Welcome

Thank you for visiting Brotherhood of Man! I'm excited about your visit, and happy to greet you!

Please refresh this page before reading, as it may have changed since your last visit. This is usually done on a Windows system by pressing F5, and a Macintosh system by pressing CONTROL-R.

And remember, if the message of hope you receive at this website resonates for you, please request inclusion on the BROTHERHOOD OF MAN email list to receive extremely important occasional commentary and analysis of current events from the standpoint of Brotherly Love and the effort to build a loving society, and so we who advocate such a change remain united in the effort.

I can't change the world alone! I need YOU!

Homework

I also recommend, at the outset, that you begin reading, or listening to, free, THE SANE SOCIETY by critical social philosopher Erich Fromm. Spend the rest of your life reading and, indeed, studying this work, and continually learning about how the world works such that you can understand the work with increasing clarity. Foundationally, I also strongly recommend that you begin studying, again, perhaps listening to, free (or reading online), Dr. Fromm's signature work The Art of Loving, especially his chapter on Brotherly Love (57:00 time index), as this orientation to our brothers and sisters in our human family, indeed, is foundational to the establishment of the Brotherhood of Man, the new organizational paradigm this site introduces, describes and recommends, or, similarly, as Dr. King has conceived it, the Beloved Community (Note:  linked audiobook reading of The Art of Loving is not fully complete. Consult text, also).

Even now under our present-day capitalist democracy, Love is essential--if essentially absent. This is a loss of special import and proportion given the new latter-day raft of problems that have presented themselves to the world including terrorism; mass murder, often in the form of rampant shootings; social isolation and suicide; pandemic and other disease; climate change, continuing war; imminent global (or regional) water shortage; distortion of truth through global propagation of false news and other forms of information, usurpation of advanced technologies and technical methods for nefarious purpose such as invasion of privacy, industrial crime, cyberbullying, and, again, terror; and a slowly emerging AI that is as fraught with uncertainty in every respect as it is cryptic in operation, even when it produces results seen as desirable.

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I'm Vincent Frank De Benedetto, philosopher, writer, and teacher. The ideas that you'll encounter here and elsewhere in my work are unique and powerful, and can dramatically change the world. I argue that they are just about the only ideas that can. This is good, just in the nick-of-time, in fact, because a look at the headlines of today, both national and international, clearly illustrates that it must be changed.

Before I begin, please note that if you really want to get something from this website, if you really want to start to understand the powerful ideas and agenda for unique and dramatic change presented here, I strongly recommend that you read every word at this site five times--yes, five times. Alright--at least three, but five is better. This is because the ideas presented here, or certainly some of them, will likely be new to you. And insofar as they're not new, the way they are combined here to form the Brotherhood of Man perspective and program for change will certainly be new to you.

Additionally, the content here is presented in a fairly intelligent style: it is extensive, and makes use of its share of "big words." Moreover, many people are simply not used to reading, whether material of a more sophisticated, or simpler style.

So again, please take your time over the next week or two, and read this entire website multiple times. Think about what you're reading. Live with these ideas for a while. If you follow these steps, you should find the ideas starting to sink in. You can then move to my far more dense and extensive original home page, or, perhaps better, first read my sister site THE AGAPE ORDER for a variant of a relatively easy introduction to the ideas of love and brotherhood, and how they can, and must, form the basis for a new global society.

Specifically, the site at which you now reside, BROTHERHOOD OF MAN, addresses itself to all aspects of the new society we must build, including the foundational and seminal role of Love, properly understood, within that society. It's sister site, THE AGAPE ORDER, addresses itself to these same subjects, but leans more to the critical role of Love, again, properly understood, in our present-day society. Both sites find their root in the transformative principal and perspective of brotherly love, or Agape (ugg ah' pay).

After or while reading either of these sites, or both, you may contact me for discussion or clarification.

Volume III

This Internet resource, Brotherhood of Man, besides being a standalone site, is also a rough draft of Volume III of my 3-volume AGAPE TRILOGY set of books. Here is Volume I and Volume II.

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Brothers & Sisters

Agape Greetings!

Agape (uh goh' pay) refers, in the language of Greek philosophy, to brotherly love, one of the key forms of love defined by philosophy, and that which is required to transform human society.

Several years ago, a political colleague sent me a Hallmark Winter Season greeting card with this sentiment on its cover:

Guess what? In reading this, without reading a word further at this web site, you already understand the general objective of the Brotherhood of Man project, as well as all my related work in social science.

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Brotherhood of Man

What is the *Brotherhood of Man,* and why do we need it? Why does the World need the Brotherhood of Man?

Let me make it very simple for you, with a short summary, and bullet points. Put on your thinking cap, open your heart, and take a careful read through the key principles of the BROTHERHOOD OF MAN project:

1.) We need a world of love. We need a world of kindness. Everybody Loving Everybody.

Philosopher Erich Fromm stated: "Love is the only answer to the problem of human existence."

Have you ever thought about what the world would be like if everyone loved everyone? If everyone was loving and kind to everyone else?

What your own life would be like?

2. Without a world of love--like now--here's what happens, sooner or later:

Hitler happens. The terror group ISIS happens. The terror attack in Paris Happens. The terror attack in Belgium happens. Terror group Boko Haram happens. Columbine happens. Virginia Tech happens. Sandy Hook happens. Murder happens. Rape happens. Robbery happens. Poverty happens. Addiction happens. Mental illness happens. Physical illness happens. Bullying happens. Abortion happens. Suicide happens. Wars happen. Conflict and transgression of every kind happen.

Sexual and other forms of harassment happen. Rape happens. Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein happens.

In fact, just about every problem humankind has, individually and collectively (i.e. together) is caused by 1.) capitalism and 2.) its culture of ego. Ego is opposed to, if not the active opposite of, Love. This is why these problems have not, and cannot ever really be solved, fully, and permanently, under capitalism. Our politicians and religious leaders may have good intentions, but that is simply not enough. Capitalism operates according to rules that really can't be changed much. That's reality.

My site, above, provides detailed explanatory information supporting this thesis. It's a bold claim, but true, and I'm happy to do my best to support it. It can take time, however, weeks, months, even years of reading, conversation, and reflection, all acting in concert with continuing personal experience, then doing it all again, and again, to really come to a depth of understanding commensurate with the claim.

Though critical to their lives, this is something that most people don't think about. And those who do usually lack sufficient information and perspective to come to an accurate understanding.

3. The other part of the problem is not so much economic as behavioral:  people act the way they do, terrorists in the worst cases, but even regular people, because they are brought up under and in the harsh system of capitalism (or a similar class-ruled society), so they become hard. A hard system produces hard people. It's virtually impossible to interrupt this pattern without eliminating the root cause, capitalism.

I'm encouraging you to help me sow the seed of Love, Brotherly love, because we all know: if you want a different tree, you must plant a different seed.

4. People are also hard and unloving because our global society has not yet committed to the value and principal of Love. Therefore, it does not teach love. Not really. Not comprehensively (i.e. completely) and permanently.

How many students are required to take even one Love class in school? During any phase of their education? Were you?

5. So we need a world of Love. Of kindness. But random acts of kindness, and random, sporadic, or inconsistent acts of love are not enough. They don't reach enough people. They don't happen enough of the time. They don't cover or address the ubiquitous need we have for love, across the world, among all people, through time. With permanence.

6. We have billions of people in the world. We must have an official and formal system of Love, or there is simply no chance that they will all live in a world of meaningful love. Our good intentions and occasional contributions to charity just won't do it.

7. The love we bring to the world must be sustained. It must last. It must be permanent. And complete.

8. We can have this; all of it. But to do so we must bring certain changes to the world. Anything that impedes or obstructs the building and maintenance of a Loving World, the Brotherhood of Man, must be eliminated. Mercilessly eliminated? No-we must always employ mercy. But eliminated, nonetheless.

9. The two principal things impeding and obstructing our erection of this world are:

A.) Class Rule, which means a small group controlling the larger group, and

B.) Ego, which means me thinking that my interests, welfare, point-of-view, pursuits, job, family, property, are more important than yours.

10. Regarding the first, the particular form of class rule we have today is called--and you may have heard this word--"capitalism."

11. Capitalism is a socio-economic system. "Socio-economic" means a system of producing things people need or want and getting them to people, based on private persons, not the government or or we the public, owning the factories and such that produce these things. And everything that goes into this, such as jobs, wages, and working conditions. And socio-economic also refers to our culture, like what we think, and say, and the kinds of clothes and music and food that we like, and our attitude about things, other people, and ourselves, that we have.

12. Our culture influences our economic system, but it's likely that our economic system influences our culture to a greater degree.

13. This is why to change our culture, especially the way we think about things, people, and ourselves, we must change our economic system. We must eliminate capitalism and replace it with a different method of providing goods and services.

14. But we must also eliminate that other cause I mentioned-ego. We must replace the system of ego, called egoism, with the system of love, Brotherly Love. Where you do, of course, highly value your interests, welfare, family, point-of-view, pursuits, job, family, and property, etc., but you also value mine-just about the same as your own.

15. Once capitalism and egoism are eliminated, and replaced with love and cooperation, we will have built the Brotherhood of Man. We will then not only be, but we'll know that we are, One Human Family. We'll know and understand that we're all brothers and sisters in One Human Family. Remember--there are no strangers!

16. Once we not only are this, and know that we are this, but have officially arranged ourselves like this, we will then-guess what--have that world that I mentioned in #2 and #3, above: a world where love and kindness happen every day, all the time, everywhere, forever. Where there is no chance that they'll ever go away.

Why can they never go away? Because we will have recreated our entire global society on the basis of these values. Love and Brotherhood will be contained in our very founding documents, such as our new Constitution (and Declaration of Independence if we've needed one), and our new social institutions in Education, Government, and elsewhere will all reflect and embody these new values. They will be taught and reinforced at home, in school, at work, and simply everywhere.

Even at the mall!

17. There are a lot of people and groups trying to do good in this world, from Amnesty International to Save the Children. The problem is, essentially none of them are getting to the root of the problem. Though all the many problems in this world seem different from each other, they actually have that common dual root: class rule, and egoism. There is no group, nor political party today, operating on the basis of this assumption.

18. The need to change our socio-economic system, and that such a change is the most important change that we need, was known by thinkers like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Erich Fromm. Dr. King, for example, came to realize that as important as the struggle for racial justice is, the struggle for economic comity, which means justice or fairness is even more important. If you are still being exploited, which means used unfairly for the advantage of others, who cares if the person or group of people exploiting you are of your color and background? You're still being exploited, nonetheless.

This need for economic justice is why when Dr. King was murdered he was in Memphis, Tennessee in support of the sanitation workers, who were on strike for better pay and working conditions.

19. Building the Brotherhood of Man CAN be done-if we all come to realize that it's necessary, and then come together to do it. In the United States, for example, we can do it peacefully and democratically using, and under the authority of, Article V of the United States Constitution. Our founding Father's such as Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton included Article V because these smart men knew that every so often-every 20 years, they thought-a country would change so much that it's Constitution, in other words its principles of belief and rules of operation, would have to change. Ours hasn't changed in over 200 years, so we're long overdue!

20. Other countries have similar mechanisms, in other words similar methods or ways, to make the same change. If they don't, we should peacefully assist them to develop such mechanisms.

21. The basic outline of this situation is not that complicated, and, in fact, I'm presenting it to you right here, right now. But you must continue reading and studying because to really make this change, which is a large-scale social change, we must understand what we're doing: we must be certain that we want this change, and we must be resolute enough, in other words very firmly focused and committed, enough to stay with it over a period of time, probably years.

Continue Learning

I have just presented you with the basic outline of our dire need to build the Brotherhood of Man. Now, to continue learning, I suggest that you:

A.) Re-read the above steps a few times carefully until you become comfortable with them, and develop a basic understanding of what I'm saying.

B.) Read the rest of this page. It provides good-quality further detail and information.

C.) For a more comprehensive and extended treatment of the subject matter, read my principal Internet resource BROTHERHOOD OF MAN, an online book with a website structure. I have realized that it is, in effect, actually a first or second draft of Volume II of my pending 2-volume work.

D.) Read and watch everything of substance that you can get your hands and eyes on, from the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, to Public Television documentaries. The more you know about how the system actually works and affects people, the better you'll understand the need, and perhaps commit to, helping build the Brotherhood of Man.

E.) Additionally, and needless to say, I do encourage your financial donation to my work. The Donate button is present at Brotherhood of Man.love. In my material, below, I enumerate (in other words, I list by number) exactly what that work is. I have a number of projects underway, and planned, to help build the Brotherhood of Man. But remember-no one can effect (i.e. cause) a revolution by themselves. I need your help!

Yes-*you*!

Me

I am Vincent Frank De Benedetto, philosopher and teacher. In your work to help build the Brotherhood of Man, I will help you. We will help each other. Write to me anytime, for any reason. After writing, if you wish my phone number for a telephone dialogue, I will certainly provide it.

Comparison

The difference between this project and those that seem similar? I have found no project nor political theory like the dual-part program pioneered of Brotherhood of Man.

Please read elsewhere at this site for specific comparative information.

John Lennon

In popular culture, John Lennon's famous song Imagine is notable for explicitly speaking of and advocating a "Brotherhood of Man."

Is this song the official theme song for my Brotherhood of Man project? No. Mr. Lennon's conception of the Brotherhood of Man is characterized by several things that some people may find offensive or insensitive. I'm in agreement with the desirability of building the Brotherhood of Man, and of its role as the greatest and most profound way to organize our human family. My paradigm, however, unlike Mr. Lennon's, does not advocate a world with no countries, religion, heaven, or possessions. That's not what I advocate.

The Problems

There are various ways that the problems requiring redress through establishment of the Brotherhood of Man, can be presented.

To begin, read this April 2016 article from the New York Times, describing in detail just how utterly horrible the capitalism of today has become. "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" has never been more true. Our technical processes and technology may be ever-improving (or at least ever-changing, whether these changes constitute genuine improvement is another matter), but it's clear from this article, many other articles as well as books like it, and the jagged surfaces of our everyday work and personal lives, that what really matters--our embrace of just about the only principle worth embracing, Love, our relationship to each other, and the kind of world that we could build based on these superior occupations--remains woefully, and often fatally, deficient.

The latest version of capitalist values as described in this New York Times article (calculated separation between people, corporate dominance, profit preoccupation, economic anarchy, modern slavery) runs not only completely counter to the values advocated and prescribed by the BROTHERHOOD OF MAN project (brotherhood, love, mutual aid, economic cooperation), but likely comprise the worst iteration of capitalist values, yet.

After reading this article you'll have a pretty good idea of the kind of world that BROTHERHOOD OF MAN is fighting. It's the kind of grossly impersonal, money-and-profit-driven, economically and socially anarchical world that certain other individuals and groups are fighting, as well. Continue reading the present page that you're reading right now, as well importantly as the content at my site BrotherhoodOfMan.love, essentially an online book, for a fairly comprehensive initial picture of the unique and powerful social and economic structures that I propose in substitution for our present world. The structures of which I speak are, again, a communal or Brotherhood-based economy, combined with a love-based social ethic.

I am aware of no other individual or group that has conceived these structures as a unified political program.

The problems of the world, generally, are twofold. First, given the rise of terrorist violence in the United States and abroad, as well as the existence of many other social and economic problems here and abroad, the world is presently an absolute mess. Just as bad as any of the other times in human history when it was an absolute mess, such as World War II.

Second, even before the world became an absolute mess, it was still a *mess.* The normal economic operation of capitalism, in concert with its concomitant and symbiotic culture of ego still made life very difficult for most people.

For example, the 2015 global terrorism index records that deaths from terrorism in 2014 increased 80% to the highest level ever. Did you catch that?

...80%.

As a planet we have continuing horrific global violence in the Mid-East, Africa, and elsewhere, mass murder attacks almost every other day by ISIS, Boko Haram, and al Qaeda (as well as equally heinous and catastrophic attacks by lesser-known but just as deadly groups such as Quds Force, Haqqani Network, and Kataib Hezbollah). These attacks are manifest in such actions as the mass-murder in Brussels, Paris, San Bernadino and many other locations, as well as domestic shootings here in America seemingly every other day. We've never before seen the likes of this kind of global violence, the especially ugly character of these attacks, with mass murder and mass decapitations and other repugnant acts occurring. We also now have China, Japan, and much of Asia nervous because North Korea is threatening nuclear war, not to mention the Fukashima nuclear disaster in Japan that is so severe it can't be remediated, and is slowly poisoning with radioactivity large swaths of the Asian coast and Pacific ocean, with nuclear fallout coming to the U.S. Pacific coast, as well.

And let's not forget the problem of dementia and Alzheimer's, which is slowly but steadily eating away at the ability of millions upon millions of people to even think. The numbers are increasing by a large amount every year--and there is presently no cure and none on the horizon.

We also have the real continuing and apparently unsolvable problems of global recession/depression, poverty, illness, addiction, and many other things, including climate change, which many authorities say has become so severe that it may now wipe out humanity no matter what we do. And obviously no one has any realistic answers for most of this, do they? This leads to the reasonable conclusion that humanity is in worse shape than its ever been. It's so bad that it all sounds like a joke, right? Couldn't possibly be true? Except it's no joke; it's all real, and deadly serious: and it gets even worse, because with such volatility and difficulty, global events can quickly move out of control, leading to World War III or even the end of our species. World events just about as bad as those have happened before. Don't make the mistake of assuming that they can't happen again--or that even worse couldn't happen.

Noise

And by the way, part of the social anarchy engendered by capitalism is *noise.* Every spiritual tradition, arguably spirituality itself, requires that which the incessant quest for profit, which requires economic activity, often noisy, has just about eliminated:

Silence.

The newest global sound research, by Gordon Hempton and others, reports that natural silence, which is the sonic environment that exists when man-made sounds are not present in a given environment, is just about gone.

Natural silence is just about gone, no matter where on planet Earth you travel. Yet, not only is natural silence required for contemplative and other spiritual practice, orientation, or being, but for general mental health. In sum: too much noise, too much of the time, drives human beings crazy. Well, in the global economic and social anarchy that is the hyper-capitalism of today--welcome to Crazy.

My Paradigm

Each and every one of us is impacted in every way by capitalism, all the time. Ignore this reality at your peril. Please spread the word about this fundraiser right away. The objective of course, being to 1.) help people understand that we're all brothers and sisters in one human family, and 2.) replace capitalism and its culture of ego with a society underpinned by Love, the Brotherhood of Man. As I state at my web site Brotherhood of Man:

"We're all brothers and sisters in One Human Family. However, the world is not presently arranged to reflect this: our global economic system of capitalism, especially in concert with its culture of egoism, is the cause of almost every problem we've got, individually and collectively. The One Human Family project has the only solution that is permanent, comprehensive, and realistic: replacement of capitalism and its culture of egoism with a far superior Classless, Moneyless, Needs-based, Love-assisted (C.M.N.L.) socio-economic system, indeed, the long dreamt-of Brotherhood of Man. Far more powerful than traditional revolutionary programs for change, the One Human Family program is unique--there is simply no other like it. If you really want to change the world, this is the only place to be! Please study and learn."

C.M.N.L. is pronounced Kuh MYOON ul.

Unless some new and indeed seminal (groundbreaking) person, group, or idea of tremendous revolutionary power is introduced into the global dynamic, we just can't predict how bad things can or will get.

THERE ARE FEW TIMES IN HISTORY WHERE IT HAS BECOME SO CLEAR THAT WE MUST CHANGE THE WORLD.

Change it completely, an entirely new paradigm. If you have any doubt of this, just watch your nightly news, or open a newspaper. Or look closely, realistically, and unflinchingly at your own life.

And by the way, the "human suffering" that my title speaks of ending refers by no means only to kids starving in a far-off country somewhere. The "human suffering" that we must end refers to ALL human suffering, of every kind, everyplace, large and small, overt and subtle. Human suffering includes the hungry, the poor, the physically ill or deformed, the mentally ill, the drug-addicted, the lonely, the homeless, the overworked (those working too many hours), the multi-worked (those working two or more jobs), the angry, and the disillusioned and dispirited.

The problems that the ruling class (both the capitalist class and the "communist" party) has created for us are unlike any before in history: the new set of problems are far more grave than ever before, starting with nuclear weapons and nuclear power (read: Fukashima) and ending for the moment with climate change. And the problems of today, of advanced capitalism are of such a scope that they could very well spell the end of our species. It's said, for example, that at this point we cannot outrun the catastrophic effects of climate change no matter what we do.

The Solution

Well guess what, here's the good news in all of this--I have the answer, or certainly one of the key answers. It's an idea as ubiquitous (widespread) as it is misunderstood:  "Brotherly Love."

(Also called Agape, pron. uh goh' pay, which is "brotherly love" in the language of Greek philosophy).

We must realize that we're all brothers and sisters in one human family, and begin to act accordingly in all spheres of individual and social life and organization. Based on this realization we must begin to finally create the long dreamt-of Brotherhood of Man, a unified world based on Love.

To achieve this grand goal, we must eliminate 1.) capitalism and hence the profit imperative, which destroys everything all the time, and 2.) the negative expression of ego, which is the other key factor in the problems of the human race, and replace these forms of social detritus with the Brotherhood of Man, a new form of social organization based implicitly and explicitly on brotherhood, love, and mutual aid. Yes, we can indeed structure a modern economy around these notions--Love, an extensible principal and force, is that powerful.

The Brotherhood of Man as I conceive it, is akin to the "Beloved Community" of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (link below). Dr. King stated:

"Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives."

Brothers and Sisters, half-measures and empty or unrealistic promises will simply no longer do.

Who

Yet who is trying to do this?

Who is ready, willing, and able to change the world? Has actually devoted their entire life to the task? Permanently, completely, and realistically? How many people out of the billions on this planet?

And does this person, if they exist, have a plan of sufficient power, vision, and optimistic realism to actually do it?

Well, lucky day for the world! Though no one realizes it yet, the world has just had its best day ever. Because I am this person, and I have that plan.

For most of my life, I've had a clear vision of what is fundamentally wrong with the world, the only thing that can correct it, and how that thing must work, specifically.

As one of my signature songs, Vision of a World recites:

I'm Vincent Frank De Benedetto, 57 years old, writer, philosopher, and musician, among other roles. Read my bio. I'm also the former official Leafblower Expert for Noise Free America, and the charter member of the North Jersey chapter. America is a noisy place, it's getting worse, and it's very bad for our health.

Assuming that I had developed some level of personal and social awareness by age 18, I've been completely immersed in liberal capitalist society, here in the Untied States of America, for approximately 38 years of my life. The socio-economic system of the United States, and the larger world, has thus far had almost 40 years to impress me, and engender my belief that it's the best available. Well, on both counts--it's failed. I was aggressively opposed to capitalism even before the rise of ISIS on the one hand, and the continual stream of domestic shootings here in the United States. Once all this horrific violence began, however, the wisdom of Erich Fromm became, for me, an ominous warning: any society predicated on something other than the innate needs of man, starting with love, will ultimately fail. Our global society has failed, or is certainly failing. I suppose your particular preference for either of these two descriptions depends on whether you're homeless and hungry, or merely hungry.

Alternative to Capitalism

Were there not a powerful and viable alternative to capitalism, perhaps I'd focus on improving our present system, and the fact is that I do take actions in my own personal and social life to do this. But given the existence of brotherly love as a scalable concept, which means that it functions as both a principal animating interpersonal relations, and a linchpin concept for organizing and operating a national and international economy, there is simply no further reason to cling to outdated notions of social organization, such as capitalism and its symbiotic culture of ego.

In other words, there is a better mousetrap, far better, and, in some measure on the shoulders of others, I'm continuing its creation right here, right now. I began several years ago when I realized that this paradigm really was far afield from the conventional paradigms of even democratic socialism or communism, properly understood. As far as entities such as the present or former U.S.SR. or Cuba, or even Sweden, Denmark, or Italy, or France, they've never been genuinely socialist, just various distortions, thereof. Real socialism or communism has just about never existed, of course, though as of a few years ago I realized that even in its most accurate and desirable forms as conventionally proferred by the various parties and groups, whether the now moribund Socialist Labor Party, or the World Socialist Party, or the so-called Socialist Party USA, my own developing paradigm, which included love, uniquely, was unknown and unwelcome. Almost to a one, socialists don't want to hear about "love," which is why, generally speaking, I had to part company with persons calling themselves "socialists."

You

Let's talk about you for a moment. Your contribution to this project. Your contribution could be time, money, or both. I can't do it alone. Effecting (i.e. causing) a global or even national revolution is a puzzle comprised of many pieces; I can assure you that the first piece is...money. In capitalist society you can't do a thing without money, whether buy a slice of pizza or wage socio-economic revolution.

I need you.

Yes--YOU. You right there, the person reading this. Frankly, I need your money, and even your time if you'd like to give it.

Most of us are busy with our own lives, and many will feel that they can't involve themselves with "causes." That's an individual decision. I can assure you of this, however:

- If we do nothing, nothing will change.

- In fact, when problems exist that are not realistically addressed, they usually just get worse. Accordingly, the lives of our kids may very well be worse, much worse, than ours.

Forget Bernie Sanders

A word about U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Forget him as a long-term solution. Senator Sanders is NOT a socialist. He is a "social democrat." There's a world of difference. The former, properly understood, seeks the elimination of capitalism; the latter seeks to retain capitalism but give it a whitewash, give it a more human face, which is why the Senator continually refers to nations such as Denmark and Sweden as referents and standard-bearers. Have you EVER heard Senator Sanders assert the need to actually eliminate capitalism? Me neither. So there you go. Wouldn't a SOCIALIST advocate the establishment of SOCIALISM? Not just a mere facelift for capitalism? In one his early Primary debates with Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders was asked if he's a capitalist. He responded that he is not a "casino" capitalist, meaning generally that he is not the kind of capitalist that makes wild and capricious use of other people's lives and money. The clear implication of his language, however, is that he *is* a capitalist, just not of the casino-capitalist stripe.

I'd say that the chief virtue of the candidacy of Senator Sanders is is that it confirms that Americans have developed such an utterly intractable disbelief that capitalism can ever really help them, that they are now willing to do what has always been anathema and the unthinkable here in America: vote for someone calling themselves a "socialist." The other part of the dynamic, of course, is young people, who are unconstrained by the bad name that the former (and present) so-called "communist" nations gave to the notions of socialism and communism.

(Technical note: one cannot be a capitalist unless one owns capital, such as land, buildings, equipment, workers, or other resources, the elements needed to own, operate, and attempt to profit from, the means of production. The questioner actually should have asked Bernie Sanders if he was an *advocate* of capitalism, which is likely what he meant. So much for a grasp of political theory by the ruling class media.)

On my pending radio program BROTHERHOOD OF MAN and in my other work, therefore, you will not hear me hailing Mr. Sanders as a savior, promulgating the message of salvation that we need. He, and it, simply isn't.

Hope

Another virtue of the my work is its focus on Hope. It's Message of Hope. Especially these days when the news whether here or abroad is just about as horrible and dispiriting as you can imagine, we need a messenger and message of hope to cheer, buoy, and inspire us. To assist us in simply getting out of bed each day, which can itself be a chore under this kind of horrific global condition (read: ISIS).

Please Donate

In my head my ideas make for great writing and interesting conversation--but we need to move them far beyond this. The world is a complete and utter mess, has been for a long time, and will continue to be, unless some genuinely radical new idea is embraced and implemented. Or, it can be an *old* idea, like Brotherly Love--provided that it is updated, clarified, and promulgated.

My personal efforts as a philosopher and revolutionary are intended to make these changes. To change the world. To make *real* needed revolution. My work is a relentless spider crawling the world on eight agile legs:

1.) The three books that I'm writing, all focused on the power of love as, ultimately, the only social force that can effect the kind of change the world needs, in all respects and in regard to every kind of human problem.

2.) BROTHERHOOD OF MAN (BrotherhoodOfMan.love), which is the basic project devoted to teaching the need to replace a world of profit and ego with a world of love and brotherhood. The One Human Family website has become so capacious that as of yesterday, April 27, 2016, I've really begun thinking of it as online book (the 1st or 2nd draft of Volume II of my 2-volume set), and I have to declare it as such. A free book, however!

3.) THE AGAPE ORDER, which is an organization for persons interested in the principle and practice of Agape (ugg AH pay), which is Greek for Brotherly love. This refers to our attempt to practice love now, before any socio-economic revolution occurs, insofar as capitalism and its culture of ego meaningfully permits such practice.

4.) My musical project MESSAGE OF HOPE which is extremely powerful and possesses great potential, based on these same themes.

5.) My pending Internet radio program BROTHERHOOD OF MAN (link pending), again, supporting these same themes.

6.) My Aikido Outreach (link pending). This is a novel outreach program that I've been planning for a long time. The endeavor pertains to the martial Art called *Aikido,* which is peaceful, strictly defensive, and ultimately love-centered. Indeed, the founder of this art, Morihei Ueshiba, popularly and historically known as O'Sensei (oh sen' say), or "Great Teacher," stated that the purpose of his art, Aikido, is to assist in bringing together all people as members of one human family. Indeed, when an attacker sees your prowess in repelling their attack and realizes that rather than simply repelling their attack you could have injured or even killed them, yet did not, choosing instead to simply repel their attack with minimum harm to them, the attacker will find themselves disposed to friendship, reconciliation, or contrition.

I have conceived a program whereby I will personally travel to every Aikido dojo in my area once a month to teach the spiritual side of Aikido, the dimension concerning love that is its ethical foundation.

7.) My writing, broadcasting, and other work applying the love ethic to the problem of terrorism. This includes a project concerning national security that I'm not at liberty to divulge. Only Love, properly understood, has the power to end terrorism.

8.) My family of web sites, each presenting from a different angle the power of love and the necessity to formalize it in society. Most if not all of these sites can be found linked from the Brotherhood of Man site.

Personal Assistant Sought

I also seek a Personal Assistant to perform various duties supporting the objectives of the eight projects enumerated, above.

This assistant can expect minimal financial compensation now, but extremely generous remuneration and compensatory remuneration later, upon the success of any or all of the above projects. And throughout it all the Assistant is assured that they are helping to change the world. Dramatically, uniquely, powerfully, and permanently.

Not a bad deal.

Acts of Kindness

Formal and planned--not random. We must officially integrate Love into the very fabric of our new society, the Brotherhood of Man. The word "Love" must appear in our new Constitution, our founding document.

I help people concretely in my day-to-day life, all kinds of people in all kinds of ways, all the time, casually and formally. Casual help would include the incident about four days ago while in my local Popeye's Chicken drive-thru lane (careful: their food has trans fat) and two African-American women seemed to be having a problem paying for their order. After observing for a few minutes I inquired, with the intention of simply paying for their order, or a part of it, if large. One woman indicated that they did not require assistance.

I do this sort of thing all the time. I've been called an unusually kind person more than once. In terms of formal assistance, I'm presently attempting to help:

1.) Casey, a 42 year old woman in extremely bad health and great physical discomfort. Please see her GoFundMe campaign at this site and donate. This woman is in very bad shape.

[Note: I am no longer assisting Casey, as her representative, no matter how hard I tried to persuade her, simply would *not* provide me any kind of corroborating proof that Casey's condition was real, and not a scam. Ultimately, I was prepared to continue donating, and possibly assisting even further, without said proof, but the turn-of-events did not permit it.]

2.) Neil, a man whose life and health were almost completely destroyed by neighbors with horrific barking dogs whose noise they categorically refused to moderate; Neil seems to be a genuinely nice person who lost his home, marriage, health, and life savings to this barking problem. I read his account and its unbelievable. See NoiseFree.org or contact me for more information on Neil. I'll forward contributions to Neil if you'd care to make them.

3.) Jim, a family friend whose stroke put him the hospital, and then a nursing home, where his only sibling, his sister, essentially left him to die. After the stroke she silently sold his mobile home and all its contents, his car, and apparently tendered no care for his cat, either. She never visits or calls.

4.) I spent over a year trying to locate my cousin Lucille, who was essentially abandoned by much of the extended family and was living in a ghetto, one of her sons having died. I eventually found her, living with her other son as I'm told. However, this son will not permit my cousin to re-integrate herself into the family. He won't even provide me or my immediate family access to her, though we helped her explicitly over the years. I, myself, used to order pizza and pasta for her by telephone and have it delivered to she and her son when they were hungry.

Why is her remaining son behaving in such an obstructionist manner? I'm trying to determine precisely this.

If you're interested in this kind of practice of love right now, in the world just as it is before we effect a social revolution and build the Brotherhood of Man, please visit The Agape Order, described below.

When I was caregiving my father, I had several people, different people with different faiths from different walks of life, each tell me that I was "going to Heaven," or similar remarks. Erich Fromm asks whether the individual, as they live out the course of their lives, ever encounters even one truly and genuinely loving individual, as a role model. In my life I try to be that individual.

How about you?

Pick Yer Poison

What is the difference between my Brotherhood Of Man project, and other projects, organizations, or parties that may also assert their dedication to a dramatic, even "radical" shift in the world?

The principal and critical difference is that no other such entity advocates, or has even imagined, the dual-part 1.) anti-Capitalism, 2.) anti-Egoism program of Brotherhood Of Man. There are any number or groups or parties, mostly tiny, vociferously dedicated to the elimination of capitalism and replacement with some other kind of socio-economic system. However, the common deficiency in them all is their failure to realize the absolute importance of including love in the new socio-economic system that is fashioned, lest the new society seem suspiciously and confoundingly like the old one in people's behavior and perspective toward others. Or, in one or more other respects, as well.

This difference marks Brotherhood of Man and all other organizations and projects as worlds apart.

Additionally, there are other vital differences. These concern the set of principles and guidelines that naturally evolve around the basic question of radical social change, or revolution. For example, a powerful and essential principal unique to Brotherhood of Man is that of "Responsible Revolution," which refers to the absolute duty of revolutionaries to:

1.) Ensure that the dramatic step of *revolution* is actually needed, and

2.) Ensure that said revolution is conducted with the utmost degree of morality and responsibility, in order to minimize any and all kinds or social and personal dislocation and fracture.

Revolutions can be bloody and horrible. Guided by the principal of Responsible Revolution, however--ours will likely not be.

My Head Hurts

Does this all seem too complicated?

No one ever said revolution was going to be easy. Having said this, it's also true that if you read through this page a few times you'll begin to develop a basic understanding of it all. At least well enough to begin to formulate a few questions that make sense.

Don't despair, however; it's not all your fault. Maybe if American, and in some measure global, culture didn't produce younger generations who spend the majority of their time playing with their smart phones, editing their Facebook page, watching movies, eating brain-clogging Big Macs, having sex, smoking or eating now-legalized marijuana, looking at porn, and just generally avoiding hard work of every kind, especially the hard work of thinking, our young people wouldn't rate so poorly in global scholastic measures of literacy, as well as scientific and mathematical ability. And they wouldn't find it so difficult to understand a basic schematic for revolution, like this page.

So turn off all of your noisy and distracting devices, take a deep, relaxing breath, read through this page slowly, take frequent breaks if necessary, discuss it with your family and friends, then, rinse and repeat.

History of Ideas

When we think of the most powerful and profound inventions ever discovered or conceived, we might well think of fire, the wheel, Einstein's discoveries such as E=MC2, the printing press, Internet, compass, light bulb, transistor, or antibiotics. The history of ideas is similarly populated with powerful notions such as democracy, communism, relativity, free market, quantum theory, evolution, feminism, and human rights. The one notion missing from every list, however, is that more powerful than any of them--Love. It's not missing from my list, however.

The Brotherhood of Man is the better mouse trap that you didn't know you wanted.

All the world is familiar with the revolutionary product design and impressive marketing and product introduction showmanship of the late Steven P. Jobs of Apple Computer. Mr. Jobs, in fact emulating the sales, design, and marketing approach and showmanship of his hero, Polaroid camera inventor Edwin Land, used to say that the role of Apple was not to give the public a superior version of that which it wanted or thought it wanted, but to give the public something that it had no idea that it wanted--but once acquired realized that it could not live without.

Identically, though a social scientist, and not a business, but political, revolutionary, my role is to give the public not a superior version of that which it wants or thinks it wants, conventional society, but that which it has no idea that it wants:  a society in which every human problem has been solved a priori (i.e. beforehand), because they have been "built out" of the system in the first place. The Brotherhood of Man.

Capture this Moment

Brothers and Sisters, please recognize and capture this moment in time.

Persons who devote their entire lives to really changing the world are rare. Persons who do so and have the brains and ideas to actually do it--are even more rare. At this moment you are reading the words of such a person. I possess *the* insight into what's wrong with this world, and a clear vision of the solution.

I see our beautiful future world. A world as unlike the dirty, gritty, cold, impersonal, loud, cruel, perverse, pathological (i.e. sick), dog-eat-dog world of today as any of us can imagine. Our new world will comprise a sharp and discreet (i.e. clean) break from that old world. Our new world is going to be green, clean, loving, harmonious, peaceful, serene, contemplative, spiritual, and happy.

And, in abject contrast to the money-driven, egoistic, tumultuous mess that passes for "the world" now, our *new* world, given *that* it will be, and *what* it will be, as just described, will of course be completely secure. In fact, the notion of people hurting each other will at that point be far-fetched, incredible, and a happily distant memory.

I see the new world as clearly as I see the hand in front of my face!

Can you see it? Can you imagine it? Oh, I can. It's what motivates me and what has motivated me for years.

Brothers and Sisters, do your part to capture this moment in time. If you live to be 100 years old--and I hope that you do--there will have been little in your life that will ever have matched what this precise moment is offering you, as you sit here reading these words, immersed in my powerful, and plausible, vision for this world. Our new world! The new, stunning, never-before-seen, golden world that is beckoning you.

Isn't the mere possibility of something so utterly and almost unimaginably wonderful, worth it?

Thanks!

Love & Warm Regards,

Vincent Frank De Benedetto

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- Anti-Noise Activist
- Health Educator
- Revolutionary
- Agape Master
- Philosopher
- Radio Host (pending)
- Musician
- Teacher
- Writer
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BROTHERHOOD OF MAN
Brotherhood.love

The global system of capitalism, including its culture of ego, is the cause of almost every problem we've got. Let's trudge on, together, toward the temporary solutions for today, while also working, together, for the permanent, real, and complete solution for tomorrow: the Brotherhood of Man. A unified world based on love.

In part, it is the ugly economic reality described above that compels me to assert my copyright over the above analysis, and all original terms, concepts, and coinages, especially my unique and powerful dual-part analysis of the problems of humankind: 1.) class rule, manifest principally as capitalism now, and 2.) egoism.

If you care to use my original ideas or language, please 1.) Don't change them. Quote them exactly, and 2.) attribute me fully by name, Vincent Frank De Benedetto, and website, BrotherhoodOfMan.love. These are my two requirements for use of my ideas or language.

If you would also make a donation, your largest donation possible, preferably on a monthly basis, that of course, would be extremely appreciated and would help to actualize these ideas. I can't make a revolution alone!

Regardless of what you do--I love you.

Yes--You.

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