This is the third in a series of articles I’ll be writing. These are philosophy articles, but not like typical writings of that nature.

Before I get into the article today, I would like to answer a frequently asked question concerning my philosophy, “Why is it called Universal Flow?”

I call it Universal Flow with inspiration from Daoism.  The universal part comes from the fact that, in any situation, you can come to learn any universal truth.  The flow part means that one must let their emotions and desires flow out and feel them.  And the flow illustrates the Daoist idea of everything unfolding and occurring of itself (自然, or ziran).  There is no set path.  And I personally just think that Universal Flow sounds cool.

Another thing I wanted to bring up pertains to article number two in particular. In the second article, I theorized that the United States follows an 80-year cycle of conflict, and discussed the what might happen to the country if my predictions should be correct. Today, I had the fortune of stumbling across an illuminating bit of information. While on WordPress, I read an article that mentioned an 80-year cycle of conflict. I was puzzled. That sounded a lot like the idea I had synthesized, but I had never heard any mention of it outside of my own writings. I decided to google it, and came across the Strauss-Howe generational theory, also known as the Fourth Turning Theory. This theory dives deeper into ideas about generations and their influence on world events. Reading over them, they do seem very plausible, and are much more in depth than my own ideas, but this theory and my philosophy agree on the 80-year cycle of conflict for America. I was quite surprised that my own independently formulated ideas would have found agreement with those of renowned intellectuals such as Mr. William Strauss and Mr. Neil Howe. To my knowledge, Mr. Howe is still alive. If anyone would send him a copy of my writings for him to review and critique, I would be very grateful. I would be honored for such an intellectual to offer advice on how to improve my writing and to discuss ideas with.

Now, on to our topic for today. Last time, I spoke a little bit about how the world is governed by opposite and follows a particular pattern that yields similar events, albeit with variation. I talked about the basic structure of change, the various cycles, and about how people can take advantage of these cycles. Today, I will talk about how the environment and the forces of change influence our behavior, as well as diving a bit into the nature of humanity. When I say environment, I mean a situation that a person is in. This situation could have all sorts of present factors influencing events, as well as past factors influencing events.

In order to really understand these concepts, I’ve prepared an example. We are all cognizant of the current unrest that is going on, as a result of the mass protests over George Floyd’s death. Let us examine how we got there. All the events that have taken place since the time of the 13 colonies have led up to this moment. You will notice the point I am trying to make. Change is not only cyclical like described in the previous article, but also sequential, as to be evidenced in this article.

With the creation of the 13 colonies, Britain had a viable New World source of income. For the most part, the colonies were left to self-rule. When that self-rule was revoked, the colonies rose up in rebellion. In the name of liberty and freedom, the colonists overthrew their imperial overlords. And so, that fostered an early part of the American identity. Americans did things themselves, they stood for democracy and freedom. They stood for the vaunted Enlightenment ideals. They would be forever known as the ones who challenged the status quo, ones who challenge the norm. They would spare no expense to achieve what they perceive as progress. America is a place where people of all backgrounds can make a name for themselves.

In many ways, these are great things. America is the most powerful and wealthiest nation in the world, and its citizens reap the benefits. America exists to preserve liberty and freedom for people throughout the world, equality and opportunity for people of all backgrounds. And yet, it is this very freedom, this desire to progress, this diversity, and this rebellious attitude towards authority that causes America’s problems.

Now, this is not to say that I condemn America and her ideals. I am very grateful for having been born in America, and allowed to reap the benefits of this great nation. I would not rather live anywhere else. I only mean to highlight the causes of America’s problems, so that this great American experiment continue to thrive and prosper, and not fall into disarray.

Let us start with the very thing that enabled this country to exist. Since America had won her freedom from a tyrannical government, Americans feel obliged to disobey any government order that they perceive infringes upon their rights. Another issue is that Americans are vaguely guaranteed so many freedoms, that they do not know where those freedoms are supposed to be limited for their own safety and the safety of others. With such desires to rapidly progress, the viewpoints of the nation are polarized. People begin to align themselves with many different stances and groups, all convinced that they are in the right. There is disunity. And finally, America is a melting pot of people from all different walks of life. It is impossible to prevent conflict between these groups.

Let us evaluate the effects of each issue. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights leaves much up for debate as to how much power the various levels of government have, and how far do freedoms extend to people. Too many times, people misinterpret their rights and, in their eternal stubbornness, create issues for others by aggressively asserting those rights, when in fact, by their actions, these rights are terminated. Take, for instance, the man who was kicked out of Costco for not wearing a mask. He refused to comply with company policy and asserted his rights that he has the freedom to choose not to wear a face covering. In fact, he is obliged to obey that directive, since he, in his free will, to shop at Costco. These directives were not created to limit any freedoms. Rather, they exist to preserve the public welfare, which is the primary objective. By extension, this case can be used to resolve other freedom discrepancies. All of the freedoms granted in this country come with the condition that it does not harm anyone in any way, shape, or form. Should taking an action normally permissible by that freedom infringe upon this condition, then it the right in that case becomes invalid.

Of course, educating people about the scope of their rights does not do much good if they do not believe you, or simply choose not to accept it. They may believe that they are entitled to these rights and actions. In such a case, it would be impossible to change their mind. After all, Americans are well-known for defying everything for what they believe in. Defiance is never good; it hinders the efficiency of organizations and governments. And when a government or organization takes steps to restrict the abilities of people, seeing that they cannot handle the long leash given to them, the people rebel and resist yet again.

And the fact that we have so many differences leads us to conflict. Differences in politics, religion, ethnicity, race, sexuality, etc… The list goes on and on. One will hate the other. One will seek to subjugate the other. The side being oppressed would rebel, and inadvertently spur on the efforts of the one oppressing. The conflict will spiral out of control, and initiate furious internal dissent.

Such conflict has existed since the very beginning of our nation. When our nation was created, we preached the hypocrisy of freedom for all, while only granting it to white men. Oppression and subjugation led to revolts, leading to a firmer hand. Native Americans, blacks, Hispanics and Asians all felt the hand of racism. When the Civil War ended, black men were supposed to be regarded as exactly the same as the white. And yet, because of the entitlement many felt, they opted to disobey the official government stance and policy.

This led to another era of oppression for black people. While conditions for all the other races improved, the blacks continued to suffer. Another spark of hope for equality came in the form of the Civil Rights Act. That too, soon faded as people chose to disregard what the government ordered. And that takes us to present-day. At present, the black community is immensely distrustful as a result of centuries of oppression. They could not count on the authorities to protect them. Here, it becomes all too easy to succumb to the temptation to retaliate, to fight back. That will only bring a more aggressive response from those who seek to do them harm. It would seem that the best course of action for them is to bear the injustice patiently.

And that is what the black community has done for the most part. Except for now, when circumstances are different. Everything is different now. There are a great deal of people disillusioned by the administration of President Trump. There is even more of a disconnect between the people and their government now. People, quite frankly, do not trust him. It is that lack of trust that prompts people to go rogue, and challenge the government. To further compound to the issues already at hand, the COVID-19 pandemic forced everyone into an unfamiliar situation. Government control is firmer than ever. That did not bode well with many, those who already distrusted the government found flaws in the pandemic response and decried the government at every turn, first for mismanagement, and next for violating their freedoms.

It is in this environment of frustration and mistrust that tensions boiled over. Everything that has happened over the centuries, led up to this moment. People gather to protest en masse. People gather to loot en masse. The police arrive to quell the dissent. Conflict begins. While the 80-year cycle dictates when a conflict would happen, the compounding of cycles dictates why the conflict occurs.

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