Thsi is from Horst :
When we have such pangs of bad conscience ( on my post on water) where do we go from there? The slum that you saw from the hotel window, as close as it appears to be, may as well be on the moon. That is the felt distance between the two realities we are dealing with in our daily lives. One reality has to do with the existence of the haves and the other with the have nots. I have belabored that very subject on your blog many times and have increasingly realized that our societies are terribly flawed in their concept to distribute wealth.
Over the last century the large experiments in establishing an equitable social system by introducing communism have failed, albeit some countries are still in a state of denial. As we can now safely say capitalism, the widely heralded alternative, has not kept its early promise and has rather turned into a sordid tool to promote elitism and to exploit the vast masses of humanity. All the learned and celebrated theorists of the past have failed to include one important calculus in their sophisticated treatises: human greed and the inherent unwillingness to truly share good fortunes with others. The current worldwide economic crisis is considerably more than just a down phase in the endless chain of cyclical undulations. I think it is a worldwide awakening to a reality that can no longer be sustained. There will be an increasing number of Shekhars who are exceedingly unwilling to act as though all is well and to view the misery of billions of people as something so abstract as to be virtually non-existent. The dynasties of wealth will eventually tumble and in the sobering aftermath there will be profound changes to prevent a recurrence of the excesses that have incurred our collective wrath. Conspicuous consumption are becoming dirty words, fabulous riches are no longer viewed with benign envy but rather as a growing irritant. People are increasingly stacking up their own limited lives against the charmed realities of the ones who cannot even fathom the concept of daily survival and who know of no existential fear that too many of us have to live with.
All great upheavals in human history have been fed by the dissatisfaction of the masses and their inability to improve their lives. We may very well be in the early throes of such a moment. I think there is now an incredible opportunity for introspection, for the exchange of thought processes to try to establish a new, more equitable world order in which 80 % of humanity is not just simply ignored but is given a chance to live with dignity rather than in shame that abject poverty engenders. We must afford them the same respect we all expect from each other.
Horst
The caste and class system and with it the massive chasm between the haves and the have nots have created such a sharp divide that it will take us earnestness, some very good plans and a honest core leadership team to cover the distance to collapse this inequity. Highly doable too. Maybe one sees so much chaos around us today, whether the Mangalore incidence, or the Itawa incidence, or the Chennai High Court episode, or the Mubai attacks or the train collision and sooo many more- it is a symbol of things breaking down so that we can rebuild life from base zero? And do it with more clarity and in a more balanced manner? We do exist in chaos, can it become a natural way of life for us? No. It cannot be. Life was meant to be different I think. If all of us become sensitive to and feel the pangs of the ills and the waste and the inequity then am sure survival will find new meaning. The fear will give way to harmony and isn’t that how nature meant us to be?
The present phase was the phase of the ego, intellect, mind.
In it lost in mental machinations we often ignore the body.
80% humanity is the body to the mind/elite of the present global culture.
No wonder it stands ignored.
But the coming phase will be the phase of the heart, of wisdom, of back to basics, of back to looking after body as well as we do in our old age. So Horst’s thinking is in the right direction. We will be increasingly drawn to look
after the 80% humanity now as well to survive.
Harb
Hey I think the 80% has already been looked out for.
Think out of the box and see what has happened:
The extemely poor and the uncared for have got houses and they are in so big a number that they will eventually get bailed out in the sense that they occupy the houses and they simply can’t pay and the govt. is and will look at it like the ‘New Deal’.
On the other hand all who are rich enough to pay taxes will bail these poor wretches out through the govt.
So all phases travel along only some are apparent some are not.
YES THIS RECESSION REALIGNS WEALTH AUTOMATICALLY.NOT ONLY WEALTH BUT POWER TOO(OBAMA).The soul knows it, only the mind has to re-adjust to the new realities.
it will be an eternal struggle to strike an equilibrium…it always be a future!
no matter how many changes would occur in social structure the fact would remain the same- One can reach on his own!
with this approach what will be the role of the individual in a society?… well, with this attitude he would only add to the betterment of the society because he is investing his physical time in betterment of self!
for me it is as simple as this. i have failed repetitively to understand Social gatherings and well fair meetings…
when clustered, consciousness tends to evolve only in the direction of illusion!…
everyone should try to be ALONE!…the moment he starts feeling lonely be sure MIND is at work!
This crisis is caused by greed and arrogance. Greed of those who thought they could just give away loans as long as better returns are expected and also the arrogance of US mighty army which thought they can just taken over a country within a matter days.. (see what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan) these very expensive wars resulted in so much agony around the world, which led to political, economic and social depression. I don’t justify the terrorism of any form but also neither do I support this Israeli style occupation of a foreign land. Even with knowing what I know now, I just can’t think of one good reason why US had to attack Iraq? (if its not for their oil). If US’s sole mission was to eliminate the dictatorship then why are the countries like Zimbabwe, North Korea, etc are being ignored?? It’s because if don’t have natural resources then you are not good enough for US to occupy you.
May be these were the mistakes made by Bush administration or may be now we have a US government with better sense responsibility or do we??
from present ression only reult i am hoping is that human beings learn to live well between their means.
ShekhaRrrrrrrrrrrrr
Aw!!! Temme, if it takes so long for things to be taken charge of, I mean in the gap between proper action taken, in that span of time, one has had fun, multiplied his/her resources, I wonder such delay is it not avoidable? is there no way on this earth where all the funds and resources used by the govt is available for the public eye to see and question? Maybe online? Banking etc…
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WHY
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WHY
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http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1825786
Human greed and nothing else is solely responsible for this vast disparity between rich and poor. It calls for a change in the attitude of the government and the common man, if the society has to improve at all. But none of us can tell when this change will happen
That sounds like Utopia… but I like the sound… and I hope we hear it soon…
Here is the link for the Note I had written on 29th Jan, 2009 at 4.41 PM : ALARM BELLS ARE RINGING FOR THE WORLD
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=625502245&ref=name#/note.php?note_id=47779989159
Watch out for the date 21.12.2012 which many believe to be the end of the Mayan calendar and thus the end of time, as we have known it. A New World Order might begin to take shape after that. I have already predicted a few years back in one of my comments/blogs on Intentblog that within the next 50 yrs there will be a Unified World Govt. in place. Countries will cease to exist. It may happen well inside the outer limit that I had set for this event.
Cheers!
Much as I’d like to believe otherwise.
I guess I’m a cynic.
Stratification and reversion to mean is a rule of nature.
Even if all the beggars could ride, over time most would be horseless, a few would have iron clad monopoly over the stables.
Much as I’d like to believe otherwise.
Darwin and natural selection.
No its not human greed that is the only reason , see interviews of some of the US CEOs who are now behind bars and you will feel pity these guys more than feel angry on them . They may have started of their career for greed ( as we all do ) but as they grew in ranks and size their egos got pumped up and they started working to fill their egos .
But the tragic end for most of them and their companies came because they lost track and were unable to manage their lives and their companies. I was wathing interview of ex-ceo of Tyco who is behind bars and the sorry old man was telling how he was so engrossed managing the company that he didnt even have time to pay his own house bills .
The present system is grossly outdated and needs to be changed from profit oriented to service oriented and management oriented to cure/solution oriented .
wow! Horst! Thank you for giving me those great thoughts to ponder. Well written, my friend. Capitalism is not the 8th wonder of the world. It is flawed, just like all systems. How will it be adjusted from here? That is the question of my generation.
Great…
Hi SK,
The context is of my interest.
The wealth distribution is all an investor, employee, enterpreneur, celebrity or any individual has to learn from hapenning recession.
Partial but premier list of responsibilities of human beings:
1. Creating employments to distribute wealth
2. Investing more and more to distribute wealth
3. Reforming Business/insdustry processes to minimise exploiting resources.
4. Rethinking in continuing luxury life in cost of exploiting natural, dying resources.
Hi SK,
The context is of my interest.
The wealth distribution is all an investor, employee, enterpreneur, celebrity or any individual has to learn from hapenning recession.
Partial but list of premier responsibilities of human beings:
1. Creating employments to distribute wealth
2. Investing more and more to distribute wealth
3. Reforming Business/insdustry processes to minimise exploiting resources.
4. Rethinking on continuing luxury life at the cost of exploiting natural, dying resources