Democracy's First Danger – Mediocrity

Hey Rick, great topic.  I’ve said much more than that about mediocrity but perhaps on other incarnations of the forum.  It’s one of my bailiwicks.  And incidentally, it’s number 4 in the list of the things to be prevented if we want to maintain our freedom and liberties.  I love the use of the word stalemate here.  It’s when societal progression comes to a screeching halt.

70:12.10 4. Stalemate of the dominance of mediocrity.

Mediocrity is exactly what we’re seeing in US society today and we’re in a terrible, terrible mess because of it.  When it comes to politics, the modern definition of socialism, which is nothing more than communism with lipstick and heels, is the epitome of mediocrity.  That’s my opinion, and I firmly believe it.  When everyone is forced to behave the same, think the same and act the same because everyone is equal (except the leaders who are more equal than others), then you have a really, really mediocre and boring society stuck in a rut, a stalemate.

Stalemates go against human nature, which is driven by evolutionary drives and urges. It’s the non-mediocre people who are the true problem solvers and real leaders, but in a mediocre society they are vilified and maligned because they “stick out” too much.  True leaders are invigorated by challenges and it’s their energy that stirs and boils the mediocre soup of society.  Disruption of the status quo really upsets mediocre people who generally think with a mob-like mentality (group-think).

48:7.7 5. Difficulties may challenge mediocrity and defeat the fearful, but they only stimulate the true children of the Most Highs.

Those individuals who believe competition of any kind is evil are mediocre individuals. Competition puts a magnifying glass on inequality, and that is not allowed in a mediocre society.  But not so in realville where the best is lauded.

28:5.18 The Divine Counselors, to whom this order is attached, utilize them to reflect from one world to another the benefits to be derived from spiritual service. And by using the performances of the best to inspire and encourage the mediocre, these seconaphim contribute immensely to the quality of devoted service in the superuniverses. Effective use is made of the fraternal competitive spirit by circulating to any one world information about what the others, particularly the best, are doing. A refreshing and wholesome rivalry is promoted even among the seraphic hosts.

Here’s a great quote concerning the difference between progress and mediocrity.  And what exact standard are the mediocre looking for?  Obviously the standard that makes life as easy and pleasant as possible for everyone, and that is always the lowest standard because it has to include the very lowest functioning people.

48:7.29 27. Progress demands development of individuality; mediocrity seeks perpetuation in standardization.

Mediocrity is giving into material gravity, sinking to the lowest, and therefore most inferior level so everyone can be treated the same.  The way of the universe is to overcome material gravity with mind and spirit gravity, to aspire to individual greatness through conquest of the cosmic circles, attainment of divinity and universe citizenship. Mediocrity does not do that, mediocrity pulls people down to the dead levels of materiality; it stifles the challenge to become the most you can be, and even dare to expand your capacity for even greater opportunities to serve.

In order to maintain the mediocrity of society, the leaders who demand it must continue to instill fear in the minds of the masses.  Fear is the greatest stimulus for mediocrity.  Mediocrity keeps the masses in check which feeds the power of those who perpetuate it.  How do you instill fear in order to maintain mediocrity?  You make it immoral to be anything other than mediocre and then use shame and guilt as a tool to control thinking and behavior.  This is how mass media and social media can become a tools to control the mediocre and keep them mediocre.  Then of course you have the institution of education, the very womb of mediocrity in today’s society.

Am I ranting too much?

Rick Warren wrote:

Knowing the relentless evolutionary pressure on progress to self-correct, I don’t doubt that mediocrity will evolve itself out of progress’ way.

Yeah, and I doubt it will be a smooth painless evolution.  Mediocre people will fight it with all they have because of fear, and also because of the belief that they are morally superior.  It is really sad to see.  All but the last phase mentioned below are mediocre, in my opinion.

101.7.4  The great difference between a religious and a nonreligious philosophy of living consists in the nature and level of recognized values and in the object of loyalties. There are four phases in the evolution of religious philosophy: Such an experience may become merely conformative, resigned to submission to tradition and authority. Or it may be satisfied with slight attainments, just enough to stabilize the daily living, and therefore becomes early arrested on such an adventitious level. Such mortals believe in letting well enough alone. A third group progress to the level of logical intellectuality but there stagnate in consequence of cultural slavery. It is indeed pitiful to behold giant intellects held so securely within the cruel grasp of cultural bondage. It is equally pathetic to observe those who trade their cultural bondage for the materialistic fetters of a science, falsely so called. The fourth level of philosophy attains freedom from all conventional and traditional handicaps and dares to think, act, and live honestly, loyally, fearlessly, and truthfully.

Mark Kurtz wrote:

It includes trust!

For certain.  Mediocre people are not a trusting people which is why they prefer group-think and choose to shame or silence anyone who dares to have an independent thought.  It reminds me of cultism.

Anyway, there’s a quote which describes angels who are in charge of inculcating trust into the minds of men.  It says they have been somewhat successful in a currently evolving civilization.  Which one do you think it is?

39:5.7 4. The Spirits of Trust. Suspicion is the inherent reaction of primitive men; the survival struggles of the early ages do not naturally breed trust. Trust is a new human acquisition brought about by the ministry of these planetary seraphim of the Adamic regime. It is their mission to inculcate trust into the minds of evolving men. The Gods are very trustful; the Universal Father is willing freely to trust himself — the Adjuster — to man’s association.

39:5.8 This entire group of seraphim was transferred to the new regime after the Adamic miscarriage, and they have ever since continued their labors on Urantia. And they have not been wholly unsuccessful since a civilization is now evolving which embodies much of their ideals of confidence and trust.

 

Bradly wrote:

Bonita…that sounds rather absolute, stereotyping,  judgmental , and elitist about the majority of human beings alive today.  Wow.  I think perhaps people are mediocre because they are trusting people.

Where did I write anything about the “majority of human beings alive today”?  Not sure where you got that idea from.

Mediocre people may be trusting people, but it’s a matter of what they put their trust in.  Trust in established, standardized and traditional institutions at the expense of  growth and progress is a questionable use of trust.  It’s not really trust, it’s safekeeping or protectionism.  I don’t think extremes are very conducive to democracy, and one of those extremes is the dullness of over-conservative mediocrity.

149:4.3 He discussed one of their former associates whose imagination had led him off into visionary and impractical undertakings. At the same time he warned them against the dangers of the dullness of overconservative mediocrity.

Bradly wrote:

You ascribe a certain inaccurate vicious mob mentality to the mediocre ad well.  Very odd…and very subjective and opinionated without evidence and I think self canceling…vicious mediocrity.  It sounds as if it is you doing the shaming and silencing this time…

When did I ever use the word “vicious”?  Again, not sure where you got that idea from.  And what’s the deal with accusing me of shaming and silencing?

Bradly wrote:

Reminds me of socialization and civilization progress through the mortal epochs. The excellent leads while the inferior drags progress and the mediocre or average enjoy the most benefits and advantages with the least amount of risk and effort.

I’m not sure I’m reading this right.  Are you advocating mediocrity?   Mediocre and average are not the same thing.  Average is a mathematical calculation; it has to do with quantity. Mediocrity is a character trait; it has to do with quality.

Bradly wrote:

Perhaps what’s most interesting is the progress made despite all mediocrity? Remember that which is average remains the ideal and objective of those who do not yet personally enjoy the comforts and benefits of the average.

TUB recommends that we foster the average, normal, stabilized human being rather than the supernormal or subnormal and that’s because of the genetic code. Mutations are more likely from mathematically average DNA.  But  TUB does not recommend fostering mediocre civilizations, which is what we’re talking about here, I think.

68:6.11 From a world standpoint, overpopulation has never been a serious problem in the past, but if war is lessened and science increasingly controls human diseases, it may become a serious problem in the near future. At such a time the great test of the wisdom of world leadership will present itself. Will Urantia rulers have the insight and courage to foster the multiplication of the average or stabilized human being instead of the extremes of the supernormal and the enormously increasing groups of the subnormal? The normal man should be fostered; he is the backbone of civilization and the source of the mutant geniuses of the race. The subnormal man should be kept under society’s control; no more should be produced than are required to administer the lower levels of industry, those tasks requiring intelligence above the animal level but making such low-grade demands as to prove veritable slavery and bondage for the higher types of mankind.

Bradly wrote:

Ambition is its own character trait and is certainly not a measure of one’s spirituality.

Well I can’t agree with that.  If one’s sole ambition is to become God-like and one acts upon it, then that enthusiastic desire becomes a measure of one’s nearness to God, which is the definition of spirituality.

1:0.3 The transcendent goal of the children of time is to find the eternal God, to comprehend the divine nature, to recognize the Universal Father. God-knowing creatures have only one supreme ambition, just one consuming desire, and that is to become, as they are in their spheres, like him as he is in his Paradise perfection of personality and in his universal sphere of righteous supremacy. From the Universal Father who inhabits eternity there has gone forth the supreme mandate, “Be you perfect, even as I am perfect.” In love and mercy the messengers of Paradise have carried this divine exhortation down through the ages and out through the universes, even to such lowly animal-origin creatures as the human races of Urantia.

100:2.4 Spirituality becomes at once the indicator of one’s nearness to God and the measure of one’s usefulness to fellow beings.

 

Bradly wrote:

Bonita says: “Mediocrity is exactly what we’re seeing in US society today and we’re in a terrible, terrible mess because of it.” You claim above that “society” is mediocre…sounds like a majority of the people alive to me.

No, I said we’re seeing mediocrity IN US society today.  I didn’t say that US society is mediocre.  I said mediocrity is IN it and it’s causing a mess.  Maybe I should have said WITHIN it?

Bradly wrote: You claimed that the majority of people (society) are mediocre and then claim they tend to “silence and shame” those who are not mediocre – this is a description of mob mentality…the bully or vicious form of the majority….an attribute of the majority and the mediocre you claim but offer no evidence.

Again, I never used the word majority.  That is your word, not mine.  And yes, mediocre groups prefer mediocrity. Attempting to silence those who challenge their mediocrity through shaming, using morality, is a frequent tool.  If a mediocre group truly believes they have the moral high ground, there is no way to convince them otherwise.  And that same belief in moral superiority is what is so often used to coerce others of their better and more righteous way of living.  Consider the problems the TUB community has with fundamentalists who believe TUB was written by the devil.  I’m not saying fundamentalists themselves are mediocre; I’m saying that claiming moral superiority is a tactic sometimes used to maintain the status quo.  Fear of change is a feature of mediocrity.

Bradly wrote:I believe this particular symptom is only shared by the weakest of humanity and not the majority or society in general which you claim is mediocre.

For the third time, I never used the word majority.  You did.  If you look back at all my posts before your unwarranted accusation, the word is not mentioned at all, ever.

Bradly wrote:

I am not advocating mediocrity…but I am defending the mediocre from such an acrid and inaccurate attack by an obvious attitude of elitism or snobbery which your words reveal.  It is apparent those who disagree with you are subject to being silenced and shamed, especially recently.

Hold on there bucko.  It’s okay for you to attack my ideas, but it is not okay for you to attack me personally.

Bradly wrote:

Ambition takes many forms and certainly the ambition to be like God is hardly the only or the most common form of ambition.

Ambition is a one of those mind ministries meant to help us evolve, and evolution is always toward spirit.  Civilization does well if encourages individuals to aspire to achieve their highest ambitions.  Egoistic goals do not satisfy the definition of “highest ambitions”.  But even so, adjutant ambition can be fruitful to society as well.  We’re told ambition and invention are better than war.

70:2.9 During past ages war was a social ferment which pushed civilization forward; this result is now better attained by ambition and invention.

We’re also told that culture is developed by material prosperity because it fosters “leisure combined with ambition”.

81:6.6 2. Capital goods. Culture is never developed under conditions of poverty; leisure is essential to the progress of civilization. Individual character of moral and spiritual value may be acquired in the absence of material wealth, but a cultural civilization is only derived from those conditions of material prosperity which foster leisure combined with ambition.

Moreover, certain types of religious philosophy are debilitating because they destroy human ambition.

94:2.4 This philosophically debilitating teaching was soon followed by the invention of the doctrine of the eternal escape from self by submergence in the universal rest and peace of absolute union with Brahman, the oversoul of all creation. Mortal desire and human ambition were effectually ravished and virtually destroyed. For more than two thousand years the better minds of India have sought to escape from all desire, and thus was opened wide the door for the entrance of those later cults and teachings which have virtually shackled the souls of many Hindu peoples in the chains of spiritual hopelessness. Of all civilizations, the Vedic-Aryan paid the most terrible price for its rejection of the Salem gospel.

Bradly wrote: Your political biases are your own and plenteous indeed but your low opinion of those who disagree with you is quite obvious enough.  Your politics seems intolerant and aimed to shame and silence any and all who might disagree, something I agree a truly superior perspective would neither include nor demonstrate.

67:1.3 And of all forms of evil, none are more destructive of personality status than betrayal of trust and disloyalty to one’s confiding friends.

Bonita wrote:

Bradly wrote: Your political biases are your own and plenteous indeed but your low opinion of those who disagree with you is quite obvious enough. Your politics seems intolerant and aimed to shame and silence any and all who might disagree, something I agree a truly superior perspective would neither include nor demonstrate.

67:1.3 And of all forms of evil, none are more destructive of personality status than betrayal of trust and disloyalty to one’s confiding friends.

It is unfortunate my disagreement with your opinions is taken as betrayal and/or disloyalty.  But I do know the feeling…recently in fact.

And I do disagree with several of your claims and opinions here.  Democracy offers a wide spectrum of options for majority determined self governance, few of which have been incorporated yet.  The ideal economic system is not the same as the ideal political system and both will develop independently for awhile longer.

Democracy that serves the greatest good for the greatest number for the longest time is unlikely to conform to any bias any of us hold today.  Just sayin’…