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Dignity – Human dignity
The Dignitarian Movement

 

Dignity is an idea whose time has come.
Robert W. Fuller, Ph.D., US American dignity researcher



 

Inhaltsverzeichnis (verbergen)

  1. 1. Historic traces of dignity
  2. 2. Liberty – Equality – Fraternity
  3. 3. Beschreibung von Würde [dignitas]
  4. 4. Dignity consciousness in companies
  5. 5. Afflicted Emotions and Human dignity
  6. 6. The threshold between pride and integrity
  7. 7. Women's leadership superseding men's leadership
  8. 8. Women's self-defeating programming towards successful sisters
  9. 9. Four developmental stages
  10. 10. Moving into dignity politics
  11. 11. It All Depends on the Way You Look At Things
  12. 12. Rankism, humiliation and indignity"Dignity for all, always" – Robert W. Fuller
  13. 13. NASA space shuttle disasters 1986 and 2003 – a field effect of rankism
  14. 14. Quotes on Dignity ⇔ Rankism by Robert W. Fuller
  15. 15. Reversing the SomebodyNobody mind set
  16. 16. Quotes on 'women embracing dignity for all'
  17. 17. Conventional Banking (Me) ⇔ Social Banking (No-me / We / Other)
  18. 18. Changeover
  19. 19. Dignity outweighs wealth
  20. 20. Misconceiving human dignity with outer wealth
  21. 21. Income and status gap in 21 (23) of the rich developed countries worldwide – Wilkinson und Pickett
  22. 22. Dignity culture ⇔ Pride culture
  23. 23. Healing story – The reconciliation between Hercules and Hydra
  24. 24. The dichotomy between Somebody ∞ Nobody ⇔ Everything ∞ Nothing
    1. 24.1 I am a nobody
    2. 24.2 Void ⇔ Allness
    3. 24.3 The fear of nothingness ⇔ the denial of allness
  25. 25. Quotations on (Human) Dignity / Menschenwürde
    1. 25.1 Quotes from different sources
    2. 25.2 Quotes from David R. Hawkins
    3. 25.3 Quotes – Human Rights and Human Values
    4. 25.4 Power ⇔ Force
    5. 25.5 Quotes on Pride and Shame ⇔ Dignity
    6. 25.6 True dignity
    7. 25.7 Calibrations LoC (engl.): Rankism vs. dignity
  26. 26. Links on Human dignity and Human rights / Menschenwürde
    1. 26.1 Literature
    2. 26.2 Literature (German)
    3. 26.3 Web links
    4. 26.4 Audio and video links
    5. 26.5 Audio and video links – Robert W. Fuller
    6. 26.6 Audio and video links – Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, Equality trust
    7. 26.7 Audio and video links –  Music on rankism / dignity
    8. 26.8 Audio and video links (German) on Menschenwürde / Human dignity
    9. 26.9 Internal Links

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. [LoC 700]
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) third president of the United States of America, principal author of the Declaration of Independence, 4. Juli 1776
The Unanimous Declaration of The Thirteen United States of America

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1, issued by United Nations, Paris, 10. December 1948

Human dignity is inviolable.
To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority.
German constitution, Basic Law, Article 1, paragraph 1, 23. May 19491

[...] Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law.
Constitution Act, Part I, Preamble to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 1867-1982

The Republic of South Africa is one sovereign democratic state founded on the following values:
(a) Human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms. […]
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Chapter 1, Section 1, paragraph a, 11. October 19962

Human dignity is inviolable.
European Constitution, Article II, 61, Rome, 29. October 2004


 

Historic traces of dignity


Glass Port wine

In 1486, the Italian humanist and Renaissance philosopher Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) presented his classical text Oration on the Dignity of Man (Oratio de hominis dignitate) to a crowd of hostile clerics. Pico outlined the principles of modern humanist anthropology of his era by inviting men to emulate the "dignity and glory" of the angels, through the pursuit of philosophy and the liberal arts.
Pico emphasized that dignity of humans is based on his free choice between animalistic and angelic aspects.
Published in 1486, Pico's dignity speech was not graceously received. In February 1487 Pope Innocence VIII condemned it as partially unorthodox.

 

"A great miracle, Asclepius, is man!" Hermes Trismegistus ['Thrice-great Hermes'] syncretic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth

 

"There is nothing to see more wonderful than man!" Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) Italian humanist, Renaissance philosopher

 

"I have never seen a greater monster or miracle in the world than myself." Michel Eyquem de Montaigne [LoC 440] (1533-1592) influential French Renaissance philosopher, politician, writer

Liberty – Equality – Fraternity

The Age of Enlightenment picked out as a central theme the topics Liberty – Equality – Fraternity.
It seems difficult to come up with a valid general definition of human dignity.
In general human dignity is understood as the sum of all basic rights and human rights.
Respect and protection of human dignity serve human beings to evolve Freedom of choice, Equality of Divine origin and conceptual Siblinghood among themselves.

Beschreibung von Würde [dignitas]

 

Human Dignity ...

  • is based on man's creation in the Image of God and the Tat Tvam Asi [Thou are that].
  • acknowledges the sovereignty of GOD as the creator and origin of Life.
  • avows itself to the immanent and transcendent Divinity as a source of strength.
  • is inalienable and invulnerable.
  • dwells in the domain of Divine power.
  • is the expression of the immanent essence of the soul.
  • dwells in the domains of the self and the SELF.
  • is known as dignitas (inner inalienable aspect) and humanitas (outer alienable vulnerable aspect).
  • is integrous.
  • is gradually activated in around 20 % (one fifth) of humanity.
  • acknowledges the right to live of fellow creatures.
  • welcomes and grants the freedom of choice of all people.
  • acknowledges the equality and innate human dignity of all people.
  • acknowledges the multi-leveled interdependence und unity of all forms of life.
  • thinks and acts holistically.
  • accepts the given circumstances.
  • welcomes human evolution and transformation in general.
  • is foreign to the human ego.
  • is drawn to modesty, simplicity, serenity.
  • welcomes present, spontaneous, not predefined emergence.
  • welcomes accountability and self-responsibility.  
  • believes in the goodness of the universe and in human beings.
  • adheres to life-affirming principles.
  • is empathetic.
  • is kind to all expressions of life.
  • respects.
  • trusts.
  • is geared to the truth for its own sake.
  • cooperates with others.
  • mediates between others.
  • regards, supports and offers excellence to its best ability.
  • welcomes moral courage.
  • retains its composure when faced with (public) humiliation.
  • does not lose ground when offended or humiliated.
  • avoids pride and negative company.
  • avoids a sense of entitlement, control and force.
  • tends to allow things to happen on their own.
  • is true to itself.
  • supports choices based on conscience.
  • welcomes orals and ethics.
  • keeps ethical codes of conduct and obeys the laws of men.
  • is the remedy for rankism [abuse of rank] and class warfare.
  • views its fellow men not through the lens of the "Somebody" ⇔ "Nobody" gap.
  • avows itself to identified weaknesses of character.
  • is not dependent on status, wordly success and wealth.
  • avoids stress which allows a healthier life.
  • is able to regret its behavior and to recontextualize.
  • avoids victimhood.
  • is rarely discussed in the society as a whole.

See Pride

Dignity consciousness in companies

The Study about human resources policy 2009 showed that out of 80 questioned German companies every 12th had no idea about human dignity [human capital] as their motivation to act is solely based on pecuniary values.

  • 15 % of the German speaking companies denied the human dignity of their employees by scoring zero points for their costly [money-wise] employees. They speciously prefer short-term monetary profits via stockholders and customers.

 

Companies or joint practices that use, manipulate, exploit, and control staff members and customers as a means to the end of short-term profits will sooner or later ruin themselves whereas dignitarian companies that do not tolerate rankism [humiliating behavior towards those in lower ranks] do gain strength in the long range.
See Deutschsprachige Studie – Umgang mit dem Personal 2009 (in German)

Afflicted Emotions and Human dignity

According to the psychodynamic theory of Hungarian US American psychoanalyst Sandor Rado, M.D. (1890-1972) shame and guilt are the most destructive emotions within a group of emergency emotions (including anger, grief, greed, and pride) damaging the whole and undermining the good of all.

  • Whoever feels shamed, fixates inwardly. The inviolable human dignity – both the sacred and the tabooed – has been desecrated (dishonored) in front of and by others.
  • Transformed shame – beyond inferiority and victimhood – implies a sense for the sacred.
  • Whoever feels guilty, fixates outwardly. He or she desecrates (dishonors) their inalieable innate inviolable human dignity.
  • Transformed guilt – beyond self-defeating flagellation – implies a sense of regret, reversion, recontextualising, metanoia.
  • Transformed grief – beyond indictment and whining – implies a sense of understanding for the human condition and compassion.
  • Transformed righteous anger ("Holy" Wrath) – beyond disempowering aggression – implies a sense of justice and the strength ready to launch social reforms.
  • Transformed pride – beyond superiority and supremacy, narcissm and predatory impulses – implies a sense of divine dignity, reflected in human dignity.

The threshold between pride and integrity


Line containing Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) use of the phrase "all men are created equal", in the Declaration of Independence.

 

According to the Map of Consciousness developed by Dr. David Hawkins the frequency field of pride and volition vibrates at the level of consciousness (LoC) 175-199. Pride is an attitude supporting personal gain while damaging community and society.

 

The threshold from where on ethical [moral] behavior beneficial to the community becomes possible is at LoC 200. It marks a fundamental leap in consciousness, to transcend the line of demarcation between pride and dignitarian integrity.
The consciousness level of mankind collectively has crossed the borderline of integrity in 1987.
In August 2009 it has reached LoC 206.

 

Actually the [deeply ingrained] concept of WE and [against] THEM is no longer there – according to the new reality. [...] Therefore treat others as a part of yourself. The entire world should be part of WE. Here we need the concept of oneness of humanity [...] and we need a sense of global responsibility. [...] The reality is no longer separate, this I feel.
Video panel dialog with XIV. Dalai Lama and Global Elder Mary Robinson, on Wisdom and Compassion for Challenging Times, part 6, presented by The Tibet Fund, moderated by Pico Iyer, The Town Hall, New York City, USA, 3. May 2009, YouTube film, minutes 2:38, 3:40, 4:37, 8:37 minutes duration, posted 19. May 2009

Women's leadership superseding men's leadership

In 2002 the average level of consciousness of the executive board members and CEOs of the 500 best companies worldwide listed by Fortune magazine showed the most pronounced expression of pride.3
On average and predominantly the male chief executives of corporations world wide [97.5% in Germany] have a prideful attitude.
The mostly male chief executives who played an instrumental role in triggering the global financial meltdown in 2008 do not seem to have noted or internalized this message yet.

 

In 2008 the management consultancy McKinsey confirmed:

  • Women score higher in leadership in respect to
    • staff development,
    • team decisions,
    • inspiration (intuition) and
    • rewarding.4
In 2000 the 30 DAX-listed German companies had not a single woman on their executive boards.
According to the German institute of economic research (Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung) only 2.5 % women hold top-level leadership positions in the 200 biggest German companies [status end 2009].

 

Pepperdine [University] found that the Fortune 500 firms with the best records of putting women at the top were 18 to 69 percent more profitable than the median companies in their industries. McKinsey looked at the top-listed European companies and found that greater gender diversity in management led to higher-than-average stock performance. Katty Kay and Claire Shipman, TV journalists, authors of Womenomics, Fixing the Economy? It's Women's Work, The Washington Post, 12. July 2009

 

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Explanation: Women are way less experienced in the non-integrous modes of the work place. Therefore, as a whole, they bring a higher level of integrity in their positions.

Dr. Hawkins muscle tested male CEOs calibrated on average at LoC 199 up from LoC 194 at around 2003.

Companies run by women CEOs are considerably more profitable than those run by men CEOs. Dr. David R. Hawkins, Sedona Seminar Thought and Ideation, 28. February 2004

 

Women are more nonlinear than men!
That should increase compatibility of the sexes.
(Calibrated as true.)
Dr. David R. Hawkins, Sedona Seminar Is the Miraculous Real?, 9. December 2006

 

  • In 2004 Norway passed the law: 40% of all positions in supervisory boards must be held by women.5 It took eight years to meet the quota.
  • The government of The Netherlands discusses to require by law to fill the executive boards of companies with a certain proportion of women.
  • Study results show that the more balanced the sex ratio among chief executives is the more successful the respective companies will be.
  • European stock corporations with a relative high percentage of women in management positions perform especially successful – by
    • faster growth,
    • higher profits and
    • better stock market quotations.
    Source: Cora Werwitzke, Weibliche Intuition in der Führungsetage. Studien belegen den Zusammenhang zwischen Frauenanteil im Vorstand und Unternehmenserfolg, transl. "Female Intuition in the management level", German TV station ZDF, 10. December 2009

 

  • A cross-cultural study sponsored by the World Bank found that governments with more women in power had less corruption.

 

The presence and the expertise and the bravery of Hillary Clinton changed the molecules in the air kind of so that we now can imagine female chief of state in a way we couldn't before. But I think the inability to see women in leadership in public life is is indeed because we still associate female authority with childhood. That's when we see female strength. Video interview with Gloria Steinem gloriasteinem.com (*1934) leading US American feminist of the new women's movement, visionary and political activist, journalist, writer, Gloria Steinem Visits BG, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, 24. September 2012, presented by American TV station 13abc, host C. Williams, YouTube film, minute 1:17, 2:36 minutes duration, posted 17. February 2013

 

Source:
Corruption and women in government, The Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, volume 46, issue 4, pp. 423-429, December 2001
► Data favor the "fairer system" thesis.
Women are more inclined toward honesty and the common good. Two recent influential studies found that increased participation of women in government reduced corruption.
► Hung-En Sung, Fairer Sex or Fairer System? Gender and Corruption Revisited, Social Forces, Volume 82, Number 2, pp. 703-723, The University of North Carolina Press, December 2003
* The US American Senate (83% male senators, 13% female senators) voted to embark in the second Iraq war.
* Roughly 200 nations in the world are run by about 5-7 stateswomen.
In 2009 the ratio of the world power structure was 97:3.
** 97% nations are run by predominantly dominance seeking [Dopamine] men,
3% are run by predominantly stability seeking [Serotonine] women.

 

Women's self-defeating programming towards successful sisters

  • And those women who were seen as leaders – the highest-achieving, most competent, and most outspoken – were "trashed" and purged from the movement. "Sisterhood is powerful," Ti-Grace Atkinson is credited with saying. "It kills sisters." The movement ate its leaders. In eliminating those women who were pushing the edge, the upward surge of woman rising slowed almost to a halt. This dark unsisterhood has little to do with helping or caring for others – at least not other women. Differences are tolerated as long as they make no difference – in other words, as long as they do not reveal differences in power, ability, or status. And power operates covertly: unacknowledged rather than unused. […] We faltered in leaping further because the ideology of the time said that all differences between the sexes came from cultural conditioning, which could be changed. But in fact, there was something more fundamental, more primitive, operating in us at an instinctual level. A deeply rooted, biologically driven impulse to compete against each other not only destroyed the movement's leadership, but it sabotaged sisterhood – and any hope for further collective transformation.
    Elisabeth Debold, Ed.D., US American senior editor of EnlightenNext magazine, senior teacher of Evolutionary Enlightenment, Where Are the Women? The New Women's Liberation part 1, page 2, presented by EnlightenNext magazine online, issue 29, June-August 2005

Four developmental stages

Four developmental stages – in economic systems

  1. Parasitic – Interest and compound interest in the Monetary system
  2. Predatory – Private Banking, Debt Creation
  3. Competitive – International stock corporations (in western societies run by nearly only white male CEOs and Board members)
    .....................................................................................................................
  4. Symbiotic – [Locally] Cooperative social economics / Global Networking

 

Four developmental stages – in biologic systems

  1. Parasitic – Viruses – Appropriation / Monopolization
  2. Predatory – Predators – "Eating and being eaten" "Fuck or kill"
  3. Competitive – Mammalians – Survival of "the fittest"Non-integrous Fractioned Mindset
    .....................................................................................................................
  4. Symbiotic – Cooperating Cell Aggregates – Biotope, Habitat – Beginning of Field Consciousness

 

Source: Video lecture by Watts Wacker, US American futurist, Sodexho, Annual Meeting, Paris,
on futurism, the difference between futuring and visioning, 53:33 minutes duration, posted 6. June 2006-'

 


 

Cooperating Cells corresponding with Global Networking

Each one of our cells is a collective of ancient formerly living bacterial types. [...] In the world two billion years ago there were only bacteria. The shift from a very exploitative, destructive lifestyle to this lifestyle of cooperation among bacteria [nucleated cells] is a wonderful parallel to what is going on in the human world today. Interview with Elisabet Sahtouris, Ph.D. sahtouris.com (*1936) Greek-American post-Darwinian creationist evolutionary biologist, pastist/futurist, promoter of anthropomorphism over mechanomorphism, business consultant, former UN consultant, presented by Telic Thoughts, interviewer Scott London, August 2007
Simple cells – selfprocreating (prokaryotes) – exist 4 billion years.
Complex cells – procreating by nuclear division, mitosis – (eukaryotes) exist since 2 billion years.

 

The Darwinian story only goes to the adolescent part.
Sustainability happens when species learn to feed each other instead of to fight each other.
Selfinterest is good as long as it is contained by the selfinterest of a community.
What we need now is glocalization.
Together we can make it happen.
Video presentation with Elisabet Sahtouris, Ph.D. sahtouris.com (*1936) Greek-American post-Darwinian creationist evolutionary biologist, pastist/futurist, promoter of anthropomorphism over mechanomorphism, business consultant, former UN consultant promoter of anthropomorphism over mechanomorphism, After Darwin, 3 parts, YouTube film, posted 24. April 2007

Moving into dignity politics

Arc of Evolution

One tyrant tyrannyIssued by the king / the emperor
✰✰Group tyrannyIssued by the nobility / empires
✰✰✰People tyrannyIssued by the middle classes / interlaced corpotocracies
✰✰✰✰Movement waves in social mediaIssued by the stakeholders

 

Pressurized by 10-12 allied revolting English barons the "Evil King" John of England signed the Magna Carta [LoC 460] at Runnymede in England on June 15th, 1215. This first legal charter granted fundamental political freedoms to the nobility.
Followed by an extensive historical process it led to the rule of constitutional law in the English speaking world. It influenced the development of the common law and many constitutional documents, including the United States Constitution [LoC 710].

 

Developmental stages – of Politics – Forms of Government

  1. Monarchy
  2. Fascism
  3. Communism
  4. Pre stage pseudo Democracy i.e. neoliberal casino capitalismFractioned Mindset
    ..................................................................................................
  5. Democratic dignitarian cultureBeginning of field consciousness

 

Four Pillars of Dignitarian Culture and Politics

  1. Either-Or – Freedom [of choice]
  2. As-Well-As – Equality / Equivalency / Parity
  3. Neither-nor – Siblinghood [Contextual Unity]
    ..................................................................................................
  4. All-in-All – Dignity for all in culture, economy and politics

 

Four Steps of LanguagingC. O. Scharmer

  1. Nice Conversation
  2. Fierce Conversation
  3. Reflective Dialogue
    ..................................................................................................
  4. Generative Dialogue
    Presencing. Learning From the Future As It Emerges. On the Tacit Dimension of Leading Revolutionary Change, Conference Knowledge and Innovation, Helsinki, Finland, 25.-26. May 2000

 

Four Phases of Team and Community Building –  M. Scott Peck

  1. Pseudo-Team – Pseudo-Community
  2. Chaos – Confusionary phase
  3. Sobering phase – Emptiness, Zeropoint
    ..................................................................................................
  4. Functioning Team / True Community

 

Insights of the Dalai Lama

  1. Money or wealth failed to bring inner peace.
  2. Modern education [science] failed to bring inner peace.
  3. Technology also failed to bring inner peace.
    ..................................................................................................
  4. In the 21st century we need promote human values, compassion and affection.
Women are more sensitive to pain or suffering of others. […]
Therefore, [women of the Western world] please take a more active role.
Source: H.H. Dalai Lama, Peace Summit, Vancouver, presented by CTV.ca, Clip 2 of 4, last section, minute 14:53-17:59, filmed 27. September 2009

 

We are developing a new culture. Culture is what happens when you have the collision of ideology [a body of doctrine] and civilization.
We have organized around political war [including the ideologies monarchy, fascism, communism, and liberal democracy]. And liberal democracy has already won.
Watts Wacker, US American futurist, Watts Wacker: Internationally Acclaimed Mind Reading Comedian, minute 2:40, YouTube film, 6:24 minutes duration, posted 16. October 2009

It All Depends on the Way You Look At Things

One day a rich father took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose to show him how poor people can be. They spent a day and a night on the farm of a very poor family.

 

When they got back from their trip the father asked his son,

"How was the trip?"
"Very good Dad!"
"Did you see how poor people can be?"

the father asked.

"Yeah!"
"And what did you learn?"

The son answered,

"I saw that
- we have a dog at home, and they have four.
- We have a pool that reaches to the middle of the garden, they have a creek that has no end.
- We have imported lamps in the garden, they have the stars.
- Our patio reaches to the front yard, they have a whole horizon."

When the little boy was finishing, his father was speechless.
His son added,

"Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are!"

 

Author Unknown
Source: Rich Or Poor – How Rich Are You?

Rankism, humiliation and indignity"Dignity for all, always" – Robert W. Fuller

Rankism is an essential feature of the competitive domination system6 that thrives on exploiting or humiliating those with lower status or less perceived power. Rank is meant to serve, rankism is a self-serving perversion of service. Rankism is a collective name for power abuses in the context of rank difference.
Indignities are the result of somebodies abusing their rank to overpower so called nobodies.

List of a wide range of rank-based indignities and abuses:
Predatory survival strategy ♦ Dominating pride/shame based behavior ♦ Classism ♦ Superiority (white male rich) ♦ Supremacy ♦ Exceptionalism ♦ Caste system ♦ (Corporate) Corruption ♦ Obfuscation by elites ♦ Undue influence ♦ Privately run debt and interest based money system ♦ Nepotism ♦ Graft ♦ Predatory lending [loan to own] ♦ Invisible poverty ♦ Exploitation ♦ Disappropriation ♦ Sexism ♦ Sexual harassment ♦ Sexual abuse ♦ Rape ♦ Trafficking ♦ Racism ♦ Racial segregation ♦ Mobbing ♦ Bullying (school, workplace, cyber) ♦ Machismo ♦ Ageism ♦ Elder abuse ♦ Anti-Semitism ♦ Tenure (i.e. unaccountablity of teachers, professors, judges, clerics) ♦ Life-time appointments ♦ Retention of rank ♦ Rank determined bonuses ♦ Homophobia ♦ Elder abuse ♦ Ableism ♦ Prisoner abuse ♦ Slavery ♦ Domestic violence ♦ Torture ♦ Hate crimes ♦ Childism ♦ Child abuse ♦ Paternalism ♦ Speciesism ♦ Xenophobia ♦ Human population control ♦ One-upmanship ♦ Lack of franchise ♦ Peddling ♦ Condescension ♦ indignity ♦ Name-calling

 

US American professor in physics and college president Robert Fuller, Ph.D. was a media darling in his 30s and a diplomat in his 40s and 50s. In 1995 when he left titles and positions behind he felt treated as a nobody. His periodic sojourns in "nobodyland" led him to identify and investigate "rankism". One night he said to himself:

"Nobodies of the world unite! We have nothing to lose but our shame."

That sparked off his first book to lay the groundwork for the dignitarian movement.

 

Rankist societies are the largely unconscious (second nature) norm within male dominated societies [patriarchy]. All-pervasive superior rank-based abuse is discriminatory or exploitative behavior towards people of lower rank in a particular hierarchy. Rankism insults dignity; indignity is the result thereof.

 

After 20,000 years of ingrown and intertwined rankism on all levels of society, Fuller found, that things have changed. Rankist organisations and companies are less successful than dignitarian organisations which do not tolerate abuse of rank.7

 

The AlterNet interview The Somebody Mystique and the Rise of the Uppity Nobody with Robert W. Fuller, author of Somebodies and Nobodies. Overcoming the Abuse of Rank refers to Betty Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique, published 1963, which made known the term "sexism".8 Fuller's analysis identifies rankism as an ism akin to sexism, racism, classism and others. The upsurging counter-force he calls the dignitarian movement.

 

_____Term_____Glossary
RankOne's place in the hierarchy
RankismAbuse of the power inherent in rank to exploit or humiliate people of lower rank (less power) in a particular hierarchy; Inflicting indignity on others, a lack of dignity, discrimination
SomebodiesFeelings: Noticed, encouraged, welcomed, appreciated, respected, included, esteemed, acclaimed, elevated, loved – People whose dignity is secure
NobodiesFeelings: Overlooked, discouraged, spurned, depreciated, disrespected, excluded, shamed, disdained, demeaned, despised – People whose dignity is insecure or under attack
DignityA secure place within the system, appreciation, no banishment
IndignityLack of dignifying, honoring, affront, violation of someone's sense of dignity, embarrassing, offense, humiliation, degradation
Dignity securityGet a high enough position which no-one dares to threaten
Dignitarian politics"Not yet existing" – To be established within the next 4-6 generations
Robert W. Fuller, Ph.D. robertworksfuller.com (*1936) US American professor in physics, college president, dignity and rankism researcher, lecturer, author, All Rise, YouTube film, 3:10 minutes duration, posted 20. February 2008

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Bernard_d'Agesci_La_Justice.jpg
Bernard d'Agesci (1757-1828), Justice, holds scales [Golden rule] in one hand and in the other hand a book with "Dieu, la Loi, et le Roi"

The politics of dignity
The three great traditions liberty, equality, and fraternity coined by the French Revolution work much more effective as soon as the forth subsuming pillar of dignity will be added.
It will result in liberty in dignity, equality in dignity, fraternity in dignity.

 

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Dignitarian politics

Delegitimizing residual predation, by disallowing rankism, would usher in a dignitarian era in human history, an era in which we’re obliged to respect and protect the dignity of others as we would have them respect and protect ours. Dignitarian politics gives the golden rule teeth – by naming indignities and so making them targetable. Together, science, religion, and politics could, plausibly, retire the predatory survival strategy, which has been characteristic of Homo sapiens until now, in favor of a dignitarian strategy that will describe our species going forward. Robert W. Fuller, Ph.D. robertworksfuller.com (*1936) US American professor in physics, college president, dignity and rankism researcher, lecturer, author, Rankism vs. the Golden Rule, presented by LA Progressive, 3. May 2013

 

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Dignity violation

The word for the source of dignity violation is rankism.
Rankism is abuse of the power attached to rank.
► When a boss shouts at an employee, that’s rankism.
► When a doctor demeans a nurse, that’s rankism.
► When a customer is rude to a waitress, that’s rankism.
► When a professor exploits a graduate student, that’s rankism.
► When a company executive has an intimate relationship with an intern and she loses her job over it, but he doesn’t, that’s rankism. […]
► Sometimes rankism is unconscious – a simple, unwitting misuse of power.
► [O]ften, the misuse of power occurs because the perpetrator feels “special” or “better than” someone else and believes that this position of superiority carries with it license to diminish the other person’s dignity.
► Common, everyday snobbery falls into this category, as do racism, sexism, classism, and other “isms.”
► Feeling superior to others for any reason usually gives rise to rankism.[…]
Rankism is an umbrella term that encompasses any other “ism” that sets one group or individual apart from another and then claims superiority. [M]ore specific “isms” are subspecies of rankism. With all “isms,” one person or group believes itself to be “better than” another, and uses its perceived rank to deprive others of their dignity.
Robert W. Fuller, Ph.D. robertworksfuller.com (*1936) US American professor in physics, college president, dignity and rankism researcher, lecturer, author, Pamela A. Gerloff, rankism and dignity researchers, Be a dignitarian. We can overcome rankism and build a world that honors the dignity of every person, presented by Unitarian Universalism uuworld.org, 11. January 2008

 

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Negative results: psychological, emotional, and organizational dysfunction

Unhealthy behaviors: undue fear, bullying, silencing of cautionary or creative voices, cliques, factionalizing, bootlicking, backbiting, gossiping, undermining, sabotage

Humiliation is actually more dangerous than plutonium. Robert W. Fuller, Ph.D. robertworksfuller.com (*1936) US American professor in physics, college president, dignity and rankism researcher, lecturer, author, The Dignity Revolution, UC-Berkeley, presented by TEDx Berkeley, aired 19. February 2011, YouTube film, 19:41 minutes duration, posted 23. March 2011; cited by blogger Renee Blodgett, 22. February 2011

NASA space shuttle disasters 1986 and 2003 – a field effect of rankism

  • Relatively small problems can turn into major crises because of rankist behavior. Silencing of "whistleblowers," truth tellers, or dissenters, for example, can mean loss of information crucial to organizational functioning. This, in turn, reduces the organizations's capacity to effect opitmal outcomes. Before the 1986 U.S. ["Challenger"] space shuttle disaster, lower ranking individuals within NASA repeatedly tried to call attention to the shuttle's faulty O-rings, later found to be the source of the shuttle explosion. Higher-ranking officials silenced those voices, the launch occurred as planned, and the shuttle blew up minutes later. Robert Fuller, Ph.D., Pamela Gerloff, rankism and dignity researchers, Dignity for All. How to Create a World Without Rankism, chapter 7, "Rankism in Organizations: Lessons from NASA", Berrett-Koehler, 2008

 

  • In most organizations, hidden ground rules govern what can be said and what cannot. Such cultural rules run deep, and they typically resist change. At NASA, for example, the cultural ground rules that contributed to the Challenger explosion sixteen years before were still operating in 2003, leading to the Columbia shuttle disaster. The panel that investigated the Columbia tragedy went beyond the technical cause – a chunk of flyaway foam that damaged a wing – to blame an organizational culture where engineers were afraid to raise safety concerns with managers more worried about meeting flight schedules than about averting risks. Head of NASA Sean O'Keefe said in the aftermath of the Columbia tragedy that no employee who speaks up about safety concerns, even to outsiders, would be reprimanded in any way. But since 2003, NASA has become even less transparent [LoC 425] as a result of pressure put on political appointees to the agency to keep employees, including a NASA scientist concerned about global warming, from publicly expressing views not in keeping with current administration policies. Warren Bennis (*1925) US American scholar, professor of business administration, organizational consultant, pioneer of contemporary leadership studies, Daniel Goleman (*1946) US American psychologist, science journalist, James O'Toole, Patricia Ward Biederman, US American authors of Transparency: Creating a Culture of Candor, Creating a Transparent Culture, presented by Leader To Leader, No. 50, Fall 2008

 

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Disaster breeding climate of NASA:

The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster on February 1, 2003 was the result of a dominating rankist climate within NASA. The investigative commission concluded that no single NASA employee could be found as having "caused" the space accident.

  • "Events" emerge [LoC 600] as a consequence of the inner qualities of content and field, and the explanatory principle of one-to-one causation that dominates our current society is an insufficient explanation for events. The accident involving the insulation of the space shuttle led initially to a search for singular cause or a responsible individual, but none was found. Then, with a brilliant jump of consciousness, the researchers deduced that the event was the impersonal consequence of the "climate" of NASA at the time. [Ref. Headline of International Herald Tribune, 27. August 2003] Dr. David R. Hawkins, Truth vs Falsehood, pg. 56

 

  • [T]here was virtually no discussion about the fact that seven astronauts had their lives at stake. The discussion turned entirely technical. It had very much of a managerial feel to it, and the ethical part of the decision faded from awareness. Video presentation (engl.) by Max Bazerman, Ph.D., US American professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School, Unintended Evil: The Challenger Disaster was Preventable, presented by Big Think, 2:46 minutes duration, posted 21. October 2011

Quotes on Dignity ⇔ Rankism by Robert W. Fuller

Personal avowal

  • When people ask what I do, I'm tempted to blurt out, "My name is Bob and I'm a nobody" — at least while the stigma remains.
    I've come to think of myself as a home for identities. When incubating something, I'm a nobody. When presenting it, I'm a somebody. Being a somebody is like a trip to the big city – exciting, but taxing. After a while it's nice to leave the commotion behind and go back where I'm most comfortable and most alive. I count this as the biggest surprise of my life.
    Growing up, I always expected to be the same somebody for life, like my father. But at fifty I could look back and identify several different somebodies that had used me to make one case or another. Now, a decade later, I see movements between somebody and nobody as a natural part of the life cycle of any contemporary questing person.
    Robert Fuller, Ph.D., presented by GBN Global Business Network, quoted from Somebodies and Nobodies

 

The Demise of an "Ism"

  • Let me use my own family to illustrate how an "ism" can lose its grip:
    • My great-grandparents regarded racist slurs as self-evident truths.
    • My grandparents didn't parade their racism, but used the N-word.
    • My parents muted racism in their speech, but it lurked in their hearts.
    • I grew up committed to civil rights, but was initially perplexed by slogans like "Black is Beautiful" and by Gay Pride celebrations.
    • My children dated interracially.
    • My grandchildren are of different races, and don't understand what the fuss is about. They wouldn't object if MLK-day were skipped now and then, not because they find fault with its ideals, but because it's belaboring something they already know.
  • Everyone has value.

 

  • Dignity is a halfway-house between liberty and justice.

 

  • The predatory impulse to put people down is failing us now.

 

  • What is rankism?
    Rankism is what Somebodies do to people they take for nobodies.
    1. Racism – whites putting and keeping non-whites down
    2. Sexism – males limiting and disadvantaging females
    3. Ageism – patronizing the young, condescending to the elderly
    4. Anti-Semitism – discriminating against Jews
    5. Classism [class war] – putting down people on the basis of differences in class
    6. Homophobia – heterosexuals demeaning gays and lesbians
    7. Ableism – humiliating people with disabilities
    8. Colonialism – subordinating and exploiting another society or nation
    9. Workplace and schoolyard bullying
    10. Sexual harassment, child abuse, and domestic violence
    11. Corporate, bureaucratic, and political corruption
    12. [...]

 

  • Nobodies of the world unite! We have nothing to lose but our shame.

 

  • The strongest defense is not giving offense.

 

  • We happen to live in a time when the Golden Rule is no longer optional. It's becoming mandatory. We're going to begin living up to it in the next twenty or thirty years all over the world. It's one of those things which arises everywhere simultaneously. It's in the air.

 

  • Rankism won't be eliminated over night. […] It will take 4-6 generations to change the deep hard wiring in our brains and the 21st century to grow into a dignitarian society model.

 

  • One can hold high rank and not abuse it. George Washington [Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., etc.] did not abuse his power, he led by example.

 

 

  • Doctors are M.D.s not M.Deities.

 

  • We love people of high rank who use it well and serve the group. I am not saying everybody is equal, we are actually radically unequal. That is no basis to subjecting them to indignity. Rank helps to make these distinctions.

 

  • It is dangerous to be an uppity Nobody.

 

  • You have to find some enlightened leader in the company who outranks the bully.

 

  • Until you name it, you don’t notice it. In the 1960s, for instance, women were constantly experiencing indignities, both personal and institutional. Then they gave it a name: sexism. And through the power of naming it, feminists broke its hold on society. Interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 1, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007  

 

  • Rankism is abuse of the power inherent in rank [...] and any kind of domination wherein "somebodies" use their position to demean and exploit "nobodies" (who have lower status). [...] The abuse of rank, which is rampant in our culture, is the source of an immense amount of unacknowledged and unnecessary suffering and organizational dysfunction. Interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 1, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007  

 

  • Status is relative. […] Nearly every “nobody” is looking for someone that he or she can feel superior to. Interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 1, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007   

 

  • All the various, seemingly disparate forms of discrimination [i.e. segregation, patriarchy, homophobia] actually have one common root – the presumption and assertion of rank to the detriment of others. Robert Fuller, Ph.D., The Dignitarian University, page 1, around 2007

 

  • Rankism is like racism in that although it has been around a long time, it can be disallowed and eventually overcome.
    It’s been a survival technique throughout history to prey upon the weak — to enslave them or exploit them. In our culture, we no longer enslave others, but we still exploit them. Interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 1, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007  

 

  • Any organization that encourages or tolerates rankism is systematically undermining the creativity and productivity of its own people. Interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 1, presented by strategy+business leading ideas online, 13. February 2007

 

  • A dignitarian environment might mean paying employees more fairly. It might mean the kind of humility that Jim Collins wrote about in his book Good to Great (HarperBusiness, 2001) as "Level Five leadership." It might mean more transparency about salaries and about the unacceptability of firing or demoting people for speaking their mind. Interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 1, presented by strategy+business leading ideas online, 13. February 2007

 

  • Over the next half-century or so, poor nations will find ways to force the developed world to grant them comparable dignity, much as blacks and women did in the last 50 years, and as gays are doing now. In most parts of the world, it is no longer acceptable to insult the members of these groups. At some point, that will be true for any human being. Interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 1, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007  

 

  • In the present rankist environment, the loss of one’s job can be a terrible blow to one’s dignity. Interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 2, presented by strategy+business, February 13, 2007  

 

  • Tenure is unfair to the young, much as “whites only” signs were unfair to blacks. Interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 2, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007  

 

  • It’s time to shift the focus from job security to the broader notion of dignity security, and take steps to protect dignity when, inevitably, changes occur in the particular roles and ranks we hold. Interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 2, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007  

 

  • Antidiscrimination laws were a significant step for the civil rights movement. Interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 2, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007

 

  • Organizations are not going to become dignitarian overnight. In many of them, rankism is still below the radar. But giving it a name may help them evolve. Interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 3, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007

 

  • Until the abuse of rank is recognized as no more legitimate than abuse based on traits like color and gender, rankism will continue to exact a toll on health, happiness, and productivity. Interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 3, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007

 

  • A dignitarian era is coming, because, in the end, most people don’t want to live in a world in which their dignity depends on either superficial traits or rank. Since we are, all of us, once and future nobodies, it’s in our interest to make our institutions and our society less rankist and more dignitarian. Interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 3, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007

 


 

  • Rankism is contextual. Most of the time, no matter how high up we are, we can look around and see someone of higher rank than we are. [...] a famous singer came to see the president of the United States [in the White House]. I watched as each of these extraordinarily powerful and famous men began to feel insecure around each other, clearly feeling like a nobody in comparison to the somebody they thought they were shaking hands with. Interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., Standing Up to RANKISM, Pamela Gerloff, Project on Civic Reflection, More Than Money Archive, Issue 35

 

  • Rankism is felt as a lack of dignity. You experience your relative worthlessness; you feel you are worth less as a person when someone treats you in a rankist way. Interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., Standing Up to RANKISM, Pamela Gerloff, Project on Civic Reflection, More Than Money Archive, Issue 35

 

  • Institutional rankism is the rankism we encounter when we deal with bureaucracies, nonprofit organizations, schools, hospitals, churches, and governments. In police states it takes the form of exploitation and oppression of the citizenry. In democracies it consists of the daily indignities of dealing with institutions whose de facto goal is self-preservation and aggrandizement rather than service. Interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., Standing Up to RANKISM, Pamela Gerloff, Project on Civic Reflection, More Than Money Archive, Issue 35

 

  • You can't end rankism with rankism.
    To actually end rankism, you have to preserve the dignity of perpetrators while offering correction. You have to protect other people's dignity as you would have them protect yours. It's like the golden rule. Interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., Standing Up to RANKISM, Pamela Gerloff, Project on Civic Reflection, More Than Money Archive, Issue 35

 

  • It is because rankism encompasses the other -isms that I say that whoever identifies rankism and sets out to overcome it is going to lead the world in the next century. Interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., Standing Up to RANKISM, Pamela Gerloff, Project on Civic Reflection, More Than Money Archive, Issue 35

 

  • We only hate in others – whether in individuals or whole peoples – what we cannot accept in ourselves. […] We need our enemies in order to complete ourselves. […]
    As the sense of threat diminishes, we redesignate our former "enemies" as "adversaries." With the first hint of positive mutual value, "adversaries" become "rivals," a term which acknowledges each as a secret teacher of the other. Finally "rivals," recognizing their mutual dependency, come to see themselves as "partners."  […]
    We'll have to transcend global civil war not by allying ourselves with former enemies in the face of a new enemy, but by learning enough about our adversaries to establish forbearance for the differences that have, during these first close encounters, so scared and agitated us. Interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., A Better Game Than War. Understanding the origin of our "fear of the other" may lead us to the elimination of war, David Hoffman, Magazine In Context, The Foundations Of Peace (IC#4) pg. 18, Autumn 1983

 

  • The lens of race highlights the well-known injustices of racism. The lens of rank reveals the less well recognized indignities of rankism. [...] Rank, in itself, is not the problem. Like race, rank is just a fact of life. Rank tells us who's in charge. [...] The problem lies not with rank per se, but in rank abuse. Rankism is the principal source of man-made indignity. Interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., US American physicist, president of Oberlin College, rankism and dignity researcher, Rankism: The Elephant in Professor Gates's House, presented Huffington Post, 27. July 2009

 

  • Dignitarian governance does not necessarily mean giving everyone a vote on every issue, but it does mean giving everyone a voice. To ensure those voices are heard generally requires having at least some voting representatives from each of the organization’s constituencies serving at every level of its governance. This is sometimes referred to as multi-stakeholder or collaborative problem-solving. Robert Fuller, Ph.D., The Dignitarian University, page 14, around 2007

 

  • I think it will soon become anybody's business to be against, to be alert to any form of rankism and to disallow it. Radio interview with Robert W. Fuller, Ph.D., dignity researcher, Recognizing Rankism/Global Affairs, part 3, presented by radio station KPFA, Berkeley, CA, aired 8. May 2000

 

  • Andrew Grove at Intel insists that every 20-year-old can tell him that he's wrong on anything technical. The slogan in many of the best firms in Silicon Valley companies is: The only boss is a better idea.
    That's where we are all headed. We are not there yet. Radio interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., dignity researcher, Rankism on the Defensive, part 9, presented by radio station KPFA, Berkeley, CA, aired 8. May 2000

 

  • When you get power the very possession shields you from a meaningful interaction from the people over whom you hold it. They're shy around you. They won't tell you the truth. They won't tell you when you're stupid. Radio interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., Rankism on the Defensive, part 9, presented by radio station KPFA, Berkeley, CA, aired 8. May 2000

 

  • The first thing that happens is when people get power they notice that they are now insulated from retribution when they abuse their power is that they indulge themselves in it. Twenty years later you've got Stalin, you have a despot. [...] Every increment of power added puts the perpetrator in a position to abuse it even more and continue to get away with it. That's in the nature of power. Radio interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., Rankism on the Defensive, part 9, presented by radio station KPFA, Berkeley, CA, aired 8. May 2000

 

  • All rankism is bullying of one form or another. But you always have to
    1. either risk your own self in opposing it – being an uppity nobody – or
    2. you have to quietly organize a group of other nobodies to stand with you against the abuse of rank.
Training ourselves to do the latter thing is the evolution of democracy. [...] We do have a recourse in this country, when officials abuse their power, we diselect them. [...] but not so in hospitals, in schools, in families, in work places. We need to build recourse so that rankism, when it first rears its ugly head, immediately is challenged. [...] Challenging rankism doesn't prove it's rankism, but it sure puts it on the defensive. Putting racism, sexism on the defensive was good enough.
Radio audio interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., Rankism on the Defensive, part 9, presented by radio station KPFA, Berkeley, CA, aired 8. May 2000

 

  • Once you get rid of rankism rank gets the honor it really deserves. It is always a sign of earned and maintained excellence. Radio audio interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., Rankism on the Defensive, part 9, presented by radio station KPFA, Berkeley, CA, aired 8. May 2000

 

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Equality issue:

Inequality of ranks vs. equality of dignity and equality before the law

  • We are equal in dignity. We're unequal in almost every other respect we can think of. But we are equal in dignity. […] To go after equality [as such] is too general. Equality before the law, that's an essential part of dignity. Video interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., US American rankism and dignity researcher, Somebodies and Nobodies, presented by Cal Poly Tech University Pomona, California, Hot Talk, host Saul Landau, US American journalist, filmmaker, commentator, professor emeritus, minute 10:26 and minute 25:55, 28:07 minutes duration, aired end 2002

 

  • Rank and authority aren't really the problem. It is the abuse of rank that is always the problem and is what I call rankism. […] Without rank we collapse into a kind of anarchy. […] We need rank to coordinate ourselves. […] There is nothing wrong with rank when it signifies excellence. But that doesn't mean that the high ranking people get to abuse their rank and bully the lower ranking people. Video interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., US American rankism and dignity researcher, Somebodies and Nobodies, presented by Cal Poly Tech University Pomona, California, Hot Talk, host Saul Landau, US American journalist, filmmaker, commentator, professor emeritus, minute 6:27, 28:07 minutes duration, aired end 2002

 

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Triages: Intervening vs. countervening the law

Diligence of differentiating in case of military interventions

  • You have to discriminate [in the case of very difficult moral choices]. And it's very difficult. […] [Example: Ending the terror regime of Nazi Germany] There was one voice that did say that [Stop it!]. It was Churchill's [LoC 510] voice. He was right, too. […] Intervention is not always wrong but you have to do it with the greatest care. What we need is a new frame work that could guide it and limit the tendency of America to act like a bully because it can get away with it. Video interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., US American rankism and dignity researcher, Somebodies and Nobodies, presented by Cal Poly Tech University Pomona, California, Hot Talk, host Saul Landau, US American journalist, filmmaker, commentator, professor emeritus, minute 19:59, 28:07 minutes duration, aired end 2002

 

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Differentiating Dignitarian policy vs. Marxism

Key phrase: Nobodies of the world unite! We have nothing to lose but our shame.

  • [The dignity approach] is not a class based argument. It's is not proletariat versus aristocracy or anything remotely Marxist. It's a different divide. It's the divide along power as signified by rank […]. The high rank people [in the organisations] are at liberty to abuse lower rank people. Not that all of them do it. By no means do they. Many people instinctively respect other's dignity. But they can get away with it and it is still sanctioned. Video interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., US American rankism and dignity researcher, Somebodies and Nobodies, presented by Cal Poly Tech University Pomona, California, Hot Talk, host Saul Landau, US American journalist, filmmaker, commentator, professor emeritus, minute 4:12, 28:07 minutes duration, aired end 2002

 

 

  • Religion teaches dignity; theology sometimes promotes indignity. When Islam was first introduced it championed women’s liberation (See Huston Smith’s Religions of the World which points out that Mohammed’s wife had a very big hand in writing it). Some Islamic theologians have since interpreted it in ways that oppress women, but that’s politics operating under the guise of religion (as it does in every religion). In their core beliefs, religions have all been a powerful force for recognizing the universal and non-negotiable dignity of Man. Dignity's Apostle: My Interview With Author Robert W. Fuller, presented by Intrepid Liberal Journal, blogspot by Robert Ellmann, Saturday, 20. May 2006  

 

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Rankism defeated:

Exemplified on the fall of TV talker Don Imus

  • Something new is happening where the predatory strategy [to put people down] which we followed for millions of years is finally failing us. Why? Because the people we take for nobodies are getting too powerful. It always takes the mobilization of countervailing power to stop one of these systemic types of abuse. Video presentation by Robert Fuller, Ph.D., US American rankism and dignity researcher, Media Watch: Rankism, presented by Linkmedia, YouTube film, minute 2:05, 4:34 minutes duration, posted 17. April 2007

 

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Dignitarian politics

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Rankism defeated:

Exemplified on the fall of TV talker Don Imus

  • A dignitarian society which actually sees to it that everyone experiences equal dignity is a different society than a democratic society. But it's within reach. And I think it is democracy's next natural evolutionary step to build a dignitarian society that goes beyond a democratic society and actually disallows rankism in all of society. Video presentation by Robert Fuller, Ph.D., US American rankism and dignity researcher, Media Watch: Rankism, presented by Linkmedia, YouTube film, minute 3:39, 4:34 minutes duration, posted 17. April 2007

 

 

 

  • The ill-effects of rigid work schedules, inequitable pay, and other demeaning practices are now the subject of a growing body of research documenting the damage done not only to individual employees but to the companies for which they work. It turns out that rankism – the rank-based discrimination and abuse to which most indignities can be traced – is no better for the bottom line than racism, sexism, and homophobia. All the discriminatory “isms” are self-inflicted wounds that drain away the life-blood of enterprises harboring them. Robert W. Fuller Ph.D., The Dignity of Work. Transforming the one-size-fits-all workhouse into a custom-fit workplace, 23. August 2010

 

'Dignity for all' principles

  • Dignity is a basic need.
  • Rankism begets rankism. The human tendency is to respond to rankism with rankism.
  • Dignity works.
    Dignity oriented businesses, organizations, and community groups are more productive, peaceful, and resilient than those that allow rankist behavior.
  • Always keep others’ dignity intact.
    “The Golden Rule”: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
  • Proactive is more effective than reactive.
  • A paternalistic system is inherently rankist, no matter how benevolent it may be.
  • Rankism creates a dysfunctional system.
  • To create “tipping point change,” focus in one area until it “tips.”
  • Allow everyone a voice – and listen attentively.
  • Teach, learn – and tell others.
Robert Fuller, Ph.D., US American physicist, president of Oberlin College, and Pamela A. Gerloff, rankism and dignity researchers, Be a dignitarian. We can overcome rankism and build a world that honors the dignity of every person, presented by Unitarian Universalism uuworld.org, 11. January 2008

 

  • Most valuable to us are people in whom our faults are writ so large that we recognize ourselves in them. They're easy to spot: we hate them. Robert Fuller, Ph.D., US American physicist, president of Oberlin College, rankism and dignity researcher, comment on Twitter, 6. February 2010

 

  • We know dignity through its absence – indignity. With our first taste of indignity, we begin a lifelong vigil to shield ourselves from putdowns, ridicule, and exploitation. Yet indignities are still widely condoned. Humiliation is the staple of television entertainment. For many viewers, watching the degradation of others helps them cope with the daily dose of indignity they are putting up with themselves. Robert Fuller, Ph.D., US American physicist, president of Oberlin College, rankism and dignity researcher, The Dignity Movement Finds Its Feet, presented Huffington Post, 6. March 2011  

 

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Liberating nobodies, minorities, and women ༺♥༻ Balancing of the subdued right hemisphere. :

  • The dignity movement can be seen as nobodies' liberation. Robert Fuller, Ph.D., US American physicist, president of Oberlin College, rankism and dignity researcher, author, The Dignity Revolution, UC-Berkeley, presented by TEDx Berkeley, aired 19. February 2011, YouTube film, 19:41 minutes duration, posted 23. March 2011

 

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Universalizing dignity: a task for the Left and the Right parties and the left and right hemispheres

  • Equal dignity is grounded in the fact of our dependence upon specialization and cooperation for survival, or, more fundamentally, in the co-creation of our very identities. This suggests that both the Left and the Right have equal stakes in, and responsibility for, universalizing dignity. Robert Fuller, Ph.D., US American physicist, president of Oberlin College, rankism and dignity researcher, author, The Source of Indignity, presented by The Huffington Post, 12. April 2013

Reversing the SomebodyNobody mind set

Outgrowing poverty by The Power of Dignity

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Historical note on microlending:

US president Benjamin Franklin was the first one to create microlending in 1789.

Economist Prof. Muhammad Yunus at the Chittagong University in Bangladesh,  Peace Nobel Prize Laureate (2006) purports the idea of the Social Business Company [see Caring Economics by Riane Eisler].
Concluding that the traditional banking system is keeping the imbalance of poverty in place within a male dominated Islamic Bangladesh Yunus works towards a selfless business. Whereas the lending institutions refuse to give loans to the poor the founder of the Grameen Bank invests in giving rather than taking. He subsequently invented micro financing.

 

At conception Yunus stipulated a 50:50 ratio of microcredits to be given to women and men alike. Surrounded by skeptics visionary Yunus reports, "My students did not believe the 50:50 ratio male:female was attainable."
At first, the poor women were reticent to accept loans due to cultural pressures and low self esteem. The social minded banker coached them patiently for six years which helped to change their mindset. Then they were willing to assume an entrepreneurial role.

 

The Grameen Bank

  • exists since 1983.
  • practices selfless economy, a concept that won the Nobel Prize in 2006.
  • works like a caring cooperative.
  • gives loans to start a small business.
  • hands out micro-credits i.e. small loans of 35 US$ each.
  • gives out loans worth 100 $ million each month.
  • has creditors who are part owners.
  • has share holders who are the lenders themselves.
  • pays profits back as dividends to its share holders.
  • has encouraged poor women to overcome their timid minds for 6 years.
  • fulfilled its vision to give out equally shared loans to men and women alike. 50:50 ratio [status 1990]
  • has 8 million poor borrowers. [status 2009]
  • 3% of the borrowers are male, 97% of the borrowers are female. [status 2009]
  • enjoys a repayment rate of just below 99%. [status 2009]

 

  • Poverty is not created by poor people. There is something lacking in the system that creates and perpetuates poverty. […] Poor people are Bonsai People, without a base, the Bonsai trees are stunted and cannot grow.

 

  • Humans possess selfishness but also selflessness. [Conventional] Business is based on selfishness. The concept of business is to make money. Human beings are not money making machines. […]
    We normally ask a CEO how much money have we made? With Social Business, we ask: How many people have we helped?
    Source: Presentation by Muhammad Yunus, Ph.D. (*1940) Bangladeshi professor of economy, Chittagong University, founder of the Grameen Bank, microcredit institution, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, 2006, Financial Services and Psychology, Sigmund Freud University (SFU), Vienna, 24. May 2009, article by John Morris, Using psychology to tackle the roots of poverty, Austrian Times, 31. May 2009

 

  • We have to get out of this [rankist] mindset that the rich will do the business and the poor will have the charity. Muhammad Yunus, Ph.D. (*1940) Bangladeshi professor of economy, Chittagong University, founder of the Grameen Bank, microcredit institution, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, 2006, source unknown

Quotes on 'women embracing dignity for all'

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Women rising

  • Women’s marvellous power is lying dormant. If the women of Asia wake up, they will dazzle the world. My experiment in non-violence would be instantly successful if I could secure women’s help. Mohandas Karamchand Mahatma Gandhi [LoC 760] (1869-1948) Indian sage, spiritual activist leader, humanitarian, lawyer, nonviolent freedom fighter, presented by gandhitopia.org

 

 

  • At first, women are scared to death to try. Peer support and encouragement of Grameen Bankers helps success. […] If a woman tries, and is successful, it will snowball.
    Source: Presentation by Muhammad Yunus, Ph.D. (*1940) Bangladeshi professor of economy, Chittagong University, founder of the Grameen Bank, microcredit institution, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, 2006, Financial Services and Psychology, Sigmund Freud University (SFU), Vienna, 24. May 2009, article by John Morris, Using psychology to tackle the roots of poverty, Austrian Times, 31. May 2009

 

  • The world is awakening to a powerful truth: Women and girls aren’t the problem; they’re the solution. Nicholas D. Kristof (*1959) US American journalist, New York Times, op-ed columnist, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, author, Sheryl WuDunn, former Times correspondent, philanthropy expert, The Women’s Crusade, presented by New York Times, 23. August 2009

Conventional Banking (Me) ⇔ Social Banking (No-me / We / Other)

REVERSAL of Me-BANKING PRINCIPLES – Conversion to others / aliens


Profit Maximising BusinessSocial Business
Reptilian Marketing  ⇔ Caring Economics

Fields Private Banking

Somebodies / Haves
Father Principle
Social Banking
exemplified by Grameen Bank
Nobodies / Have-nots
Mother Principle
Focus onStatusmattermoneySoulconnectivitymeaning
OwnershipPrivately owned conventional banksCollectively owned social banks
OwnershipSomebodies – a few rich menNobodies – many of the poorest women
Business strategiesProfit maximising for self
[Money – matter]
People business / caring economics for others
[ Meaningsoul]
Business strategiesBorrowing money from outside / government bailouts
[Business as usual]
Self-sustenance, self-sufficiency
[Banking phenomenon]
Business strategiesBig credits extended to haves
[Ocean tanker]
Microloans to have-nots
[Dingy boats on shallow waters]
Customer / borrower policyMistrust, digging in the past (credit histories) Trust in future developments
Customer / borrower policyCollateralsNo credit guarantees requested
Customer / borrower policyEngaging encashment lawyersNo encashment lawyers needed
Customer / borrower policyBusiness plan required
from literate mainly male borrowers
No business plan required
from unexperienced, uneducated borrowers
InfrastructureStationary bank buildings in cities receive customers.Traveling bank agents go into the villages to address the poorest.
Philosophy – PrinciplesDebt consciousness
Materialism

Belief in deficiency / shortage
Trust consciousness
Dignitarian approach

Belief in abundance
Philosophy – PrinciplesClassism, inequality / power gap, poverty, debt systemInclusivity, ending of poverty by 2030
Idea of manOne-dimensional money making human beingMultidimensional complete human being
Ruling – lawDeregulation / existing bank laws Creating new banking laws / renewed legislation

 

The less you have the more attractive you are.
If you have nothing you get the highest priority.

M. Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank

 

We must honestly admit that capitalism has often left a gulf between superfluous wealth and abject poverty, has created conditions permitting necessities to be taken from the many to give luxuries to the few, and has encouraged small hearted men to become cold and conscienceless so that, like Dives before Lazarus, they are unmoved by suffering, poverty-stricken humanity. The profit motive, when it is the sole basis of an economic system, encourages a cutthroat competition and selfish ambition that inspire men to be more I-centered than thou-centered.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) US American clergyman, activist, leader of the African American civil rights movement

 

Video sources:
► Excerpted from video presentation by Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, founder of The Grameen Bank, Creating a World Without Poverty, explaining the "social business" model addressing social issues through entrepreneurship, mainly chapter 4, 5:55 minutes (minute 10:11-16:00) presented by Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco, CA, non-profit educational organization, and Link TV, recorded by ForaTV, 1:02:52 minutes duration, posted 1. May 2008
► Video lecture by Muhammad Yunus, founder and managing director of Grameen Bank, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Creating a World Without Poverty, presented by Committee on Global Thought (CGT), Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), co-sponsored by Center for the Study of Human Rights, Center for the Humanities, filmed by UChannel, 27. January 2009, YouTube film, 1:11:00 duration, posted 19. February 2009
Book Englisch/German:
Muhammad Yunus, Creating a World Without Poverty. Social Business and the Future of Capitalism, Perseus Books Group, 7. January 2008

 

Correspondences:
►  Crisis Response – 4 Dimensions of Systems Change – Otto Scharmer – Matrix of Crisis Response
Two versions of Darwin's Evolutionary Theory – Dr. David Loye
Adolescent Self-interest-driven Reduced Darwinism (1859) ⇔ Darwinism rediscovered based on Mature Mutuality (2007)

 

Similar providers:
Kiva.org
Martin Burt starts microcredit in Paraguay, YouTube film, 7:39 minutes duration, posted April 2007
Foundation Paraguay has supported 30,000 micro-entrepreneurs who have created 19,000 new jobs. Its Junior Achievement program has helped build the entrepreneurial skills of more than 50,000 young people.
Small U.S. businesses thrive with Ethiopian woman's help, CNN.com/Heroes, 26. June 2009
► Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times, Op-Ed columnist, and Sheryl WuDunn, former Times correspondent, philanthropy expert, authors of  Half the Sky. Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, publisher Alfred A. Knopf, September 2009, The Women’s Crusade, presented by New York Times, 23. August 2009

Changeover

The old
profit maximizing
exclusive
dominating
corrupted system
is declining.

 

The new
holistic, regenerative
caring, social
dignitarian equality based
inclusive system
is rising.


 

Dignity outweighs wealth

Jacqueline Novogratz, an idealist young woman from Wall Street, went on 'a mission to save the third world'.
The poor women from The Ivory Coast sent her away saying:

Africans don't want saving – thank you very much – at least not by you.

 

This taught her the humility to start listening.
In Kenya she found a bakery run by a classic charity organization which occupied twenty prostitutes who in fact were unwed mothers struggling to survive.
There Novogratz began to understand the power of language.
Her insight is:

What we call people so often distances them from us and makes them little.

 

Jacqueline Novogratz learned three lessons from the Africans:

  1. Dignity is more important to the human spirit than wealth. [...]
    People want to be seen and heard and given the dignity of choice.
  2. Traditional charity and aid alone will not solve the problems of poverty.
  3. Markets alone will also not solve the problems of poverty.
    [...] As people get wealthier they also get healthier.

 

Video presentation by Jacqueline Novogratz, pioneer of “market-based” philanthropy, founder of Acumen raising 20,000 jobs, Tackling poverty with "patient capital", TED Talks, starting at minute 3:38, 18:35 minutes duration, filmed June 2007, posted August 2007

Misconceiving human dignity with outer wealth

  • Real poverty lives within. Poverty […] can include a lack of clean water, adequate food, shelter, clothing and productive employment. […] At its core we [the westerners] hold poverty as a misconception that inner human dignity equates with outer material wealth. […] Paradoxically, because our own inner dignity is built upon our wealth we are ill equipped to help the world’s poor develop its own dignity. Even at low material living standards we can offer […] and foster inner dignity among the material poor. But those in the developed world actually perpetuate the suffering of poverty if we don’t change our own perception that human dignity is not available at all levels of material progress. They are us.
    Talk between Martin Burt, social entrepreneur in Paraguay, founder and CEO of Fundacion Paraguaya, 1985, and Ken Wilber, US American integral philosopher, The End of Poverty, 33 minutes duration, January 2010

Income and status gap in 21 (23) of the rich developed countries worldwide – Wilkinson und Pickett

How much richer are the top 20% in highly developed countries than the poorest 20%?
Least income gap inx Small income gap inxMiddle range income gap inxBig income gap inxHuge income gap inx
Japan3.4Belgium4.6France5.6Ireland6.1.Australia7.0
Finland3.7Austria4.8Canada5.6Greece6.2UK7.2
Norway3.9Germany5.2Spain5.6Italy6.7Portugal8.0
Sweden4.0Netherlands5.3Switzerland5.7Israel6.8USA8.5
Denmark4.3    New Zealand6.8Singapore9.7

 

After 30 years of research British socioepidemiologists Richard Wilkinson, Ph.D. and Kate Pickett, Ph.D. found in wealthy countries and also in the 50 US American states ONE unilateral factor prevalent with (mainly) all social maladies:
Social inequality.

Correlation: the bigger a nation's income gap interrelated with its concordant dignity gradient is
the bigger are its failures in regard to health, human capital, and social relations.

 

Richard Wilkinson, Ph.D. (*1943) British professor emeritus of social epidemiology, University of Nottingham, economy historian, researcher of inequality data in health and social determinants, How economic inequality harms societies, presented by TED Talks, YouTube film, minute 2:58, 16:55 minutes duration, filmed July 2011, posted 24. October 2011
Economic inequality and status anxiety resulting in trouble spots of human life
No.HealthHuman CapitalSocial Relations
1.ObesityChild wellbeingPoverty
2.Infant mortalityTeenage pregnancies and births
(1-10, tenfold difference)
Child conflict
3.Stress
Anxiety, Depression
Math and literacy scores
Educational standards
Violence and homicides
(15-150)
4.Life expectancyHigh school drop outsCrime rate, punishment, imprisonment
(40-400 out of 100,000 inhabitants; tenfold difference)
5.Mental illness
(1-3; threefold difference)
Social mobility
(Father's income influences career.)
Corruption and „Mutual trust
(60-65%-15%; 4-fold difference)
6.Drug and alcohol addictionSocial capital, Community relations 
7.Disease rate  

 

Richard Wilkinson, Ph.D. (*1943) British professor Emeritus of social epidemiology, University of Nottingham, researcher of inequality data in health and social determinants, How economic inequality harms societies, presented by TED Talks, YouTube film, 16:55 minutes duration, filmed July 2011, posted 24. October 2011

 

Source:
Richard Wilkinson, Ph.D. (*1943) British professor Emeritus of social epidemiology, University of Nottingham, researcher of inequality data in health and social determinants, Kate Pickett, Ph.D., British epidemiologist, University of York, The Spirit Level. Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better, Bloomsbury Press, 22. December 2009
Wikipedia entry: The Spirit Level: ... Why Equality is Better for Everyone, updated version, 2010

 

Wellbeing status in countries 2010
Ranking of countriesCountries
1.THRIVING 1. Denmark 72% (most happy) – 2. Sweden 69% – 3. Canada 69%
4. Australia 65% – 5. Finland 64% – 6. Venezuela 64%
2.MOST UNHAPPY
End of the list
Haiti 2% – Central African Republic 2% – Chad 1%

Source: High Wellbeing Eludes the Masses in Most Countries Worldwide.
Majorities in 19 out of 124 countries "thriving," mostly in Europe and the Americas
, Gallup.com, Julie Ray 19. April  2011

Dignity culturePride culture

Quotations Meaning
I'm not everyone! Pride, Fear of humiliation
Well, that's true –
you're certainly not everyone, and
everyone is everyone.
Dignified humility,
Valuation of the individual by appreciating all
This was supposed to be fun. That's all it ever was. Ego-centered, not connected to the whole
Find the joy in your life, Edward. Visionquest
I'm deeply proud that this man
found it worth his while to know me.
Gratefulness pervaded by pride
He saved my life.
And he knew it before I did.
Pride transcended by gratefulness and reverence

Legend:

Billionaire Edward Cole (PRIDE – FUN – ME ⇔ YOU – THEM STRUCTURE)
Mechanic Carter Chambers (DIGNITY – JOY – WE CULTURE)

Quoted from the movie The Bucket List,
YouTube clip The Bucket List – Ending, Memorable quotes from The Bucket List, 2007

Healing story – The reconciliation between Hercules and Hydra

The story of the hero Hercules and the multi-headed Hydra of Lerna

 

Before embarking on his mission to terminate the terrorizing nine-headed watersnake Hydra, the Greek hero Hercules consulted with his mentor, the centaur Chiron. He advised him:

Not common means will serve here; destroy one head, two grow apace. So be aware:
We rise by kneeling,
we conquer by surrendering,
we gain by giving up.

 

Hercules' linear mindset was puzzled. Unversed in how to apply such a paradoxical counsel he dismissed it first.

 


Heracles and the Hydra, Paestan black-figure hydra
6th BC, J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu

He invested into traditional war making by sending a flood of arrows into Hydra's cavern. This strategy had failed, since the sea-snake did not emerge.
Next Hercules dipped his arrows in burning pitch, to rain them into the cavern of perpetual night, the entrance to the Underworld. The monster furiously appeared with nine angry heads breathing flame.
Whenever the hero, wearing a rag over his mouth to protect him from the fuming breath – coming from above and from outside – cut off one of its heads with his sword two new heads instantly grew from the bleeding stump.

 

Exposed to the known means of sheer violent force, willpower, or intellect, Hydra had grown stronger. It could not be terminated with self-righteous supremacy or the mindset of 'We against Them'.

 

Only when Hercules started to faint from exhaustion, he was finally willing to change his approach following Chiron's advice after all.
He knelt right into the mud with Hydra. From a level headed position he grasped one of Hydra's heads under the mud with his bare hands and pulled it out above him. Suspended in mid-air and plain daylight it withered away and dropped off by the wind. And so he continued with exposing the other heads following the humble path. Made conscious and owned by both sides the Hydra's heads were not dangerous any more. His nephew Iolaus lit a torch and burned the stumps after the heads were gone, which prevented them from growing back. Hydra's destructive force was defeated, when the ninth head, still fiercely hissing, was severed.

 

Hercules estimated this mystically immortal head as a jewel and sheltered it beneath a rock. So the victory was won. The sea-monster had taught him a lesson and he had taken it well.


 

  • You can't end rankism with rankism.
    To actually end rankism, you have to preserve the dignity of perpetrators while offering correction. You have to protect other people's dignity as you would have them protect yours. It's like the golden rule. Interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D. dignityforall.org breakingranks.net (*1936) US American professor in physics, college president, dignity and rankism researcher, lecturer, author, Standing Up to RANKISM, presentedd by, Project on Civic Reflection, More Than Money Archive, Pamela Gerloff, Issue 35

 

  • The psychological rule says that when an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside, as fate. That is to say, when the individual remains undivided and does not become conscious of his inner opposite, the world must per force act out the conflict and be torn into opposing halves. Carl Gustav Jung [LoC 520/540] (1875-1961) Swiss psychiatrist, psychoanalytist, depth psychologist, The Symbolic Life: Miscellaneous Writings (The Collected Works of C. G. Jung, Christ, A Symbol of the Self, volume 9ii, par. 126, Princeton University Press, 1. February 1977

 

  • We have met the enemy, and he is us. Walt Kelly (1913-1973) US American cartoon writer, character 'Pogo', the classic comic strip

The dichotomy between Somebody ∞ Nobody ⇔ Everything ∞ Nothing

Conversation between an ordinary guy and a TV known nameless futurist
Hey, you're somebody.
No, I'm nobody.
I saw you on TV.
What's your name?
My name is Watts Wacker.
You're right. You are a nobody.

 

><)))°> <°(((><
Source: Watts Wacker, US American futurist, Watts Wacker, Speaker Demo Video,
Google video, minute 0:44, 8:46 minutes duration, posted December 2008

I am a nobody

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us – don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.

Emily Dickinson [Work LoC 435] (1830-1886) US American poet

Void ⇔ Allness

God is nothingness that seeks to become everything.
Jakob Böhme [LoC 555] (1575-1624) German Christian mystic,
philosopher, theologian


The fear of nothingness ⇔ the denial of allness

Out of fear of becoming nothing, consciousness denies
its only reality that it is everything
the infinite, everlasting Allness out of which existence itself arises.

Dr. David R. Hawkins, The Eye of the I, S. 373, 2001


Quotations on (Human) Dignity / Menschenwürde

Quotes from different sources

PRIDE –– "The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector.’" Luke 18, 11 (NT)

 

SHAME –– The tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ Luke 18, 13 (NT)
I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Luke 18, 13 (NT)

 

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See also:

The Gospel of Thomas, translated by Thomas O. Lambdin

Simon Peter said to them, "Make Mary [Magdalene] leave us, for females are not worthy of life."
Jesus said, "Look I shall guide her to make her male so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males.
For every female who makes herself male will enter the Kingdom of Heaven."
Gospel of Thomas [LoC 660], verse 114, translation by Elaine Pagels, Marvin Myer, cit. in: Elaine Pagels, Beyond Belief. The Secret Gospel of Thomas, pg. 241, Random House, 1st edition, 6. May 2003

 

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, presented 10. December 1948

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. Article 12, Declaration of Human Rights

Personal avowals

  • I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities and a thousand unremembered moments produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people. Nelson Mandela [LoC 505] (*1918) former South African anti-apartheid activist, first black president of South Africa (1994-1999), 27 years imprisoned during apartheid, Long Walk to Freedom. The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, Back Bay Books, 2. June 2008

 

  • In every aspect of our lives, we are always asking ourselves, How am I of value? What is my worth? Yet I believe that worthiness is our birthright. Oprah Winfrey [LoC 500] (*1954) US American talk show host, actress, visionary, billionaire, philanthropist

 

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Holocaust survivor

Final statement at the historic visit at the forced labor camp memorial Gedenkstätte Buchenwald in Germany together with President Barack Obama (*1961) 44th US American President, and Angela Merkel (*1954) German chancellor

  • When I was liberated in 1945, April 11, by the American army, somehow many of us were convinced that at least one lesson will have been learned – that never again will there be war; that hatred is not an option, that racism is stupid; and the will to conquer other people's minds or territories or aspirations, that will is meaningless.
    I was so hopeful. Paradoxically, I was so hopeful then. Many of us were, although we had the right to give up on humanity, to give up on culture, to give up on education, to give up on the possibility of living one's life with dignity in a world that has no place for dignity. Video statement by Elie Wiesel (*1928) German-French Jewish writer, professor, political activist, Peace Nobel laureate, Holocaust survivor, presented by TV station MSNBC, 9:41 minutes duration, written transcript, 5. June 2009

 

  • I think I was imprisoned by part of my life that was not a part of what I would say is truth. [...] I stood on top of the heap and said 'I more valuable than you. Hey, I am the director, man. You are just a camera man.' I don't support that anymore. I think we are all part of it. And there can be a little difference but not the kind of difference that I supported. [...] I've gone through some pretty substantial changes which I think have opened me up. I'm more sensitive. I hope that I have walked further down the empathic road. Video interview with Tom Shadyac, Hollywood film director, multimillionaire, truth seeker, who chose service and simplicity after a near-to-death experience in 2007, producer of the documentary I am, I AM, Director Tom Shadyac, presented by DP/30, host David Poland, MCN Videos, YouTube film, minute 4:38, 33:36 minutes duration, posted 11. March 2011

 

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Striving for somebodiness – position, status, money

  • He was impressed easily by position, status, money. He grew up poor and always wanted to be somebody, to make a difference, to prove himself, you know. He has to be historic to justify his life. Marianne Gingrich on her former husband US American politician Newt Gingrich; cited in: Newt Gingrich: The Indispensable Republican, presented by Esquire.com, John H. Richardson, 10. August 2010
  • Brute force, no matter how strongly applied, can never subdue the basic desire for freedom and dignity. Mohandas Karamchand Mahatma Gandhi [LoC 760] (1869-1948) Indian Hindu sage, spiritual activist leader, humanitarian, lawyer, nonviolent freedom fighter

 

(↓)

Note

The Silver rule [reciprocity]

  • Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself.
    子貢問曰、有一言、而可以終身行之者乎。子曰、其恕乎、己所 不欲、勿施於人 Confucius [LoC 590] (551-479 BC) Chinese sage, social philosopher

 

(↓)

Encyclical "Charity in Truth", July 2009:

Pope Benedict called for a new world financial order ( "a profoundly new way of understanding business enterprise") respecting the dignity of workers and looks out for the common good by prioritizing ethics and social responsibility over dividend returns.
He denounced the outsourcing work to the cheapest bidder thereby endangering the rights of workers. He demanded that workers be allowed to organize in unions to protect their rights and guarantee steady, decent employment. Pope urges financial order guided by ethics 7. July 2009

  • Profit is useful if it serves as a means toward an end. Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty. […]
    One of the greatest challenges facing the economy is to achieve the most efficient use — not abuse — of natural resources, based on a realization that the notion of 'efficiency' is not value-free. Pope Benedict XVI [LoC 570] (*1927) German theologian, 265th head of the Roman Catholic Church, since 2005, third encyclical of his pontificate "Charity in Truth", July 2009

 

Fundamental culture: based on human dignity, equality, caring LoC 200+

  • On the fundamental level there are no differences between all human beings. Mentally, emotionally, physically we are the same. On that level there is hardly any reason to fight.

Secondary culture: status based, prideshame based Below LoC 200

  • On the secondary level there are a lot of divisions and barriers. On the secondary level there are different nationalities, different races, different colors, different religions. Within the communities there are the richer, the poorer, the educated, the uneducated, the more respected because of their highly esteemed professions, some are looked down because of their work.
    Many man-made problems, I believe, are due to too much emphasis on the secondary level of differences. We are forgetting the basic oneness of human beings. H.H. 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso [LoC 570] (*1935) Tibetan monk, leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism, Peace Nobel Prize laureate, 1989, Peace Summit, clip 2 of 4 at 2/3rd section, minute 50:13-55:00, Vancouver, Sunday 27. September 2009

 

  • As long as we observe love for others and respect for their rights and dignity in our daily lives, then whether we are learned or unlearned, whether we believe in the Buddha or God, follow some religion or none at all, as long as we have compassion for others and conduct ourselves with restraint out of a sense of responsibility, there is no doubt we will be happy. H.H. 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso [LoC 570] (*1935) Tibetan monk, leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism, Peace Nobel Prize laureate, 1989, Facebook comment, 20. September 2010

 

  • As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Abraham Lincoln [LoC 565] (1809-1865) assassinated 16th US President (1861-1865), abolisher of slavery

 

  • Prison and the authorities conspire to rob each man of his dignity. In and of itself, that assured that I would survive, for any man or institution that tries to rob me of my dignity will lose because I will not part with it at any price or under any pressure. Nelson Mandela (*1918) former South African anti-apartheid activist, first black president of South Africa (1994-1999), Long Walk to Freedom. The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, Back Bay Books, 2. June 2008

 

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Dignitarian politics

Rankism defeated, exemplified on the fall of Don Imus (*1940) US American radio host, humorist

  • A dignitarian society which actually sees to it that everyone experiences equal dignity is a different society than a democratic society. But it's within reach. And I think it is democracy's next natural evolutionary step to build a dignitarian society that goes beyond a democratic society and actually disallows rankism in all of society. Video presentation by Robert Fuller, Ph.D. dignityforall.org breakingranks.net (*1936) US American professor in physics, college president, dignity and rankism researcher, author, lecturer, Media Watch: Rankism, presented by Linkmedia, YouTube film, minute 3:39, 4:34 minutes duration, posted 17. April 2007

 

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Rankism defeated:

Exemplified on the fall of public approval of Don Imus (*1940) US American radio host, humorist

  • Something new is happening where the predatory strategy [to put people down] which we followed for millions of years is finally failing us. Why? Because the people we take for nobodies are getting too powerful. It always takes the mobilization countervailing power to stop one of these systemic types of abuse. Video presentation by Robert Fuller, Ph.D. dignityforall.org breakingranks.net (*1936) US American professor in physics, college president, dignity and rankism researcher, author, lecturer, Media Watch: Rankism, presented by Linkmedia, YouTube film, minute 2:05, 4:34 minutes duration, posted 17. April 2007

 

  • Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them. Aristotle [LoC 498] (384-322 BC) classical Greek pre-Christian philosopher, physician, scientist

 

  • Let not a man guard his dignity, but let his dignity guard him. Ralph Waldo Emerson [LoC 485, work LoC 475] (1803-1882) US American philosopher, Unitarian, lecturer, poet, essayist

 

  • Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction. [...] The chain reaction of evil – hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars – must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) US American Baptist minister, activist, leader of the African American civil rights movement

 

 

  • Your net worth is not your self worth. Your value is not based on your valuables. Video presentation by Father Rick Warren (*1954) US American evangelical Christian minister, Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, CA, philanthropist, bestseller author, Living a life of purpose, presented by TED Talks, 2006, YouTube film, minute 13:56, 21:48 minutes duration, posted 15. April 2008

 

  • The only kind of dignity which is genuine is that which is not diminished by the indifference of others. Dag Hammarskjöld (1905-1961) Swedish statesman, Secretary-General of the United Nations (1953-1961)

 

  • Your position never gives you the right to command. It only imposes on you the duty of so living your life that others may receive your orders without being humiliated. Dag Hammarskjöld (1905-1961) Swedish statesman, Secretary-General of the United Nations (1953-1961)

 

  • Remember this – that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) Roman Emperor (161-180 AD), most important Stoic philosopher

 

  • Awe is an intuition for the dignity of all things, a realization that things not only are what they are but also stand, however remotely, for something supreme. Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-born US American rabbi, leading Jewish theologian and philosopher of the 20th century

 

  • Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself. Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-born US American rabbi, leading Jewish theologian and philosopher of the 20th century

 

  • Where is there dignity unless there is honesty? Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman statesman, political theorist, consul, lawyer, constitutionalist, philosopher, orator, author

 

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Dignity gap

All humans and societies are vulnerable and imperfect. In cruel societies missing out on human dignity vulnerability is seen as weakness, imperfection is seen as inadequacy. Many humans buy into the idea to be "less than", not worthy of belonging.

 

  • We're still living in an 'either-or' culture, not in an 'and' culture. We're still ranking instead of linking. We still have a hierarchical view of life instead of a circle. And actually for most of human history we've lived the other way. It's been about linking, not ranking. The circle [not the pyramidal structure] was the paradigm of society. Gloria Steinem (*1934) leading US American feminist of the new women's movement, visionary and political activist, journalist, writer, @katiecouric: A Woman's World?, presented by US American TV station CBS NEWS, YouTube film, minute 37:29, posted 22. June 2010

 

 

  • Often the same adversaries oppose women’s, anti-racist, environmental, peace, human rights, indigenous, sexual liberation, consumer, children’s rights and other such movements. Yet these movements often remain separate and don’t see their organic linkage. Video presentation by Gloria Steinem (*1934) leading US American feminist of the new women's movement, visionary and political activist, journalist, writer, When Women Are People… and Corporations Are Not: Why the First Inequality Will Also Be the Last, presented by Bioneers Live, host Nina Simons, Bioneers Conference 2011, San Rafael, CA, 14. October 2011, Vimeo video, 35:27 minutes duration, posted 10. November 2011

 

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Appearance: being somebody:

The Somebody : Nobody mystique is based on narcissism.

  • Men go into positions of power to BE SOMEBODY [appear as a somebody].
    Women in power often go into power [postions] to DO SOMETHING different.
    Men that need to be be somebody often have narcisisstic liabilities. They lead a very empty life. They need to be buttressed by these external features around them. Video interview with Drew Pinsky, M.D. (*1958) US American board-certified internist, radio and TV personality, addiction medicine specialist, assistant clinical professor, Keck USC School of Medicine, Dr. Drew on what's next for Weiner, presented by TV station CNN 360°, host Anderson Cooper, minute 3:17, 4:18 minutes duration, aired 16. June 2011

 

  • I have yet to see a serious act of violence that was not provoked by the experience of feeling shamed and humiliated, disrespected and ridiculed, and that did not represent the attempt to prevent or undo this "loss of face" – no matter how severe the punishment, even if it includes death. James Gilligan, Ph.D., US American prison psychiatrist, violence expert, author, Violence. Our Deadly Epidemic and its Causes, pg. 110, Diane Pub Co, February 1996

 

(↓)

Dignified approach even the most violent toward prisoners:

 

  • Dignity is like a perfume; those who use it are scarcely conscious of it. Christina of Sweden (1626-1689) Swedish queen (1632-1654)

 

  • Those who insist on the dignity of their office show they have not deserved it. Baltasar Gracián (1601-1658) Spanish philosopher, Jesuit university teacher, leading Spanish exponent of conceptism, baroque prose writer

 

  • I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose,
    - human liberty as the source of national action,
    - the human heart as the source of national compassion, and
    - in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas.
    John F. Kennedy [LoC 430] (1917-1963) assassinated 35th US American president (1917-1963)

 

  • Scrubbing floors and emptying bedpans has as much dignity as the presidency. Richard M. Nixon [LoC 400] (1913-1994) 37th US president

 

  • Since men are born tabula rasa, both cognitively and morally, a rational man regards strangers as innocent until proved guilty, and grants them that initial good will in the name of their human potential. After that, he judges them according to the moral character they have actualized. If he finds them guilty of major evils, his good will is replaced by contempt and moral condemnation. (If one values human life, one cannot value its destroyers.) If he finds them to be virtuous, he grants them personal, individual value and appreciation, in proportion to their virtues. Ayn Rand [LoC 400] (1905-1982) Russian-American philosopher, novelist, playwright, screenwriter, The Virtue of Selfishness, “The Ethics of Emergencies”, interviewed by Alvin Toffler (*1928) US American writer on digital revolution, communication revolution, corporate revolution and technological singularity, futurist, pg. 71, 1962

 

  • I don't share your opinion, but I will until my last breath to fight that you express your opinion freely allowed. Voltaire [François-Marie Arouet] [LoC 340] (1694-1778) French Enlightenment writer, historian, philosopher, advocat of civil liberties, freedom of religion, free trade

 

  • It is not wealth one asks for, but just enough to preserve one's dignity, to work unhampered, to be generous, frank and independent. W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) English playwright, novelist, short story writer, secret service agent, Of Human Bondage, 1915

 

  • Human dignity has gleamed only now and then and here and there, in lonely splendor, throughout the ages, a hope of the better men, never an achievement of the majority. James Thurber (1894-1961) US American author, cartoonist, wit

 

  • Humility is the ability to give up your pride and still retain your dignity. Vanna Bonta US American novelist, poet, film actress

 

  • When all this started, I asked myself, 'Am I going to withdraw from the world, like most people do, or am I going to live?' I decided I am going to live – or at least try to live – the way I want, with dignity, with courage, with humor, with composure. Mitchel David Albom (*1958) US American best-selling author, journalist, screenwriter, dramatist, musician, radio and television broadcaster

 

  • There is a healthful hardiness about real dignity that never dreads contact and communion with others, however humble. Washington Irving (1783-1859) US American historian, essayist, biographer, author

 

  • I'm tired of all this isolation. I'm tired of this triviality of life. I want real human emotion. I want to feel the natural spontaneity of life, the beautiful randomness and rawness that is life. I want to see you and I want you to see me and I want to bask in that moment of humility and intimacy and the acknowledgement of your dignity and my humanity, even if it is for a second. That'll be enough. Kate Miller US American stage, film, television and voice-over actress

 

  • All that passes is raised to the dignity of expression; all that happens is raised to the dignity of meaning. Everything is either symbol or parable. Paul Claudel (1868-1955) French diplomat, poet, dramatist

 

  • Be mild with the mild, shrewd with the crafty, confiding to the honest, rough to the ruffian, and a thunderbolt to the liar. But in all this, never be unmindful of your own dignity. John Brown (1800-1859) US American revolutionary abolitionist

 

  • When decorum is repression, the only dignity free men have is to speak out. Abbie Hoffman (1936-1989) US American radical political and social activist, co-founder of the Youth International Party ("Yippies"), writer

 

  • Education can give you a skill, but a liberal education can give you dignity. Ellen Key (1849-1926) Swedish writer

 

  • I would say that the surest measure of a man's or a woman's maturity is the harmony, style, joy, and dignity he creates in his marriage, and the pleasure and inspiration he provides for his spouse. Benjamin Spock (1903-1998) US American pediatrician, author

 

  • Bullying is a conditioned learned behavior. [...] It is solvable. Video interview with different educators on Bullying, presented by Massachusetts School of Law, host Diane Sullivan, Google video, 54:27 minutes duration, posted 26. June 2006

 

  • True dignity is never gained by place, and never lost when honors are withdrawn. Philip Massinger (1583-1640) English dramatist

 

 

  • The problem is that "dignity" is a squishy, subjective notion, hardly up to the heavyweight moral demands assigned to it. Steven Pinker (*1954) Canadian-born US American Johnstone professor of experimental psychology, Harvard University, cognitive scientist, linguist, popular science author, Harvard University, The Stupidity of Dignity, The New Republic, 28. May 2008

 

  • I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose. Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere. Barack Obama (*1961) 44th US president, President Obama Addresses Muslim World in Cairo, Washington Post, Thursday, 4. June 2009

 

  • Given our interdependence, any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail. So whatever we think of the past, we must not be prisoners of it. Our problems must be dealt with through partnership; progress must be shared. [Applause] Historic address to the Muslim world by Barack Obama (*1961) 44th US president, Remarks by the President on a New Beginning, Cairo University, Egypt, presented by Whitehouse.gov, Thursday, 4. June 2009

 

  • To expand freedom to more people, we cannot accept that freedom does not belong to all people. We cannot allow oppression, defined and justified by religion or tribe to replace that of ideology. We have a responsibility to address conditions everywhere that undermine the potential of boys and girls and men and women that sap human dignity and threaten global progress. Hillary Clinton (*1947) 67th United States Secretary of State und president Barack Obama, US senator for New York (2001-2009), wife of the 42nd US president Bill Clinton, Keynote Address at the Atlantic Council Gala Dinner, Adlon Hotel, Berlin, Germany, 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, 8. November 2009

 

  • Pride [as a function of relative rank] goeth before a fall. Saying [international]
    • It was with unrivaled pride that we saw the world. We were somebody. Nazi SS officer, reminiscing about German military victories in the early years of World War II

  

Quotes from David R. Hawkins

⚠ Caveat See Power vs. Truth, January 2013

  • On examination, we'll see that power arises from meaning. It has to do with motive, and it has to do with principle. Power is always associated with that which supports the significance of life itself.
    - It [power] appeals to that part of human nature that we call NOBLE – in contrast to force, which appeals to that we call CRASS.
    - Power appeals to what uplifts, dignifies, and ennobles. Force must always be justified, whereas power requires no justification.
    - Force is associated with the partial, power with the whole.
Dr. David R. Hawkins, Power vs. Force. The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior, chapter 8 The Source of Power, S. 132, Hay House, Februar 2002

 

  • Not only did Gandhi bring the British Empire to its knees, he effectively brought the curtain down on the centuries-old drama of colonialism [LoC 175], and he did it by simply standing for a principle: the intrinsic dignity of man, and his right to freedom, sovereignty and self-determination. […] Gandhi believed that human rights aren’t granted by any earthly power, but are ingrained in the nature of man himself because they are inherent in his creation. Dr. David R. Hawkins, Power vs. Force. The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior, chapter 10 Power in Politics, S. 152, Hay House edition, February 2002

 

(↓)

Inspirited power vs. weakening force

 

  • [E]verything is always in the process of creation, it means that everything is an expression of Divinity, or it would not have the capacity to exist at all. The realization that everything which exists reflects the Divinity of Creation is why it is worthy of respect and reverence. This accounts for the reverence for the spirit within all living beings and nature, which is characteristic of many cultures. Dr. David R. Hawkins, The Eye of the I from Which Nothing is Hidden, chapter 1, S. 29, 3rd paragraph; Kindle Locations 374-380; S. 8, revised edition, Veritas Publishing, 2002

 

 

 

(↓)

Inner inferiority has people projecting self-hatred on subgroups.

  • Racist hate groups, including anti-Semitic, anti-Black, and white supremacist groups have a long history in the United States, of which the Ku Klux Klan is the most flagrant example. They demonstrate a dualistic split in the psyche and the projection of self-hatred onto subgroups. This is also based on inner inferiority. People with adequate self-esteem have no need to hate others. Dr. David R. Hawkins, Truth vs. Falsehood. How to Tell the Difference, chapter 11 The Downside of Society, S. 182, 2005

 

(↓)

Honor, dignity, sanctity

  • We honor that which we esteem in others as well as ourselves. Out of this, one honors one's own humanity and that of others and ends up honoring all of life in all its expressions by resignation to Divine Will. With surrender of the ego, the spirit becomes aware of the sanctity of existence.
    Out of self-honor arise chilvary (cal. 465) and respect for countrymen as well as heritage and appreciation for the valor of true responsibility. From self-respect arises respect for the rights of others as well as responsibility for personal accountability. Honor is far beyond pride and is, at its very core humble, thankful, and grateful, out of which one senses the divinity of Creation and the knowingness, which is expressed by the exclamation "Gloria In Excelsis Deo." Dr. David R. Hawkins, Reality, Spirituality and Modern Man, S. 224, 2008

 

 

 


 

  • What's happening with our economy is a reorganization based on values other than just making money. The economy is really based on greed: every product is an effort to make money. And making money doesn't infer anything having to do with responsibility. Now, we're bringing up responsibility. As citizens, we're asking, "Should these companies reveal what they know?" So there's disorganization based on a current lack of clarity about values. Interview with David R. Hawkins, MD, PhD, presented by US magazine Holistic Networker, Gina Mazza, 17. June 2009

 

 

  • People will do anything to get a moment of fame [glamor]. It just amazes me the extent that people will go 'to be somebody'. The narcissistic core of 'being somebody' is overwhelming at times. It is amazing what people will do to get a moment of the world's attention. I guess that would be the ego's dream that the whole world gets to know you're a somebody. I find that life is better the other way, being a nobody, being anonymous. Audio interview with Dr. David Hawkins, Differentiating truth from falsehood, presented by web radio station Theatre of the Mind, Podcast, episode 331, host Kelly Howell, minute 18:53, 49:00 minutes duration, aired 18. November 2010

 

 

  • The herd instinct suppresses the superego. If one person wants to lynch someone it's evil, but if a lot of people do, it's seen as okay. [Paraphrased.] Sedona Seminar The Human Dilemma, 3 DVD set, 18. August 2007

  

 

* * *

Quotes – Human Rights and Human Values

 

(↓)

Note:

Shy and insecure in the early part of her life, Eleanor Roosevelt found her voice as the co-author of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Doing so, she became one of the most important women of the 20th century.

  • Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world. Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) US American First Lady (1933-1945), advocate for civil rights, supporter of her husband Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal policies

 

(↓)

Note:

President Jiang did not approve of the second part of Robinson's reply.

 

  • Value is what people are willing to pay for. John Naisbitt (*1930) US American futurologist, living in Europe and China, author of Megatrends, 1982

Power ⇔ Force

It is excellent to have a giant's strength;
but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
English poet and playwright, Measure for Measure, II, ii, 1623

Quotes on Pride and Shame ⇔ Dignity

Personal avowals

  • Dignity is oblivious of relative rank, whereas pride exults in out-ranking others.
    Dignity entails a shared sense of worth; pride, a sense of superiority; shame, a sense of inferiority.
    Dignity is a creature of mutuality and reciprocity; pride, a feature of dominant-subordinate relationships. Robert Fuller, dignity researcher, Vocabulary for a Dignitarian Society, pg. 2 (pdf)

 

  • Then “true pride” is identified as the dignity that inheres in someone whose place in society is secure, and “false pride” is understood as the compensatory self-inflation originating in the insecurity that invariably accompanies an assertion of relative superiority. Robert Fuller, dignity researcher, Vocabulary for a Dignitarian Society, pg. 2 (pdf)

 

  • Pride is an artifact of a stratified society – one in which rank carries the right to marginalize, indignify, or exploit those of lower rank. The right to deny dignity, to non-citizens and to second-class citizens alike, is a residue of a predatory strategy, that, for millennia, has co-existed alongside a dignitarian strategy, but is now, in an epochal transformation, losing out to its dignitarian alternative. Robert Fuller, dignity researcher, Vocabulary for a Dignitarian Society, pg. 3 (pdf)

 

  • It was with unrivaled pride that we saw the world. We were somebody. Nazi SS officer, reminiscing about German military victories in the early years of World War II

True dignity

True dignity abides with him alone
Who, in the silent hour of inward thought,
can still suspect, and still revere himself
In lowliness of heart.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
English Romantic poet, Lines Left Upon a Seat in a Yew Tree,
written in 1795, first published in 1798

Calibrations LoC (engl.): Rankism vs. dignity

  • LoC 185 – Feminist politics (sexism)
  • LoC 185 – Denigration
  • LoC 180 – Racism
  • LoC 180 – Blame
  • LoC 160 – White supremacy
  • LoC 155 – Anti-semitism
  • LoC 155 – Social Arrogance
  • LoC 155 – "Superior" views
  • LoC 150 – Racist hate groups
  • LoC 130-150 – Victim/Perpetrator model
  • LoC 130 – Victimhood
  • LoC 095 – Wife beater
  • LoC 035 – Sexual sadist

Source: Dr. David R. Hawkins, Truth vs. Falsehood. How to Tell the Difference, [Status ca. 2004]

 

Links on Human dignity and Human rights / Menschenwürde

Literature

John Engler, US American transpersonal psychologist, meditation teacher, author
Essay Being Somebody and Being Nobody: A re-examination of the Understanding of Self in Psychoanalysis and Buddhism., quoted in: Jeremy D. Safran, US American editor, Psychoanalysis and Buddhism. An Unfolding Dialogue, pg. 35 -79, Wisdom Publications, Boston, 2003

Englisch/German

Literature (German)

Englisch/German


Web links




Audio and video links

Audio and video links – Robert W. Fuller


Audio and video links – Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, Equality trust

30 year long studies on social inequality, status insecurity and competition i.e. rankism, Nottingham UK, published in The Spirit Level. Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better, termed the most important book of the year 2009
The Spirit Level slides, Powerpoint presentation for download – The Spirit Level – slides from The Equality Trust




  • Video presentation by Peter Joseph, US American non-commercial film director, activist, producer of the documentary film Zeitgeist: The Movie, founder of the The Zeitgeist Movement, conference Zeitgeist Day 2010, topic Social Pathology, New York City, USA, 13. March 2010, full transcript, YouTube film
    • Speech on Zday 2010, part 1 of 10, 10:59 minutes duration, posted  31. December 2010
    • Speech on Zday 2010, part 2 of 10, 10:59 minutes duration, posted  31. December 2010
    • Speech on Zday 2010, part 3 of 10, 10:59 minutes duration, posted  31. December 2010
    • Speech on Zday 2010, part 4 of 10, 10:59 minutes duration, posted  31. December 2010
      Tribute to the study results of Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett Minute 4:08
    • Speech on Zday 2010, part 5 of 10, 10:59 minutes duration, posted  31. December 2010
      Tribute to the study results of Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett
    • Speech on Zday 2010, part 6 of 10, 10:59 minutes duration, posted  31. December 2010
      Tribute to the study results of Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, the status quo sustaining role of the advertisement industry Minute 2:20
    • Speech on Zday 2010, part 7 of 10, 10:59 minutes duration, posted  31. December 2010
    • Speech on Zday 2010, part 8 of 10, 10:59 minutes duration, posted  31. December 2010
    • Speech on Zday 2010, part 9 of 10, 10:59 minutes duration, posted  31. December 2010
    • Speech on Zday 2010, part 10 of 10, 5:59 minutes duration, posted  31. December 2010

Audio and video links –  Music on rankism / dignity

Dignity

  • Sarah Brightman, Somewhere, from Westside Story by Leonard Bernstein, YouTube film, 2:31 minutes duration, posted 29. July 2008
  • Shirley Bassey, Somewhere, from Westside Story by Leonard Bernstein, YouTube film, 2:50 minutes duration, posted 31. March 2008

Rankism

Audio and video links (German) on Menschenwürde / Human dignity

  • Video Interview mit Muhammad Yunus, Professor für Wirtschaftswissenschaft, Bangladesch, Friedensnobelpreisträger, Philosophie der Kreditgebung, präsentiert vom Schweizer TV-Sender SF1, Programm Sternstunde Philosophie, Gastgeber Roger de Weck, Sendetermin 6. Januar 2008, YouTube Film, 56:50 Minuten Dauer, eingestellt 18. August 2008
  • Hörfunkpräsentation M wie Menschenrechte – ein Grundkurs, Bayerischer Rundfunk BR, Judith Schnaubelt, ARDMediathek.de, 44:43 Minuten Dauer, eingestellt 1. Dezember 2008
    Rückblick auf 60 Jahre des internationalen Bekenntnis Allgemeine Erklärung der Menschenrechte durch die Vereinten Nationen am 10. Dezember 1948
  • Audio interview with Elfriede Ammann on Wuerdekultur – eine Bewegung kommt nach Deutschland, [Dignity culture – A Movement comes to Germany], presented by web radio station Blogtalkradio PowerCoaching, host Anja Jeffries, 30 minutes duration, 13. January 2010

 

Internal Links

Wiki

Hawkins

 

 

1 Positioning human dignity first order in the Constitution – as originally issued in the 'Universal Declaration of Human Rights' by the UN in 1948 – declares it to be one of the most important inviolabe human rights. Following the pattern set in the US 'Declaration of Independence' issued by Thomas Jefferson in 1776 and by the 'Universal Declaration of Human Rights' issued by the United Nations in 1948 the Constitutions of Germany (1949), Canada (1982), South Africa (1996), Europe (2004), Bangladesh, Finland, and Portugal mention human 'dignity', the 'Creator', the 'supremacy of God', the 'Almighty Allah' right in the beginning of their supreme written documents which were presented by members of ethics commission not by public votes or polls.

2 Everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected.
See also: Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Section 10, 11. October 1996

3 LoC 198 in 2002 and LoC 199 in February 2004 according to consciousness calibrations of Dr. David R. Hawkins

4 Women Matter in top management and corporate performance, such is the result of four McKinsey & Company studies/reports consecutively published in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010. Women Matter: Gender diversity, a corporate performance driver
"The 2010 Women Matter study provides a focused analysis on how to achieve gender diversity at top management level. Its findings are partly based on a survey we conducted in September 2010 of about 1,500 business leaders worldwide across all industries, from middle managers to CEOs. The survey concretely reveals that a majority of leaders, both men and women, now recognize gender diversity as a performance driver, while also showing that actual implementation of gender-diversity measures in corporations remains limited."
taz-Grafik: Wirtschaftsleistung von Unternehmen mit Frauenquote (McKinsey)

5  Making Corporate Gender Inequality Illegal

6 Two versions of Darwin's Evolutionary Theory – David Loye

7 "Firms of endearment" show greater efficiency and productivity from employees, greater loyalty from customers, stronger, more profitable relationships with vendors and quantifiable payback of SRM investments. Book Review: “Firms of Endearment”, November 2012

8 Nineteenth-century American spiritualists coined the word sexism long before its modern incarnation in order to refer to a complex of ideas about human sexuality and reproduction that were consonant with the general advancement of women's rights. J. B. Buescher, More lurid than lucid: the spiritualist invention of the word sexism, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, pg. 561-592, vol. 70, issue 3, 2002