[團體的烏托邦]
Politics is pointless if it does nothing
to enhance the beauty of our lives.
( Howard Zinn )
由於人類有劣根性，
所以「建設社會制度，做學問和做人」三者，
皆有如逆水行舟，不進則退。
Just because you do not take
an interest in politics doesn’t mean
politics won’t take an interest in you.
( Pericles )
When leaders betray their people and the
people don’t overthrow them, it’s not
just the leaders who should be blamed.
( Sergei Lukyanenko )
Revolutions are rarely the fault of the rebels.
In every revolution if the ruling elite had not
been so greedy, decadent, corrupt and vile,
if they had not suppressed the people for so long,
the revolutions would never have been necessary.
( Fr. Dwight Longenecker )
Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
( John Bradshaw, inscription on his tombstone )
歷史給予人類的教訓是：
建設烏托邦不能夠單憑幻想，必須有周詳的計劃。
如果人類不努力去建設天堂，以為可以得過且過，
以為可以將一切託付給靈界，
以為可以將一切託付給統治者，
最後往往會發現自己是住在「地獄」dystopia 裡，
而子女接受的，將會是「重視偏才和洗腦的愚民教育」。
建設烏托邦必然是一場正邪的抗爭，善惡的抗爭，
美醜的抗爭，菁英與蕪庸的抗爭，神聖和虛偽的抗爭！
沒有錯，我們知道大部份人都是經濟的動物，
所以這一些經濟的動物在未被人類捉拿，
放進「動物農莊」裝置天眼的高牆之內飼養之前，
眼裡只有金錢和物質生活，
絕對不會思考抽象概念的價值。
There is nothing more odious than the majority.
It consists of a few powerful men who lead the way;
of accommodating rascals and submissive weaklings;
and of a mass of men who trot after them
without in the least knowing their own minds.
( Johann Wolfgang von Goethe )
或者這種社會不能夠說是地獄，
只能夠說是一個「動物農莊」animal farm，
除了統治階層的動物之外，將人類階級和種類劃分為：
1. 思想家、哲學家、教育家 [大約1%]。
2. 科學家及科技人員，擁護統治者的宗教領袖 [大約5%]。
3. 革命家及恐怖份子 [大約5%]。
4. 能做管理階層或者文倀文妓的奴才 [大約10%]。
5. 優獸 [愚/粗] 魯暴 [力] 機械人 robocop [大約20%]。
6. 以監視為職業的探子 [大約60%]。
7. 胡作非為、傷風敗德、愛護統治階層的
灰社會和黑社會份子 [大約60%]。
8. 害怕改變，喜歡平穩，願意跟隨大隊的奴隸，
明哲保身、各家自掃門前雪，眼不見為乾淨，
只要受害者和自己無關，選擇袖手旁觀的人 [大約60%]。
以上各種類型當然可以互相重疊。
大部份宗教人士都很可愛，而且容易管理，
因為宗教人士討厭內部的先知和智者，
會自動對付他們，而且喜歡殺了他們之後再崇拜他們：
Men do not accept their prophets and slay them,
but they love their martyrs and
worship those whom they have tortured to death.
( Fyodor Dostoevsky )
當一個社會裡有一半是小人，有百分之三十是噤若寒蟬的人，
或者當一個社會成為了一個「動物農莊」之後，
我們就會發覺《大學》裡這句說話，的確放諸四海而皆準：
「好人之所惡，惡人之所好，是謂拂人之性，災必逮夫身。」
因為盲目崇拜民主的人傾向於擁護「人數決定真理」，
一旦小人當道，就可以理直氣壯地讓君子受災。
所以最令統治階層恐懼的是小人人數不足，
其次令統治階層恐懼的才是思想家：
No one can be good for long
if goodness is not in demand.
( Bertolt Brecht )
Anti-social behaviour is a trait of intelligence
in a world full of conformists.
( Nikola Tesla )
Civil disobedience is not our problem.
Our problem is civil obedience.
Our problem is that numbers of people
all over the world have obeyed the dictates
of the leaders of their government and have
gone to war, and millions have been killed
because of this obedience…
Our problem is that people are obedient
all over the world in the face of poverty and
starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty.
Our problem is that people are obedient while
the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the
while the grand thieves are running the country.
That’s our problem.
( Howard Zinn )
如果將天堂和地獄看成兩種元素，
那麼天堂和地獄之間就會有各式各樣的組合。
運氣欠佳，一旦遇上醜陋的管治班子的話，
這個醜陋的管治班子就會製造地獄來統治人民。
Force always attracts men of low morality.
( Albert Einstein )
所以人類必須為自己創造烏托邦 utopia！
Selfishness breeds apathy and indifference
so that violence is allowed to repeat itself.
We need collective wisdom to create
for humanity a social system that allows
citizens to be happy and to enjoy life.
Utopia is not an ideal anymore.
It has become a necessity, and it is
up to us to make one. For the time being,
utopia is not a destination but a direction.
( Jason Ling )
The best way to predict the future
is to create it.
( Peter Drucker )
Social psychologists argue that who we are
at any one time depends mostly on
the context in which we find ourselves.
But who creates the context？
The more mindful we are,
we are more likely to be authentic.
Mindfulness lets us see things in a new light
and believe in the possibility of change…
Changing of contexts … generates imagination
and creativity as well as new energy…
This ability to transcend context
is the essence of mindfulness and
central to creativity in any field.
( Ellen J. Langer, Mindfulness )
制衡資本主義者的貪婪和隨之而起的貧富懸殊，
長遠的方法就是先定義「民主」，再定下執行的方法，
換言之，就是建設「團體的烏托邦」！
短期的方法就是歷史上不繼重覆出現的革命，
用殺戮的方法來改朝換代，直到下一次的革命出現。
有人說：
中國老百姓對民主的定義和西方對民主的定義，
是不一樣的，因為中國人的奴性重，
而且家長式的意識形態阻礙了批判思維的發展，
而且中國人一般不懂得「偏才」和「通才」的分別。
這就是為何現代中國除了需要「教書」來訓練「偏才」之外，
還需要「教育」來培育「通才」。
我們堅持不以人廢言，即使這句說話來自毛澤東：
「世界是你們的，也是我們的，但是歸根結底是你們的。
你們青年人朝氣蓬勃，正在興旺時期，
好像早晨八、九點鐘的太陽。希望寄託在你們身上。」
自然界有天地之道，人世間有政治社會人性之道，
而後者更為重要，因為是人類可以自己創造的範疇。
A knowledge of the forces that rule society,
of the causes that have produced its upheavals,
and of society’s resources for promoting
healthy progress has become of vital concern
to our civilization.
( Wilhelm Dilthey )
參考：介子平《可悲的中國人》 《教書、教育》(一)
《教書、教育》(二) 《教書、教育》(三)
問題是，如果人類不能夠鼓起勇氣建設一個「批判平台」，
讓集體智慧和「心靈 soul」主宰大局，
那麼所謂「革命」只不過是換湯不換藥。
Revolutions have never been lightened
the burden of tyranny.
They have only shifted it to another shoulder.
( George Bernard Shaw )
[理性、良知、希望、毅力]
「良知」和「希望」最令「動物農莊」統治階層頭痛：
But human beings are not machines,
and however powerful the pressure to conform,
they sometimes are so moved by
what they see as injustice
that they dare to declare their independence.
In that historical possibility lies hope.
( Howard Zinn )
其次令「動物農莊」統治階層頭痛的，
是「希望」再加上「愚公移山的毅力」：
To be hopeful in bad times is not just
foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact
that human history is a history
not only of cruelty, but also of compassion,
sacrifice, courage, kindness.
What we choose to emphasize in this
complex history will determine our lives.
If we see only the worst,
it destroys our capacity to do something.
If we remember those times and place
──and there are so many──
where people have behaved magnificently,
this gives us the energy to act,
and at least the possibility of
sending this spinning top of a world
in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way,
we don’t have to wait for some grand
utopian future. The future is an infinite
succession of presents, and to live now
as we think human beings should live,
in defiance of all that is bad around us,
is itself a marvelous victory.
( Howard Zinn )
「不論是悲觀或樂觀的預測，
未來都有可能或不可能發生，端看人心趨向。
根據佛法的觀點來看這個世界，因緣與因果能決定未來，
只要致力於人心的淨化及人品的提昇，
使得人心的趨向越來越好，人類心靈越來越純良、安定，
樂觀的世界就會出現。
否則，光是空想幻想，而不努力於人心的淨化，
悲觀的未來也就難免了。」
《如何因應嶄新的二十一世紀》(聖嚴法師)
It is difficult to say what is impossible,
for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today
and the reality of tomorrow.
( Robert H. Gaddard )
A dream you dream alone is only a dream.
A dream we dream together is reality.
( John Lennon )
There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere,
and many of us will have to pass through
the valley of the shadow of death
again and again before we reach
the mountaintop of our desires.
( Nelson Mandela )
There were many dark moments when my faith
in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not
and could not give myself up to despair.
That way lay defeat and death.
( Nelson Mandela )
讓「動物農莊」統治階層能夠鬆一口氣的是，
幸好一般人完全不懂得甚麼是最高層次的理性！
由於人類喜歡將面子置諸追求真理之上，理性不足，
又有頗多道貌岸然和老氣橫秋的人阻礙批判思維，
所以「良知、希望、毅力」只能夠發揮四成的力量，
動物依然是統治者。
Mikko Hypponen
How the NSA betrayed the world’s trust──time to act
[最高層次的理性]
It is useless to tell one not to reason
but to believe ── you might as well tell
a man not to wake but sleep.
( Lord Byron )
問題是：
人類要去到甚麼程度的理性，
才可以產生足夠的力量和「動物農莊」對抗？
We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions
to participate in the process of change.
Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people,
can transform the world.
( Howard Zinn )
用集體智慧去判斷甚麼是「眾人以為美的事」，
然後用集體智慧去討論如何執行，就已經接近烏托邦。
所以筆者認為這個烏托邦必須
1. 以「理性」reason 為「信仰」faith，
否則仁慈的定義就會變得曖昧，
讓喜歡半桶水思考的人有機可乘。
2. 以鍥而不捨的「批判」critique 為思考的工具。
3. 以經過批判，結合思考的行動來辦事。
4. 以「批判平台」CTP 為實踐和訓練人才的工具。
5. 以「批判平台」CTP 來領導思考力不足，
但「自我感覺良好」的人追隨。
6. 以理性控制熱衷權力但並非為人民服務的人。
烏托邦不是夢想，烏托邦是理想，
一旦烏托邦的理想成真，人類就在世上為自己建設了天堂！
筆者提出建設「批判平台」，就是因為明白
「很多人都只不過是偏才，很多人都忙於生活，
很多人都忙於養家或照顧家人，很多人都懶於思考，
所以很多人都是 conformists / drifters！
如果沒有一個批判平台，
我們一定會發現好聲好氣慢慢講道理，
即使講十年二十年都無用，因為只能夠影響極少數人，
所以對整個社會來說，精力差不多是白費的。」
Solomon Asch (1907–1996) 的 conformity experiments
證明群體壓力甚至可以令人違背事實和自己的判斷！
Group pressure can change opinion,
of even obvious facts.
參考：
《如何衡量智慧的價值？》
《思考可以是一種信仰》(三)
「批判平台」概念的緣起》
Dacher Keltner
We Are Built To Be Kind
Survival of the Kindest
An Evening with Dacher Keltner
退而求其次的烏托邦，在地球上有樣板嗎？
關愚謙《歐洲與日本比，捉襟見肘》
http://master-insight.com/content/article/5576
沒有錯，大部份人都是要管的，
問題的根源有四：
1. 如何判斷甚麼需要管，甚麼不需要管？
2. 需要管的要如何管？
3. 如何挑選管理員？
4. 如何更換不稱職的管理員？
參考：《管理自己》