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“Remember, no matter where you go, there you are.” – Confucius
Today, in the world gone mad with gadgets and the so-called “Social Media”, people everywhere, it seems have no time left for themselves. No time for solitude, contemplation, reflection, thinking and meditation…
Today, everybody, young and old, is constantly Facebooking, tweeting, texting, Iphoning, IPadding, emailing, surfing the net, Goggling, Amazoning, and watching TV. Supposedly busy or indeed pretending to be!
All this, supposedly, to making us feel as if we are connected. But, connected to what, to whom and for what purpose? We do not know!
A pertinent question surely should be "What happens when constant communication replaces thoughtful reflection?" I'm not saying that the immediacy of the Internet is harmful, but rather how we tend to thrive on it. Instead of engaging with each other or just ourselves, it seems we are seeking something "out there" while ignoring real sustenance for thought…’
All in all, in the wise words of William Henry Davies:
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this is if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
Photo: lifesanswers.org
‘The sea has been pounding the rocks mercilessly since dawn. How much lies beneath that deceptively simple word: the sea? In truth, a continuous, roiling, evolving drama of a billion waves – each one of individual character and rhythm. Up in the cliffs is a cross-section through the earth’s autobiography. Bands of sandstone, siltstone and shale dating back to the Upper Carboniferous period some three hundred million years ago’
Meditation at the Shore – a short Film
Watch the film:
Read more:
In Praise of Swami Vivekananda: The man who brought Eastern philosophy to the West
The Art of Living a Happier life: Solitude- The Most Important Skill Nobody Taught You
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Anthony Werner, GCGI Senior Ambassador, GCGI Board of Advisors, a graduate of Cape Town and Oxford Universities, is managing director of Shepheard-Walwyn (Publishers) Ltd in London, where he has built up a list of titles under the heading Ethical Economics.
KAMRAN MOFID’s GUEST BLOG: Here on The Guest Blog you’ll find commentary, analysis, insight and at times provocation from some of the world’s influential and spiritual thought leaders as they weigh in on critical questions about the state of the world, the emerging societal issues, the dominant economic logic, globalisation, money, markets, sustainability, environment, media, the youth, the purpose of business and economic life, the crucial role of leadership, and the challenges facing economic, business and management education, and much more.
Principles for a New World Order*
‘Whatever lives is full of the Lord. Claim nothing; enjoy, do not covet His property.’
Eesha Upanishad[1]
This is an English translation of an ancient Sanskrit scripture preserved in India that would have been known to both Gandhi and J.C. Kapur. Tolstoy’s book, The Kingdom of God is within You, echoes this.The verse is also a reminder of our relationship to the universe in which we live. I have chosen it because I want to focus on a lesser known aspect of Tolstoy’s work, that which deals with the right of property.
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'Human beings are part of nature. Nature is not dependent on human beings to exist.
Human beings, on the other hand, are totally dependent on nature to exist.
The growing number of people on the planet and how we live here is going to determine the future of nature.
And the future of us.
Nature will go on, no matter what. It will evolve.
The question is, will it be with us or without us?
If nature could talk, it would probably say it doesn’t much matter either way.
We must understand there are aspects of how our planet evolves that are totally out of our control.
But there are things that we can manage, control and do responsibly that will allow us and the planet to evolve together.’ –Nature is Speaking
Watch the videos:
Julia Roberts is Mother Nature — Nature Is Speaking
Harrison Ford is The Ocean — Nature is Speaking
Kevin Spacey is The Rainforest — Nature Is Speaking
Edward Norton is The Soil — Nature Is Speaking
Penélope Cruz is Water — Nature Is Speaking
Robert Redford is The Redwood — Nature Is Speaking
Photos credit: natureisspeaking.org
Read more:
Visions of a New Earth: Responding to the Ecological Challenge- The Report
Spirituality and Environmentalism: Healing Ourselves and our Troubled World
Mother Earth is Crying: A Path to Spiritual Ecology and Sustainability
- What did great philosophers Mill, Bentham, Locke and Berkeley have in common?
- The UN Climate Change Summit: A View from the Ecology Panel 2012 Rhodes Forum
- GCGI supports the International Student Initiative for Pluralism in Economics
- Secrets to Happiness: World’s happiest country? Where and Why?
- The West today: A view from Moscow