Today something crazy and tragic happened that will take some time to process. A prominent leader within the Integral community had their car stolen and the thief ended up causing a fatal accident in which at least one innocent person was killed. The thief, who I imagine was likely suffering from some sort of mental illness, was also killed in the crash. The theft happened mere minutes after the owner of the vehicle sat down with us on a lawn to have a little discussion. This person is okay, but their car was used in this tragedy. This highlights for me the need to prioritize the promotion of mental health and stay mindful of causes of mental illness and how any one of us can be inadvertent victims of these sort of acts. We cannot have a stable and peaceful society when so many people are being left far behind. We are increasingly in a world of haves and have-nots and the have-nots are increasingly suffering from mental illness and any one of us could be victims of criminal and violent acts. We need to remain mindful of this and work toward solutions. Thanks everyone
Terrible news, love goes out to all. The shadow orange economic state (in America) we are in unfortunately in, does leave so much people behind in establishing basics like healthcare.
Deepest respect and sympathies for all impacted by this tragedy. The thoughts below are at a distance - and necessarily removed from the emotional impact of the event itself. Thoughts and theories as such in no way can resolve or compensate for the experienced pain of an incident like this. So the first and best response is to feel first, then after a bit of space, to reflect a bit.
Lately my attention has been turning from the big picture (evolutionary theories, metacrisis, etc.) to the little picture - how to make positive changes on a local face-to-face level. Sadly, mentally ill people acting out in various violent ways is pretty much any day on the local news. Car theft, likewise, is an epidemic. There was an armed bank robbery and police car chase on one of my usual walking routes (within a mile of home) just a few days ago. A challenge for followers of Integral Theory or similar systems is how to engage with these complex issues in a constructive way.
Several decades ago I participated in a drug and alcohol task force at a county level. That task force included education, health care, law enforcement and other stakeholders. Getting into that world, one soon discovers complex relationships between substance abuse, mental illness, crime, incarceration, poverty, homelessness, race relations, and any number of other factors. Iād recommend to anyone to get involved with such local efforts, if only to learn in a multi-dimensional way what is happening in the lives of people we might otherwise not connect with.