The only person you can really help to become better is yourself (assuming, of course, you are not already perfect). The sharing with others and helping others depends on how they respond so there's no guarantee it will help them. The only way you become better yourself is by making choices one by one throughout the day in your work, study, and interactions.
Sounds like you're on the right track. If you're living with the right intent, then you can't help but improve and this improvement will rub off on people you interact with.
Also, the more you improve the more your focus should improve and thus you'll eventually be guided to your specific place to fit in.
You asked what are the biggest issues. Where to begin? If you're concerned with improving society then the first major area to concentrate on, I think, is government corruption (at all levels) and in all major western nations. The best way to illustrate is by way of example. Case in point: The Brian and Janice Docherty case This case is one of the most egregious cases of government corruption and the case is ongoing. There's a brief description of the case at that link as well as 5 hours of an audio interview with the subjects of the case. I've listened to the whole interview and it backs up everything mentioned in the brief summary. What we learn from this is that much of the corruption is tied up with abuse of children and the blackmail of those involved in the abuse of children. What's also disturbing is that this particular brand of corruption is happening not just in the UK but in the US, Canada, and many other countries.
Santa Clara county in California has many of these types of cases. This video is from a meeting of concerned citizens, social workers, and attorneys in the adjacent county of Santa Cruz.
The people at ukcolumn.org do a news report every weekday and they keep up to date on the Docherty case. They recommend that people share the information with friends and associates and write to their members of parliament. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, have written in to MPs, police chiefs, etc but mostly the response has been do nothing but kick the can down the road. The pressure on government is building but more people need to know about this and put more and more pressure on government.
Well, this might give you some ideas anyway. I hope I haven't dragged you down a rabbit hole with slippery sides. That's how I felt when I first learned of some of this stuff. Of course, remember to focus on yourself first.
Thank you for the conversation. You've written a lot and I appreciate that.
I agree that western government is a huge problem and I will be following your links tonight to delve in more definitely.
The part that jumps out at me is that we can't really help someone other than ourself. I don't agree with this and I think we take this way too far.
Well I do agree. I agree that we focus on ourself so we are not hurting or dying, but if I am not dying and it doesn't look like I will soon, then I can do a lot for something else. Like making a plan to curb government corruption.
On the other hand I will be dead soon enough so focusing on some future vision of the world that doesn't include me might be a good priority to have too.
I am far from perfect and won't be, however being the normal kind of selfish we have today seems very abnormal.
I will look into government corruption more because to me you are right. Is it the biggest issue? Always more questions.
Thanks for your response.
I didn't mean it to sound like you can't help anyone else besides yourself. I'm trying to make the point that an individual is responsible for his own spiritual growth and development and it is largely dependent on the choices he makes. You can of course help him by widening his choices. Further, when you help others it helps you to grow spiritually yourself.
I kind of just threw in the word 'spiritual' without any definition. By spiritual growth I simply mean that one acts more out of love than out of fear. The two fundamental emotions are love and fear and all the rest of the emotions stem out of those two.
So of course you can help others and actually I think we all have a responsibility to help others. The responsibility arises since we are all in this together or we are all one so to speak.
Is government corruption the biggest issue? It's something I've spent a lot of time coming to grips with recently so it's what immediately came to mind. You could also describe government corruption as just another symptom of the human condition. You might then conclude that the human condition is the biggest problem. It's possible that my ego is getting in the way by telling me I know more about government corruption than most people and I should 'set them straight'. Still, I think the information (on corruption) needs to be spread. I chose those two examples because no one is disputing the facts in those cases so one can't be accused of being a 'conspiracy nut' for sharing the information.
Often when I've shared information with family members about politics the result has been luke-warm. Judging by your response perhaps this particular information will be received more warmly than usuual.
It seems you've helped me to better define some of my own thinking so Thank You for that. I have certainly enjoyed the conversation. Hopefully I have been of some small service to you as well. I'd like to hear what you think about the links I mentioned once you've had a chance to look at them.
Reached the limit of nested replies. I hope you see this sometime @sirloins
You didn't say that you can't help anyone but yourself. I looked back at what you said and I must of been projecting myself into that too much.
I read the link and watched the Docherty video and part of the meeting. And it is something that I knew nothing about.
Well for some reason the name Docherty does sound familiar but consciously no I didn't know the story.
And it is unbelievable. But I do believe it.
Who was the accused paedophile? Were they important in the area? Were they being protected by the authorities? They had a lot of money to offer, is this linked somehow? Why were the authorities and government workers turning on the family? Did the family have any other evidence other than their story? How can this happen through the system without any crime, or even suspected crime attached to it? Is information being buried or is this happening in the open?
You should really do a post on this if you haven't already.
Sceptically, either the story is true and for some reason the accused paedophile is protected and the family is being destroyed unjustly by the system, or the story is not true, there is no paedophile, and the family is being destroyed by this extreme and targeting system.
I don't know if there was more evidence to back the family's story?
Either way, something is going terribly wrong, people know about it, and nothing just or moral is happening here.
I think this type of thing can be focused on, even one person can have a good try at impacting this. I wouldn't say it is the human condition, but some humans' condition. And the other humans can and should do what they can to prevent this.
I can imagine many types of corruption like this that I have no idea about.