THE HARMONY OF THE UNIVERSAL ORDER: Action and Counter-Action

By Col Dencio S. Acop (Ret), PhD, CPP | Date 11-07-2024

PERTH, AUSTRALIA — For every action, there is a corresponding reaction. This process is, in fact, a universal reality. At the micro or macro level, it remains operational since time immemorial. Life on earth today has never been more chaotic, but the process of change and the development it initiates continues as it always has. 

This never-ending evolution engulfs everything that goes on in the universe. We are a part of this evolution. Every human endeavor, therefore, becomes ultimately affected by the never-ending process of change. Nothing stays the same every second that time moves. Within this temporariness of states lies the universal constant of action and its ensuing reaction. For humans, this constant can be deliberate, even if unknown to them, it still lies within the nature of the universal order. Politically, economically, and socio-culturally, man’s actions always bring about corresponding counter-actions to bring about balance in the universe.

Politically, citizens act by choosing policy alternatives that bring about their greatest good until they don’t. Then, they will opt for the ones that do when that time for change comes. There used to be a time when citizens were united as one in their aspirations. To cement their values through time, citizens enshrined these in a never-changing constitution. But, as citizens are only as strong as their weakest members, even a never-changing constitution cannot save a dying past now inevitably challenged by change. 

The political signs of the times are everywhere. And in every corner of the world, we see evolving change where none imagined before. Great powers come and go. The history of the world is replete with it. Some wonder if it is now the reigning superpower’s time to go. Some challenger in the east seems to think so. Change is inevitable indeed even if it takes generations. Democracy ruled the day since the last Great War. Truman and Eisenhower were wrong about the Domino Effect then, but they are right, now. MacArthur was probably wrong about crossing the Yalu River into China then, but he is definitely right, now. 

While Democracy was right when the Berlin Wall fell, it only eventually fueled the re-rise of Russia under Putin now. The peaceful co-existence among Jews, Moslems, and Christians in Jerusalem since Israel’s founding is now floundering. Trump lost in 2020 but now he’s back. The give and take are sure to continue. Man will always aspire for which he has not, forever aiming for that balance.       

Economically, countries and peoples do whatever is necessary to survive, including migrating to wherever and whichever can offer the greatest good for the greatest number. The production and distribution of material well-being determined human migration, both horizontally and vertically. When domestic advancement had nowhere to go, policy-makers and investors transcended borders for fertile conquests abroad led by the bravest of the brave. Even at the risk of death, pioneers ventured east and west, north and south, unstoppable lest competitors got there first. Race, color, or creed did not stop man from venturing out of his comfort zone to succeed where others failed. 

The stomach has always reigned supreme since man evolved. This endless pouch within him meant his very survival, and nothing could stop him. With heart intact and his superior brain, man battled against nature until the world was his. And when it was, he battled against other men until the ways and means of production belonged only to his kind. As change never stands still, such action soon met with counter-action until those deprived waged a revolution to wrest control away from the elite. As change does not exclude the violent from the wise, the oppressed became the oppressor. Lesson learned can be another name for change and soon, the new oligarchs saw the old ones in the mirror but could not reveal themselves to the masses. 

So, the new adopted the old but with a new twist. False narratives soon to be driven deeper by their AI ally will see to it that change never comes. For if it does, the coming centennial shall be known to be a farce. But the holders of the strings are so far ahead of the game, that no one dares to challenge them. Politics shall drive economics. Until change does to bring back harmony to the balance.

And finally, socio-culturally, where geopolitics was once driven by peoples inhabiting their own worlds, the earth today has long shrunk into a global village. The once incomprehensible is now well-understood. Barriers all around have been laid low. There is no more secret to hide. The comparative advantage of nations is now long gone. Even the clash of civilizations has dissipated into thin air taken over in its tracks by cutthroat individualism of every kind. 

The vast continents and oceans of the whole wide world are now condensed in the world-wide web of city ghettoes. The once far-flung counties and provinces in the fringes of society are now right smack in the middle of this severely-condensed space of cyber living made normal by a smart phone. The amalgamation of cultures has accelerated change of every kind. Where a reaction to action once took months and years to occur, it now takes seconds. This is the real danger, isn’t it? We saw the pushback to globalization in the age of terror. But the evolving counteraction to agents of change today is not fueled by military action. I don’t think it’s being driven by the politics of Donald Trump. Nor that of Vladimir Putin, or Xi Jinping. The threat to the well-being of this world we live in today is being fueled by each one of us due to the change we initiate every second of every day just with the tips of our fingers.

To close, while it seems easy to focus our attention on the popular, wealthy, and powerful since they are few compared to the rest of us, these targets of our attraction are not the agents of change we think they are. While we react to their every utterance or policy action, we lose sight of the very people whom we should be paying attention to. 

We fail to see that these leaders of today are themselves followers. Political leaders kowtow to every whim and caprice of their voters. Wealthy capitalists listen to every customer preference and demand to keep their market segments. Popular actors keep subjecting their aging faces to Botox just to remain onscreen and not lose face. By focusing its attention on the wrong things, the world is losing the opportunity to develop contingencies addressing the real market of counteraction to its every action: you and me.