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Integral World: Exploring Theories of Everything
An independent forum for a critical discussion of the integral philosophy of Ken Wilber
Jomy Mathews�studied, Diploma in Mechanical Engineering, from�Thiagarajar Polytechnic,�Trichur, Kerala, India, and�Post Diploma in CAD/CAM Engineering, from K.J. Somaiya Institute of Technical Training and Research, Mumbai. At present, he is working in Orion Cable Trays FZ-LLC, Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates.�He can be contacted at [email protected].

PYRAMIDAL DEMOCRACY

JOMY MATHEWS

Global and regional crises like climate change, wild fires, genocides, and at the latest, virus pandemics have forced many of us to evaluate our national and global leaders. Corona virus pandemic has proved beyond doubt that most national leaders elected by us through democracy are ignorant and selfish. Everything changes over time as the surrounding environment changes continuously but democracy has not changed for the last 2500 years. Physical, intellectual and spiritual potentials of average individuals were far lower than that of today, when democracy was first introduced in 1st millennium B.C. Democracy did wonders in transforming humanity, after its introduction, for a long time. Today, average human individuals have attained very high levels of physical health, communication and other skills, intelligent quotient, knowledge and altruism. At all times, the used selection system should make sure that an individual with highest overall potentials is elected as leader. At the latest when humanity started accelerating its altruistic evolution, democracy is successively failing to elect intelligent altruistic individuals as national leaders. Even though healthy, high skilled, intelligent, altruistic individuals are present among the population of every nation, democracy successively fails to elect them as leaders. Introduction of a new improved version of democracy is the only way forward to a better world.

Animals have more physical potentials, less intellectual potentials and too low spiritual potentials, compared with human individuals. By spiritual potential, I mean altruistic behavior, i.e. to love and cooperate with others. Almost all animal communities succeed in selecting the strongest individual of their community as leader by successively fighting one another. Maximum number of offspring originates from these strongest individuals and thereby the community improves their potentials generation after generation, and it is because of this that human species could originate from them.

In today's democracy the selection of national leaders is done from 2 or more political alliances. A vast majority of scientists, doctors, engineers, academics etc. with altruistic mind do not enter these political alliances as these are traditionally dominated by selfish ignorant individuals. Each political alliance select a candidate from within, and voters of the entire nation elect one out of these leaders as their national leader by casting their equal votes, for a period of 4 or 5 years. If, after the period, a leader is elected from another alliance, more often it happens so, then, a great amount of resources are wasted by cancelling many projects initiated by the previous alliance. These elected leaders never think about long term prosperity of the nation or that of the world. I think, this way of selecting leaders is worse than the way animal communities select their leaders.

I propose Pyramidal Democracy as a new generation democratic election system for today's world. In this system all eligible voters of a nation is registered to an online computer system with secure bio-metric security features, so that every voter can vote from his registered mobile, laptop or desktop connected to the system. At the bottom most layer of the pyramid, all registered voters of the nation are candidates also. At the first layer every voter can cast his vote for any other candidate of his choice. One can receive a maximum of 10 votes only. Whoever gets less than 10 votes remain at the bottom layer and all those who receive 10 votes ascend to the second layer. All those who ascend to the second layer are voters and candidates of that layer. Again, all those who receive less than 10 votes remain at the second layer and all those who receive 10 votes ascend to the 3rd layer. This process continues until a maximum of 10 individuals ascend to the top most layer. Individuals of this layer vote one another and whoever gets maximum number of votes becomes the national leader. He rules the nation with the support of individuals of top most layers of the pyramid. This pyramid will be a permanent structure that controls the nation but individuals may ascend or descend layers successively through periodical follow up elections.

In Pyramidal Democracy, at the bottom most layer each voter can choose one candidate from among his close acquaintances, whom he knows for a long period. One should evaluate all his acquaintances and short list those who are healthy, highest intelligent and with highest levels of education and skills. Finally he should select the most altruistic individual from this short list and vote for him/her. At higher layers both voters and candidates will be with higher overall potentials than lower layers, and therefore selection will be more effective than today's democracy. Unlike today's democracy, all voters of high intellectual potentials, like scientists, doctors, engineers, academics, etc and all altruistic individuals are included as candidates in Pyramidal Democracy. Since this structure is permanent a great amount of resources can be saved. All national leaders elected through Pyramidal Democracy will work with a long term vision. As altruistic minded intelligent leaders ascend to the top most layers, national leaders all over the world will work together for solving regional and global crises, making a better world in the near future.

We can see Pyramidal Democracy active within many human organizations. Consider a very large industrial company. From bottom to top we can see employees of ascending levels. There are trainees and apprentices at the bottom most level, supervisors, department managers, regional managers etc at intermediate levels and directors and Managing Director at top most levels. Normally, a new individual enter at bottom levels with minimum potentials and successively ascend layer after layer gaining knowledge, experience and training, and ultimately may reach even the top most layer. This is very similar to Pyramidal Democracy. Most probably the best performing director is promoted as Managing Director. Imagine there are two employees unions in this company and all employees from bottom to top belong to either of these two unions. Each union put up a candidate from any layer of their choice for the post of Managing Director and all employees of the company, from bottom to top, cast their equal vote to any one of these two candidates and elect one of them as Managing Director of the company. Today's democracy is similar to this. Pyramidal Democracy is also clearly visible in academic institutions. Business organizations and academic institutions are the most successful human organizations in the world and both of them select their leaders through Pyramidal Democracy. But in selecting national leaders, who controls all other institutions of the country, we use a selection process which was introduced in 1st millennium B.C, without any subsequent improvement. Because of this, national governments are the worst performing organizations in the world. To make this a better world, people should demand and enforce Pyramidal Democracy, nation by nation.

Corona virus pandemic crisis has made clearly visible, the absence of a global leadership with authority and control on all national leaders. We have global organizations like United Nations and World Health Organization, but they have only advisory powers on national leaders. It is absolutely clear that if we had a global government with authority, resources and control over national leaders, then, we could have controlled this corona virus crisis far more effectively. Such a global government can gradually eliminate all crises the world is facing today. Today, almost entire humanity is under democracy, i.e. power is with people. That means we can enforce Pyramidal Democracy all over the world and install a global government with entire global population as voters and candidates, if we desire so. And I think this is the only way forward, to avoid the next impending mass extinction, and transform this world to a heaven.





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