The YIN MIND

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Combining Human Effort
to Meet
Collective Human Need

In order to meet human need, collective human need, it is expedient,
if not necessary, to combine human efforts.
The quality of human life, the ease of human life,
the freedom to freely choose the content of at least a part of each person’s lifetime,
depends upon how well we are able to combine human effort.
The greater the number of human efforts that can be combined,
the greater the extent of systematic integration of those human efforts,
the higher the quality, the greater the ease, the more freedom of choice,
in the use of one’s lifetime we gain.

It is expedient to not only combine one human effort with another human effort,
but to combine human efforts with a stream of energy,
with the use of tools and equipment.
In order to combine human efforts with a stream of energy
and with the use of tools, and equipment, training and skills
in the use of tools and equipment must be acquired.

Yet, there is a context, an environment, for human activity.
There are other species, other life forms.
Human life is directly and indirectly dependent
upon other life forms, other species.

In order for human effort to be both effective and efficient,
it must be coordinated.
It must be cooperative.
In order for human effort to be both effective and efficient,
it must be coordinated with an environment of other human efforts
and the needs of other life forms, especially those life forms
upon which human life depends directly.
Human activity must acknowledge the context, the environment,
of not only those life forms upon which it is directly and consciously dependent,
but of all life forms, of all nature.

Neither can one man’s freedom become another man’s bondage,
nor can human freedom be dependent upon the overwhelming of all other life.
Human activity must coordinate with and cooperate with all other life forms
of all other species.
Human activity must coordinate with and cooperate with nature.

In order to meet human need, collective human need, it is expedient,
if not necessary, to combine human efforts.
The quality of human life, the ease of human life, the freedom
to elect the use of at least a part of each person’s lifetime,
depends upon combining human effort.
The greater the number of human effort which can be combined,
the greater the extent of systemic integration of human effort,
the better the quality, the greater the ease,
the more freedom of choice is gained.

Right now, human activity tends to dominate and control nature.
Human beings subdue nature!
Human activity tends to dominate and control nature
without knowing many of the effects of the control.
In agriculture, man practices monoculture,
the cultivation of a single species upon an area of land.
Monoculture is something which rarely, if ever, occurs in nature.

Man practices monoculture with species man selects and manipulates genetically.

Man selects for yield, for disease resistance, for tolerance of environmental conditions, etc.

Unnatural Selection
With this genetic manipulation there are functions of plant and animal life
about which man knows little and for which man never genetically selects.

To Dominate and to be Dominated
Human beings tend to dominate and control one another.
Some human beings fear taking responsibility for their own actions.
Some human beings fear not controlling others.

These two sets of human beings combine their behaviour in at least one way:
one set dominates and controls the other set.

In order to combine human efforts with other human efforts,
in order to combine human efforts with nature
and with the use of tools and equipment,
in order to coordinate and combine human efforts
with the context of other human beings and the natural environment,
man must communicate.
The medium of communication must be suitable to the communicants.
The man-nature dialogue requires observation on man’s part.
The man-machine dialogue requires design and engineering.
The human communication requires languages
and perhaps some augmenting media which uses languages.

copyright 2011, 2014, ECOhealth / Eve Revere