Leo A. Nefiodow
Frequently asked questions about the 6th Kondratieff
Here is an overview of frequently asked questions about the sixth Kondratieff, answered by Leo Nefiodow
1. Why is in many countries a high unemployment and in the U.S.A and Germany full employment?
2. Does capitalism draw to a close?
3. Digitalisation cannot be the carrier of the sixth Kondratieff
4. Rethinking the Future Role of Health Care
4. Rethinking the Role of Health Care
Leo Nefiodow, December 2017
What is Health?
The term „health“ should be understood differently today and not anymore reduced to bodily ailments. Instead it should be understood as a concept of a system which takes into consideration the whole human in his or her social and ecological relationships. The World health Organization WHO definition states that health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. In other documents of the WHO (like for example in the WHO Bangkok Charta for Health Promotion from the year 2005) the understanding of health is even wider understood with the inclusion of the spiritual aspect: ““Health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being and encompasses mental and spiritual well-being.“
If one uses this wider concept then health consists of five different levels: the physical, biological/psychovital, mental, psychosocial and the spiritual level (Illustration 1).
Illustration 1: The Five Levels of Health
Nefiodow, Leo und Nefiodow, Simone: The sixth Kondratieff. 2017
Physical health: The first level of health is the area of dead matter. At this level, illness and health appear according to the tolerance towards material substances, especially the nutrition. Physical health is the perquisite for a bodily and mental capability.
Biological/psychological health. The second level is the manifestation of the biological and psychological health and diseases . One can consider this realm as the area of biopsychological intelligence. At this level, biological programming (drives, emotions, reflexes, instincts, and archetypes) influences the relationships between people.
The spectrum of health patterns determined by biological/psychological functions ranges from healthy cooperative phenomena such as readiness to help others, kindness, solidarity, compassion, altruism, family cohesion and the formation of larger groups (associations, clubs, nationalities) all the way to sick and destructive urges such as hostility, anger, hatred, depression and suicide.
Mental health. The third level is the part of reality that deals with logical insights and thinking skills . Mental health includes an appreciation of truth and intellectual honesty, responsible handling of the environment and natural resources as well as a sense of humour that is not hurtful.
Psychosocial health. The fourth, the psychosocial level, is the field of human ethics. Psychosocial health deals with the moral behaviour towards us and towards other people.
Two ethical virtues are essential to access the psychosocial health: truthfulness and charity. The virtue of truthfulness takes centre stage when it comes to the moral behaviour towards ourselves; the virtue of charity is at the centre of moral behaviour towards others.
Charity is the positive, affirmative connection with your neighbour. Charity is more than empathy, benevolence or friendliness. It includes the attitude of being jointly responsible for the well-being of others. Charity promotes the welfare of others without thinking of the own advantage and without considering whether the other person deserves it.
Spiritual/religious health. The fifth, the religious level is about the healthy relationship between man and God. Accepting God’s love and returning it with love in your own life, is the highest level of spiritual health.
Between 1990 and 2010, more than 5,200 scientific studies were published in the U.S. on the correlation between faith and health. Harold Koenig and Raphael Bonelli have analyzed it in terms of an evidence-based systematic review. The result: there was a positive correlation between faith and health in 74 percent of the studies, 19 percent showed mixed results, 5 percent revealed a negative correlation and no correlation was detected in 2 percent of the studies . Bonelli drew the following conclusion from this: “The preconception . . . that no scientific studies would show that religion is beneficial to mental health can today be pushed aside as being unscientific and obsolete.”
Rethinking the future role of health care
Historically the health care system is being seen as an independent sector of the society, one of which you expect a successful treatment of all our health ailments and sicknesses. A treatment beyond this aspect is usually not expected.
This understanding is not anymore up-to-date. The health care sector is today and will be in future a new role, one which goes beyond the treatment of individual and healthy ailments and illnesses. In fact to contain the problems in the world we have to acknowledge that the health care sector is one of the main platforms and tool to achieve this goal. How can this be proven?
There is no lack of problems in the world today. At first sight they have many different causes. But if one looks more closely then you can see that they basically have their common ground in the human person.
Let me explain this further. The main cause of most of the problems is the human person. Except for natural catastrophes (which can also be caused by human mistreating of nature), most problems are caused by humans: It is the human person that lies, steals, bribes, hurts, rapes, and mistreats others. It is the human person who misuses the internet and the media to manipulate, spread false news, to blackmail. It is the human person that produces and uses weapons, plans wars and undertake them, who invent and spread hostile ideologies like racism, colonisation, communism, national socialism, All forms of injustice, force, social disorder, crime, terrorism and destructivity comes from the human person.
The cause of those problems is basically moral deficites (Illustration 2). But morals closely hinges onto health. (Nefiodow and Nefiodow: The sixth Kondratieff. 2017). Deficits in moral values can cause health deficits and those then can cause moral misbehaviour. Both the moral deficits and the health deficits are the main actors of most of the problems.
Illustration 2: Causes of global Problems and social Disorder
To make this point even clearer: a mental healthy person does not consume addictive drugs and does use natural resources in a sustainable manner. A psychomental healthy person does not betray, does not lie, is not corrupt, but instead loves the truth. A social healthy person does not break into others people houses or exploits other people, but instead is interested in the other person´s wellbeing. A spiritual healthy person has a trusting relationship with God, is engaged for peace, reconciliation and justice, and does not spread hate and violence. Problems in the world do not come from healthy persons. Healthy disturbances and illnesses are the main cause for the worldwide problems.
The main role for the sixth Kondratieff
To contain the worldwide problems many countries have taken different sorts of action steps: laws became more though, the police improved their equipment, more and more international conferences are being held and more deals and agreements were made. Those action steps alone do not suffice and only scratch the problems on their surface.
If the necessary health is missing, then people will always find new and creative ways to carry on with their criminal, destructive and egoistical actions. The best example for this is the Internet. The universal net is not only an enormously technological and social advancement, but also at the same time one of the biggest threats for the social order through their possible misuse (e.g. the dark net).
A sustainable solution is one that removes the real cause, the root of a problem: the health disturbances and deficits. Such a solution also has the advantage that it is based on self-control and therefore becomes were efficient, unlike a massively huge apparatus with more and more controls, very complicated structured and maintained, and in itself a possible threat as well.
The new sixth Kondratieff is the best tool to analyse this problem this way and to find the long lasting solutions (Illustration 3). For the first time in history we have to find solutions with creativity and innovation that do not aim to increase consume, building new machines, hardware or software. Innovation now and in futures has to be channelled towards health of the human person. The old goals will not lose all of their value but stay important. But the future and more important are health improvements of the human person.
Such a project is no unrealistic utopia. In fact there is enough money and human workforce there to invest into these goals and to achieve the necessary change. We have enough financial reserves for the science and for studies, the necessary communication systems and transport technologies, also the not missing are decisive entrepreneurs and foundations, scientific and artistic creativity, institutions and international conferences that can tackle those problems globally.
What in fact is missing is the intentional, deliberate and wilful transformation to change, to amend our perspective, and have an implementation of steps that aim to unlock all resources, potentials and positive skills that lie in the human person.
Appendix: The difference between psycho-vital and psycho-social
We have to take a closer look at the term „psycho“ which is being used for both, the second and the fourth level (Illustration 2).
In everyday speak and as well in scientific literature both levels often do not get clearly separated from each other. In both cases the human relationships are about quality. The social behaviour of inherent and biological programmes (like for example instincts, drives, emotions, archetypes) are on the second level. In comparison to that the social behaviour of the fourth level is not being driven by biology, but instead by morals and ethics.
Illustration 3: The Long Business Cycles of the Global Economy
A typical example for social behaviour is the formation of groups (in clubs, unions, companies, tribes and nations). If a grouping is built on psychovital values, then its social cohesion will be based on its members only. Towards outsiders the attitude can vary between the emotions of indifference and up to rejection or hatred. When people are being treated differently because of their skin colour, sex, religion, wealth or education, these are all examples for a behaviour belonging on the psychovital level.
This attitude is distinguishable different from a psychosocial behaviour. On the fourth level the virtues coordinate the behaviour (especially truthfulness and love to people). Unfair, hostile, criminal and destructive behaviour are therefore being excluded.
[1] The phenomena of the second level are described by the terms vital, biological, biosocial, psychological and psycho vital.
[2] The terms cognitive, mental, mind, rational (ratio = reason) and intellectual (intellects = rationality) inthe following generally pertain to the third level. In religious, psychological, philosophical and theological writings, these terms are partially used differently.
[3] Bonelli RM and Koenig HG: Mental disorders, religion and spirituality 1990 to 2010: a systematic evidence-based review. In: Journal of Religion and Health. June 2013; 52 (2): 657-73.