Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
"Great Feelings of Love"
This is the perfect time of year to make a statement against consumption.
Every year my very large family (6 brothers and sisters, all married, some with kids, Aunt, Uncle, cousins...) has a debate about how to celebrate the holidays. Luckily, many years ago we cut down on gift giving by picking names. Many many like the idea of being a secret santa to a family member - you get to really think about what they might like and make a connection with someone. Even so, we all have TOO MUCH STUFF. I am advocating a buy nothing holiday:
http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/index.html
-nancy ‘peace is every step’
Posted by Nancy on from Arlington, VA 11/10 at 10:13 AMThanks, Nancy...I agree: What better time than now for this message?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from 11/10 at 10:58 AMAbsolutely right on, MZ. Someone once said that the external landscape (the world outside of us) is nothing but a reflection of the internal one (the world within us). I totally agree. Our domestic and international policies/conduct are unquestionably consumeristic in nature. More to the point, we are devourers, in my opinion; a less kinder word for consumers, but more accurate nonethless. And to change the devouring conduct of our nation, we must also change the devouring nature of ourselves. The antithesis if a consumer is a conserver. The difference between the two is really a simple one too. One involves doing less with more, and the other one involves doing more with less. And a country that conserves instead of consumes begins with people who take that step for themeselves first. Nice to see Thich Nhat Hanh once again too. He is one of my fav teachers.
Posted by Nader Rider on from 11/10 at 11:38 AMThanks for stopping by again, NR. Your feedback is always welcome and appreciated.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from 11/10 at 11:41 AMin night vision they use the word “parasite” to describe us. brutal but honest. helps to put it in perspective and keep it there—we are all so isolated from the reality that the rest of the world shares.
the reports about falllujah are making me sick and i despair for my children and all the children of the world.
i am losing heart. . . .Posted by stacy on from 11/10 at 11:45 AMIsolated indeed, Stacy. Stay strong...we need all the allies we can find.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from 11/10 at 11:59 AMnow if only ideas such as these would spread like wildfire throughout the US and the world…
I believe there are already a very large number of like-minded people out there.
A writer/philosopher that I greatly admire, Daniel Quinn, talked about comparing this type of new vision to the Renaissance, which spread throughout the world without the help of governments or programs, but happened one changed mind at a time.
“People don’t want more of the same. Yet, oddly enough, when they ask me what will save the world, they want to hear more of the same--something familiar, something recognizable. They want to hear about uprisings or anarchy or tougher laws. But none of those things is going to save us--I wish they could. What we must have (and nothing less) is a whole world full of people with changed minds. Scientists with changed minds, industrialists with changed minds, school teachers with changed minds, politicians with changed minds--though they’ll be the last of course. Which is why we can’t wait for them or expect them to lead us into a new era. Their minds won’t change until the minds of their constituents change. Gorbachev didn’t create changed minds; changed minds created Gorbachev.
Changing people’s minds is something each one of us can do, wherever we are, whoever we are, whatever kind of work we’re doing. Changing minds may not seem like a very dramatic or exciting challenge, but it’s the challenge that the human future depends on.
It’s the challenge your future depends on.”
Posted by James O'Shea on from Puerto Rico 11/10 at 12:34 PMThanks for that excellent addtion, James. I’m all for a world full of changed minds...as long as those minds remain open to subsequent changes.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from 11/10 at 12:37 PMSounds like you’re an advocate for constantly changing minds, MZ, than you are for changed minds. There is big diff between the two. Nice to see that you see that.
Posted by Nader Rider on from 11/10 at 03:18 PMI’ve often said that one of my favorite moments is when I discover that something I firmly believed to be true...is false.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from 11/10 at 03:23 PMI can appreciate that, MZ. That’s why my truths are truths which are always “under construction”, as I like to say… subject to further review. Keep up the good work.
Posted by Nader Rider on from 11/10 at 03:25 PMgood points…
Posted by James O'Shea on from Puerto Rico 11/10 at 03:45 PMI don’t mean to monopolize this thread, but… your posting of Che’s words got my mind spinning all morning. *laughs* So I have to place some of the runoff from my morning’s musings here, otheerwise I won’t get any work done today.
I think Che is right on the money, only I prefer to replace his use of the word “love” with the word “compassion”.
One of the few significant life-lessons that I’ve learned in my brief lifespan is… you may be absolutely right about something, and you may have all the passion in the world in your efforts to communicate what you believe is right… but the likelihood that anyone will change as a result of your efforts is nil… unless and until they feel compassion from you.
Skill of argument and pursuasion can only take you so far, with regards to changing the world. Compassionate action, on the other hand, changes people like nothing else can. Both the giver of it and its receiver.
We don’t place enough attention on the ingredient of compassionate action in our efforts to transform the world, I don’t think. I wonder if that reveals somehting about us.
Posted by Nader Rider on from 11/10 at 04:59 PMIn our society, too often, compassion is equated with weakness.
I must, yet again, inject the concept of veganism in here. It is love for self, animals, people, all living things in direct action.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from 11/10 at 05:04 PMAppropriate to this thread, you all might like what Dorothy Rowe has written in her People in Mind column in Saga Magazine (UK)
http://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/article/D414301A-B82B-40F4-AAA1-528CCB46D226.asp?bhcp=1
Dorothy is a writer and psychologist I read and admire because of her simplicity and common sense. This article is about letting go.
Posted by Jay Vos on from Burlington, VT, USA 11/11 at 10:09 AMVery cool article, Jay. Thanks for sharing it. One of the hardest things for us to let go of is also the self-identity of “being right”, which necessarily requires that we identify someone else as “being wrong.” Other people can only be viewed as being wrong in our eyes if we view ourselves as being right in the first place. And this process of identifying someone being right and someone being wrong does more to separate us than it does to unite us. Again, thanks for the fine read.
Posted by Nader Rider on from 11/11 at 10:24 AMGreat suggestion, Jay. this line stood out to me: “Buddhism defines suffering as the desire to make reality repeatable.”
Posted by Mickey Z. on from 11/11 at 10:25 AMI read this quote by Einstein today:
“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
Jay - I also enjoyed the Dorothy Rowe article…
-nancyPosted by Nancy on from 11/12 at 07:31 PMHi Nancy…
Posted by Mickey Z. on from 11/12 at 07:51 PM
Next entry: A gay marriage question
Previous entry: Bye, Bye Ashcroft
Copyright © 2005-2007 Mickey Z.
