The Prime Directive: The Crisis in Haiti

The heartbreaking news this past week was all about the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Unless you have had a similar experienced, it is difficult for us to wrap our minds around the pain and anguish the people are feeling. The crisis in Haiti provides a case in point regarding the Prime Directive. Don't you feel something pulling at you from inside as you watch the news or read an article, as you look at the faces of the people and the magnitude of their losses? And doesn't your heart experience a certain kind of warmth and pride as you think about all of the people around the world who are reaching out to help? Yes! There are logistical problems getting things where they need to be, but the reaching out, the rush to assist, to aid, to save lives can make you want to be a part of that effort. In these moments of crisis the best of who we are as a species comes to the forefront and it can move you to imagine a more perfect world. The crisis in Haiti provides us with an example of the Peaceful Space Response emerging in the face of horrific human suffering. That feeling of connection of spirit is your innate Peaceful Space Response. The actions being taken are an expression of the Prime Directive.

From the standpoint of the Prime Directive, the crisis in Haiti also raises an important question which relates to the level of destruction that the island nation experienced. After so many decades of contact and interaction between the U.S. and Haiti, how is it that Haiti remains one of the poorest and underdeveloped nations in the world while located just a few hundreds of miles from the richest and most powerful nation in the world? Why have the people of Haiti not been more proactively supported in becoming valued and viable economic and political partners and neighbors?  The Prime Directive calls upon us to act in the interests of the whole and each of its parts at all times. Not just in times of crisis and devastation! In the Handbook On Being Human, vol I, Dr. M. predicts that there will be more natural disasters, of increasing magnitude and scope. He also suggests that beginning to teach and live the Prime Directive and the process of Creating Peaceful Space now is the key to being prepared for what is coming.

In the Handbook, Dr. M. outlines the instincts, drives, needs, desires, and wishes that fuel human behavior and influence human choices. He also describes a way of seeing the world that can give us greater understanding of the long term and short term consequences of the choices that each of us make each and every day. We are shaping the future in each moment of the present. It should be obvious that if different choices were made in the past, and if Haiti had been more developed, the level of destruction from this particular earthquake would not have been as great. So people in the past wrote this possibility into the future, and we and our brothers and sisters in Haiti are now experiencing the consequences of those past choices. And the choices that we are making right now will influence the future that will confront us, our children, and our grandchildren for decades and generations to come. According to the Mysterious Dr. M. the Prime Directive and Creating Peaceful Space are about self-determined evolution.

I hope you'll answer the survey questions, make the Prime Directive an important part of your life, recommend the Handbook On Being Human, vol. I to a friend, and share your comments on this Blog.