Enlightened Benevolence through Appropriately Humane Principles, Policies and Practices

Politics is rarely associated with benevolence.  It is rarely associated with enlightenment, either.  It is hardly ever associated with appropriateness.  It is almost never humane. 

Perhaps you feel threatened when invited to reflect on questions associated with the justifiable examination of your own beliefs and practices.

You may believe that enlightened benevolence is irrelevant to political decision-making.  Yet all decision-making involving more than one person is political.  Even personal decisions are political when those decisions influence the lives of other people and/or other species.

Perhaps you regard political philanthropy as an art.

You may even regard politics and/or philanthropy as arts.

The arts are mainly associated with aesthetics and emotions, even when they attempt to address and/or express ethics, and possibly even share knowledge.

Fairness is a subject associated with ethics.

Benevolence is intended to be fair though it may also be altruistic.

Altruism may or may not be fair to the self.  Its intention is to express fairness towards other people.

Philanthropy involves the benevolent sharing of surpluses.

Perhaps you do not regard yourself as having surpluses in terms of being well-informed and kind.

Most people prefer to do work and other activities they enjoy rather than what is needed in terms of well-informed kindness.  They prefer to underpay the people who do the work they would not enjoy doing personally.  They may not even pay those people at all, especially if they are relatives and/or individuals they regard as inferior to themselves.  They may make the excuse that compensating people properly for the work they do is too expensive.

How much have you paid the author of these words, directly and/or indirectly? 

What do you believe to be the reasons why the author has written these words?

If you feel obliged to contribute towards improving the world, you may consider that to be a political obligation rather than a free choice. 

Yet you may imagine your interactions with the world to be free of political obligations. 
 
You may even believe your apparent expressions of free will are associated with your self-proclaimed support for justice.

Identifying inappropriate influences on your actions and decisions is necessary, even if you usually ignore that necessity.

Benevolence is all about the accurate identification, assessment and alleviation of urgent needs.

Most people motivated to become involved in collective political activities do so for non-benevolent reasons, even if they imagine otherwise.  They may be interested in following a fad or fashion, gaining new friends or business contacts, being admired, advancing a career, expressing their emotions, growing a business, gaining money, or any other pursuit.

You are not required to do anything except become more aware of the truth.  That is your first obligation in any circumstance.

If you are mostly interested in persuading yourself of the importance of your uniqueness, you probably have no respect for the universality of the human condition.

Benevolence begins with the prevention of cruelty, hence the importance of self-awareness.

Most people do not express well-informed kindness in public, or even in private.  Many people acting in the public sphere have aggressive personalities.  They are excessively competitive.  They have double standards.  They may even be hypocrites.  They often express hubris.

There are many important cultural changes to make, through a wide range of organisations and relationships, if an intelligently kind culture is to thrive, in any part of the world. 

How have you been attempting to enlighten yourself about benevolent practices, apart from reading these words?

Social hierarchies are usually competitive entities, whether in terms of power or attention or influence or ambition.

Aggressive competitiveness prevents well-reasoned, well-evidenced and dignified discussions, deliberations, co-operation and kindness.  

The lack of appropriate systems to prevent harm, and to remedy harmfulness, will always cause reasonable people to despair.

Psychological trauma, including vicarious trauma, is widespread.  Such trauma is frequently a consequence of experiencing and/or witnessing cruelty, particularly systematic and systemic cruelty, and feeling powerless to address it.

But what can be done?

Firstly, psychological trauma must be acknowledged as being widespread.

Secondly, the systemic contributors to that trauma must be acknowledged and addressed.

Thirdly, all perpetrators of cruelty must be dismissed from positions of power.  

Only then will it possible to develop cultures of well-informed kindness.

Misplaced kindness can itself be an expression of cruelty when urgent needs are ignored.

Misguided people usually make decisions through their own memories, emotions and beliefs, not on the basis of objective evidence of the situation at hand. 

Perhaps you are inadequately compatible with enlightenment itself, and possibly even with the art and science of suitable appreciation. 

Perhaps you do not appreciate being addressed this way.

Perhaps you have gained awareness of this information as a consequence of advice from a friend, or enemy.

Even entirely benevolent people have enemies.

Ascertaining appropriateness is an important responsibility.

Hubris is never appropriate.

Meeting needs appropriately requires an adequate acquaintance with the truth, including historical truth.  

Enlightened beings have the ability to distinguish clearly between fact and fiction.  They practice that distinction with distinction in every situation, through everything they say and do.

In any type of organisation, incompetent managers often attempt to simplify systems inappropriately. 
 
They enjoy splitting up systems so that the systems can no longer function at all as systems.
 
They also enjoy combining systems inappropriately, and often chaotically.

Such managers, when also narcissistic, especially enjoy combining systems inappropriately for their own empire-building purposes.  They frequently use divide-and-rule tactics in order to consolidate their own power, hence their propensity to spit up systems inappropriately and combine systems inappropriately, often at considerable expense.  Their decisions cause much suffering.

Enlightenment is always associated with appropriateness and effectiveness.

Satire may be the only peaceful means of addressing wrongdoing when all else fails.

Perhaps you are a practitioner of political satire, possibly in the form of parody.

Satire is the most sophisticated form of communicative protest. 

Other sophisticated forms of protest are not directly communicated in any way whatsoever.  They involve the consistent expression of appropriately humane principles, policies and practices, in unstated and understated ways.

Perhaps you do not regard yourself as particularly sophisticated or particularly enlightened or even as particularly benevolent.

Appropriate reciprocation is the principal basis of justice.

Good philanthropy is especially necessary when justice has previously been absent.

From the point of view of reformers in possession of appropriate plans, a peaceful reform process is possible, especially with plans formed on the basis of truly appropriate constitutional improvements and a suitably peaceful agenda.

Trustworthiness is the basis of real freedom, real security, pleasant certainty, appropriate exploration, genuine ethics, better communities, well-informed kindness, thoughtful reciprocity, adequate understanding, and real hope.

Please ensure you understand appropriateness appropriately.

Only people with appropriately humane principles, policies and practices are adequately trustworthy.

There are many prejudices against particular types of people, and against various species, through no fault of their own.  

There are unreasonable phobias in many people's minds, as well as quite reasonable fears.

In any process of reform, only necessary changes should be regarded as appropriate. 

Perhaps you are afraid you have too much to lose by distancing yourself from problematic cultures.
 
Perhaps you are frightened by the thought of embracing a non-problematic culture with appropriate interpersonal practices, adequate civility and suitable objectivity.
 
Perhaps you are afraid of the real you.
 
Perhaps you prefer to hide behind a persona rather than express yourself genuinely.

While temperaments are natural, the other basic aspects of personality are reflections of culture.

Whether you are an extrovert or an introvert is a reflection of your temperament.  

It is impossible to change your temperament though is is possible for you to modify your personality in accordance with your natural temperament, if you are willing to make a consistent effort to do so.

In order to discover your true temperament and act in accordance with it, there may be layers of detrimental habits to cleanse away first, if you are capable of doing so.

Self-discipline is a talent.  As talents are innate, you may not be able to transform yourself exactly in accordance with your preferences.  You must work with the natural you, and with nature more generally.

Personalities can only be changed for the better when the people in possession of them have adequate insight.  That is why personality disorders are such a problem. 

The reason for the existence of personality disorders is a lack of insight on the part of persons with disordered personalities. 

While personal insight can obviously be useful in terms of gaining accurate knowledge about the self in relation to the world, altruistic insight supports the acquisition of appropriate knowledge about the world.

Altruistic insight builds upon the knowledge gained through personal insight.  It helps to inform the expression of the self in terms of enlightened benevolence.

There is no point in attempting to benefit other people unless well enough to do so, mentally, physically, interpersonally, epistemologically and financially.  Suitable priorities must always be set.

When organisations are run by persons lacking insight, or unwilling to act upon the basis of insight, much suffering occurs.

You are currently reading a blog about political philanthropy, if you had not noticed.

Perhaps you are unsure whether this blog is an expression of political philanthropy and/or enlightened benevolence.  Perhaps you are wondering whether it is satirical.  Perhaps your experiences here have been contributing to feelings of self-pity in your mind.
 
Enlightened statecraft is meant to make improvements to political practices.
 
How do you attempt to support good political practices, kind industrial practices, peaceful military practices, reliable financial practices, fair judicial practices and responsible bureaucratic practices if not through the enlightened and benevolent expression of appropriately humane principles, policies and practices?
 
Effective altruism is meant to be appropriately humane, and so is legitimate political power.
 
You may already express enlightened patronage towards a culture of well-informed kindness, particularly through the philanthropic sharing of suitably beautiful information, possibilities and images.

While enlightened patronage is a mutually beneficial process, enlightened philanthropy is principally altruistic.
 
As with good friendships, good patronage relationships depend upon compatibility, but what does good philanthropy depend upon?

All well-informed patronage and all enlightened philanthropic practices are meant to be suitably enjoyable. 
 
All well-informed approaches to improving the world are meant to be suitably enjoyable.

Suitable enjoyment is good for the development and maintenance of mental health. 

Enlightened enjoyment prevents vicarious trauma.  It prevents compassion fatigue.  It prevents information overload.  It prevents the emotional exhaustion so often arising in the minds of genuinely good people when attempting to alleviate suffering.

Far too many genuinely good people lack insight into their own thoughts, feelings, needs and temperament.

What do you believe the qualities of a quality patron to be?

What do you believe the qualities of a quality philanthropist to be?

What do you believe the qualities of a quality politician to be?

What do you believe the qualities of a quality volunteer to be?

What do you believe the qualities of a quality interpersonal experience to be?

What is your privacy policy?

What is your investment policy?

How enlightened do you consider your policies to be?

The way pleasantness is best understood is by contrasting it with unpleasantness. 

How does your imagination help you in that regard?

It is easy to advocate a simple life after experiencing relative privilege over several decades.  It is not so easy to do so after a life of immense struggle, whether financially, physically, emotionally or intellectually. 

Distinguishing clearly between stupidity and gullibility is a benevolent practice.
 
Distinguishing clearly between narcissistic self-gratification and the innocent enjoyment of life is a benevolent practice, too.
 
How can you prove you are not a narcissist if not by practicing enlightened benevolence through your philanthropy, patronages, professional practices and other investment practices?
 
What do you regard as a benevolent investment?
 
What do you regard as a narcissistic investment?
 
What do you regard as a necessary investment?

Perhaps you are afraid to acknowledge the truth, especially the truth about yourself.

Perhaps you are afraid to acknowledge your fears, whether about mortality or morality or mysteries.
 
Perhaps you are even afraid to define the words fear, mortality, morality and mystery.

Perhaps you are wondering why the enlightened benevolence of quality political philanthropy is so rare.

Or perhaps you are under the illusion that it is not rare at all. 

Do you usually think philosophy simplifies situations or complicates situations? 
 
Perhaps you do not feel confident enough or intelligent enough to think philosophically and express your views philosophically.

Quality governments would provide policies for the common good.

The state has a responsibility to protect people from unjust interference and other injustices.

But what is the state and how is it meant to function in relation to civil society and truly kindness practices?

How should political philanthropists contribute to the improvement of the state if not by encouraging humane principles in public life, humane policies and human practices?

History may or may not have recorded much, if anything, about the culture expressed through the imaginative, immensely humane community practices you support.

Improving political practices may only occur when every state is transformed into appropriately non-hierarchical structures and systems, within reason.

That may only happen if international organisations, and other influential organisations, are also reasonably non-hierarchical.

That may be the only way to provide better constitutions, better governments, better human communities, better economies, better health, better education, and protect environments and ecosystems from further harm.

Reasonably non-hierarchical organisations, hence structurally quite flat ones, help to build real communities, at least if the people within them are adequately knowledgeable and adequately kind. 

Genuinely kind people never ignore cruelty, or any other serious problems, if they have the information and ability to do so.

Well-informed, peaceful, simple living is a suitably effective way to reduce the cruelty often associated with competitiveness and incompatibility.  Yet such a way of life also requires appropriate investments in good relationships.

Only with good relationships is it possible to cope with, and address, bad ones.
 
Perhaps you do not have any good relationships.
 
Perhaps you have never had any good relationships.
 
Perhaps you have never experienced enlightened benevolence from anyone.
 
Feeling despair is a reasonable response after being harmed by cruel practices, especially if subsequently facing life without redress.

If you feel despair, you are likely to have acknowledged that political practices must urgently be improved.

If you often despair, you are likely to believe that not enough people care as much as you do.

You may also feel afraid about becoming personally part of the necessary improvement process.

If you despair, you are likely to wonder whether legal systems will punish you for caring.

Despair itself is a form of punishment.

The causes of despair are always external to the self, unlike the cause of depressive illnesses.

Despair is natural when not enough people acknowledge problems.

Despair is also natural when not enough people care enough to work towards resolving the problems. 

Despair is natural when legal systems fail to produce and protect the necessary legal structures to support and encourage the well-informed kindness of enlightened benevolence.

Distinguishing clearly between political despair and mental illness is very important.

Political philanthropy is meant to address political despair.

Health psychology is meant to address mental illness.

Over the weeks ahead, how do you intend to improve your political practices and enlightened benevolence through your continuing acquaintance with the theory and practice of political philanthropy? 

How will your political philanthropy inform your expression of principles and policies through your various, daily practices?

This blog is an expression of political philanthropy.  It is a private initiative in a relatively anonymous way.  Its purpose is to advance an enlightened approach to the public sphere, the public interest, public policy, public finance and the common good, everywhere.

The causes of political problems are well-known.  Addressing those problems appropriately at their source has never been easy.  There have always been many selfish opponents to necessary changes.  They have often even deluded themselves into believing they are benevolent.

Perhaps you do not invest successfully in anything or anyone, including yourself.  

Investing time in understanding problems, for no financial reward, can be rewarding in itself.

The first necessary step is to make enough time available for that understanding to occur.

Continuing the process for as long as necessary, in order to gain further understanding, is especially important if a thorough examination of obstacles is to be achieved.

You may or may not have spent much time exploring beliefs, including your own, from a wide variety of relatively reasonable perspectives, including historical and psychological ones.

Perhaps you have regarded this blog post as a checklist for improving your political philanthropy.

It is easy for beneficiaries of a system to praise that system.  They may ignore or denigrate the people who have not been beneficiaries, including those who have possibly even been harmed within or through the system.

Real history is not about highlighting a particular narrative.  It is about presenting a truthful understanding of the past. 

Real journalism is not about highlighting a particular narrative.  It is about presenting a truthful understanding of the present.

Real leadership is about highlighting a particular narrative.  That narrative recounts a truthful understanding of the past and present and presents a plan for solving problems.

Quality leadership, especially in political situations, involves adequate attentiveness towards the facts.  It also requires consistently reliable expressions of reasonableness.

Without providing a reasonable plan for a better political system, even the most reasonable reformers will fail.  But what should be the basis of such a plan?  

As you are likely to be very well aware by now, at least if you are adequately knowledgeable about such matters, there is no point whatsoever in investing in political practices unless they involve structural societal improvements.

The state, in every society, has been structured in a hierarchical way for the benefit of some people more than others.
 
Yet everyone has a right to experience freedom from unjust interference from the state, from the market, from intrusive practitioners of religious beliefs, and from all other unfair sources of possible impertinence. 
 
It is easy for revolutionaries to make a noise and cause chaos.  It is much more difficult for revolutionaries to establish reasonable structures and peaceful systems to stem the problems caused by chaos.

When people lack information and other resources, the outcome is inevitably unsatisfactory.  You may, for example, be acquainted with haphazard attempts at self-sufficiency and the misguided pursuit of community ideals. 

Through the practices of intelligent frugality, effective altruism and enlightened benevolence, successful political philanthropy is easier to achieve.

Presenting a humane alternative to politics-as-usual is certainly benevolent in itself, even if few people take notice.
 
Gaining a following for your ideas is not necessarily a good idea unless your ideas can easily be translated into appropriately humane principles, policies and practices within government organisations.
 
If you already have a relatively high public profile, how are you expressing enlightened benevolence through it?
 
 

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