Architecture of Tomorrow​​

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After a decade of research and deep study, we have created a model that we feel can be the cornerstone of shaping a new paradigm for humanity. These seven pillars or layers are crucial to shaping a different world then the one we are currently inhabiting. While some of these pillars are foundational in nature, the others are structural. The foundational aspects are largely values-driven, while the structural aspects are principles-driven. Together, they enable the Tomorrow Paradigm Framework diagram below which thinkers, shapers, and doers can utilize to create meaningful impact and manifest a better world.

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Higher Humanity

 

At the root of a better tomorrow is an awakened humanity. Humans are a miracle - we are capable of both love and hate, unity and division, creation and destruction. If we give ourselves to our lower instincts, as we have for most of modern history, then we can wreak havoc on both ourselves and our natural habitat. In fact, we have done this quite effortlessly because we have been largely driven by fear and hate - not by trust or love.

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We have chosen to be divided by country, race, religion, caste, tribe, and innumerable other identifications - always betraying our innate humanity which connects us all. Unless, we rise above these lower instincts to the hallowed halls of compassion, gratitude, and love - unless we surrender to an unwavering trust in our combined humanity - we will fail our purpose on this earth. The earth may survive but we will not. Time has come to raise our consciousness towards being better humans - not just because that is a better way to live on this planet - but because our very survival depends on it.

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Fearless Femininity

 

Besides courting our lesser virtuous instincts, throughout most of history, humans have laid more importance to masculinity. Masculinity is largely associated with domination, conquest, aggression, and control. It feeds on fear. This isn't abound gender, it is about identifying only with the survival aspect of our species. But humans were not just meant to survive on this planet, or horde everything for their own comfort, but also to thrive and explore their higher potential. While there have been renaissance periods, what we characterize as feminine eras, where we embraced art, literature, music, and philosophy, we have largely been obsessed with a much more prevalent history of conquest and domination.

 

Today, this same dominance of nature's masculine principle has brought us to near ruin. With most of the wildlife wiped out, with the highest disparity and inequity that we have ever faced, with humanity thoroughly divided along ideological fault lines, it is time to raise our feminine nature. Femininity feeds on love. It is sensitive to life. It seeks to embrace and include, not divide and exclude. We just need to awaken that dimension within ourselves to bring about balance on the earth. However, given its soft nature, it has been historically controlled and subjugated. The coming era, however, will embolden femininity, so it may conquer fear through love. It is time to move beyond gender and for humanity to embrace their fearless feminine nature.

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Nourished Nature

 

At the receiving end of our fear-induced domination and selfish instincts has been the natural world that surrounds us. If one were to map our so-called material success and technological prowess against the welfare of the planet, there would be an inverse relationship. We are literally chopping off the branch that we are standing on and we seem proud of our accomplishment. But to any wise onlooker, it is complete insanity. Yet, that is what we have done to nature and to life. We have wiped out more then half of wildlife in just half a century. We have annihilated forests, contaminated rivers, polluted the air, consumed mountains, and dug out of the earth anything of any redeemable material value. This has come at an enormous cost to life including our own.

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A better tomorrow cannot be shaped by the same mentality. We don't need more fads under the guise of sustainability or the circular economy or green energy - we just need more sensitivity towards nature. We need to factor in the value of our natural environment to our long term survival - and that of other species that share our habitat. But sensitivity and forward thinking actions are not enough. We also need to nourish and replenish nature to the extent that we are able to. By rethinking our modes of economic development, by putting curbs on harsh meddling of natural resources, we need to give time for nature to heal itself. And hereby secure our home for future generations.

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Whole Health

 

The state of nature is deeply interlinked with our personal health. If the planet is not healthy, it is impossible for us to be healthy as we are just extensions of that biological system. Health is also the basis of our survival and what we are able to do with our given potential. Yet, our existing paradigm has yielded the most unhealthy generation of humankind in a long time. We may be living longer but we aren't necessarily living healthier. The quality of our health has deteriorated with the health of the planet and increasingly unnatural ways of living. We have chosen to adopt and encourage health systems which are very superficial. Further corruption of policy-making bodies has sown enormous doubt on prevailing wisdom around health and treatment.

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Tomorrow's health systems will be more integrated in nature - balancing advances in the understanding of human biology with age-old wisdom of our ancestors who had an intimate understanding of nature's healing methods. This is especially true of so-called Eastern systems of medicine including Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine. The latter should not be seen as an alternative to mainstream medicine today. They should be adopted as lifestyle medicine or preventive medicine that helps us to retain our health and forego modern medical interventions unless absolutely required.

 

We also need to re-adopt the old wisdom of the Greeks who advocated that 'let food be thy medicine'. In doing so, healing our soil and replenishing it of its nutrients will go a long way in making food an avenue for health. Ridding our ecosystem of thousands of chemicals, many of which have irrevocably damaged our food systems, along with discouraging the extreme processing of foods are other interventions which will be required to keep us healthy. Much of the food that we eat is no longer enabling our health positively. Hence, medicine will have to recognize the link between unadulterated and unprocessed whole foods and vibrant health. We will have to take a much more comprehensive and multi-disciplinary approach to understanding health.

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Elevated Education

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The reality of our planet today has been shaped by our minds. Our education systems are largely responsible for this thought process. Yet, our education only excels in shaping one aspect of our minds - the logical and the deductive. It falters in making us creative individuals. It falls short of engendering our intuitive faculties. Hence, we are only able to perceive one part of reality and not the whole as our perception is only geared to recognize the superficial. We fail to perceive the larger connections and the vast interlinkages of our existence. And without this knowledge, we are bound to make decisions that are continually exaggerating superficial existence which is at odds with life itself.

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It is time to elevate our educational systems to provide us methods of developing all our mental faculties. Tomorrow's reality will need people who can think creatively, use imagination, and are capable of empathy. These are the functions which will be difficult for machines to replace whereas those functions that our current educational systems train us in will be handily replaced by artificial intelligence. We need to develop whole humans through education that are capable of being masters of machines - not the other way around. Hence, elevating our education systems is a matter of survival in tomorrow's world.

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Conscious Capitalism

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Adam Smith's Capitalism was too idealistic. So was the Marxist Communist philosophy. Neither were in touch with the reality of humanity. Hence, while Communism may have faded, the winner in the form of modern day Capitalism is largely to blame for our current woes. Capitalism has been merged with politics ensuring that there are no safeguards to keep the economic system working for the betterment of society. In addition, Capitalism, in its theory and practice, has only recognized and encouraged humans to put their self-interest above the common good - never attempting to balance the two. The result is a world of vast material abundance for a few and an increasing sense of despondency and hopelessness for the rest - not to mention the irrevocable damage done to our natural systems.

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The change in Capitalism has to come with a recognition of a human's altruistic nature. New Capitalist thought process also has to value natural resources for the support that they provide to supporting life on the planet. It has to put a cost on economic behavior that allows enterprises to trash our natural systems of survival including the air, water, and earth. It has to treat human labor with dignity and not merely as an object of exploitation. It has to recognize the immense power it has to reshape our world for the better. And in fulfilling its original tenet of a world without borders where all our resources are truly shared, we can also think about sharing a better life for all of humanity.

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Selfless Society

 

The prevailing idea of society has been merged with limited local and national identifications. Such associations limit the potential of society to fulfill its larger role of uplifting humanity and living with a sense of purpose. A civilization will only have been of some consequence in history if its societies were known to have served the interests of the collective - not just their own. Instead today, societies are a larger collective reflection of a relentless focus on individual self-interest. Societies coalesce in order to advance individual self-interest. Current politics is a manifestation of this pattern and politicians are in no ways above this low bar that humanity has set for itself.

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In order for humanity to progress as a whole, our idea of society will have to be expanded to include global welfare. Going back to our first foundational value of stoking a higher humanity, an unselfish individual is the cornerstone of a selfless society. While one clearly recognizes certain needs and requirements for the self, the individual is also encouraged by society, and vice versa, to think of the unmet needs of humankind at large. This approach to progress ensures that the collective goodwill facilitates a higher platform for all individuals to fulfill their own potential too. Such progress also takes on a higher sense of purpose.

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Approach to Action​​

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The Center for Tomorrow (CTR), like its mandate and vision, has a unique approach to how it enables change. In today's reality, most think-tanks strategize policies and directives which are often divorced from the grassroots. Similarly, most grassroots organizations are often siloed into working on micro issues that lack both context and vision. 

 

A the CTR, we take a very inclusive and hands-on approach towards impacting real change. While our Council and Executive Teams explore and define both the strategic vision and the implementation context, we work side by side with affiliated grassroots action networks to enable meaningful change. This is summarized in the Purposeful Action Framework diagram below which showcases and balances the role of the CTR leadership in setting the strategic approach of our efforts with initiatives and actions to correct and align new movements of progress across our seven strategic areas highlighted above.

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