It occurred to me one morning (I sometimes have sudden insights in the first half hour of waking up) that a bad country breeds bad people while a good country breeds good people.
Usually, first thing in the morning, I like to be thankful for the country I live in (regardless of its condition) by having this silent thought: "what an amazing and blessed country this is."
And then, the next thing I know, an insight emerges: a country may be divinely blessed yet the agents of change (politicians, communities, citizens) have somehow blundered their way into fallen state.
In a good country (loosely defined as a well-governed one), families and individuals who are already dysfunctional on their own will invariably veer towards the mean, which is anchored and influenced by the political governance and constitutional institutions of the country.
But in a bad country (which is lacking in transparent institutions and rule of law although they may be administered efficiently: think Nazi Germany), dysfunctional individuals become worse and sometimes take on the qualities and flaws of their political leaders (eg lack of ethical standards, corruption, double-dealings and plain deception).
So this brings me to shift my focus from the nation to self-knowledge and the identity of an individual (whether they are residing in a good or bad country).
The most remarkable thing about many people is their ability to go about living without really knowing their true identities.
Knowing who you really are is different from being aware of your thoughts and aspirations.
It is like travelling in a train with the short-term knowledge of the train's next five stops but not knowing its final destination.
People clearly know what they want, what they like and hope for but they live with an image of their identity created mostly by themselves and by their enclosed inner circle of friends and relatives (who are also, most probably, also living without knowing their true identities.)
To be fair, life is a journey of self-discovery of one's identity. What I am saying is that pristine journey that started from the age of critical age of 12 onwards is being diverted and influenced by the political and social environment of our times.
We are moving into an era where we are voluntarily evolving into a group of AI robots living and re-creating our lives according to the mutual interactive adjustments in our program codes (read the power of ChatGPT in shaping our lives and work).
We may live in a bubble of outer harmony whilst deep inside each individual, there is a private turmoil of fear, envy, greed, lust, selfishness, and spiritual darkness.
To paraphrase Tolstoy's quote on families, every dysfunctional country is unique in their badness. Yet, they are similar in their leaders' dislike of free thought, a free press, justice and intellectual dissent.
At the communal level, everything has to be swept under the carpet to keep the peace in the group/the community/the family or else something will blow up and create emotional meltdowns.
Similarly, a bad country, or one that is transitioning from good to bad, tends to be paranoid about political dissent.
That is why autocratic regimes are always fearful that dissent leads to "social unrest" and revolutions.
For example, the current public demonstrations in Australia and Europe against Covid-19 restrictions reflects the push back of sensible citizens in not allowing bad, blanket policies to erode their individual liberties.
On the other hand, there are many societies, in both emerging and third world countries, that are seeing a rise in authoritarianism while the global tech media giants manipulate the facts about the agendas of globalist governments (e.g. climate change, vaccines mandates, lockdown mandates, financial asset bubbles, etc).
Feedback loop & ways to break it
So there is a positive feedback loop process whereby a bad administration creates a sycophantic press, which in turn, nurtures the worst qualities in its citizens (fear of and anger against other people with different views and values).
The way out of this bad country-bad citizen symbiosis is to firstly, acknowledge how the state of the nation (the political, social and judicial health) affects our thoughts, aspirations and hopes.
Secondly, we need to face the truth of who we are: we are first and foremost, creations of a higher being, which is the shared conviction of the monotheistic faiths (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). For the atheists, existentialists and New Age followers, I reckon their search for identity will be a more complex maze to figure out.
Suffice to say that knowing how our personal identity is aligned to our divine purpose on earth according to our faiths is crucial in knowing oneself.
Finally, no matter how bad, corrupt or hopeless the condition of your country, I strongly believe the power of our words and thoughts have an impact on the nation's health. Thinking and declaring negative words and views about your country will imperceptibly make it worse.
A man stands over the city of Paris.
