ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Decentralization: The Solution For Our Institutions

Updated on July 17, 2019

The Many Woes of Modernity

Our modern world is plagued by a mass suffocation of the human spirit orchestrated by a myriad of failed institutions. We have, as a species, progressed immeasurably far from our humble beginnings. We have, however, also kept many tendencies that served us well in the past but serve only to hinder us in the present. Our primal urges to establish unalterable belief systems have cast much suffering on the globe. We must recognize that there is not just one way to live correctly. There are infinite ways, and we must forge a world that shall allow them all to flourish.

The Savage State by Thomas Cole
The Savage State by Thomas Cole

The Natural State of Man

To understand what sort of world we must make for our descendants, we must first understand what sort of world our ancestors made for us. The mankind of millennia past was terrorized by many threats; predators, starvation, disease and natural disasters decimated us for generations on end. After switching to agricultural and urban lifestyles, these threats dissipated, but they were replaced by a set of new threats that have continually grown. Inner unfulfillment, civil strife and tribalism all now ravage our world. The solution lies in banishing problematic attitudes and institutions, but the difficulty lies in achieving this feat.

The Pastoral State by Thomas Cole
The Pastoral State by Thomas Cole

Solutions of the Past

Great ideas wielded by powerful people tend to end up becoming new institutions. Every nation, religion and ideology in the whole world came into existence through this principle. When an inspired individual or a commanding collective introduced a new institution and the common populace embraced it, this new institution became ingrained into the society. A paradox plagued every single sort of system across the globe, though. Those systems that failed to catch on with more than a few isolated groups were powerless to make meaningful and moral change to the world at large. Meanwhile, those systems that did become widespread and wildly influential were soon so powerful that their former moral foundations were corrupted into becoming immoral monsters.

Throughout our history, it was clear that all large institutions eventually became so drunk on power that they lost the ability to govern effectively and morally. This realization led to the development of a wave of religious systems that preached the need for individual enlightenment to create incorruptible collectives. However, this fulfillment always came from following specific and inflexible religious practices. Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity all developed around this principle, but they failed in their noble efforts for one simple reason.

The Consummation by Thomas Cole
The Consummation by Thomas Cole

Solutions of the Present

We in the modern era are just starting to see this reason. No single religion, philosophy or ideology, even one that attempts to steer people towards individual enlightenment, can work for all of its adherents. However, these institutions of ours do give us invaluable feelings of community and belonging we all desire. The rise of the nation-state has made these two assertions abundantly clear. Modern countries have largely replaced local cultures with national monocultures, giving the populace a sense of belonging but not often helping them to become fully self-actualized.

Recently, another development has come to the forefront of our collective attention. In many countries across the globe, national identities have faded away in favor of smaller tribal identities. People in the U.S., for example, typically treat national American culture with disdain. They prefer to identify themselves with different identities, usually ethnically, religiously or politically based. This is a positive change in some regards, as diversity is always more stable than monoculture. However, we are increasingly fighting along these tribal lines to help our own tribe gain power over others.

The original problem of the inherent corruptibility of huge institutions has been ignored. We are constantly striving to replace the old order with new ones. This continues the cycle of empire by establishing new orders, which then grow, mature, stagnate, fragment and collapse. True salvation does not stem from continuing this destructive cycle, nor does it arise from following inflexible dogmas that cannot hope to fulfill us all. This has been seen in our era largely within religions, as many people individually interpret previously inflexible religious ideas however they please. As is overwhelmingly obvious, though, we need much more than sporadic freedom in religious ideas to achieve true greatness. We need radical change, and we need it now.

Destruction by Thomas Cole
Destruction by Thomas Cole

Solutions of the Future

True salvation stems from the recognition that local culture and individual expression are embedded within our genes. They are our natural inclinations, and they must be encouraged. However, our own cultural customs and individual ideas do not necessarily mean anything to anyone else. We cannot allow ourselves to fall into the trap of believing we are superior to others. We must forge a world where we can live well and actualize ourselves, while at the same time allowing everyone else to do the same. And, while this may seem like a utopian goal at first glance, it is only really so to those of us too afraid to try.

Institutions, mainly political and religious ones, have made countless efforts to snuff out free expression in favor of monoculture and indoctrination. And, as it seems, their efforts have been successful. The huddled masses of the Earth rarely raise a finger against those who have made their lives miserable messes. They are stuck in the mud of their enslavement. The institutions that man himself built are now his biggest adversaries. It is imperative that the break-up of these institutions becomes the first and most pressing goal of those with an interest in self-salvation.

The questions then arise of how we rid ourselves of institutional slavery and what our many modern systems are to be replaced with. As to the first part of this dilemma, it is imperative that every individual seeks their own self-actualization and fulfillment outside the systems that force their rule upon them. This is what the religions mentioned above got right. Every individual is most certainly capable of living satisfied and important lives simply by looking within themselves and following truths they think to be self-evident. However, this satisfaction cannot come to everyone from a single system. It is important that we foster a culture that promotes the individual discovery of the ultimate meaning.

In the realm of practical action, we must stop associating ourselves with massive parties that care not about our interests. We must stop our incessant demonizing of those we disagree with. We must stop allowing the injustices committed by our rulers to go unnoticed. We must tear apart the veil of ignorance laid over us and trust our own experience over what others tell us. We must recognize that our immense institutions do not care for our well-being. We must aid the process of decentralization by focusing on harnessing the positive powers of local culture governance, and we must resist tribalistic urges to conquer and rule over others.

Every person on Earth is a subject of powerful institutions. Without the breakdown of these institutions into more localized and less corruptible pieces, we as a species will continually live under tyranny. However, a radically decentralized world brings with it the possibility of slowly growing just as centralized as the world it emerged from. The solution to this problem lies in humanity universally recognizing a series of self-evident principles that are undeniable and prevent the acquisition of unjust power. There is much work to be done today, however, and the discovery of such lofty principles is the job of tomorrow.

Desolation by Thomas Cole
Desolation by Thomas Cole
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)