The House of ‘Culture’ in the Salaam Matrix

First of all, let me tell you this fine day of June 2026: In the months since that I have been silent on this website, I have done excessive contemplations on The Salaam Matrix. I found an astounding number of applications of the model… applications and contemplations that are leading to constant revelation! And that has led to some profound discoveries that are going to solve some of the perennial knots in our heads about how to live integrated, coherent lives in this fragmentation of a century.

Take the insight about CULTURE. I am in the process of making several revisions to the model and asked myself:

“Where does CULTURE go in the Salaam Matrix?”

• Does it belong in the Socioeconomic Zone (Zone 3)?
• If so, is it powerful enough a factor for me to rename the Zone as “Cultural-Socioeconomic Zone”?
• Is it already a silent part of the Ecological-Political zone? Not very likely, because that is concerned with structure, policy, governance.
• Does Culture straddle the Personal-Familial Zone (2) and the Socioeconomic one, because the family zone definitely is a great determinant of culture!

To answer this, we need to put a few things together.

The Flow of Influence and Affect in the Matrix

With the rising investment of the global discourse and attention into the arena of politics,
With citizens around the world becoming increasingly vocal, investigative and hands-on with global and respective nation affairs,
With politics of the likes of the Strait of Hormuz affecting the price and freshness of groceries on the aisle of your North American and the volume of petrol in your Pakistani vehicle…
the discourse online has shifted from the era of when individual “influencers” and thinkers seemed to be shaping the world, towards a somber reflection about the interconnected nature of our world and how it impacts our daily, very local and very personal lives.

Are we the people shaping the world, or is the world not shaping us but is whacking us the people about at our workplaces, in our schools, and in our homes?

Earlier, I contemplated on the nature of flow of influence in the Salaam Matrix: Is it outside-in, or inside-out?
Where does that place culture?
Is culture an emergent quality of what persons and households do and believe, or is it imposed structurally from the top-down/outside-in from political atmosphere?
Or is there a meeting point in the middle?

I try to determine the placement and origin of Culture while my mind is inwardly shifting from feeling as though I affect the world, to observing how the world affects me. This line of inquiry is particular to me as a designer, guide, teacher and thinker who has long stayed at a distance from the world, and seen it as an observer, often through the crystal ball of the social Internet. At one time, it seemed that a handful of powerful actors were impacting key decisions in the world; but today, we have billions of voice on board and no clear sense of direction and point of origin of thought, action, and reaction.

Admittedly, this is happening in the backdrop of rising social suspicion about “hidden hands and forces” in the world, which some of us call by the mystery-laden moniker “they/them” in the Internet space. “They are hiding facts from us!”, “They are putting ideas in our heads and sowing conflict!” The distrust, whether right or wrong or partly correct, is high.

There are also classical polar discourses angling for attention and domination in the social spaces: The battle of genders with the classic “wars” between women and men even as we are introducing and cancelling new genders, leftism and rightism, North-West vs. South-East socioeconomic conflicts and struggles are not only dividing humanity on the one side and establishing health boundaries on the others, but many of us are left shaking and wondering where do we belong and what do we impact? And who and what is impacting us, and whether we have any say in this situation what with the absurd laws in some regions and the total lack of supervision in other regions… all clashing with one another in one glorious, largely unstructured space called the Internet.

Culture Is the Salaam Matrix

All this signals to me, after all, is a mix of felt and real lack of knowing and ownership about the world, about how the world is structured and composed, and how influence is made and how it travels. We are doing this force-field analysis in the backdrop of genuinely altered values, and the creation of new power and impact centers.

Culture is no longer of static and manufactured origin in this beautiful and wild world. Nor does it belong to any one Zone in the Salaam Matrix. This leads to the realization:

Culture is being birthed, lived, and transformed simultaneously in all four Zones of the Salaam Matrix in an autonomous population.*

Culture may in fact be what we feel and sense as the living activation of the Zones, once the Zones of the Matrix are set in motion in a population of concern! Culture is when the theater of life comes to Life!

* Controlled and dictatorial nations may still be birthing cultural directives in the decrees of government, and in other cultures, one or another generation is the keeper and designer of the symbols and traditions. Whether this is a source of tension or not, and how are shifts integrated, requires a separate examination.

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Return to the Basics!

Now is the moment to pay homage to the farsightedness of the original 2006 paper that drew and defined the original version of The Salaam Matrix, and related that to “business”, which the model saw as integral to the society, not as a “cancer” that is sometimes becomes when it is seen as external, cruel, extractive, exploitative and unconcerned. This suspicion-laden view of business and socioeconomic activity is especially true in regions that experience conflict and alienation through colonization, unintegrated refugees and migrants, class conflict, educational disparity, and the felt sense that some of the ideas and practices within a population are somehow alien and not fully organic and absorbed.

The Busy-Ness of Life

The seminal Salaam Matrix paper (then titled “The People-Centered Model of Business”) insisted that the life zones and the “roles” that people play in them are not static and isolated–they are dynamic, alive and in a flow. This is why the paper cheekily characterized “business”, then and to this day seen as a controlling, aloof, and uncaring entity, as the busy-ness, the movement, the sound and sights, the flow and the dance of life. Note that this does not imply that business and socio-economy bleed into all aspect of life and “no stone is left unturned and non-monetized” which would be cruel, absurd, intrusive and lead to distrust. Rather, business (the money one) was part of the woven fabric and the theater of living in dynamism, with seasons and from role to role as a person of certain beliefs, as part of a family and community, as part of the economic machinery of life and ultimately as an engaged citizen.

This movement, flux, and role shifts and integrations have always positioned The Salaam Matrix as a model that studies not just Elements, but also Relationships and Movements. What we called the “busy-ness of life” not all aspects of which are monetized but all aspects of which can be value-adding, intentional, and liable to upgrades and shifts by being treated with the same attention, discipline and accountability that we have wrongfully isolated in the business sector (Socioeconomic Zone in the Salaam Matrix).

Culture is Heritage and Movement

This is the idea that would need its own home as a longer reflection one day, but for now, the more I read the Salaam Matrix, the more I am tapping into the feeling that “Culture”, which is the source of argument and strife in many parts of the world including the once remote Himalayan regions where I live, is a mix of inherited and determined values, and also, the arrival and movement of new ideas and practices. In place that are far from the larger centers of exchange, the cosmopolitans and the ports of the words, change is slow and icon, ideas, and practices are retained for long. Culture tends to become more dynamic and is subject to intense and short-term flux in regions of the world where many tribes and practices converge.

This used to be a source of fascination but is now becoming a pain point in some place and a welcome shift in the other. This is exactly the kind of exquisite ambiguity and tension that the Salaam Matrix helps resolve or ease when a situation is processed using this tool, its features and the questions that it generates.

Culture is Intentional

Finally, Culture when seen through the lenses of the Salaam Matrix is neither esoteric, nor a hidden movement or force, but is seen to be seeding and germinating in many origin points across the Salaam Matrix zones, and the Roles and Relations within.

The atomic nature of The Salaam Matrix helps to pin down lineage, origin, problems, opportunities, and action areas in the Matrix with respect to culture and what enriches or depletes it. I imagine a situation where, when faced with hazy and angry opinions in a tense situation, a politician’s assistant is pointing them to the map and saying, “Madam Minister, this is where the conflict originates”. Or when two or more cultures are meant to merge, we find the points of convergence on this very map and identify the areas where most leverage lies–and take it from there.

–RH

Lately, I have thought about the role of outside-in influences in the Salaam Matrix, and whether the major force of influence in the Matrix are the two zones that represent the Collective–the zones being the 3rd (Socioeconomic) and the 4th (Ecological-Political) zones.

\For long, I believed that those were the derivative zones. You see, Zone 1 (Spiritual) and Zone 2 (Personal-Familial) have long been my areas of interest as potential origins of influence, as I looked at society through the inner (or as some call it, “Feminine”) lens, or what is in fact the Spiritual lens.

Taking the inside-out approach, society and its ways are formed through what happens in the belief systems of persons, and in the families that these persons form, because these are the two zones where the basic unit of society, PERSON, is most centered, powerful and operational. I have long lived a way of life and held an outlook that deeply centers the PERSON as the holder of the point-of-view in this world; this outlook is correct when you are, in fact, looking at the world through the eyes of a mystic, a contemplative, and an observer (regardless of what your faith system or worldview is).

My very recent forays into dabbling in the affairs of the world through my opinions and advice on social media after years of taking a primarily contemplative path, and the deep unrest in the global affairs, have made me shake out my contemplative stupor and look at the impact of the Collective Zones.

I need to reckon that though the flow in the Matrix is such that Spiritual Zone is the first, and the model culminates in the largest form of the collective organization of humans, in the Ecological-Political Zone, it can in fact be true that the political influences and the socioeconomic conditions can dictate the lives of people, and the form, capacity and output of the society.

The more I think of this, the more I realize that there is no inherent direction of influence in the Matrix, the direction is in perspective (outside-in vs. inside-out), and, in the moment of analysis, in asking where does the leverage lie in that instance?

Which means to say that there is a perennial bidirectional relationship between the Outer and the Inner in the Salaam Matrix. Additionally, where does a problem or opportunity lie at a certain time or situation shifts from zone to zone and is an ongoing matter of investigation. No one zone is the fixed origin of Change, when we are looking at the society as a collective. It is never fixedly determined, which is why we need the model to read the world afresh, each time and for each use case.

It is still my assertion though that nothing really changes sustainably or register in the consciousness and nervous systems of the people until the change is logged, if not initiated, in the Spiritual Zone.

Your belief can change your life, or your life will change your belief. Either way, it is the belief that needs to reset and retabulate and upgrade for “change” to have effectively taken place. This remains the KEY zone of the Matrix.

RH

NOTE: It is advised that the following post and its ideas are considered theoretically and it be understood that we have to make shifts at the level of intent and thought processes, rather than shoving populations around — which would be a problematic and potentially f.a.scist (mis)application of the ideas. The better way is to renew contracts and vows and shift to more cooperative mindsets, through processes of negotiation, dialog and cooperation. That is the way forward.

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The Salaam Matrix began as lecture in a business class: at first it was a simple template that showed MBA students the various “roles” that people play in their daily lives. The invitation was to figure out what “role” could they facilitate the playing of, with their products and services. It was a tool for generating ideas to create products and services.

Over time, the implications, “readings” and applications of this model became complex, and generated a multitude of insights. One thing that I foresaw little at the time of the creation of the tool was its political and leadership application — how the Salaam Matrix helps leaders understand their polities and constituencies. And also, how citizens, analysts, and various arms of the state including media and even intelligence agencies can employ this tool to understand People.

Aside: By the way, when I mention intelligence, I am aware that traditionally, intelligence (the agencies) has not been a friend of the people. I would take some time, separately, to talk about the potential reimagining of intelligence agencies for the 21st century.

In short, how about intelligence acting as a helpful tool organizing and distributing useful, actionable information for the people, rather than acting in the traditional role of a hostile adversary? Now that is something to think about!

Back to applications: A benevolently inclined state could and would use The Salaam Matrix to understand its people. Arms of the state including intelligence and media can utilize the tool to begin to comprehend people, instead of manipulating and controlling them.

This tool compels seeing things as they are, which in itself solves a number of challenges and dissolves mental roadblocks.

We are currently witnessing, for instance, a rise in nationalist governments worldwide. While this has been frightening to some to a degree (because control and delimitation is frightening!), in my view this emergence is happening because these nationalist leaders are able to see their polities and articulate the issues of their people, putting their own people first, and pulling back from engagement or even generosity towards other nations. This is shocking for the world which has long been used to extensive intermingling of the nations, but I will argue that not all globalization and mingling was healthy, well-intentioned, well-sorted out, or, as we say in the world of spirituality and character-building, mindful.

In fact, we have called some of “interaction”, colonization and imperialism (by developed nations), which it was; or aid-seeking and dependence (from the developing nations), which it also was — and then there is a subset of healthy exchange and interactions. I am using the past tense already since I see that the wheels have long been in motion and the world is reverting to “Me First”, which is a double-edged sword: Interpreted one way, this is selfishness and withholding. Interpreted another way, this could be centering and gathering of a Self/Nation, which is also necessary as nations begin to rethink their alignments, directions and purpose in a new world order that is emerging through a confluence of organic and not-so-organic forces.

I spoke a long time ago that the Internet is the new government of the people in that it will alter power structures and allow people to organize and reorganize. Through the Internet, grounds-up, inclusive and democratic decision-making has been possible for the first time in human history. People are rendering and imagining their own future, for good or bad. I also believe that Nature becomes the benchmark of decision-making and alignments: what isn’t fundamentally good or true or natural doesn’t stand the test of times. In other words, I believe the new order is emergent (coming about on its own), but emergent does not exclude control and manipulation where and when it exists.

This order is turning nationalistic because people and nations do need to look within, restructure and reorganize based on all lessons of history, and their best interests going forward — and then I would also remind that cooperative attitudes do serve our best interests in an interconnected world! So cooperation is the best interest of each player on a board where players are balancing each other out!

The other reasons may include fears and concerns related to climate shift, and a need to align resources within to combat with the very real risk of depletion of and damage to resources.

A third reason is gathering people around powerful and charismatic leaders in order to reorganize, uplevel and re-skill people so that the people may carry on ably and well-prepared into the very demanding 21century and beyond. The more local and rooted and relateable the leader, the faster the transmissions of organization and energy.

Mind you, it is critical to note that this is the first tier of organization in which the Game Player is focusing on and organizing themselves, in order to able engage with other players who are in the world arena and also, partially in each other’s countries. This is a situation that cannot be reversed amicably, it can at best be audited, with some reversals, and some renegotiations.

A good deal of this chaos is to do with the remorse of a late awakening and realizing that the Game Players (nations) have not been very alert about their own values and practices, thus allowing themselves to engage in less-optimal interactions. A trade of give and take will take place, and global contracts will be updated. In the best-case scenario, Takers will have to siphon back resources to those whom the resources belong to rightfully; also malicious and ill-intentional characters will need to come clean.

This is not very different from how people, as persons, have been cleaning up their act, and tightening their values and practices around the world after a long era of enlightenment and global spiritual and cognitive, ethical, moral and social awakening.

I suppose I can summarize this part of the Accountability Era (which it is) as: Tightening up the act.

Opinions may differ about how it should come about and look like, which values must carry on and which must abolish. Each choice will bear and reveal its own consequences, naturally. I am not favoring any one policy or the other (not in this place and not at this time), I am simply describing what is happening.

How does The Salaam Matrix help?

At the basic level, in several ways:

✔ Basic reading of the population’s new values and roles — the reading can be dynamic, showing a before/after shift or the journey of transitions. A very basic reading would be static.
✔ Using the model to detect new areas of skilling and reskilling for a new job and employment market.
✔ Defining the new values as part of a political charter. Using the “roles” as checkboxes.
✔ Use of the tool by Player A to study Player B (and C, D, …..). it is about time that we begin to know and see each other, and remove the fright that we experience from simply knowing that another, possibly unlike us, exists. I would urge going further ahead and using the model to detect areas of cooperation and similarities, where points of interconnection and cooperation can occur. I do however predict at least a sevenish-year period of nations going hermit and quiet, sorting and organizing their own values before they are open to cooperate with each other again. I also predict that the world economy will shrink due to conservatism and fear in this while. It will not swell back if things go right. If “things” are improved and brought in alignment with the

I would caution against rigid and closed systems, however I ruefully recognize that this may be a risk arising from the ground conditions themselves and not from this model or its guided usage.

In my view I would advocate using the tool to encourage the population to participate in creating new opportunities and solutions for their challenges; meanwhile the tool can also be used to identify the challenges themselves! Solving basic problems will create common ground and allow breathing space and peace for the people of the world, whose needs are piqued in this era of acute political, social, economic and climate stress and distress.

More on this will be published over time. Stay connected.

I am going to make a bold declaration: the true evil of the Empire is not that it was formulated or that it endeavored, but that it persisted. There was a time when the Empire was a conceptual framework, a modality of governance, and perhaps even needed. Appropriate to the needs of times, humans with epochal and vast visions were born, they seized control and made empire. This is because they could deliver. Delivery to humans is vital, and that characteristic of delivery precedes the mode, intention, nature and quality of delivery. This will make some humans go in an uproar, but I will repeat myself, this time cloaked in an analogy: You need food. And that fact precedes whether the food is good, bad, rightly-acquired, wrongly-acquired, thinning, fattening, of good quality or bad quality. The bottom-line is that organisms require food to survive, thrive, grow and accomplish. Governance, essentially, is about delivery. Whoever delivers, wins.

THAT precedes the nature and kind and quality of governance, doing and delivery. I am not saying they are not important, I am just suggesting that we put things in the right order. And we remember the fundamental that governance is needed.

When populations are not self-governing or in mental or other disarray, their control is seized by an entity which can be benevolent or malevolent, right or wrong, delivery quality or poverty.

The problem with Empire is when it is poorly-constructed or doing unjust and incorrect delivery–or when it lingers, like a seedpod that won’t open and release the seeds.

Empire was meant to burst and release democratization and sovereignty. It is its failure to yield to the urges of Time that has made it malevolent, and made its “seed”, the people, enraged and chaotic.

People are but the children of Empire. They are not an opposition; they are a re-formation. They are an evolutionary stage. And therefore, the Empire vs. People construct, in some ways, is an illusion–it is the same thing on two ends of the continuum of time and maturity. The word “reform” essentially means to “change shape”. It is not “make something new that is composed of different bodies”. It is the same body in a new shape, and that shapeshifting shifts the quality of character and cognition simultaneously.

People are not “versus” the Empire as much as they are a different shape of it. We are essentially comparing chicken to egg–but when I say, “I favor PEOPLE in People vs. the Empire”, I am saying, “This is a time for the egg”. The chicken has done its run. And guess what, the egg WILL become a chicken, Mama chicken (Empire, government) has to stop fighting for eternal longevity, and understand that you yield to live.

How will the People become the Empire? By creating active, aware, engaged local citizenships. In their homes, towns, and communities. In their businesses, in their fields of work. And above all, through personal excellence and leadership.

Image: “Protest“–Painting by Tomas C Mendoza

The current human civilization seems to define humans as predominantly consumers or, in other instances, as victims. There is a polarization: of the colonizers and the natives. This polarization is also the divide between those who are actively consuming planetary resources, and those who are serving those needs off their land. Another way the division runs is workers versus those who employ them. Another way the split runs is government that appears to “rule” the citizens. And yet another way this division runs is the exploitative and abusive (and not natural and benevolent) dominance of the Masculine over the Feminine, that has moved away from being supportive, loving and kind as it ought to have been.

From the Muslim perspective, these splits are not correct or healthy. The Muslim perspective grants the human another station: Guardian.

The mature, adult human is Guardian and Keeper of Creation and Reality. They are the one from whose ills and impishness the creation is deemed safe. They are the ones who are focused on their duties and on giving.

Arriving at this stage is a process of maturation and takes raising humans right, with children being loved, nurtured, honored and respected and given to until they can give. Tradition (Muslim, spiritual) stipulates 40 as the age of emotional and social maturity–the age of the apocalypse when perspectives shift, the journey towards world becomes the journey out of the world; and a person steps out from the inner hidden realms of spirit and home into the realms of society, economy, and politics.

Raising humans right so that they arrive at this station better is a monumental task for the society and the ones who design and keep it.

Art by: Arte de Sofia