Lonely Projects and Faraway Dreams of Deep Solidarity

Working on projects on my own is not a situation I consider ideal. I would rather be part of a group collaboration. These individual academic projects feel to much like a competition for intellectual superiority. However, that is not the point! The point is contributing ideas that will enhance the happiness of humanity.

Ideally we would all be working on the same project, just on different aspects of it or in different ways. But in today's world of deep ambiguity of purpose we are very far from this ideal. But how can a deep solidarity be built under these conditions? I see no way. Not until we begin examining our own hierarchy of purpose will we be able to even compare them with those of others. At this second stage we must then refuse to shy away from conflicts of purpose, for the alternative is a civilization with a high degree of moral indifference and a high toleration of moral contradiction. This indeed is our present predicament.

There is a way out from this however. It consists of developing a moral clarity comprehensive enough to be active at the lowest rungs of the hierarchy of purpose. And in terms of creating compatibility amongst our various moral systems, much progress toward this can be made through civil, compassionate discussion. Until the situation has developed to this point--at least at a micro level--I see my problem of lonely project work persisting.