Thinking, Feeling, Willing

Author
Mark Finser
389 words, 11K views, 4 comments

In these difficult times, my great hope is that we can move to a culture that balances our needs and wants with our actions and insights. 

Insights come from our capacity to think in ways that are creative and relevant to the present time; needs and wants come from our feelings and desires; actions and deeds in the world come out of our will.  These three soul forces in every human being -- thinking, feeling and willing -- need to come back into balance.  Each of these soul forces and qualities is reflected in society at large as well.

So we cannot just focus on the economy.  The economy is but one leg of a three legged stool.  Culture and human rights are the other two.  We need to focus our creative capacity on developing a culture that has an emphasis on education, the arts and our connection with spirit.  This needs to be in tandem with a society where fundamental human rights are honored and differences are celebrated.

Each of us has different abilities and gifts.  However, when it comes to feeling, we need to recognize that this makes us equal; we are all the same when it comes to our basic human needs and emotions.  Keeping this perspective in mind, we can effect great change in ourselves and in our world.  We can truly take up our role as fellow citizens and reconnect with our local and regional communities with fresh ideas and action plans.

Clearly, we have become disconnected from the soul force of "feeling".  How can it be that some executives believe that their contributions to society deserve compensation 400 times or more than that of their lowest paid employees?  When the company cannot contribute to retirement or health care for its employees, how can this be perceived as progress?  Times like this provide an opportunity for all of us to be re-educated.  We need to "educate" our conscience as well.  Imagine if we took the time to really listen to our conscience.  What would an education of conscience look like?

--Mark Finser, in RSF Social Finance's Annual Report