The Book of Outcomes

By Stephen Ridley

Where God confronts darkness:

The Book of Outcomes is a blueprint for the survival of humanity and the battle between Light and dark.

It contains key messages of The Golden Rule - treating others as you would wish to be treated.

The Book of Outcomes integrates Eastern and Western philosophies and addresses all the required components, including leadership, socio-economics, the environment, technology and climate change.

This is where God, The One, casts Light over darkness and helps every human being to become fulfilled in life and afterlife, helping every culture, belief, and human science, to learn and grow.

The Book of Outcomes enables every faith system, community and science of the common good to unite and sustain, through shared values, as One.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Jun 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781982200909

Stephen Ridley

Stephen Ridley is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts and founder of The One Project on shared global values. He is a transformation expert, a Chartered Certified Accountant and has an MBA in technology management.

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Copyright © 2018 Stephen Ridley.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-9822-0089-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-0091-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-0090-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018903658

Balboa Press rev. date: 05/29/2018

Contents

1. Introduction: survival and growth

2. Leadership

3. The Joining of East and West

4. Economics

5. Environment

6. Technology

7. Politics and Justice

8. Transformation

9. Outcomes

10. Sustainability

11. The One

12. A New Beginning

The One Project

The Outcome of Transformation

For all my children

Love

Diagram%200%20-%20The%20Chinese%20Symbol%20for%20Love.jpg

Only love can guide destiny.

Destiny is like a ship, giving purpose

to all those who those desire to see the destination.

The story of Atlantis:

Those who take over the Earth

And shape it to their will,

Never, I notice, succeed;

The Earth is a vessel so sacred

That at the mere approach of the profane

It is impaired.

And when they reach out their fingers it is gone.

Tao Te Ching

There is no beginning. There is no end.

1. Introduction: survival and growth

SOME CLIMB THE MOUNTAIN in the hope of finding what they are looking for at the summit, only to discover that that it goes down the other side again. They believe that life is about what they want.

Others climb the mountain to get a better view, a vantage point from which they can better see, knowing that this is what they need to be able to share the vision. This vision enables them to gain the knowledge to climb the next mountain together.

The Book of Outcomes is the third Book of The One Project, which enables a sustainable reconnection, learning, survival and growth with one-another, and then, consequently, The One.

The One Project, which is ‘The Project of The One’, contains key messages, including psychological, philosophical, economic and spiritual truths, plus the practical systems and frameworks for uniting them, and then combining them morally and collectively for the common good.

Each of the three Books explains different levels of ¹understanding, the reasoning and the results, and consequently the outcomes that can result from ‘free will’, if one chooses to morally collaborate and co-create, thereby manifesting a connected, holistic and sustainably moral path for Human Beings to journey together and to become sustainable together on Earth. Without this collaboration and morality, the survival of the Human species is unsustainable.

The three Books, including The Book of Life and The Book of Intention, were channelled and written for the benefit of every Human Being. They help to sustain life, both on Earth and in the life to come. The One Project therefore shares these key temporal messages and the connected vision that have been both experienced and channelled from the Divine Essence to enable this sustainability, along with the consideration of the many collaborative and collectively moral choices that need to be made by each Human Being.

Human choices will result in either a sustainable or unsustainable future for Humanity, and for each and every person and their soul and spirit.

Since the ills of a society can only be changed by a critical mass of collective free will, moral sustainability can only be attained by a conscious and unified purpose for the common good. A belief in the common good is not an object, or something simply to be observed; it is an objective ideal, something to be morally sought, acted upon and sustained: a sacred message and answer that had already been given within The Golden Rule: Love another as one-self.

Consequently, the conscious reconnection across societies for the common good cannot be sustainable without good values that are both accepted and commonly shared. Conversely, immorality is a separation (the meaning of sin) from one-another and the shared environment that sustains life itself. Immorality can never be sustainable, and can never sustain anything, because a focus on the self without the value of collaboration cannot produce lasting benefits; it is a contradiction. As shall be seen, immorality can never be both constructive and benevolent, either to one-self or for one-another.

²Benefits befit the good; benevolence is good of one’s own volition. It is therefore a choice.

The promised space of time for moving this awareness of choice forwards, the conscious mindfulness of Humanity with the unity of purpose for the common good, has therefore come; it is called the Transformation of Human Consciousness. This is therefore the coming of the promised space of time for collaborative and moral change, and of harmony, balance and peace, to create a new beginning to be called The Golden Age. The vision of The Book of Outcomes, and the three Books of The One Project as a whole, is to consequently reconnect, co-create and collaboratively live in a world with lasting moral and beneficial value, which is then also socially, economically and ecologically viable and sustainable for all Human Beings.

The collaborative and moral values and messages given within The One Project can also be developed and applied by giving, learning, sharing and teaching based on experience. It is a collaborative and collective process of connecting the personal and individual experiences, perceptions, perspectives and the given and jointly shared knowledge that has been accumulated between different cultures and diverse people across the world and throughout history, from both East and West.

By using this moral know-how and the gift of conscious and free will choices for the common good, this benefits each and every Human Being and therefore one-another. This moral and holistic philosophy, this innate wisdom and passion that is held within the soul and compassion of spirit of every Human Being, also unites the faith and belief systems of the common good.

Such a world is not difficult to imagine.

Imagine a world that is:

o based on giving and sharing; all Human Beings equal, free and empowered;

o a place where one would intend for another none other than would be intended for one-self;

o taking pride in the way people are learning and growing, that they can think, intend and act collaboratively, constructively and benevolently for the common good;

o living and Being so that the children are empowered to create fulfilment for everyone and for the others yet to come;

o this fulfilment with one-another, for one-another;

o a Garden, Earth’s Eden, for reconnection with Nature and God, The One, as Intended.

The key messages within The One Project enable a return to this Garden that is called Earth and a new beginning for all those who choose to do good for and with one-other. The Book of Outcomes also gives and shares a grounded and holistic blueprint that is needed to create a moral and global socio-economic system, and a sustainable model for a stable political economy for leadership and their followers to pursue. However, this sustainable direction is also a given free will choice, since the Earth, the sustaining environment, will survive with or without Human Beings. Despite the individual and collectively moral choices that need to be made, the intention of The One Project is for the ongoing survival and growth of Humanity and for learning and growth of the soul of each Human Being.

The messages of The One Project do not replace the previous messages that were given within the many Books of the People - including The Vedas, The Buddhavacana, The Torah, The Tao Te Ching, The Gospel, The Qur’an and The Guru Granth Sahib - instead they reconcile and unite them, as one, in order to ³correct the Human choice, misunderstanding, contradiction and previous separation in order to continuously create and manifest the desired, the required, sustainability. Continued separation (sin), for whatever reason, is not sustainable for any Human Being or soul, regardless of the path or faith system that has been intended from birth or has been chosen as a part of an individual’s given free will choice. Each path, if genuinely chosen within the universal path of service, is therefore a sacred journey.

The Universal Intention towards learning, survival and growth creates this much-needed space of time that is also required for every Human Being, and therefore every soul, to make the personal choice of either Light or dark, enabling both the survival of the Human species and the sustainability of the individual’s soul. Through Universal Intention, the Way of The Universe, this path can be both concealed and revealed at different times throughout life depending upon one’s own attitude, belief system and choices.

The path is always concealed through selfishness, until the soul has learned and grown through this primary lesson. When the chosen path then becomes consciously selfless for others, without attachment to the material, it is revealed to all of those who are a seeker of this Truth. It is the effectively same as either the evolution of the Human soul or of pressing the restart button.

The Golden Rule and its’ effects on all Human Beings and the planet is consequently revealed through conscious mindfulness and free will choice and concealed through mindlessness. It is a purely personal choice. One may therefore help another but not choose for another, as this is a selfish form of control which is then also a separation from The One.

One may choose to influence another but, at the same time, one can be mindless of another’s subsequent choice and therefore of judgement. It is only in a state of personal non-attachment, an acceptance of another’s choice without judgement, that the choice is simply lived and becomes a Way of Being, and then becomes fulfilling and joyful.

This is the reason why the Way is both a personal and collective acceptance of responsibility, as one, and in Being as One. The consequent ⁴karma process that results for each soul is explained later in this Book, as this is a result of both the personal and collective Law of Intention and the Law of Attraction (which can also be found and explained within the Universal laws of temporal physics).

Authentic influence, in the flow, which in spiritual terms means in the flow of the Way, is consequently based on a collaborative and moral intention but never on ⁵selfish control, both with one’s own thoughts and mind and through the collective intentions and actions with others, including the integrity of any such actions. As will be seen later, any inauthentic thought, intention or action cannot be sustained nor sustain anything.

The authentic Way has also been revealed and influenced by the avatars, the many messengers of the Universal Intention; there are and have been many servants of The One, whether revealed or not, who serve, influence and help towards this common good goal within this temporary or temporal world.

There are only three given values that need to be understood, shared and used by Human Beings to become connected and mindfully aware of The Golden Rule: these are Collaboration, Constructiveness and Benevolence. These three shared and sacred values, in divine essence, show Humanity how to humbly apply (or ground) this timeless, sacred and key message, the covenant found within all the moral cultures and belief and faith systems throughout the world and Human history; they are contained within these few simple words: Love another as one-self. The message of The Golden Rule may be further simplified and remembered through these three words: Love as One.

This is the same message and the sacred and divine Truth given in various forms throughout history, which have been incorporated within The Torah, and given in their respective times by both ⁶Yeeschwah and Mohammed. The former sacrificed his life for this; the latter sacrificed his life to this; they had each continuously moved the mountain to direct Humanity away from immorality, polytheism and false gods, but too few had seen this Intention of The Universe, of God, of The One, because of separation and selfish wants, and the paradox not to be as One.

This mindlessness had then brought Humanity and a living planet to the edge of destruction. It is now the space of time to correct this, ‘One Way’ or the other. The messages of connection and sustainability within the given three Books of The One Project consequently give the choice for each Human Being to be able to think, intend and act as one, both as individual Beings and together, as One. The allotted space of time is near, as it always starts in the here and now.

The signs had been made obvious: Human Beings had become in danger of destroying themselves, and the conflicts north of Temple Mount had started. Only the Truth is sustainable, and only true and enlightened souls and compassionate spirits in the value and virtue of The One can be sustainable at the End of Days, which is The Last Judgement. The planet called Earth will not be sacrificed.

This is the reason why the shared values were created and given to Humanity by the Divine Essence. These are the holistic and shared personal and collective values of an objective ideal, which can help to overcome the many personal, competitive and separated issues resulting from having many and diverse personal opinions. Each opinion is always transient and can only be based upon assumptions; consequently, opinions are always based on gaps in knowledge. Conversely the uniting message of the divine knowledge of connected Love is eternal, since Love is always for giving. This can be taught.

Life is a quest for Love, and Love conquers all. Since all values describe that which is valuable, those values that can be personally valued, morally applied and shared with integrity can also become sustainable for the common good. The given shared and moral values of The Golden Rule reconnect and sustain both individuals and society, as it did throughout history, because such Love sustains all, always.

Collaboration, sometimes also known simply within organisations as teamwork, is the true and Universal connecting component of value, with Constructiveness and Benevolence, as two more pillars of value, describing and defining Universal morality. These three values also overarch five personal virtues to sustain them; these are given as Commitment, Integrity, Passion, Compassion and Excellence.

Excellence can be a paradox. Excellence includes giving to and loving your perceived enemies, including yourself!

The given shared values and virtues can and will, if freely chosen, create and form a moral, fulfilling and sustainable virtuous circle, including reconciling, reconnecting and reuniting the many People of the Book, those of the common good, to think, intend and act for the common good. Who are these people? Those of the common good and therefore of The One, are the true believers and servants in sacred and eternal Love: they are of true intention of The Vedas, The Tao Te Ching, The Buddhavacana, The Torah, The Gospel, The Qur’an and The Guru Granth Sahib, plus all true and moral Humanitarians, those who dream and desire in this temporal life, this physical world, to be humane towards all Human Beings and to all living things.

So, do you believe in God? This does not matter as much as you might think, since this is free will. Does God believe in you? Now this does matter more than you might think. So, do you believe in a separated god? Each soul’s connection and relationship with God, The One, their spirituality, is unique, sacred and personal. As will be explained later, the esoteric and exoteric views of the world are simply Human-created distinctions to make sense of this reality. Surely, the important thing is that God, whether consciously felt or not, can believe in you, lives within and through you, and that this goodness flows through you!

Some might argue that a ‘belief’ in God is essential, but how would that ‘belief’ benefit a single soul if that soul is judgmental of another and therefore separated from another soul? It is the innate faith that is essential, and beliefs are simply a component of faith. ‘Faith’ in God, The One, or in the common good, without passion, compassion and a personal sacrifice of self-centred wants and ideas is therefore meaningless.

If Love was given from and by Creation, then surely there can be no better gift than to return it to Creation?

Consequently, faith consists of this belief, passion, compassion and the sacrifice of selfish wants, which are born of Love, as it is a self-creating virtuous circle. This is always the meaning of true faith, so it is better to lead and teach Love by example than to attempt to teach disconnection through a transient opinion, an attachment or an individually separated personal ‘belief’. True faith is an acceptance and development of the knowledge of The One, which is always found within Love, and True Love is eternal and without separation. It is innate, but it is also a choice.

The messages given by The One are ⁷evolutionary and diverse but they are always connected; and if they are freely chosen and followed with integrity, both individually and collectively, each message and its’ result grows to be increasingly empowering, fulfilling, uniting and joyful, especially when they are continuously acted upon across all of Humanity and across all the faith and belief systems of the common good.

All the moral faith and belief systems of The One are as One. The chosen people are those who strive to Be as One. To the many enlightened People of the Book, this truth can be seen at many different levels, both esoterically and exoterically. Any differences can therefore form the basis of either reconnection or of further separation, through the free will choice that is given and the perception that is held on to. It is a constructive and benevolent choice of a sustainable path within the message, or of destruction and malevolence outside of it, but only one of these choices has a good and sustainable outcome, both collectively and individually. The final choice of path is here and now.

The framework for and the outcome from the given shared values and virtues, the connecting and moral message between and for the People of the Book, are given in the next Chapter, which are the learning, the lessons and the moral teaching on ‘Leadership’. Both Yeeschwah and Mohammed were prophets, messengers and master leaders of morality and practicality; and both were master teachers for all people. As will be shown later, both true Christianity and Islam are important, worthy to import, as is the Way of the East.

All people have the same intrinsic needs of these messages and the same personal choices to make to fulfil those needs, including eternal Love, self-love, survival, growth and an inclusion (acceptance) of one-self within the whole. The shared values of The One Project, The Project of The One, therefore also give the opportunity to collaborate, learn, share and teach, in order to reunite the faith and moral belief systems of the common good and to help create the basis for an understanding of one-self and others who are ultimately the same: Human Beings from the same Source of Creation.

Is this a choice between either Love or survival, or is Love the only Way to survive? This evolutionary and historic lesson and then progression, of climbing one mountain and then another, began with and within the created soul of each and every Human Being, the Being that is Human.

The messages for this Human and divine connection, morality and sustainability were given at many different times throughout history, in many different places and in many different Books of the People, by The One. However, the Truth of these messages is also innated (born within) every Human Being, if one has authentic faith and is genuinely connected to the true intention of the message: to serve without intended harm and not to be separated from one-another without forgiveness.

Never see forgiveness as a weakness, since forgiving requires deep strength and courage, which paradoxically can be more difficult than holding on to something that causes continuous and potentially never-ending pain. Forgiving one-self makes you vulnerable to loving yourself; but some things are better lost, forgiven and then forgotten, including blame, judgement, righteousness and self-pity. The difficulty comes in accepting that forgiveness involves remembering, which can be emotionally and spiritually painful. Yet without this forgiveness, involving both love and intimacy, and vulnerability and caring, it becomes increasingly elusive. Forgiving, whether yourself or another, also involves a reconciliation and a letting go of the past, which are essential in moving forwards in both self-love and in caring for others.

Who may cast the first stone? Some may wish to call the Truth answered by this question as ⁸conscience, already knowing that one would not want to be judged, blamed or shamed, thereby giving every conscious (mindfully aware) Human Being the opportunity to be understanding of and to know where they come from and also to Whom they return if they become worthy of that understanding and knowledge of this Human condition, through an authentic emotion of remorse. Such consciousness may also be described as this different level of mindfulness or conscious awareness that each transcendent soul and compassionate spirit can reach and share, both together and for one-another in a developed conscience and consciousness.

The Source of individual conscience is therefore ‘Goodness’. True faith consequently believes in the common good, and belief in the common good consequently restores true faith. If one believes in the intrinsic and unspoken value of the common good, one may already have knowledge of true faith. The remainder of one’s life is then practical, both physically and spiritually. It is both a test and a reward on how to live, and then to learn, share and teach the experience and meaning of Love, within a connected model of giving, caring and remorse for any shameful wrongdoing. It is also to help ensure the survival of the Human species along with the growth of other Human Beings who together choose the moral path of a caring and enlightened soul.

From the beginning of this Creation, one of many, Human Beings have always learned to survive and grow through the giving and sharing of this received wisdom, plus an existential experience, to help develop and test this knowledge. This knowledge has also helped to sustain moral societies, communities and civilisations throughout Human evolution, despite the many past mistakes of enmity, conflict and separation from one-another. But technology changes things.

Technology is the modern word for the science of know-how. It is nothing without mind connection and experience. The ‘Logos’ can therefore be described as the whole connected ‘mind’ that always acts in knowledge for the common good for the technological (know-how) model to sustain itself. Economically, those who would continue to argue for competition against one-another, between a short-term survival of the ‘fittest’, do not logically understand it, nor can they create either a moral or a shamelessly immoral future. An intrinsically moral, collaborative and innovative use of such models of technology and the associated moral knowledge for society, working together as a whole, can therefore be used to create sustainability for the Human species on Earth.

As an example, Human Beings survived an Ice Age twelve thousand years ago by developing collective and collaborative solutions and by working together. Even if they were not conscious of such words, they consciously lived this way. Without this innate knowledge and a free will choice to collaborate with one-another, Humanity could not have survived, evolved and then progressed through the many past mistakes and tests of separation, nor through many eras of challenging environmental conditions, otherwise you would not be reading this right now!

The Human civilisations and societies that had collectively survived such challenging environments and conditions, and had consciously evolved through them, required the choosing of collaborative values, by living and working together in balance and harmony, in equilibrium, and in peace, despite the many previous conflicts and past enmities. The lessons of conflict had also taught the many enlightened souls how to selflessly protect the innocent, and how to ultimately create balance, harmony and peace for the common good. War had no value in and of itself, but only the lessons it had taught. War taught how to come together and how to share. War created the lesson of civilisation, to be civil to one-another, even if the conscious idea of Love came later.

Should Humanity choose to work together to end separation and any conflict, and to continue to survive collectively as a species, many technologies already exist to develop the required ⁹polities to be able to reconnect with one-another in civility. Working with both moral and sustainable technology (know-how), a system of sustainable social economics and moral governance, and if led and applied with value and virtue by courageous and enlightened leaders, this can enable a new beginning for Humanity.

This collaborative, moral and holistic Transformation of Human Consciousness, in the temporal world, therefore needs a collective mindfulness and a critical mass of constructive and benevolent conscience and transformational change across all the organisational, faith and belief systems of the common good, towards sustainability. It also needs a collective, society-oriented and morally enlightened political will, plus the intellect, ingenuity and collaborative efforts of Human Beings who decide and choose to work together, both collaboratively and morally, within a shared environment. Without this happening, and with the potential for continued and unsustainable separation and conflict, Human societies and civilisation itself becomes unsustainable and Human Beings shall ultimately become extinct; but this outcome is not a foregone conclusion.

Such a possibility could result out of ignorance, amorality or a widespread immorality that adversely impacts the ability of the social and economic management systems to equitably sustain Human societies and civilisation, including adversely affecting the sustaining Human eco-system, including the decimation of other species upon which all life depends; the Human eco-system would have been pushed to ultimately become unsustainable. This is more fully explained later.

The resources of the Garden called Earth are abundant but, except for Human intellect and ingenuity, they are also scarce or limited. The dynamic energy of The Universe is not limited, but this energy is only accessible if the True Nature of The Universe is correctly known and understood with value and virtue. The socio-economic and ecological sustainability of the limited and globally shared resources of the Earth, and such Universal Knowledge, are also essential for Human survival, learning and growth. Without ensuring that the given shared values, resources and shared environment meet everyone’s needs, this can only result, logically, in conflict and a war of wants, and, put quite simply, these can never grow and become sustainable.

As such wants had been driven by the selfish expectations of individuals and societies, greed, envy and selfish personal desires for more than was needed, along with an amoral application of the available and known technology, continuing conflict, and the ‘economic growth’ measures that had seemed important, this could not possibly have benefited every Human Being, since everything on Earth depends upon a limited, life-sustaining and shared environment. Put simply, a larger slice of the cake means less for others, while baking a larger cake means using and wasting limited resources, which is both uneconomic and personally and socially unintelligent.

A contradictory ‘economic growth’ model, economic waste and a lack of collaborative intellect and moral technology sharing expedites the downfall of uneconomic management systems, which was also the case in previous civilisations that had out-grown or not remained moral and relatively small within their environment. The reasons for this and the adverse environmental impact of a socio-economic model based on the unsustainable ‘growth’ of money for the immoral ‘motives’ of greed and envy are explained in the next Chapters.

Greed often emanates from envy, so if greed is not seen as shameful, then envy certainly is. As the Laws of Moses said, do not covet. Jealousy, a milder form of envy, can also lead to rage and conflict, which can ultimately benefit no-one.

However, The Book of Outcomes is not only about explaining the reasons and causes of socio-economic and ecological hubris as a lesson for Humanity (so as not to repeat these mistakes), but also about how to create positive and constructive solutions and outcomes to help ensure that Humanity survives, prospers and grows, both as a species and as individual Human Beings. This Book describes the collaborative and morally sustainable systems and solutions that can then be chosen to enable this survival, both on Earth and in preparation for the world and potential life to come.

The Book of Outcomes is also about the practical application of the key messages that were given throughout history, The Golden Rule. This is to provide a sustainable future that benefits all of Humanity across all the cultures, societies, faith and belief systems of the common good and away from repeated conflict and the resulting practical and spiritual chaos.

By following a sustainable path and selecting and following those leaders who choose to be moral, The One Project, The Project of The One, enables the Transformation of Human Consciousness for The Golden Age, taking Humanity to a new level of intention and a global and Universal reconnection. In spiritual circles this is known as ¹⁰The Fifth Dimension. The intention of The One Project is therefore to consciously survive, learn and grow in a world guided by Collaborative, Constructive and Benevolent values, benefiting all of Humanity and all other life on Earth, with virtue. The mountain path is set.

These shared global values and virtues will help Humanity to form this direction, this valuable and virtuous circle, that continuous upward spiral, which aims to sustainably benefit every Human Being. The intended outcome is then balance, harmony and peace, and a sustainable co-existence with all of Creation. This is the sustainable path known as the Tao, the Way.

This is the Intention of The Universe, the Love, and the Will, the gift of God, The One.

When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall - think of it, always.

- Mahatma Gandhi

2. Leadership

DESPAIR CAN TEACH THE SOUL to emerge into the miraculous events of hope and joy of a better future. Leadership out of despair is the aim and the process of influencing followers, those who are willing to follow of their own free will, towards a better future.

It is also about action. ‘Leading’ within leadership can therefore reasonably include other action or ‘doing’ verbs, such as directing, learning, teaching, inspiring, guiding, reconciling, motivating, mentoring, training, coaching, empowering, encouraging, etc.

A most often misunderstood term is ‘directing’, which can never be sustainably based upon controlling others, because such control is fundamentally for selfish purposes. Directing is simply the setting of the direction for a constructive path and strategy, and motivating the management and energy of the operations, what is done, towards the jointly agreed and intended outcomes and shared benefits, that can then also be inspired and accelerated through working together towards a common goal, a Unity of Being. Such a mission therefore requires a shared vision and values.

Conversely, the environment cannot be controlled, but only the influence of the culture within it to support the jointly intended direction that is to be taken on the agreed and chosen, and therefore the jointly shared, journey. The environment and the relationships within it can be sustainably influenced by connecting and creating co-partnership to work together towards the shared and common goal. ‘Direction’ therefore means setting the direction or the path, including creating the strategy and the openly agreed culture for those who choose to follow to help influence one-another in the intended direction.

Also, leadership can never truly be about superiority or a demand for recognition. One does not have to be the best player in the team to be the captain, but one should be the very best captain, willing to learn, teach and to excel for and with others. Leading also means possibly serving many diverse followers, including other leaders. However, if this is not done with others and towards a shared outcome, and with utmost integrity, the leadership can lack authenticity and not develop the mutual respect that is required.

Often the challenge is to sustain this leadership within a continuously evolving environment. Good leadership is therefore a continuous and challenging process, and no influence can be continuous, or sustain, without an innate integrity, which is honouring the manifesto (policy) and the ‘chosen words’ of such leadership. Conversely, blaming the environment, conditions or others is tantamount to saying that one cannot create a suitable strategy, manage the operations or motivate the culture towards a better future. Integrity is a way of being and a way of life that can only be led by example.

Therefore, without a moral and civilised strategy and direction for understanding this and how to make it happen, neither can there be any tactical or shorter-term gains that can endure. Yet, despite this, the experience of others and the knowledge of how to make this happen and to sustain the direction already exist within the participants, but only if they can work as a whole, based on collective knowledge and not on personal opinions.

Sustainable leadership has had many examples of this to show and to follow, both environmentally and at a personal level. Some of these examples are given in this Book. Others are given elsewhere, including in The Bhagavad-Gita, The Torah, The Buddhavacana, The Gospel and The Qur’an, scribed centuries ago and with many revealed lessons for material learning and conscious sharing. The environments were different, but the tests, and what could be learnt from them, remain.

More recently, and during the last fifty years of the twentieth century there had been more Human-created environmental change than during the previous two million years, with only a few years remaining with the opportunity to repair the damaged and ailing Human eco-system with strategic, innovative and moral solutions. These solutions also require sustainable, strategic and morally innovative leadership, especially towards the sustainable management of the carbon and water cycles upon which all life on Earth depends. Due to an often-poor understanding of such a leadership process, some leaders had continued to mask or hide an increasingly destructive situation and the potentially destructive socio-economic and environmental reality from their followers, and often this was not always intended for the common good.

Everything that is sustainable must be based upon the same or common good. This is because an isolated good would benefit no-one, except the potential deceiver. In addition, how could a common evil sustain anything, since it would be based upon separation, destructiveness and malevolence?

Excluding another from any shared outcome is also a separation and a disconnection from both civilisation and society, and the collective organisations upon which they are based cannot then be sustained within a balanced supply chain of collaboration. Such a system is introvert and isolated. The supply and demand for money, or for the goods and services which money can buy, cannot be maintained in a system where the wealth is polarised. Some individuals may desire or want more, however if an individual’s wants are met at the expense of another’s needs, then conflict between polities over the limited resources is inevitable.

In addition, if another’s needs are to be denied meeting one’s own needs, then a disconnection between people is also inevitable. These potential outcomes are unsustainable and therefore cannot possibly be true, because only the Truth is sustainable.

The correct, truthful and sustainable path, including the direction for sustainable leadership, therefore cannot be found within individual wants or based upon an over-dependency or an attachment to needs. The Buddha had called this non-attachment. In Sanskrit, the basis for all Indo-European languages, this was known as ¹¹vairagya, a message that was given over five thousand years ago. Non-attachment is the opposite of attachment or non-shared ownership, both of which give rise to separation.

True messages and solutions are therefore connected and timeless within the continuously changing dynamics of environmental conditions. A vision does not exist in one place; therefore, it is outside the condition of space. Visioning exists across time; therefore, it exists outside of time. Space-time is therefore, paradoxically, an imagined phenomenon.

Conversely, people can often be conditioned, attached even, to the commonly perceived conception of materiality in space and ¹²time, including the thought of finality in temporal life, unending affliction and even of death. ‘Time’ is simply a relative and shared measure of the changing form of (Universal) energy, a concept that needs to be understood to understand that the conditions will always change, and that nothing in the world of time, the temporal (or mind) world, is permanent.

These changing conditions of life therefore always present these challenges, including an understanding of the potential solutions and the associated spiritual knowledge that is required. However, an anaemic group consensus without shared moral values, or by the exclusion of others from a shared intention or outcome, can never achieve more than by rising to a common challenge or a test that is led by connected and courageous leaders. In time, these lessons can be learnt.

To help gain the Truth of these lessons, consider the inspired and inspiring leadership of both Yeeschwah and Spartacus. Despite their esoteric and exoteric focus respectively, each of them had something in common. Both fought for others against oppression and corruption, and both were prepared to sacrifice their own self and well-being first, one of the primary distinctions being that Yeeschwah was not prepared to kill others to protect others. However, both gave their lives for others and fought against systems that had become both immoral and corrupt.

Conversely, consider the leadership of two of their antagonists, Herod and Crassus, whose intentions were very different. Neither of these had fought for others, other than to maintain an oppressive and controlling status quo, an existing state of affairs, from which they had also personally benefited; neither had either of them been prepared to sacrifice their own well-being before that of another. Their intention, what they truly desired and wanted, was to fight against change by challenging those who desired moral change for others. They were both transparent in their actions in using others, and in sacrificing others, to achieve those aims.

Notwithstanding the lesson and the separation of choosing to order another to take life and in ¹³taking another’s life, which type of leader are you prepared to be, or to follow? If you are already a leader, are you worthy of your followers to follow your lead by example?

If one believes in truthful and authentic leadership, then it is consciously known and understood that this always involves serving followers and for the common good, for without followers there can be no leaders. If one believes and has faith in the common good, then it will be known that the moral needs and sustainable well-being of others are just as important as those of one-self, simply because the outcome is eventually and karmically shared, if not immediately then soon after.

Using these principles, if one believes that economic, political and social injustice whilst using up the Earth’s abundant but essentially limited resources is incorrect and benefits relatively fewer people and even less of the other species essential for life, then one can commit to changing this. If one believes in beneficial commerce, political and socio-economic outcomes without ¹⁴killing, then it is known that each organisation and community within society is required to meet the needs of all those whom it beneficially operates and serves, including other species upon which life depends. If one believes in the common good, then it shall be accepted and known that all of these are true. In Nature, everything attains balance.

One cannot therefore claim ascendency over other living creatures except in mindlessness, for within mindfulness it is known that all things, and therefore all sentient Beings, are universally connected. Partial knowledge, a form of separation in intelligence, cannot therefore claim logical ascendency. One cannot be a part of the solution if one is separated from it and therefore a part of the problem.

How can this be dealt with? Is there a Middle Way that can be followed? In a school classroom, when I was a young child, a wise teacher had once told me that, to find the Truth, read between the extremes of diverse opinion. I later learnt that opinions are rarely intransigent and are nearly always based on assumptions based on a lack of knowledge. A Middle Way, an initial Truth and path, can therefore be found by influencing towards and following a path between the exclusions and disconnections of the extremes between people until the required understanding, knowledge and wisdom is attained. This is also the basis of the shared values, and of The Golden Rule, mainly because they focus on the purpose.

Self-sacrifice is not therefore found in the losing or transferring of material possessions or status, it is the sacrifice of the attachment to material wants and a letting go of the negative ¹⁵ego and the ‘animalis’ within what remains attached to the materiality of this world, while also not being separated from its’ reality. Since this space-time is transitory, the real gift is not the receipt of material possessions or of this understanding in its’ completeness, it is the receipt of the reconciliation, connection and reconnection with one-another, the co-creation through the acceptance and sharing of one-self and with all of Creation.

Such spiritual, emotional and intellectual, or the perceived practical, gifts of Creation are sustainably achieved through collaboration, constructiveness and benevolence in all thoughts, intentions and actions, both for and with one-another. This is also the opposite of exclusion, which is simply based on a systems analysis of a sub-set of the whole, a perception of separated Human Beings that is based on the ego and a personal separation from the perspective of the whole. The shared values are therefore a given Middle Way and an option of choice between such excluded and disconnected extremes, to enable reconnection with one-another and with the material and spiritual home called Earth.

Using what is known and has been experienced, plus a shared understanding and with a shared responsibility (the response-ability or ability to respond), the shared values can create a sustainable vision and a shared outcome that benefits all of Humanity, through an outcome that is both intrinsically sustainable, practical and moral. The common good represents (or presents again and again) a constructive and benevolent challenge that can always be led with intelligence and integrity.

True leaders consequently always climb that mountain first. They help to take others on that journey and always lead as best they can, mindfully and consciously, by example. They can also serve their followers by leading in both a spiritual and a practical Way, sometimes known as the ¹⁶Tao. To help understand the distinction between true and false leaders, consider the outcome of another potential approach and its’ false and unsustainable ‘philosophy’.

Some had argued for ‘social Darwinism’, the ¹⁷‘survival of the fittest’, possibly as a means to an end; but who had led this and then decided on the benefits and for whom? Who had decided who was worthy to survive, prosper and grow, and therefore benefit from this? Such a so-called philosophy is false and corrupted because it can be logically seen as an unsustainable contradiction. Since natural selection is ¹⁸natural, no-one can make the decision to be superior ‘over’ another except by interfering in and controlling the lives of another which, by the same unsustainable ethos, would also give the ‘right’ to control those who would control, and this is not usually or naturally accepted by those who would propound such a view. In such a case, this would be a contradiction of hypocrisy.

In addition, since social engineering would be based on a decision to exercise power and control over others, this is the antithesis of leading by example. So, whom can this ethos ultimately serve? This is certainly not the common good, unless some think that this could be to the exclusion of others, but then this would also be a form of separation, which is another contradiction, since such control would necessarily involve the exclusion or oppression of others regarding any benefits, creating further separation, and even further conflict. Such an approach can never be a virtuous circle and therefore become sustainable. Humanity, and some leaders, had repeated this basic mistake, and the resulting pain and with the same amoral or immoral outcome, many times over throughout history. However, pain can also be a teacher, to show that something is wrongly perceived and needs correcting.

In addition, true leaders do not and cannot consciously create pain for others without a sense of conscience, since the creation of pain would be the conscious creation of something that is wrong, or more accurately, incorrect. As will be shown, those without conscience have no true understanding or knowledge of anything, including pain. Pain, like fear, exists because life and learning exist. Fear, like pain, exists to prevent doing something that would be dangerous to well-being. Death is simply the end of the journey. The cause of death is always naturally the same: it is birth and life! True leaders therefore absorb and then reduce any pain because they understand that something is being born and is also incomplete in life’s cycle of learning and know that there is still something left to reconcile, understand, learn, and grow from within this process, something to be corrected within life.

Such leaders also understand that they can choose to empower and transform pain into learning, a problem into opportunity, and a vision into the creation of sustainable benefits. They can also choose to give hope to others by honouring their word and values and can then empower followers to create and nurture the trust and respect that is needed between all Human Beings to create a better future, which is for all living things in a correctly lived world. It is essentially the sharing of vision and the vision of sharing, a process of giving and receiving joint value and benefit.

True leadership is therefore a responsive, responsible and shared ownership of correction, of both the underlying problem and the vision to redirect and correct it. This can then constructively influence the current situation within the given environment, and so influence a jointly learned understanding of how to reconcile and close many of the gaps of disconnection and separation in moving towards a sustainable future which is, by Nature, always balanced and harmonious. Perhaps think of this by comparing Human Nature and culture with horticulture: little can grow without having, maintaining and nurturing the right conditions.

However, something cannot be sustainable if the systems do not currently exist to sustain this outcome. There is no such thing in systems analysis as creating sustainability in the future. If a system is not sustainable now, then it needs to be changed to a system that is capable of being sustainable now and for ongoing sustainability.

Sometimes a perceived blockage to this Universal and essential change towards sustainability can be blamed on the circumstances and conditions, but any problems that are jointly understood and with a shared perspective are rarely insurmountable, and the change can then only be prevented from happening because of separated opinions or from limiting beliefs. For example, at an emotional and psychological level, anger can be a personal and sometimes unexpressed internal response to a perception of an uncontrollable circumstance, such as a perceived injustice. Such a personal level of anger can also amplify into a collective anger, focussing on a perceived common ‘enemy’ who can then become the subject and the focus of those circumstances and how they were created. Without understanding, this can erroneously be a judgment of another without compassion.

However, if such an anger is ignored or internally suppressed, neither fully acknowledged in its’ root cause nor shared in its’ understanding, this can also sometimes lead to internal anxiety and depression, a suppression of internal negative emotions that can be naturally triggered within the ¹⁹amygdala of the brain, the animalis of Human reaction, from a controlling ego (which needs to be recognised). Therefore perceived ‘negative’ emotions such as anger are intrinsically neither positive nor negative, they are simply ‘contracting’ the real ability to respond, or alternatively they can be over-amplified and externalised through personal justification and self-judgment made by the ego. However, the balancing of emotions does not mean suppressing them; it means expressing them consciously.

Each of these potentially sub-conscious and conscious responses, including memory, emotional reactions and decision-making, can therefore be acknowledged, shared and dealt with, both rationally (in the sharing of minds to find the reason) and emotionally (in moving towards and from how one can continue to feel about this). However, both anger and depression can also become negative emotional reactions that are undesirable and have no sustainable benefit if they continue unexpressed and unabated. If they are expressed as anxiety, this can also be destructive. In addition, because continuous depression and anger are neither constructive nor benevolent for either oneself or for others in one’s life, anger, depression and suppression of one’s feelings provide neither a moral answer nor a sustainable solution.

Anger and its’ suppression in the form of depression, although possibly triggered by an external condition that exists in the here and now, or a reminder of the past within the present, something that happened in the past, it needs to be understood and learnt from within the here and now, the present moment, through conscious awareness. For example, during childhood, many people had the experience of conflict, ranging from their parents arguing to the mistreatment of oneself or others. It is not actually happening in the present external physical reality, but the same emotional response can be triggered in the brain as though it is.

Although what happened in the past cannot be changed in current reality, the current emotional reaction to it can, and if not the immediate emotional reaction to the circumstances, then the conscious decision as to what to do with that emotion. Therefore, it may be difficult to love your enemies during war, but when the battle is over, the lesson can be to learn to forgive, and then history becomes history.

Conversely, anxiety may be triggered unconsciously by a conscious or subconscious projection of an adverse possible future. Since a possible future is only a possibility, one of many potential outcomes, turn such a possibility into a vision of something positive. Imagine a positive outcome, then act on the opportunity when the possible chance comes through. This shows the importance of ²⁰positive thinking, since only positive can create positive.

Such circumstances and reactions can only be influenced through a conscious personal acknowledgement and interaction, or a collective understanding and a shared reaction. Acknowledging and sharing an authentic understanding of the issue, the root cause of separation or of the fear of loss that triggered it, can therefore turn helplessness into helpfulness, including helping others who are in similar situations and are also on similar journeys of learning how to deal with negative and contracting emotions. The conscious expression of emotions, not against one-another, but with and in helping one-another, is the resolution.

This insight can also apply to, and be applied by, anyone working in communications. For example, formalised communications in the form of journalism, or any other form of communications for that matter, cannot create ongoing emotional contraction for any reason and hope to have any moral worth. The data and information can be shared to inform based on a deep personal experience and knowledge, but this must not create an ongoing or continuous negative response and still have any claim to be morally justified. To be reasoned and justified as a moral whole, ²¹communication therefore needs to be both constructive and benevolent: data first, with achievement of the resulting benefit second because of the information sharing - from shared data to a shared emotional and intellectual understanding and response. Opinions count for little except as an evolving thesis for discussion of initial thoughts and feelings, which will always change within a thinking and feeling organism. Opinions without potential self-effacement are therefore also a form of separation.

In starting with a jointly recognised and authentic understanding of the problem or opportunity for a co-operative and collective change, the desired outcome can then be morally and sustainably communicated, shared and led for everyone who is essentially on the same journey. Therefore, if one can share