations we have; at least, this will be the case, as long as our dreams and ambitions are realistic and do not consume an unnecessary amount of energy or money.

For example; if we keep dreaming about traveling widely as we grow older, or, if we keep dreaming about being able to devote ourselves to one strenuous sport or another, we may not be reducing our stress-load at all, even, if we are successful in making it financially possible. If we succumb to the temptation to spend a little nest-egg "before we are too old to enjoy ourselves", we only succeed in tightening the noose of financial enslavement for the remainder of our life.

No, the secret of a healthy and relaxed old-age is to assess, realistically, what we can do. Some of us are remarkably strong and healthy, until a ripe old-age, and, for those, it would be a pleasure, rather than a stress, to engage in strenuous activities. In particular, if such strenuous activities are done in moderation, free from the anxiety to "prove oneself", and, as long as these activities do not represent a serious drain on our financial resources, such activities may well contribute to a long and healthy life. Others, like myself, have a more placid nature, and, we are less inclined to indulge in rugged physical activities. I can find satisfaction in a life-style that is so quiet and uneventful, that most people would find it outright boring. Yet, the efforts my wife and I have made to reduce our dependence upon a cash-income, have brought with them a variety of chores and regular routines around which my contemplative work has been arranged.

Of course, not everyone would find happiness in the writing of essays, and, not everyone could keep him- or herself busy with some sort of craft or art, but, most of us could find happiness in a self-sufficient or near self-sufficient life-style that gives us a healthy versatility in the care we have to take of ourselves and a modest property. We have gained a level of freedom that is utterly enjoyable. We do not have to rush to work every morning. We do not have to face bumper to bumper traffic, or the chronic pressures and frustrations of a work-environment. We do not have to lead a life-style we do not believe in, with many, unnecessary, expensive social obligations, including a highly taxed sub-urban property. No, we can live more or less the frugal life-style, which, I believe, will become much more widespread in the future; partly by choice, and, partly by necessity, as the society of mankind grows older and overcomes the turbulent upheavals of its early youth.

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Chapter 6

Content

What are the signs of an ageing society?
A conglomerate of numerous smaller social organisations.
The simpler model of a "special-interest" organisation.
A dubious legal claim to "sovereignty".
Nations are not equal.
The solution of a gradual fading of national boundaries.
Average citizens may be more inclined to listen to the arguments of the social rather than the military solution.
Dreaming about the utopian prospects for a peaceful mankind.
We have to know what constitutes a condition of social and individual health.
A review of the conditions of childhood and adolescence.
Qualities of a wise and benevolent society.
The feeling, that it is good to belong to society.
Measuring the opinions and attitudes of people.
A dramatic rise in the level of social awareness.
The difference between being wise and spine-less.
The folly and futility of a global conflict.
Becoming more patient, in spite of the fact, that time is running-out.
We see, more clearly, the nature and purpose of society.
The care we have to give to our social environment.
Getting people to care about justice for everyone; on a global scale.

What are the signs of an ageing society? When is a society healthy, and, when is it dying? When is it in the process of being born? All these questions are difficult to answer. It depends upon our definitions, when we consider a society to be dying or falling-apart, and, it is even more difficult to say, when a society is being born. The actual birth of a social nucleus is, often, shrouded in mystery, and, it is a matter of hind-sight or retro-spective judgement, whenever we try to pin-point the founding stages of a particular social organisation. It is, often, an excercise in retrospective judgement, if we try to elucidate which factors in its organisation or constitution made a particular social unit a success. Sometimes, this success was so remarkable, that we still pay attention to such a society, even long after its demise.

We make these questions somewhat easier for ourselves, if we keep in mind the fact, that the larger social entity is, in reality, a conglomerate of numerous smaller organisations. A large society is a conglomerate, that is often held together by the powers of a dominant segment within this larger social environment, after it has imposed its political will on the conglomerate. Then, we may be justifed to consider the birth of this overall, conglomerate society to co-incide with the period of conquest and domination by the "master society", but, ethnic groupings, as well as other social organisations, may precede the overall conglomerate society by many decades, or, even, many generations.

The smaller social grouping, in particular, the small, special-interest groupings of the larger social environments, may have been called into existence as the result of a clear-cut "founding act", and, we see, then, also a clear-cut "charter", or Constitution, which regulates the behaviour of its members. Because we are dealing with a special-interest, we see, that, only a fraction of the existential concerns are regulated by the Constitution of such a special-interest grouping, and, we should not be surprised to learn, that the problems such a small special-interest grouping has to face, are quite different from a social organisation that has to regulate all the aspects of socially integrated human existence. The latter is the hall-mark of a political unit.

If we talk about "society", we usually refer to the larger political or ethnic groupings, forming, together, a social environment, as the members share a life-style, a culture, a language, as well as a government with a set of common behavioural rules and guidelines. Such a society has a long and complex history, as various groupings clash and fight for dominance or independence. Some are victorious and become dominant, or, they may exterminate a majority of those who have been conquered. Others lose, and are amalgamated into a new culture, or a new society, and, the round of conflicts and conquests begins again, as soon as a measure of vigorous vitality has been established.

This is the reason, why the contemporary political boundaries of all nations, States and federations are the result of their particular fortunes and misfortunes in the past. What is, therefore, a "legal claim" to sovereignty, is based, in essence, upon the accidents of history, and, no nation can claim, that it has never conquered or dominated people who occupied these territories before.

The haphazard growth of nations; their inequalities in population, size and viability; the haphazard circumstances that led to existing boundaries, as well as the equally haphazard cultural and ethnic make-up of a "country", (a political entity as defined by the concept of a sovereign nation-state), makes a mockery of the claim, that national sovereignty is sacro-sanct, or, that each nation should have an equal voice on the basis of democratic equality. Both claims are based on untenable assumptions, but, the establishment of the United Nations is a step forwards in the development of an attitude that favours the methods of negotiation and compromise.

Yet, if we think about it, clearly, we see, that the only solution to halt the conflicts between ethnic groupings and national entities, is a gradual fading of these arbitrary national boundaries, as well as an abolition of the concept and practice of national sovereignty. However, before we can convince a majority of the people in a specific social environment, that any clam to national sovereignty and security is an out-moded and unworkable idol, we have to do a lot of hard work, in order to show the people, and their leaderships, that security and viability can not be found in an attitude of jealously guarded national sovereignty and independence. We have to show them, that such attitudes will inevitably lead to ever-escalating efforts to maintain military superiority over competitors and challengers.

Perhaps, those of us, who are not involved in the leadership structure of a military and ruling elite, will find it easier to accept, that it is a fallacy to try to safeguard a social environment with military might, and, average citizens may be more inclined to listen to the arguments of a social rather than a military solution. In the social solution, we actively strife towards an enlargement of the boundaries of the social environment, until, we all, including our foes and competitors, become part of an overall, socially integrated structure. Then, we may be able to co-exist in a tentative, and, perhaps, always somewhat tense organisation, but, at least, we will have gotten rid of those fiercely competitive national leaderships, which tend to poison the atmosphere with their propaganda and halftruths. We will have one all-encompassing leadership and set of Constitutional Guidelines, which is continuously trying to bring a measure of justice and equality to a society with global dimensions.

Before we can dream about such utopian aspirations for a peaceful mankind, we need to understand more about ourselves. We need to know, what constitutes a condition of health for our personal existence, as well as the society we live in. Any organism, including our own, is in good health, if it has, first of all, an opportunity to be born and develop under favourable conditions, and, this means, that it must have been nourished adequately by the maternal blood-stream, and, it means, that the mother did not do anything, by accident or intention, to harm the physiological development of the embryo and the birth of the child.

As a child, we should receive a stimulating but difficult to define mixture of protection and encouragement; with clear-cut indications about the limits of tolerable behaviour, as well as a rich exposure to the psychological inter-actions between the members of the family, and, later, with the members of the social environment.

During childhood and adolescence, all youngsters should have a roughly equal chance to develop some of their talents and inclinations. Every youngster should have a chance to be educated, fed and clothed properly, and, to be treated justly, so that the adolescent and the young adult will have the best possible chance to find a suitable and harmonious place in society. During adult life, we should all enjoy equal rights and treatment under the law, and a wise society will continue to guide the behaviour of its citizens in such a way, that the most appropriate and contributory life-style is chosen. A wise and benevolent society will make sure, that people are somewhat protected against the consequences of grave misfortunes, such as a serious illness or accident, unscrupulous and exploitative practices, as well as an excessive loss of property through no fault of their own.

Such safeguards and regulations contribute to a feeling, shared by a large majority of citizens, that it is good to belong to society; that there is a reasonable protection and reward for all the hard work that is being put into one's job. These safeguards and regulations will contribute to the feeling, that there is justice and equality under the law, and, that the authorities can be trusted. Such a feeling of appreciation for the society in which one lives, will generate an extra-ordinary outpouring of good-will towards one's fellow members in society, as well as an abundant willingness to bring sacrifices for the good of society.

The health of a society can be measured in the opinions and attitudes of the majority, but, I grant you, that it is often difficult to get an honest or precisely articulated opinion from the people. Still, too often, the level of education is so low, and, the people are so easily intimidated by a domineering and authoritarian regime, that they do not even dare to admit to themselves, how frightened they are. Then, they will be unable to communicate their true feelings. Only a few people may have a good idea, what the society could and should be, but, the majority shows an attitude of apathy and resignation, together with a cautious shrug of the shoulder.

However, once people have a better idea, what society should mean to them, and, what rights they can expect from a wise and benevolent social environment, we see a dramatic rise in the level of social awareness. Then, we may see a persistent, if painful, attempt by millions of people, all over the world, to bring their respective societies or social environments, to a generally accepted standard of "good health"; of adequate justice; of well-being for all; where everyone receives a measure of protection and opportunity in exchange for a faithful contribution according to talent and opportunities.

Perhaps, the rising level of general physical and mental health, which is accompanied by a gradually rising standard of living and life expectancy, will help us to bring-about this slow but persistent pressure towards a greater degree of social justice and health. Older people learn, eventually, the lessons of wisdom. They learn the futility of violent confrontations, and, they can see, more clearly than young people, how similar our existential requirements are; how similar we are, in particular, to those we dislike the most.

Older people, eventually, "mellow", but, this does not mean the acceptance of a spineless compromise, or an inability to fight for what is considered to be just and right. I think, that older people have, at least, a chance to formulate the principles of justice in a way that reflects a global orientation of human needs. Certainly, as long as we are alive, our instincts will prod us, rightfully, to look after ourselves, but, as older people, we become less obsessed with the fulfilment of our particular goals. We can take life more as it comes, and, we learn to enjoy and savour life, day by day, as we realise, ever more clearly, that time is limited, and may be running-out, soon.

This awareness of old-age; this awareness of the fact, that the greater part of one's life is behind, and, that many dreams and wishes will remain unfilfilled; the striking similarities between the generations as we see them emerge in a continuous stream of births, all these awarenesses and experiences show us the common denominators of human existence, and, they show us, ever more clearly, the folly and futility of a global conflict with its un-imaginable suffering and destruction.

Older people learn to be more patient, and, they learn, that the world can not be reformed in a day, perhaps, not, even, in a life-time, and, they learn to live with the frustration, that all their efforts seem to have little or no effect. Yet, at the same time, this attitude of patience, the willingness to tend to all sort of problems, even, small problems, as they confront us, from day to day, allows us to develop this all-important ability; to take care.

As we go through life, we learn, slowly, how to take care. We come into the world as a helpless infant, but, quickly, we learn, how to get help and attention, provided, of course, that care is available from the immediate social environment. Gradually, we learn to do more for ourselves, until we become parents as young adults.

Then, we have to take care of our youngsters, our home, the problems at work, and of relating to other people. Finally, as we get older and retire somewhat from the most demanding aspects of our profession or social position, we learn to take care of things we had other people do for us, before. We learn to take care of our declining health, the small ailments, and the minor handicaps. We also learn, again, to care for the people close to us, whom we often neglected, to some extent, when we were busily occupied at the height of our career. We learn to see, more clearly, the nature and the purpose of society, and, because we have made more time free for ourselves, we begin to look at society with a somewhat different perspective.

We see, that society is a living organism after all, and, we understand, that society needs our care and attention, just as much as people in our environment need care and attention. We may not have to give care and attention the way we care for our dependents, however, and we certainly should not adopt patronising attitudes towards society. (We are inclined to be patronising towards other people, especially, if we consider ourselves a staunch pillar of the Church, or, an important member of the local social elite.)

The care we have to give to society, is the care to see, that justice is done and maintained. We have to make sure, that we do not condone or contribute to anything that is contrary to the princples of justice and equality under the law. If we learn to take care, and to be honest, we find, that we have the courage to speak-up, and, we have a better ability to articulate our opinions. This is the best way to take care of society, because we realise, ever more clearly, that the health and stability of a social environment is accurately reflected by this all important "sense of justice". If a large majority of the people thinks, that they are getting a fair deal, we may assume, that the society is in a reasonable state of health.

More and more people have to be concerned with the general sense of justice in their social environment, including the rights and the sense of justice of those people, who live far-away, in a different country. If we can get people to care about this sense of justice on a global scale, and, to promote the application of fair laws and guidelines, everywhere, without discrimination, and, if we genuinely want all peoples to share in this sense of well-being and justice, then, we may conclude, that our care has not been in vain, and, that society is in a fairly good state of health.

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Chapter 7

Content

The importance of the ability to care.
The corner-stone of social health.
A role for the older generations.
The need for careful thought.
Attitudes of good-will and charity are not sufficient.
Essential equality is a right; not a gift dispensed by the privileged.
Being careful with the environment.
A few generations hence, our ideological struggles will seem irrelevant.
We are becoming quickly more inter-dependent; apparently, more rapidly than we can comfortably cope with.
We all have to get involved in thinking about the destiny of human existence.
Our leaders want peace, but do they know how to establish or preserve it?
To care is to speak-up, whenever we have an opportunity to do so.
Let us study, reflect and think, before we speak or act.
We have to measure our energies carefully.
The most urgent priority is to reduce the risk of a nuclear war.
Who knows, how close a nuclear war is?
Making sure, that the threat of nuclear weapons has disappeared forever.
The factor of increased social transparence.
The collective will can reign supreme.
Treaties and promises are not enough.
The price of neglect.
Scrutinising, carefully, all promises made by political candidates.
Social health will increasingly depend on the quality of collective fore-sight.

To care for something or someone; to take care of oneself, one's property, one's problems and obligations, and, to be careful and thoughtful about everything we do or say, is, probably, the most constructive and contributory attitude we can adopt. Future generations may well consider this attitude the corner-stone of social health. I believe, that the older generations are going to lead the way in this, and, the fact, that, rising standards of health and well-being are increasing the age of the population, will have an unexpected bonus. As the proportion of older people rises, the voice of moderation and caution, wisdom and care, should also become stronger.

Certainly, a mere willingness to take care, to "do good", or, to show a friendly attitude towards others, is not sufficient to solve our problems. We need a lot of hard work in the form of careful thought and debate in order to understand, more precisely, the nature of human existence. We can not solve the problems of living together by adopting, merely, an attitude of good-will and charity on the basis of religious beliefs and commandments. The problems associated with living together at close quarters, and sharing a variety of dwindling resources, have to be understood and solved on the basis of commonly acceptable principles of justice. The poor and the depraved are quite right, if they rebel against an attitude of charity. The help they receive in order to help themselves reach a decent standard of living, is their's as a right, and, this assistance should not depend upon the charitable impulse or magnanimity of a privileged individual or group.

Let us take care of ourselves, so that we can take care of those, who depend upon us. Let us take care of our property and our environment, so that we do not waste and destroy. Let us be especially careful with our environment, so that the generations after us do not inherit a gigantic garbage dump. If we are not careful, they may well inherit a dangerously polluted earth, as well as a mismanaged and scandalously exploited remnant of natural resources. Let us be careful and think a little, so that the generations after us will not curse and condemn us posthumously, as blind fools.

Let us not forget, that a few generations hence, people will consider the struggles of our times, be it ideological in nature, or a struggle for power and dominance, as irrelevant and wasteful foolishness. Let us think about this, as we are supporting our leaders in their arms build-up, their belligerent rethoric, and their deceptive appeals to sovereignty. Let us think about this, as they indoctrinate us about the sanctity of our culture or the villainous designs of our enemies.

After the major part of the world has been destroyed in a nuclear exchange, all these arguments of the past will seem to be futile and irrelevant, ignorant and stupid. The survivors will look back, with nostalgia, at the history of man, before the nuclear holocaust, and, they will only have their memories to fall back on, when trying to visualise a world as it once existed, before man destroyed it.

Yes, I am pessimistic about the present trends of human behaviour. True, our belligerence, today, is not any worse, or different, than the belligerence of man throughout recorded history. But, the consequences of our belligerence are becoming unacceptable and intolerable. Not so long ago, we could afford the attitude, that a conflict between others did not concern us, and, we could mind our own business, while the combatants slugged it out, while we hoped, secretly, to be able to profit from the fact that they were seriously weakening each other.

Now, we are all involved, just as the lives of everyone aboard a space-craft, an air-plane, or a small boat, are at stake, whenever a serious conflict breaks-out between a few people, or, if the mental health of a member breaks-down. We are becoming increasingly inter-dependent, perhaps, not, as yet, in an economic sense, and, certainly, we have not managed to become politically inter-dependent on a global scale, because the world seems to be fragmenting into a few, large, political "tectonic plates". However, in our acts of warfare, we have become totally inter-dependent. Even warfare on a small scale with so-called "conventional weapons" is now so destructive, that cities and rural areas can be completely devastated. We can not imagine, what it would be like, whenever a nuclear war takes place.

It is becoming more evident all the time, that, we, ordinary people, have to get involved, and, we all have to think about what is happening. We have to try to stop this mad race towards an armed conflagration. However, let us not come to hasty and erroneous conclusions, which may weaken our cause. Let us not glibly assume, that the leaders of the super-powers are steering deliberately a course towards nuclear war. They are honest, if they state, that they do not want a war anymore than we do. They honestly believe, that the only way to prevent a war, is to be so strong, and, to have so many weapons, that military might acts as a deterrent to any sort of military adventure by our enemies.

Here, they are wrong, because they do not take into account, that, the policy of military might as a deterrent leads, also, to a spiraling arms-race, which can not be curbed, because the mutual trust that is necessary to come to a workable treaty, is undermined by the doctrine of building-up a credible military deterrent. They are also wrong in assuming, that such a build-up of arms will not lead to an unintentional conflagration that may easily get out of hand.

While we do not deny that our contemporary leaders want to preserve peace, or, at least, a status-quo, we disagree with their methods, and, we are convinced, that their present policies, on both sides of the ideological divide, will, inevitably, lead to a nuclear catastrophe. We see, clearly, that the primary, instinctive behaviour-patterns, which are so clearly displayed by our national leaders, are leading us into a morass from which there is no escape. Let us not deny the validity or truthfulness of the primary, instinctive reaction to seek security in military might, but, let us patiently show, again and again, the evolutionary "dead-end" into which these attitudes lead us. Let us try to convince our leaders, as well as the established segments of every social environment, that there are alternatives to the search for an absolute security, and, that it is possible to reach an acceptable level of existential security in the form of a social contract, rather than a never-ending arms-race.

I believe, that the arms-race, in particular, the nuclear arms-race, together with the unbridled attitudes of super-power rivalry, are the major and most acute problems we face, regardless, where we live; regardless what creed or political system we believe in, or, what sort of leadership we support. What will be the good of all our scientific and technological progress, if we lose everything in a nuclear holocaust? If we want to have a chance to design a just society that is organised on a global scale, we will have to contain the threat of nuclear war. Can we do it, or, does a serious nuclear accident, or a limited nuclear exchange have to happen, before the pressures of public opinion will be strong enough to curb the belligerent and suspicious instincts of our leaders and their military establishments?

To care is to speak-up, whenever we think we are right, and, whenever we know, that something is wrong. To care, is to have the guts to risk controversy and embroilment, but, to care, also means, to think and reflect, and, to refrain from jumping, thoughtlessly, on some sort of a "band-wagon". To care, is to be careful with what we say or do. Let us study, reflect and think, before we do or say anything, but once we are convinced, that we can say or do it right, let us, then, have the courage to say or do it, as it should be done.

Yet, we have to measure our energies carefully. As we grow older, we know, that time is running-out, and our energies are limited. We have to choose, carefully, what we want to get involved with, otherwise, we are wasting our time, and, we are diluting our efforts over too many projects. Then, none of these projects will be carried-out or completed with any sort of finesse. Let us be careful to choose well, and, let us get our priorities right.

The most urgent priority is to reduce the risk of a nuclear war; or, is it erroneous to think, that such a war is close at hand? Is it erroneous to assume, that the likelyhood of a nuclear exchange grows as the number of missiles and war-heads grows? Who knows? We have no way of measuring, how close a nuclear war really is, especially, since it becomes more likely, that a nuclear war will happen inadvertently. If a nuclear missile is fired by mistake and destroys a major city, it will be very difficult to convince the party whose city has been destroyed, that it was "an accident". Will there be time for consultations and explanations, and, will these explanations be believed, or, will they be interpreted as a desperate ploy to avoid retaliation?

We will never know the answers to such agonising questions, and, our only recourse is to do, whatever we can to make such hypothetical questions irrelevant. Let us pressure our leaders and establishments into adopting a policy of complete nuclear disarmament, so that they can satisfy their belligerent instincts with a war of words, or, at least, the somewhat less devastating consequences of "conventional arms". How are we ever going to be sure, that all nuclear weapons have been destroyed, or that the capability to quickly re-assemble nuclear war-heads, together with their delivery-systems, has been effectively eliminated?

The only possibility, I see, to make sure, that the threat of a nuclear conflict is, indeed, gone, for good, is a world-wide network of concerned and inquisitive citizens, who are going to scrutinise all hidden corners of society, all military establishments and structures, including all political, scientifc and military activities. We can only ensure the total ban of such weapons, if we all work together, for many years, and, perhaps, for many generations. We have to work incessantly for the establishment of an increasingly transparent social environment. There should be a complete openness in society, in particular, of the powerful and hidden corners of political and military establishments.

Let us not forget, that the political as well as the military leaders are there to serve the interests and the will of the public, and, if we, the people, want them to disclose everything, and, if we want them to dismantle all their nuclear weapons, we have a perfect right to demand their compliance with our collective will.

Treaties and promises are not enough, because these can be broken, and we can be deceived. Only, if a large majority of people, all over the world, is in favour of total nuclear disarmament, only then, do we have a chance to achieve this goal. But, we also have to realise, that we have to create, first of all, leaderships that are accountable to the will of the majority, and, we have to create the powers of control and investigation, in order to make careful policing of a total ban on nuclear arms, a realistic possibility.

We have to take care. We have to take care of ourselves, as well as the people who depend on us. We have to take care of the environment so that we do not waste and destroy. We have to take care of our society, our leaderships and their institutions. Unless we care about good quality leadership, as well as a fair and open society, we are not going to get a benevolent social environment, nor, an honest and impartial leadership. If we neglect ourselves, we will age fast, and we will be susceptible to diseases and accidents. If we neglect our property, our home and our environment, we will soon be living in a slum, and, if we neglect our children and our family, they will grow-up to be resentful strangers.

Everything needs care, and, our society needs care, too. We do not have to infringe upon the independence or the privacy of our neighbour, but we can take care, that the relationships remain cordial and respectful. We may interfere as little as possible in each other's affairs, and, yet, we should be able to keep a sharp eye open for practices that go against the common good. We need to take care about our relationships with other people, and, in particular, we need to take care of our public institutions, as well as the people who offer themselves for public office.

If we see people offering themselves for an official function or a leadership position, we have the right, and the duty, to scrutinise, carefully, their behaviour, their plans and thoughts. Let us look for people, who understand the importance of fairness and equality under the law, and, let us be weary of those, who promise us everything under the sun in order to get our vote. It is tempting to believe an individual, who promises us something special, but, we owe it to ourselves to think such a promise through. Why are we singled-out for privileged treatment? What is the catch? Who is going to pay for this? What has been promised to others? Is there any chance, that these promises can be kept? Will someone else be discriminated against? Is it fair, that we receive special treatment? What would we think, if someone else would be singled-out for a special favour? Is it just rethoric to buy our vote, and, has everyone else also been promised some sort of a special deal? Who is going to pay for all these favours?

We have to think clearly, and, we have to take care not to be lured by facile promises. As we learn to scrutinise election promises more closely, and, as we learn to ask all sorts of pertinent questions, our aspiring political leaders will learn to be more careful and honest about what they say and do. The more we, ordinary citizens, understand, what it means to have a just society, where the leadership is responsible and accountable to the people, the better our leaders will perform, and, the better our leadership institutions will be able to function on the basis of equality under the law, and justice for all.

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Chapter 8

Content

It is not easy to look well after ourselves.
Diseases and accidents do not happen "out of the blue".
Learning to read the warning signs.
When we begin to "take chances".
The criminal attitude of hoping to make "a quick profit", because it always implies an unscrupulous attitude towards other people.
Relying on experts.
Professionals have made a life-time career of becoming an expert in one little aspect of this gigantic complex of "taking care".
The need to keep an overall perspective in view.
The rise to power of the narrow specialist is a serious problem.
Will the "generalist" be able to make a come-back?
The art of making valid generalised statements is not appreciated at the present time.
A baffling spectacle of squabbling experts.
A few examples of contradictory and confusing opinions.
The logic of advocating a return to religious standards of moral behaviour.
To take politically care of a large society is not easy.
There is no need to be intimidated by expert opinion.
We have to set, collectively, our major social objectives.
Ulimately, it is our decision to let our physician go ahead with a proposed plan for investigation and treatment.
The ability to talk intelligently with an expert or professional.
Fixing a problem by replacing a "block of functions".
All expertise is, in essence, a tool to be used, intelligently, by the ordinary consumer.
We also have to learn to listen to, and accept, the advise of honest experts who are trying tell us something that is not pleasant to hear.

I know, this is all much easier said than done, and, I realise, that, even, such a seemingly simple task as looking after ourselves and our belongings, is not as easy as it may appear. The reason is, of course, that we have to know something about ourselves, as well as the many tools and devices we have around us, before we can hope to accomplish any sort of care and maintenance, even, if we have the energy, and intention, to do some work ourselves, rather than rely upon the experts to do it for us.

Even, the task of looking after ourselves slides, already, so easily into a medical problem, for which we may need expert help, but, here, too, we see, how important it is, to have, at least, a basic knowledge about the functions of our body and mind. If we have some idea about these mechanisms, we will find it much easier to understand, what the physicians tell us, and, we will be in a much better position to know, what we can do ourselves to prevent, or, at least, minimise the chances of getting into a serious problem.

Certainly, most diseases and accidents appear to happen "out of the blue", without warning, and, apparently, without any chance to prevent them. Yet, if we look closer and analyse, sharply and honestly, the history of our experiences leading up to an accident, or the outbreak of a disease process, we see, that warning signs were almost invariably, there. We, either ignored them deliberately, or, we failed to recognise their significance.

Disease processes have, almost always, a fairly long history of increasing signs and symptoms, and, most diseases are easier to cure or correct, if they are diagnosed in their early stages. The same applies to a serious accident. If we honestly evaluate the history of our experiences, we see, that we have been ignoring little mistakes, or, apparently minor incidences of careless behaviour. If we really want to avoid serious accidents, we almost certainly can, but, we have to acquire the knowledge, and the insight, to recognise how the chances of a serious accident are slowly building-up.

In retrospect, we can, almost always, re-construct a series of happenings and events, which should have alerted us that the possibility of a serious accident was increasing. Often, we ignore these signs, because we are afraid to be called an alarmist, or, we leave the decision to react, to someone else; or, we know, that we do not have the means to deal effectively with the underlying problem because of flaws in the equipment or short-comings in the rules and regulations. Then, we literally "take our chances".

It is one thing to take chances with our own health, safety or life, but, increasingly, in particular, in large industrial projects, the lives and health of numerous people, as well as the well-being of the environment, are at stake, and, if we continue to be careless, to take our chances in the hope of making a quick profit, we only contribute to pollution and the deterioration of our terrestial eco-systems.

To take care, properly, requires a great deal of wide-ranging knowledge and insight, and, it is not surprising, that we tend to rely on "experts" to take care of the many problems we have. We need medical and dental experts to look after our body; we have priests and ministers, psychologists and psychiatrists to help us with mental problems; we need legal experts to help us in our disputes, and, we need a large and complex body of experts to govern our society, collect taxes, provide public services; to grow our food, mine resources, and monitor the eco-systems of the terrestial environment.

These activities are all manifestations of the chores of taking care. We have to make sure, that we are healthy in body and mind, as well as in our social arrangements and inter-actions. Many of these tasks have to be done by professionals, who have made a life-time career of becoming an expert in one little aspect of this gigantic overall complex of "taking care". Yet, we, ordinary citizens, non-specialised people and experts alike, we all need to develop and maintain some sort of over-view, where we can see the logic and rationale, how all these specialised functions relate to each other. If we lose this overall perspective, we lose also the ability to judge, whether or not the thrust of a particular expert concern or advise is healthy and wise, as well as beneficial to the social and natural environments.

If a physician would only look at a miniscule detail of the overall body, he loses sight of the fact, that the body has to function as a unit, before an individual feels healthy and happy. The same applies to our society. If we emphasise, only, the particular concerns which happen to be our field of expertise, we may have our priorities all wrong, and, we may start to squabble and fight with other experts, who, naturally, consider their particular field to have "top priority".

The rise to power of the narrow specialist is one of the most serious problems the complex societies of our times are facing. The fields of science and technology have been fragmented, literally, into thousands of fields of expertise, and, each field has become a world on its own, completely absorbing those, who have devoted their life to mastering their particular field. Unfortunately, the "generalist", the overall philosopher, who is interested in the field of existence as a whole, has been pushed into the background, because, regardless of the topic he wants to discuss, he will be muzzled by the experts in any particular field, who can quote statistics and extensive references, and, who are aware of the finer details. The art of making valid generalised statements is, indeed, not appreciated at the present time.

As a result of this loss of a useful over-view, or, perhaps, because of the fact, that the art of creating a useful and authoritative over-view has not kept pace with the rapidly increasing complexity of the modern world, we see an extra-ordinary degree of confusion about all the major questions and policy decisions that face us. Ordinary citizens are becoming increasingly baffled by the spectacle of squabbling experts, struggling for dominance and priority. This is the reason, why our modern societies show strident and contradictory view-points on each and every problem, concern or topic of interest.

Some groups clamour for a rapid development of the economy in order to "create jobs", they hope, together with a loosening of the money-supply. Others argue, just as convincingly, that the problem of un-employment has to be solved by the creation of a truly competitive industry and a stable climate for capital investment. Some of the groups in society will vocally demand a rapid expansion of the mining of resources, including the extraction of petro-chemicals from hazardous sea-bed operations, while others point, tirelessly, to the dangers of pollution and damage to wild-life and sea-life in case of a major oil-spill.

Some people advocate, strenuously, that society be "protected" by a costly and dangerous wall of nuclear missiles and anti-ballistic missile defense systems, while others point to the lunacy of even contemplating the use of nuclear weapons. In essence, we are always witnessing a battle between narrow experts, who can quote, impressively, a large number of references and statistical facts.

There are people in society, who claim, loudly, that they should have the right to decide, what to do with their own body, including the right to terminate a pregnancy, while others point-out with just as much conviction, that the baby in the womb is a different person, and does not belong to the body of the mother, even, if it is still nourishing on the maternal blood-stream. Again, this debate is a result of the fact, that we do not have a clear idea about the essence of life, or the nature of reproductive mechanisms.

We hear people advocating a return to strict religious beliefs and moral standards, and, they would like to see the imposition of a theocratic leadership on society, while others remain faithful to the principles of freedom of religion and beliefs, as long as the basic human rights of each and every citizen are respected.

Look, how confusing and incompatible the pressures are for our political leaders. They are pushed and cajoled into diametrically opposed opinions and attitudes, and, we should not be surprised to see, that it is extremely difficult, and, sometimes, impossible to govern the complex, affluent societies with a semblance of efficiency. Most of the time, our political leaders seem to drift, helplessly, with the vagaries of political opinion, and, from the day they have been elected to office, they wonder, how to keep this fickle and shifty electorate on their side. The voters lack the necessary broadness of view to guide their political judgement into a more encompassing attitude, where they concern themselves with the problems of the society as a whole, rather than the more egocentric and instinctive question, how to get the most out of the candidate of their choice.

To take care is not easy. We have difficulties taking care of ourselves, our dependents, our property and our social and natural environments, because everywhere, we come-up against the problem, that our knowledge is grossly insufficient, and, that we are over-powered or intimidated by "expert opinions". However, there is no need to be intimidated by expert opinion. If we have a good overall view of the realities we are dealing with, we can use expert opinion as a tool. We should be able to control this tool, and direct it in such a way, that it does what we want it to do.

If we have a good, coherent view of the world, we can identify numerous pockets in this overall framework of our reality perceptions, where our knowledge is insufficient to solve a particular problem. Then, we may call-upon the experts, and, we may direct them in the tasks of maintenance and care, which are so closely linked to the criteria of overall, social and individual viability. However, we know, or, we should know, what we want. We should know, exactly, what has to be done, in order to solve a particular problem of maintenance or construction. Then, we are able to talk intelligently with these experts, and, we can find out, precisely, whether or not they are able to provide the service we are looking for.

Let us not be fooled by expert opinions. They can not tell us, what our overall goals of maintenance and care should be. An expert is asked, only, to elucidate a specific and relevant problem, which lies beyond our capabilities of solving, but, this problem lies not beyond our capability of understanding. How the expert solves the problem, is, ultimately, his responsibility, but, what he does, and, what effect his work has upon our goals and purposes, is our responsibility.

When we go to a physician, we tell him, what we think is wrong with us, and a good physician will supplement our story with a lot of pertinent questions, which will help him make a diagnosis. After his inquiries and investigations are completed, he comes to us and explains, what he has found, and what he thinks is ailing us. Then, he suggests a variety of ways to correct, whatever is wrong, and, it is our responsibility to understand, at least, in outline, what he is telling us, and, what he proposes to do about it. Ultmately, it is our decision, whether or not we let him go ahead with treatment or further investigations, and, if we think, that he is wrong, or, if he proposes a form of treatment we do not trust, then, we have the pefect right to discuss our doubts with him, and, to ask for a second opinion, if our doubts are not removed by a frank discussion.

Similarly, if we go to a garage because of a problem with our car, we want an accurate diagnosis; a clear plan of action to correct the problem, and a realistic estimate what it is going to cost us. After all, we have to decide, how much money we want to spend on having a problem fixed. We have to make sure, that the work is done well and efficiently, and, we see, how important it is to understand, in principle, how a car works, what can go wrong, what has to be done to fix it, and, why it has to cost the monies we are asked to pay.

All our tools or objects of use may have problems or malfunctions, which we can not correct ourselves, or, we do not understand, in sufficient detail, the nature of these problems in order to correct the situation ourselves. Few of us know enough about electronics to understand our radio or television sets, and, now, we are beginning to use even more complex electronic tools, such as computers and laser-disc players, which go far beyond our ability to know in detail. Unfortunately, selling or buying such equipment is the easiest part, and, few technicians are available who are competent enough to understand and repair these instruments expertly. This is one of the reasons, why these instruments are built-up in "blocks" of components, and, the task of servicing is facilitated, because the problem is shifted from knowing the precise mechanism of what has gone wrong, to a rough location of the problem. The problem is, then, "fixed", by replacing the "block" which contains the "fault", whatever this fault may be.

All expertise is, in essence, a tool, which we, ordinary citizens and professionals alike, have to learn to use. We know, how to operate a telephone, a radio, or a television set, and, we handle with confidence all sorts of complicated equipment and machinery, without knowing much about the internal details of structure and function. Yet, we tell these instruments what to do. We command our automobile and steer it wherever we want to go, without knowing much about the way it functions.

We should adopt the same confident attitudes towards our numerous experts. We should tell them, that we want clean industries that do not pollute or constitute a hazard. We should tell our leaders, that we want a society that is run efficiently and fairly, and, we should tell our politicians, that we want them to spend the public monies frugally, because, after all, we will have to pay the costs.

We want our military experts to design the tools, we think, we need, but, if we want them destroyed, then, our military experts and their political leaders will have to listen to the will of the people, because, after all, we should be able to determine, collectively, the direction we want our society to go into, but, we will, also, have to learn to listen to, and accept the honest advise of our experts, even, if it does not correspond with what we want or expect to hear.

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Summary

1. The only alternative to growing old, is to die young.
   We worry about the future, without addressing the problem, how to age gracefully.
   We tend to forget, that our requirements and ambitions are changing continuously.
   Can we die in peace?
   Thinking about life, and the gift of time.
   A combative method to solve the problem of death.
   Death is, once again, what it appears to be.
   The concepts of natural evolution may give us a "bad taste" about the nature of living existence.
   The "evolutionary" view of life takes-away the promise of eternal life, but it also removes the fear for eternal damnation.
   The processes of death are a necessary and inevitable corollary to the processes of life.
   We can cope with death, adequately, in a framework of reflective understanding.
   A gradually diminishing flow of vital energies.
   A life-form is a temporary actualisation of a possibility to exist.
   Anonymous contributions and contributors.
   Being grateful to those, who have made a conscious effort to reduce the impact of their existence upon the environment.
   Living a life-style of as much independence and self-sufficiency as possible.
   The last contribution we can make.
   
   
   
2. The hall-mark of maturity is the ability to take care.
   The instinct of "holding-on" to what we have.
   Becoming less productive, without realising it.
   Various ladders of achievement.
   The dream from rags to riches has become an irrealistic expectation in our modern, conglomerate societies.
   The parameters of personal achievement, bureaucratic advancement, and financial success.
   Living a rather "submersed" life-style in our own particular world.
   Our social position at the end of maturity.
   The stress of living-up to expectations.
   A time for sober reflections.
   Many of us remain anxious and frightened children all our lives.
   We all have to earn a living.
   We have to give an honest day's work for our wages.
   Why social justice brings the inevitable corollary of the need to make a contribution to society.
   The need to anticipate the stresses we are likely to encounter.
   A large variety of circumstances.
   The ability to survive, be content, and stay alert.
   The freedom and ability to reduce the stress-load to a level we are comfortable with.
   
   
   
3. A brief review of the organisation of life.
   The requirements of the living organisation.
   The cell, and the city; comparisons.
   Cellular mechanisms of "ageing".
   Mechanisms of uni-cellular and multi-cellular reproduction.
   A symbiotic unit of many billions of cells, requiring efficient channels for the supply of energy and the removal of waste-products.
   The multi-cellular organisation.
   The science and art of medical diagnosis and therapy.
   A good grasp is possible, without an intricate knowledge of details.
   An inter-twining of ageing and disease processes.
   Conditions that are too severe to be tolerated by living tissues.
   Changes in the organisation of life, taking place "from within".
   A variety of abnormal mechanisms.
   Some ageing processes are not clear-cut pathological in nature.
   A gradual decline of the ability to tolerate stress.
   Understanding what is happening to us.
   Excercising our mental and physical faculties gently, and with care.
   When we accelerate the processes of wear and tear.
   
   
   
4. Why we have to acknowledge the unavoidable processes of ageing.
   The trap of voluntary financial slavery.
   We are all inclined to "live it up" to the hilt.
   We forget, that our energies are going to decline.
   The road of "diversions", to make us forget the stress of our contemporary existence.
   An ever more efficient web of enticements.
   Why is it so difficult to adopt a life-style that does not consume all our energies or earnings?
   The harsh world of free-enterprise.
   Sliding, imperceptibly, from a search for old-age security, to power-hungry empire-building.
   Fore-sight is a fragile and elusive quality, especially, for those, who never excercised their faculties of initiative and endurance.
   The consequences of a "collective insurance" against adversity.
   The ambivalence of a state of intense inter-dependence.
   Leadership requirements.
   The Socialist Society.
   An interesting parallel with the multi-cellular organism.
   It is still rare to see the quality of "obligatory social inter-dependence" in human societies.
   Are we still talking about the processes of injury, ageing or stress?
   
   
   
5. Is a social entity, indeed, a living organism?
   The qualities of organisation and regulation.
   Varying degrees of inter-dependence and cohesion.
   The inter-dependence of "national units".
   Human nature makes it impossible to force a state of social cohesion entirely by "raw power", but, neither can it be done by persuasion alone.
   The functions of the genetic and cultural codes.
   The central nervous system of a large-scale social environment has to be "created" by a conscious, collective effort.
   Ageing and disease processes in society.
   Can a social environment "take care" of itself, and age in a state of health and wisdom?
   A flowing and un-interrupted line of developments.
   Getting worn and stifled by imperfections.
   A tentative parallel with the social unit of multi-cellular existence.
   Inter-dependence in a framework of essential equality.
   Prudent fore-sights.
   When we tighten the noose of financial enslavement for the rest of our lives.
   Looking forward to the time when mankind grows older and overcomes the turbulent upheavals of its early youth.
   
   
   
6. What are the signs of an ageing society?
   A conglomerate of numerous smaller social organisations.
   The simpler model of a "special-interest" organisation.
   A dubious legal claim to "sovereignty".
   Nations are not equal.
   The solution of a gradual fading of national boundaries.
   Average citizens may be more inclined to listen to the arguments of the social rather than the military solution.
   Dreaming about the utopian prospects for a peaceful mankind.
   We have to know what constitutes a condition of social and individual health.
   A review of the conditions of childhood and adolescence.
   Qualities of a wise and benevolent society.
   The feeling, that it is good to belong to society.
   Measuring the opinions and attitudes of people.
   A dramatic rise in the level of social awareness.
   The difference between being wise and spine-less.
   The folly and futility of a global conflict.
   Becoming more patient, in spite of the fact, that time is running-out.
   We see, more clearly, the nature and purpose of society.
   The care we have to give to our social environment.
   Getting people to care about justice for everyone; on a global scale.
   
   
   
7. The importance of the ability to care.
   The corner-stone of social health.
   A role for the older generations.
   The need for careful thought.
   Attitudes of good-will and charity are not sufficient.
   Essential equality is a right; not a gift dispensed by the privileged.
   Being careful with the environment.
   A few generations hence, our ideological struggles will seem irrelevant.
   We are becoming quickly more inter-dependent; apparently, more rapidly than we can comfortably cope with.
   We all have to get involved in thinking about the destiny of human existence.
   Our leaders want peace, but do they know how to establish or preserve it?
   To care is to speak-up, whenever we have an opportunity to do so.
   Let us study, reflect and think, before we speak or act.
   We have to measure our energies carefully.
   The most urgent priority is to reduce the risk of a nuclear war.
   Who knows, how close a nuclear war is?
   Making sure, that the threat of nuclear weapons has disappeared forever.
   The factor of increased social transparence.
   The collective will can reign supreme.
   Treaties and promises are not enough.
   The price of neglect.
   Scrutinising, carefully, all promises made by political candidates.
   Social health will increasingly depend on the quality of collective fore-sight.
   
   
   
8. It is not easy to look well after ourselves.
   Diseases and accidents do not happen "out of the blue".
   Learning to read the warning signs.
   When we begin to "take chances".
   The criminal attitude of hoping to make "a quick profit", because it always implies an unscrupulous attitude towards other people.
   Relying on experts.
   Professionals have made a life-time career of becoming an expert in one little aspect of this gigantic complex of "taking care".
   The need to keep an overall perspective in view.
   The rise to power of the narrow specialist is a serious problem.
   Will the "generalist" be able to make a come-back?
   The art of making valid generalised statements is not appreciated at the present time.
   A baffling spectacle of squabbling experts.
   A few examples of contradictory and confusing opinions.
   The logic of advocating a return to religious standards of moral behaviour.
   To take politically care of a large society is not easy.
   There is no need to be intimidated by expert opinion.
   We have to set, collectively, our major social objectives.
   Ulimately, it is our decision to let our physician go ahead with a proposed plan for investigation and treatment.
   The ability to talk intelligently with an expert or professional.
   Fixing a problem by replacing a "block of functions".
   All expertise is, in essence, a tool to be used, intelligently, by the ordinary consumer.
   We also have to learn to listen to, and accept, the advise of honest experts who are trying tell us something that is not pleasant to hear.

.......