Story #1: The New Prince (1:35)
This week we start by looking at the birth of the future King of England. I make the case that the Brits are right good at carrying forward the best of what royalty can provide: a sense of identity, security, history and lineage. It’s deeply satisfying to our pre-modern selves to organize around a Queen — and essential to our post-modern selves that she not have any real power. The evolution of consciousness has meant a de-evolution of the once absolute power of monarchs. There’s more evolution to come, of course, and one wonders whether, how and over whom our future King George Alexander Louis will reign.
Story #2: Why is Violent Crime Diminishing? (9:14)
One of the most surprising and encouraging social trends in the developed world has been the drop in violent crime. Regardless of causative issues like economics, unemployment, incarceration rates and policing methods, crime continues a thirty year decline that neither conservative or liberal experts predicted.
My theory is that as the consciousness of modernity comes more stably online, people become pacified. It just becomes obvious to us that we’re going to get further through cooperation than through domination — in our personal lives and as a nation. I look at the developmental history of crime and punishment, and consider some emerging integral approaches.
Listen to an excerpt below. The full audio is premium content on integrallife.com.
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Actually, there’s a direct correlation between environmental lead and violent behavior, diminishing over the past 30 years with the elimination of lead in paint and gasoline. See mother jones article…
I don’t disagree with your comments about conscioussness, just don’t attribute it to be the primary reason for the decline.