Is vs Choice Philosophy

80 Year Cycle

Throughout history, societies have repeatedly experienced cycles of growth and crisis – known as the 80 year cycle of societal change by Strauss-Howe. This cycle shows that society undergoes recurring patterns of four “turnings” approximately every 80-100 years, each lasting about 20-25 years. Society is currently in the Fourth Turning, a crisis period that began around 2008 with the Global Financial Crisis. This phase is characterized by social, political and ecological distress, epidemics/pandemics, and civil revolts, and is expected to continue until the early 2030s.

Many people feel that society’s current structures are struggling to address the complex challenges it is facing. In this time of uncertainty, everyone has a choice: to accept that life “just is” the way it is, or to take responsibility for themselves and make a different choice. At this pivotal moment, everyone has an opportunity to shape their future. By learning from the past and looking ahead, they can create meaningful change.

Personal and Outside Control

Living an intentional life and choosing to make conscious choices focuses on the two key areas of personal control and outside control.

• Personal Control: Living in an environment which meets and facilitates a person’s intellectual, social, spiritual, emotional, and physical needs, according to the laws of nature.
• Outside Control: Actively engaging in environmental stewardship, education and knowledge transfer, creative storytelling, artistic expression, and cultural preservation from a global perspective.

Health in Is vs Choice Philosophy

An essential part of making conscious choices is in prioritizing health. There are many kinds of health which go far beyond eating and exercising.

• Physical health: Eating healthy food, limiting consumption of harmful additives, pesticides, antibiotics and nitrates, movement with purpose, no smoking, drinking or drug use, getting enough quality sleep, spending time outside, maximizing exposure to natural light.
• Emotional health: Intentional work, inside/ outside balance, movement with purpose, nature connection, share appreciation with others, identify and manage challenging emotions, such as by journalling and practising emotional awareness, meaningful social connections, invest in personal development, creative problem solving, view challenges as opportunities for personal growth.
• Intellectual health: Life long learning and personal development, creativity, journalling, cultural engagement, exercise with purpose, social cognitive stimulation, explore local area, conservation projects, digital literacy, holistic approach to life, reflection and self-awareness.
• Social health: Multi-generational community, volunteering, shared interest activities, spiritual partnerships for deep, meaningful interactions, work-life integration, support each other’s growth and evolvement, mindful technology use to connect with people around the world, connect with diverse people, attend cultural events, practice conflict resolution and communication skills, communal movement with purpose.
• Spiritual health: Intentional work, fulfillment and presence in all activities, nature connection, journalling, sharing appreciation, contribute to something bigger than self, such as conservation projects, reading books / listening to podcasts on spiritual development, conscious eating, conscious communication, creative expression, movement with purpose, community rituals, regular self-reflection.

Internal and External Perception in Is vs Choice Philosophy

Some common questions at the Institute for Human Potential are “Who are you?” “What’s your identity?” and “Are you aware of your environment?”. In conventional society, people often answer these questions in terms of external perception – “I’m a young woman”, “I’m a social media influencer”, “I’m a volunteer at a wildlife rescue centre”, “I ran a marathon”. But these are all subject to change – a person will grow old, lose interest in social media, stop volunteering or no longer be able to run a marathon. Therefore, basing their identity on external factors is fragile and leaves them vulnerable to feeling lost and purposeless.

The Institute for Human Potential emphasizes the importance of a person basing their identity on internal factors that cannot be taken away by the loss of a job or the passing of time. It is a person’s values, standards and principles that count. Living a purposeful life means it isn’t important how many followers a person has on social media or that they are a mechanic. Internal factors such as autonomy, hard work, respecting the laws of nature and being flexible and adaptable are what allow people to live a fulfilled, purposeful life. When people make a choice to view themselves based on internal values and principles instead of external achievements or job titles, this creates a much stronger foundation for defining “who we are”.