VOT Principles 1: The Good of All Beings

This is part 1 in the series of Visions of Tomorrow’s ever-evolving principles.

Principle 1

We aspire for all beings to live the best life possible given the limitations of reality.

Visions of Tomorrow is global in its scope, meaning we care for all humans, animals, cultures, and ecosystems. At every level, we desire to nurture life and evolve it. We strive toward a world where the well-being and development of individuals, humanity as a whole, and biological life itself are all harmonized.

We propose the best life possible for the individual as one that empowers them to ascend and integrate Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. A life in which they see the limits of greed, ignorance, corruption, and selfishness and embody higher-order virtues such as Responsibility, Integrity, Courage, Genius, Compassion, and Wisdom in their own unique style.

The individual’s development requires the development of the collective, which serves as the context in which individuals are anchored. The collective’s development also requires the development of the individual, as the greatest individuals will give grander ideals for the collective to pursue. The individual’s development will enrich the development of the collective and vice versa.

The individual and collective both exist in and are upheld by nature. As we care for our own home, our circle of concern must expand to our community, ecosystems, country, continent, and finally, nature as a whole. Responsible stewardship of the entire planet serves our own best interests. This point will be further elaborated in part 4.

We can intuit these greater ideals, but the harsh limitations of reality bottleneck their development. The only way to effectively approach this vision is to acknowledge these limitations. The thoughts and actions of humanity have a momentum to them, and it will take time for that momentum to transition toward more holistic ends. Humans carry psychological baggage passed down through generations, which leads to cycles of pain and fragmentation. Progress in the deepest sense is neither linear nor simple.

These limitations mean our path will be full of challenges that need thoughtful, step-by-step strategies. A seed does not become a tree overnight. We, as an organization and a community, intend to discover these strategies together.