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Tuesday, March 26, 2002
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In the final analysis, building sustainable human settlements will require a greater acknowledgment of humanity's spiritual nature. In the past, communities were built not only from bricks and mortar and patriotism, but also from broad qualities of spirit - the willingness to put the good of the entire community ahead of selfish concerns, as well as devotion to duty and moral discipline. In our era, it is only by reaching for the next level of human unity, at the global scale, that we can unleash the spiritual, moral and social forces capable of healing the divisions and solving the problems that are currently afflicting our communities. This is true from to the smallest hamlet to the largest megalopolis. (03/26/02) | |
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Daniel Quinn writes: The sleepers in my fable were those who didn't hear the awakening message, which is: "You are YOU!" No one but YOU can tell you what to see. No one but YOU can tell you what to say. No one but YOU can tell you what to listen to. No one but YOU can tell you what to think. No one but YOU can tell you what to make. There was only one message that was the same for everyone Uru met in the Valley of Sleepers: AWAKEN OTHERS. This is the message of Ishmael, The Story of B, and My Ishmael, and it's the only answer that I can personally give to each and every person who says to me, "But what can someone like ME do?" (03/26/02) | |
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Timothy Wilken writes: I am pleased to announce the formation of a new synergic organization, BIAS systems, which will offer consultations, training and support on a continuing basis to those individuals seeking to optimize the efficiency and productivity within their own organizations. Our primary tool will be the ORTEGRITY. Our intial product will be a "system of human organization that creates a conflict-free environment for decision making and action implementation". The power of the BIAS environment results from this conflict-free state. It is this conflict-free state that optimizes human intelligence and creativity. It is this conflict-free state that maximizes efficiency and productivity. It is this conflict-free state that increases the quality of work-life. It is the conflict-free state that allows all relationships between all members to become win-win. (03/25/02) | |
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In the evening's most emotional moment, a stunned Halle Berry walked shaking to the microphone to accept her Oscar for best lead actress in "Monster's Ball," in which she played the wife of a black convict who forges a relationship with a white prison guard. Ms. Berry struggled through tears to thank the black actresses who came before her and those who are working today."The door has been opened," she said, holding the Oscar aloft. (03/25/02) | |
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 No one is talking to us about giving up cars today - even though there is hard scientific evidence that the freewheeling automotive world we know today will have totally vanished within the lifetime of most of us now living. A few idealists are talking about maybe getting us to constrain our use a little bit. None of them are running for any position of political influence in this country. They would be lucky to get their family's vote. We don't want to hear it. Auto mania is not confined to Americans. The love affair is international and now grows fastest in the nations of the Second and Third World. Humanity burns 70 million barrels of oil a day. At the present rate of increase, it is projected we'll be burning 100 million in 20 years. But we'll never get there. We are close to that peak of global production which was foreseen almost half a century ago by Dr. M. King Hubbert, the foremost petroleum geologist of his day. The descent from that peak only takes a few decades. We know that petroleum is a finite resource. But even as gasoline prices begin to creep upward some time in the not-too-distant future we won't curtail our driving until real supply shortages absolutely force the issue. ... Take a look at an ugly future scenario: The sudden, agonizing death of the private automobile is a wall that global society will hit full speed, pedal to the metal when a global petroleum crisis finally catches up with us. We will not accept any solutions that will soften the impact until the real shortage hits us at some time (early) in this century. If we continue to fail to take any reasonable steps to prepare for it, and it comes upon us thus, the constriction of the petroleum base of our global economy is quite likely to begin a plunging, bucking, gasping downward spiral towards a deep and lasting depression-with-inflation that could virtually end modern times as we now know them. (03/24/02)
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We acknowledge the primacy of God. To look for God in the Ordinary events of each day. ... We are committed to forming stable relationships in the community. To become who we are by our relationships with others. ... We call the community together for counsel to make decisions. To cultivate rootedness and a shared sense of mission: to stand firm in one's promises. ... We reverence all persons. To respect each person regardless of class, background, or professional skill. ... We reverence all creation. To appreciate and to care lovingly for all the goods of this place. (03/24/02) | |
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Dr. Martin Luther King taught us that nonviolence first transforms the person who embraces it. Nonviolence is radical in the deepest sense of the word because it changes the spirit behind attitudes. Once the spirit of nonviolence is internalized, goals like domination, conquest or retaliation no longer drive behavior. When this happens the stage is set for a dramatic transformation of the relationship. We are challenged to experiment with applying his principles in our daily lives, especially in resolving the conflicts that we encounter. Dr. King taught that nonviolence is a powerful tool for revolutionary personal transformation. As we begin to internalize these teachings, we develop a greater sense of wholeness and meaning in our lives. We cultivate virtues like love, truth, commitment, respect and courtesy, courage, self-discipline, hard work, honesty and social responsibility. These are the some of the core values involved in making nonviolence a way of life. (03/24/02) | |
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A new web group is forming with the intention of doing good. Gary Turner writes: How would thinks be different "If I ruled the world." Well now you can, well almost. Blogtank will be a team blog where an amazing collection of the best minds in blogdom can get togther to brainstorm, develop solutions to problems, give birth to ideas and generally read the riot act to the rest of the world. Now where do you fit in? Well, I've noticed that you're a bunch of very clever people, with expertise in many areas. So, I'm looking for willing volunteers from all areas, disciplines and professions to create a crack team of experts, visionaries and above all, humans to try this out. Hell, we might even achieve something special. Original Site New Site (03/24/02) | |
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Science has no answer to the the questions of who or why universe. Science has made no attempt to define or describe the source of Universe. Science seeks rather to understand how the universe works — to understand the mechanism that the source uses to create Heaven and Earth — to create Life and Human — to create the Universe itself. ... Is Dawkins right in his belief that it is a vacuous existential question to ask why? Is he right when he says, "Before Darwin, even educated people who had abandoned Why questions for rocks, streams and eclipses still implicitly accepted the legitimacy of the Why question where living creatures were concerned. Now only the scientifically illiterate do. But only conceals the unpalatable truth that we are still talking about an absolute majority?" ... Is Dawkins right that there is no big purpose? That nature, universe, life, and humanity have no purpose? (03/22/02) | |
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Lynch: "Campbell began by talking about total oil and later switched to 'conventional' and 'unconventional'. The problems are a) the distinction is mostly arbitrary and has no meaning for the market (oil is oil); b) production data allowing you to break them out is almost completely unavailable; c) he seems to actually be changing his definition of the two, making it impossible to judge the accuracy of his forecasts. If you don't know what total oil production is going to be, how can you talk about the market impact? " Campbell: "It is absolutely true that the definitions of what to measure have evolved as this study has progressed. In the early days when working with public data I took a very generalist view of the matter and, as Mr Lynch sometimes likes to point out, got quite a few things wrong. No doubt I will continue to do so although hopefully also making progress. The first step in the analysis I have tried to make was to determine the endowment of oil and gas in Nature. It soon became evident that different types of oil depleted in different ways - obviously a tar sand is different from a Middle East flowing well. Furthermore, knowledge of some types is better than for others. The terms Conventional and Non-conventional have no fixed definition, but nevertheless are widely used to roughly distinguish the easy from the difficult. Perhaps mistakenly, I used these terms in a particular sense which I defined very clearly so that everyone could understand the meaning attached to them." (03/22/03) | |
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We have a choice in how we go about trying to make the world safe. If we see the world as half evil, we can hate that part of the world and try to hurt and kill it. If we see the world as half good, we can love that part of the world and try to help and support it. ... One human once said that the end justifies the means. If I intend good than my use of evil means is forgiven. Jesus of Nazereth said: "No, the means become the ends. If I use evil in search of good, I become evil." ... Life is nothing but choices. What will you choose to do? (03/21/02) | |
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The words ‘evolution’ and ‘Darwin’ are powerful polarizing triggers even in today's (2002) so called modern world. This has been primarily because Darwin’s theory of evolution and the evolutionary science that developed from it seem at first glance to refute the Holy Bible’s narrative of God’s creation of Heaven and Earth and to threaten one’s belief in God. ... Humanity has used the term God to represent ‘that’ in universe that is larger than ourselves. We have used the term God to represent ‘that’ which is the source of Universe — ‘that’ which is the source of Heaven and Earth — ‘that’ which is the source of Life and Humanity. I make no argument against the existence of God. I am in full belief that there exists ‘that’ in universe that is larger than ourselves. I am in full belief that there is a ‘source’. And I also call that source God. Let us agree then that the source of Universe — the source of Heaven and Earth — the source of Life and Humanity — is God. This agreement does not require that we define or describe God in anyway. Scientists in 2002 are as human as their fellow inhabitants of the planet, and most are just as ignorant of synergy. Sensitivity to both-and thinking requires knowledge of synergy. This is why many scientists make mistakes of ‘either/or’ thinking. They are just as caught up in the ‘evolution versus creationism’ trap. Their failure to find evidence of a designer and their desire to be ‘good’ scientists — true to their intellect — compels them to deny God. Therefore they miss the fact that to explain universe will require both God and evolution. (03/21/02) | |
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Syncrude Canada Ltd. is the world's largest producer of crude oil from oil sands and the largest single source producer in Canada. They currently supply 13 percent of Canada's petroleum requirements. A relative new company in the oil industry, they claim to be much more energy efficient as well as more friendly to the environment. Arthur Noll writes: They have an interesting website, but it hardly makes me feel that their approach will provide a significant replacement for conventional fossil fuels. The energy figures stated for the production of "syncrude" at one of their plants does not include the energy costs for building and maintaining the plant, dealing with tailings and restoration costs. (03/21/02) | |
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"The Bush administration, under pressure from real estate developers, is urging federal judges to roll back legal protections for nearly two dozen populations of endangered species around the country. ... The United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service, two agencies that enforce the Endangered Species Act, are asking federal courts in California to rescind millions of acres of protected habitat for whipsnakes in the state's northern grasslands, rare birds in the scrublands to the south, fairy shrimp in shallow pools along the coast and salmon among the rivers, estuaries and shorelines of four Western states." Apparently, the animals of earth did not cast enough votes in last Presidential election. (03/20/02) | |
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Dr. Leon R. Kass was trained as a physician and a biochemist but throughout his professional career has been trying to heal a single patient. Now that President Bush has appointed him chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics. ... Dr. Kass, who has taught philosophy and ethics at the University of Chicago since 1976, has long believed that science could threaten the human condition, both by undermining human self-esteem and by generating tools that might be misused, particularly by genetically reshaping the human mind or body. ... The proper goal of medicine, in his view, is to improve health, not to conquer death, which he sees as a necessary and desirable end. "The finitude of human life is a blessing for every human individual, whether he knows it or not," Dr. Kass has written. He argues that death at the natural time gives meaning and urgency to life and that immortality might not be quite the blessing it may seem: the new immortals, he says, "would not be like us at all." (03/20/02) | |
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A Rhode Island-size piece of the floating ice fringe along a fast-warming region of Antarctica has disintegrated with extraordinary rapidity, scientists said yesterday. ... While it is too soon to say whether the changes there are related to a buildup of the "greenhouse" gas emissions that scientists believe are warming the planet, many experts said it was getting harder to find any other explanation. "With the disappearance of ice shelves that have existed for thousands of years, you rather rapidly run out of other explanations," said Dr. Theodore A. Scambos. (03/20/02) | |
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Anne Karpf of The Guardian writes: On Sunday night the United States prepared for fresh strikes against new pockets of al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. At almost exactly the same time, American intelligence revealed that they had uncovered an increase in money being transferred between groups of al-Qaida fighters. According to my reckoning, this is the 14th handy thing that American intelligence has discovered since September 11. Think back over the past six months and it becomes ineluctable: never in the history of modern warfare has so much been found so opportunely. It started the day after the attacks on the twin towers, with the discovery of a flight manual in Arabic and a copy of the Koran in a car hired by Mohammed Atta and abandoned at Boston airport. In the immediate shocked aftermath of the attacks, these findings were somehow reassuring: American intelligence was on the case, the perpetrators were no longer faceless. In less than a week came another find, two blocks away from the twin towers, in the shape of Atta's passport. We had all seen the blizzard of paper rain down from the towers, but the idea that Atta's passport had escaped from that inferno unsinged would have tested the credulity of the staunchest supporter of the FBI's crackdown on terrorism. (03/20/02) | |
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Cultural bias in science is not new. When Charles Darwin (1859) put forward the notion that humans came into being by an evolutionary process his theory faced strong opposition, especially from the clergy. Evolutionary theory has gained accep-tance but is not acknowledged by many segments of society. Perhaps the same cultural bias that interfered with the acceptance of Galileo’s observations and assertions supporting Copernican theory (Finocchiaro, 1989), continues to interfere with the acceptance of Darwin’s proposals (note the Kansas board of Education’s decision to abolish the requirement for teaching evolution – New York Times, August 12, 1999). The view that humans are above the natural physical and biological laws continues today. ... Clearly, human numbers cannot continue to increase indefinitely and defy all the physical and biological laws. Natural resources are already severely limited, and there is emerging evidence that natural forces are already starting to control human population numbers through malnutrition and other diseases, i.e., through an increased death rate. More than three billion people worldwide are already malnourished. Pollution of water, air, and land has increased, resulting in a rapid increase in the number of humans suffering from serious, pollution-related diseases (Pimentel et al., 1998). Again, it is clear that natural forces are at work to increase human death rates. (03/20/02) | |
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Ten questions. It seemed so simple. In an academic atmosphere like George Washington University, ten questions should have had all the makings of a grand debate. (03/20/02) | |
10:17:37 PM 
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© TrustMark
2002
Timothy Wilken.
Last update:
3/26/2002; 10:17:58 PM.
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