Social safety net involvement to lower anxiety and stress

One of the four quadrants in Ken Wilber's AQAL metaphysical model is the scientific quadrant.  The other quadrants are the subjective, the cultural, and the institutional. Looking at the problem of "insecurity" defined as people and groups feeling unsafe and vulnerable contributing to hypervigilance, reactivity, and chronically high levels of stress from the perspective of culture and institutions, we might wonder what it takes to reduce the high levels of tension in the system? We do this by introducing mechanisms that promote security and the decrease in fear both in individuals, in small groups, in communities, and in larger societies.

This reduction of fear and nurturing of security takes what we colloquially call the provision of the "safety net." Safety net infrastructure is being eroded and eliminated by those who want to control the society through autocratic leadership that enriches the few at the expense of the many. Finding social means of increasing equity, justice, and compassion contributes to a heightened sense of public safety and individual safety. These social means of increasing equity, justice, and compassion are more likely to be realized through mutual aid in our current autocratic political system rather than through governmental support.

So the answer to the question of how to help people lower their insecurity and stress levels in our current political environments is the encourage the befriending of neighbors and volunteering to nonprofit organizations in one's community that address the meeting of basic needs such as food, housing, health care, education, and public safety. Each person has a finite amount of time, talent, and treasure which they can contribute to the common good. It is in providing mutual aid in these basic domains to enhance equity, justice, and compassion that will lower the tension level in our social systems. There are plenty of social science studies which demonstrate the benefits of this focus and activity, but they are not well known, taught, or implemented.

What social programs do you know of, support, or have benefited by?

Social safety net involvement to lower anxiety and stress - Watch Video