Crises on Cosmos

CONTENTS

Dedication..............................................................................vii

Acknowledgments ...................................................................ix

Introduction ............................................................................xi

Chapter 1.1 Knowledge Valuation Crisis: Whose

Knowledge Is Worth More? ..................................1

Chapter 1.2 Survival Crisis: Knowledge and

Mentorship Are Central to Survival ......................7

Chapter 2 Childhood Crisis: the Battle Control of the Tender Mind ............................... 15

Chapter 3 Superiority Crisis: the Myth Inherent Superiority ........................................... 25

Chapter 4.1 Opportunity Subtle Wall Segregation Knowledge ........... 39

Chapter 4.2 Opportunity Crisis: Taking the

Mystery of Knowledge ................................. 51

Chapter 5 Rainmaker Crisis: Two Views of

Change ................................................. 59

Chapter 6 The Color Crisis: the Workings of the

Canker of Racism ............................................... 75

Chapter 7 Poverty Crisis: How Poverty Is

Festering in Society ............................................ 93

• Causes of Poverty ......................................... 96

• The Poverty Gap .........................................114

• Effectively Addressing Poverty ................... 120

Chapter 8 Conclusion: Hope in Crisis ............................... 137

References .............................................................................145

Introduction
The protesters have long been out in the cold, camping in tents in New York’s Financial District for days, decrying economic inequality and demanding equity in return. This is their attempt to fight and outlaw poverty. Other protesters picket the streets for justice on behalf of a teenager, shot and killed for walking in a neighborhood with his head covered, or for another, killed for merely playing loud music. Even the streets on which the protesters march for their various causes perceive a new era; unable to stop pondering these new sights and sounds, they twist and turn as they wonder what on earth is happening upon them.
In other areas of the nation, the prominent voices of society are demanding the abolition of small tokens of appeasement made decades earlier to help disenfranchised groups get educated and pick themselves up.
Across the ocean a relatively new breed of protesters unseats a government with wavering communist ties. However, before they can sit down and examine the challenges incurred, another group is up in arms, protesting the legitimacy of the newfound leadership and seeking to have it a different way. Worldwide, so much is at stake that the ensuing fight completely dwarfs an ongoing conflict that has been raging for many months in the Arabian desert with no end in sight.
In the interim, landmasses quake violently and storms rage, causing unparalleled destruction. The frequency of such untold damage is so high that sometimes there aren’t enough breaks to take a breath, let alone to dream about recovery. Even if anyone had a preplanned solution, such a barrage of trouble would reduce it to nothing. Where there are no storms, dry conditions threaten economies, causing anxieties to mount and sparking dire climate-related declarations by many leaders.
Situations are extreme. Unsurprisingly, some have arisen to right the wrongs of destruction from storms, floods, famines, earthquakes, poverty, and racism. The fallout has made social crises visible in every corner. Surely, where social crises abound, individual crises are never in short supply. In all the drama, man has relied on his knowledge to respond to these unfamiliar challenges. Undoubtedly, the knowledge he acquires determines not only what he is capable of doing with his potential, but also how he responds to his surroundings and to the other inhabitants of this mysterious planet.
Therefore, two powerhouses, one with a purely materialistic outlook and the other with a material and spiritual worldview, both very much aware of the power of knowledge, will not sleep. They keep vigil and wrestle each other so they can control the very knowledge that defines the one caught in the center of all these crises.
Knowledge is not just power; it also determines opportunity and defines reward. This reality about knowledge has long been known to the powerhouses. Any setup, therefore, that promotes the idea that knowledge is determined by inborn characteristics will also automatically assign opportunity and reward, based on those inborn characteristics. Effectively, that setup will draw sharp lines of poverty between one group and another. Long before some babies are weaned, they will be destined for poverty by this idea that knowledge is determined by inborn characteristics. Poverty will then appear familial, racial, sometimes genetic, and people will wonder why and how such abject poverty overtakes any society, even where the poor are surrounded by abundance.
In most of these present-day crises, underlying currents in the areas of knowledge, poverty, and racism surface repeatedly. Unless our knowledge brings us insight into how we became who we are as individuals, how we came to be where we are as a society, and why socioeconomic trends run the way they do, we could work very hard trying to avert crises and yet attain little because the very knowledge we rely on may be a setback.
Chapter 1.1: Knowledge Valuation Crisis: Whose Knowledge Is Worth More?
In front of neighbors at Point Zip, Gizmo was arguing with his mother, saying to her face that she, whom he considered illiterate, had no business suggesting what he, the college graduate, should do.
Madame Gizmo was aware that her son was educated, yet she knew there was something wrong with young Gizmo’s position that her knowledge was outdated and of no value. In frustration, she blurted out, “I was here before you were born!”
Gizmo took offense at the statement, for he thought knowledge had nothing to do with age, so he walked away in anger, determined not to return. He was sure his youthful knowledge supported his action. But it only created an impasse between their two generations because his mother also believed her knowledge justified her response.
This short story demonstrates the misunderstanding that surrounds two broad kinds of knowledge: experiential knowledge and imparted knowledge. These categories of knowledge are both subject to time and aging. Together they form the basis of almost all the decisions we make, yet they have a tendency to split generations apart.
For the most part, experiential knowledge is gained by living through life’s circumstances. It’s knowledge that is passively acquired through no dedicated effort on the part of the individual or anyone else.
As people age, where they have been and what has happened around them or directly to them significantly determines the depth of their experiential knowledge. This knowledge tends to increase with age, all other factors being equal. Therefore it’s almost impossible for the young to amass more experiential knowledge than older people. Experiential knowledge is often misconstrued as all knowledge, causing many to conclude erroneously that an older person is always more knowledgeable than a younger individual on all counts.