Every day we are faced with numerous choices, some relating to practical issues and others based on more complex psychological demands – how to react, what to say and do. Whilst on the face of it choices appear to have been made, in the main we react habitually; many, if not all, of our decisions proceed from the past, and are, in fact, unconscious, conditioned responses to the challenges of the day.
The world is beset with a series of unprecedented inter-related crises: the urgent need to establish peace and the environmental catastrophe are the two most pressing issues facing humanity, for in both areas there exists the potential for widespread destruction and potential annihilation. Then there is the worldwide refugee crisis, crushing poverty, hunger in a world of plenty and obscene levels of economic inequality – the grotesque consequence of an unjust economic system that lies at the heart of many, if not all, our problems. In tackling these issues choices are made, the decisions we make based on these choices determine not only the present, but how the future looks, and indeed if there will be a future for mankind and the Earth at all.
Politicians make choices based on one of a number of impelling factors: ideology, self-interest, corporate dictates and occasionally what they think the electorate want them to do. Trapped in a net of ambition and conflicting concerns they are morally compromised; lacking principles and any real vision they are unable to…