Unique Self Symphony
Description
Marc Gafni and Zachary Stein:
"Social justice is when all have a shared sense of that inviolability and value of each individual’s Unique Self is what constitutes the evolution and health of any group. When a group comes together in such a way where no one’s unique self is diminished, but all are, in fact, leveraged, there emerges a Unique Self Symphony. This requires all the members to hold the group in mind, to envision their part in the self-organizing and self-orchestrating social reality to which they consent to participate.23 A self-conscious Unique Self Symphony is the feeling of being ethically integrated into a larger totality; social justice is about the feeling of harmonious social integration — the felt integrity of one’s unique self is the core of an evolutionary phenomenology of moral consciousness, especially when a group is in the midst of dynamic autocatalytic closure. To fit into the evolutionary puzzle or story (why is it always a struggle?), the shape required by each individual is unique. Other forms of super-organic closure require violence and will ultimately be undone, unseated not because they are physically unsustainable, but because they are unbearable for human identity formation and moral development."
Discussion
The emergence of a Unique Self Symphony
Marc Gafni and Zachary Stein:
"To understand the true significance of Unique Self Symphonies a prefatory remark is in order. The sciences of complexity and emergence tell us evolution has a telos, a trajectory.
The trajectory of evolution appears to be towards ever-greater complexity, ever-greater consciousness, ever-greater uniqueness, ever-greater synergy, and ever greater intimacy. These qualities are inter-included and inextricable from each other all as a part of evolution’s arrow. The fifth quality—intimacy—is the one we will focus on briefly as a way to frame the nature of Unique Self Symphonies as an evolutionary emergent.
Beginning with attraction at the subatomic level, one might accurately say that reality is defined by allurement, all the way up and all the way down. From electromagnetic attraction and gravity in the physiosphere (physical reality), to the dynamics of symbiosis and mating in the biosphere (life), to the dynamics of mimetic evolution in the Noosphere (culture), reality self-organizes towards every greater levels of interconnectivity. The interior of interconnectivity is intimacy.
When Unique Selves are connected to each other in small groups new levels of intimacy are achieved. From this intimacy a kind of collective intelligence emerges which is greater then the sum of its parts. Likewise, when Unique Selves gather via the Internet and connect into larger synergistically integrated collectives then a new quality of intimacy is born. The quality of intimacy found in a Unique Self Symphony is a kind of collective intelligence or enlightenment, representing a local apex in the expression of the evolution of intimacy. A genuine Unique Self Symphony contains a complex motivational architecture that is richer and more potent than any known system of economic or social incentives. One is motivated to participate in evolution itself, to give one’s unique gift, and to experience the vital Eros and joy of evolutionary community. Even more motivating is the innovation and creativity that is seen to be unleashed from Unique Self Symphonies. This is a bottom up, self-organizing expression of human creativity, soon set to emerge at scale as a new evolutionary form or structure.
Unique Self Symphonies occur in a state of shared non-duality as individuals cooperate beyond ego. This means all members experience a certain quality of interaction and reflection. Terms like reciprocity, democracy, transparency, and natural hierarchy all come to mind. There is a sense that all individuals are profoundly important and that their unique contributions are essential. 15 There is no voice in the group that is marginal. There is no hidden discontent among those who feel used, undervalued, or coerced. Talk to anyone in the group and you will get the same kind of positive statements about their participation: they feel like they are a perfect fit in the group, they are empowered and autonomous while also deeply merged in collaboration and communion. Trust and honesty create an opening in which almost miraculous group phenomena begin to occur, sometimes referred to as “Collective Enlightenment.” Contrast this with groups that “succeed” precisely because certain members sacrifice their uniqueness for the sake of the whole. They become distorted into the shape needed by the group and find ways to silence their inner longings to express more of their uniqueness. Importantly, groups that require some members to distort their uniqueness are unsustainable and inefficient; they will not last. This is because of what it feels like to be a part of them. Resentment, fear, alienation, neuroses, and illness, these all follow from the day-to-day distortion of self to fit a social role. It becomes literally imposable for someone in this situation to give their all and try their best. Inefficiencies follow from this. Needs for surveillance and micromanaging arise, as disgruntled group members cannot be trusted to do what is required of them. So while the group my “succeed” for a time and even appear to be synergistic — “like a well oiled machine” — in the long run the group will implode in eruptions of violence, revolt, and self-destructive behavior.
It feels fundamentally different to be a part of a Unique Self Symphony. In this case the emergent collective intelligence and group success is a direct result of Unique Self optimization for all members. There is a felt sense of reciprocal respect and recognition of the unique value of each participant. Each person is aware of their own Unique Self of the Unique Selves of all others. By making use of the unique contours of their puzzle piece, each member of the group merges with and completes both themselves and the larger whole. The Unique Self experience is both the heart of the phenomenon of collective intelligence and the key to its emergence in any given situation. It is also a moral compass, signaling the justice and health of any give social synergy. Groups that function by suppressing uniqueness are almost always unethical. Groups that function by leveraging and respecting uniqueness are almost always just and healthy. For much of human civilization this kind of personal sacrifice and willingness to truncate the self for group needs was held up as an ethical ideal. The result has been societies in which most of the members are living lives of quite desperation. While there have been times when the shared demands of group survival seemingly demanded societies of this type, that time has passed. Now the survival of our species depends on our overcoming societies that distort and limit individuals and creating instead societies that leverage uniqueness and allow for the emergence of Unique Self Symphonies. The possibility of a Unique Self Symphony of indefinite planetary scope, sweeping through cultures and institutions, as the late the Roy Bhaskar predicted, via “a silent revolution of love” — a global awakening, totalized collective enlightenment. Such is the end game of the modern capitalist world-system. The eschaton appears immanent, although its catalyst is not the God of Abraham, but the God of the Market.
Those structures that have for centuries provided for the global hegemony of certain economic classes and interests are failing now to provide for any kind of viable future. The question of “what’s next?” —as asked by Wallerstein and other heterodox economists — is a question about the silent revolution of love, a question about the shape of a society that looks “collectively enlightened” by today’s standards."