Preface
Look around—what drives most people today? The endless chase for money, power, and status. But a growing community of people think there's a better way. We believe everyone deserves safety, enough money to live on, and the chance to pursue their dreams and help others. We relieve suffering, promote justice, and spread joy. We call our informal community the compassionate humanity community.
Here's the thing. We can't make the world better without changing ourselves, and we can't really change ourselves without changing the social systems around us. These systems are everywhere—in our schools, workplaces, government, and culture. They all work together to create the ego-driven Top-Down System.
This system encourages everyone to climb social ladders. Many people take a different path, but most people look down on those "below" and follow those "above" them. You see this everywhere, in every country. People play a giant game of follow-the-leader, but nobody wins because the Top-Down System dehumanizes everyone.
But there's hope! All around the world, people are working to break this pattern. They're:
Helping those in need
Fighting for justice and human rights
Protecting the environment
Working for peace
Creating new ways for people to work together as equals
These people believe we can create a different system based more on compassion than competition. We’re building a compassion-driven system. This work means making changes in every arena: how we treat each other and ourselves, how we work, how we learn, and how we make decisions as a society. The goal is to build communities where everyone has a voice and helps each other grow.
Think of it like upgrading a computer’s operating system. We keep the parts that work well but fix the bugs that cause unjust inequality and preventable suffering. Some people are already creating small-scale models of what this could look like in their communities. If these efforts unite, we can build a Bottom-Up System that counters and balances the Top-Down System and preserves its valuable elements.
Think of it like upgrading a computer's operating system. Just like how you might keep your favorite apps but fix glitches that crash your computer, we can keep what works in society while fixing the parts that create unfair inequality and unnecessary suffering. Some people are already testing this new "operating system" in their communities.
Here's what makes this different: instead of change coming from the top down (like when politicians or CEOs make the decisions), this change comes from the bottom up—from regular people working together. They’re creating a "Bottom-Up System" that balances out the current "Top-Down System." It's not about destroying everything and starting over; it's about creating better alternatives while keeping the good parts of what we already have.
This reform involves changing laws or policies and how we think and act. It means examining our desire to be "better than" others and or our tendency to just go along with everyone else. As the writer James Baldwin said, "We can all become better than we are. I know we can. But the price is enormous, and people are not yet willing to pay it."
That "price" includes some tough stuff:
Looking at ourselves and our actions
Admitting when we're wrong
Being willing to change
Helping others do the same
Most people avoid thinking deeply about these things. It's easier to scroll through social media or binge-watch shows than face uncomfortable truths about ourselves and society. But if we want real change, we must do this hard work.
The good news is we don't have to do it alone. We become stronger when we talk about our experiences with others and support each other's growth. As more people speak up and demand a say in decisions that affect their lives, we can build something better together.
Is this going to be easy? No way. Will it happen overnight? Not. But imagining what's possible is the first step to making it real. Even small changes in how we treat ourselves and others can ripple out to help improve the world.
This direction might sound idealistic, but sometimes the most realistic thing we can do is imagine something better than what we have now. The world needs people who can dream big and take practical steps toward those dreams.
I know of no activist group that explicitly commits to both (1) controlling the desire to dominate and the tendency to submit for personal gain and (2) helping members support each other in this work. This website is dedicated to helping fill this gap.
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I’ve dedicated my life to countering selfishness, materialism, militarism, and oppression and promoting fundamental social reform. Although my focus has varied over time, this core goal has remained the same.
I live the way I want others to live while accepting that they will do the same. I persist in becoming as good a person as I can. And I promote new social structures that will cultivate egalitarian, supportive communities.
Too often, however, my pursuits have been too much for the sake of my ego. This process is often automatic, unconscious, or semi-conscious.
I’ll share my honest and transparent discoveries about this and related issues as an example that readers may find interesting and, perhaps, relevant to their lives. These reflections may even nudge readers to engage in more self-examination themselves.
I’m not alone in this regard. When I’ve asked people how they want to be a better person, the most common response has been: I’d like to be less judgmental and less arrogant.
Usually, I control my self-centered biases and don’t allow them to shape my behavior. I’m generally respectful and collaborative. At times, however, my actions have wrongly been unilateral.
I prefer not to experience assumptions of moral superiority. I may be more competent on one metric or another, but that doesn’t mean I’m an essentially better person. We may have political differences, but if I grew up and lived “in your shoes,” I might be like you. However, I’ve failed to fully rise above my social conditioning and often been judgmental.
I’ve wanted to be recognized as a “great man,” as my mother repeatedly told me I would be. I’ve been too worried about what others think about me. An undercurrent of irrationality has operated. My gut reactions have often been defensive. I’ve had trouble handling hostility directed at me.
With community-based organizations, I’ve often made my own decision about the best way to proceed and pushed others to follow me rather than trust the group to chart the best path forward.
I lived in voluntary poverty for decades and unfairly denigrated middle-class materialism.
My strong tendency to reject authority often led me to refuse to compromise when I should have. On the other hand, at times I submitted and conformed when I should not have, like when I failed to speak up not wanting to alienate my friends and colleagues.
Nevertheless, I’m learning and growing.
I gained more respect for the middle class when I started driving taxis part-time, earned a good income, indulged in more pleasures, and learned to appreciate certain comforts.
I now better understand how domination and submission are often justified, and some hierarchies are essential.
I still affirm my basic ideals and seek to move toward them, but I no longer affirm a “transformation” that would produce a “new” world. Rather, we can renew, reform, improve, and change.
I cultivate healthier automatic reactions by telling myself how I can do better.
Nevertheless, when to fight and when to remain passive, when to speak up and when to stay silent, when to insist on your convictions and when to accept the wisdom of the crowd, when to be true to your convictions and when to conform — these are not easy questions to answer. This site will address them in ways that will hopefully be helpful to readers.
Love is not enough. Developing partnerships rooted in mutual respect takes work.
If we were to face reality, we could create compassionate alternatives. Fully confronting our problems and their root causes would cultivate fruitful relationships and effective action.
During my life, my main goals have been to
Pursue Truth, Justice, and Beauty
Integrate the personal and the political
Empower everyday people
Control the powerful
My methods changed over time, but the central thrust has been to address concrete needs as steps toward fundamental reform.
These efforts tackled many issues, including civil rights, anti-war, students’ empowerment, mental patients’ rights, public transit, food co-ops, housing co-ops, cultural centers, poverty, and economic security.
My fellow activists and I hoped our projects would eventually come together in national movements, which happened occasionally, though briefly. So I also joined and became active in several national organizations: Congress for Racial Equality, Alliance for Democracy, Progressive Challenge, Love Army, the 2008 Obama campaign, and the Iraq Peace Team.
To explore how we activists might be more effective, I convened a series of strategy workshops from 2004 to 2019, engaged in extensive research, shared drafts of proposals, interviewed individuals, circulated online surveys, published three books to get feedback from friends and associates, experimented with mutual support methods, and engaged in dialogue with advisors and associates.
I continually research questions that concern me, discover new resources, and post my findings and conclusions on this site. I present draft ideas for discussion and hope others will create even better tools that could scale up.
So far, feedback on this project has been positive, and numerous individuals have contributed substantially. I engage in dialogues with friends and associates and focus on making the site as good as possible.
I feel morally obligated to nurture respect for everyone’s core equality, cultivate cooperation, encourage compassionate action, help empower individuals and communities to deepen partnerships, level hierarchies as feasible, support the right to self-determination and personal fulfillment (which, for some, involves spiritual growth), and strengthen liberty and democracy throughout society.
Writing helps me clarify my thinking. I’ll continue to add to this digital book and make it as good as possible. It’s an inherently rewarding project.
While writing this book, my beliefs have changed considerably. My learning is an ongoing process. Many people have helped with this effort, which I greatly appreciate, but I’m responsible for the final edits.
I welcome feedback and will dialogue with an open mind. If you have suggestions or want to help or share public words of support, please express them in the Comment form below
--Wade Lee Hudson, 12/21/24
COMMENTS
From: Ian Faloon
Subject: Right On
Message: Hey Wade,
I think this is a great turn. I read the Denial of Death 3 consecutive times upon first finding it. It has definitely changed my perspective on my own ego-machinations and my purpose in life. The thing I find most fascinating about it is that it leads to Kierkegaard, which ultimately leads to G-d, but Becker is too much of the generation that was rebelling against old religious strictures to let himself go there fully.
Another important book in my own evolution is The Perennial Philosophy by Aldous Huxley, which I believe should be required reading in high schools. Some of the core principles of all spiritual traditions from all over the world can be summarized succinctly by the concepts of honesty, humility, and forgiveness, with the latter probably being the most difficult to achieve routinely. So kudos to you for always re-evaluating because another ancient piece of spiritual wisdom is that enlightenment is an ongoing process that takes at least one life to attain.
All my best
Ian Faloon
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Hi Wade, I read the new Preface and believe it reflects the new direction you have decided to take. In that sense it is very good. As you likely remember, I was never a strong fan of your theory that 'domination' was the root cause for the bulk of Society's issues. It is an issue, and your new Preface reflects that very well.
Larry Walker
NEXT: Introduction
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