Win-Win Cooperation on Purpose

A properly formed citadel is a container. Of what? It could be a single cell, a collection of similar cells into an organ, a single human or a group of humans.  The real question is “who is on the inside and what is on the outside?” implying a qualification or a standard for a purpose.  Today, we will define the fundamental parameters of citadelization.  Namely, win-win cooperation for a purpose.

Have you ever been called into a meeting where you were unsure what the purpose of the gathering was for?  Not for long, because your entire attention would be asking why or trying to figure out the gathering’s purpose.  No sustained attention within any citadel can be gathered without a known purpose. And once known, then any group of free cells or humans will migrate into or out of the citadel based upon self-interest.

The foundation of all citadelization is a known and a common purpose as the prerequisite to any cooperation.  Two fighters in a ring can cooperate in the common purpose to discover who is the better fighter. A win-lose contest where the rules of citadelization are kept as a win-win cooperation in discovering the best is a citadel of unity.  Only winners allowed inside.

Here we begin to see that every win-win cooperation is founded upon a win-lose boundary layer.  The purpose of the citadel must be aligned as the first test.  While the second test separates the winners and the losers through some type of value judgment based upon ability to share in the accomplishment of common purpose.  Having the win-lose boundary layer of yes or no entry into a shared purpose with shared burden of accomplishment are the rules for a win-win cooperation.

We have seen in many group interactions the breakdown of these rules.  Purposes become misaligned.  Certain personality types create drama and friction by being stuck in win-lose consciousness.  And some people are just lazy and want to find an easy place to hang in the back.  The maintenance of win-win cooperation is no small task. But the maintenance of win-win cooperation is no mystery either.  Just maintain an aligned purpose with a standard of entry and …an enforcement mechanism to refine for continued winning cooperation.

Professional team sports is an excellent example of win-win cooperation for a shared purpose that follows all the rules of maintaining a strong citadel.  There is the shared objective purpose. They compete to determine the best in a win-lose dynamic.  Inside the team citadel, there is the shared purpose and the constant evaluation of ability to accomplish the purpose by drafting, trading, and coaching various players into or off of the team.  And the best teams closely follow the rules of win-win cooperation.

At its core, Life is a well-defined game of common purpose.  Life has a losing counterpoint called death. And Life is so much easier and more fun when participating within a citadel of win-win cooperation.  If there is any evil, (live spelled backward) it is simply a violation of the rules of win-win cooperation.  To segregate based upon shared purpose and ability is not evil.  The evil is to allow for a sustained misalignment of purpose and the under-enforcement of a winners-only boundary layer.  Anything less is essentially anti-Life.

So in this age where anything goes, nothing matters and everybody wins, don’t be fooled.  Your body, your family, your small tribe, everything that Life is founded upon depends upon the proper citadelization of shared purpose with objective standards to gather winners together.

Win-win cooperation for a shared purpose is the most powerful force of human history even if the Mongol hoards are the win-win citadel roaming and imposing a win-lose upon the entire Eastern hemisphere.  The rules of citadelization are no mystery and it will not be conquered.

Eventually, the best and truest win-win cooperation of shared purpose will rule the world.  In fact, it already does.  And it always has, in greater and lesser citadels.