social services

[Guest guest]

dear adi shakti and friends,

please, excuse my late response..

i know of no vedanta centers in my neighbourhood.. certainly not,

where they provide social services like you mentioned..

it is 'funny' you talk about these social service as in fact i would

love to do such a thing..

 

untill now, i have been supporting a few organisations part of

the 'anti-globalisation' movement.. yet i must admit i do not totally

agree with their political/ethical viewpoints.. to put it a little

crude and unnuanced: while the ambition of the anti-globalisation

movement is to build a 'new world' (less exploitative, more

egalitarian), i feel they are only considering the material

structure.. and not so much the psychological, ethical,

transcendental aspects of this 'new world'..

 

'adjusting' or 're-organsing' the present capitalist (neoliberal)

system is 'only' one thing i feel.. developing a truly global, more

equal, intercultural, 'respectful' ethics is the other necessary

counterpart i feel.. with this i aim at a true respect and care for

each human being, no matter the status, class, race, religion..

resulting from an insight in the 'human condition' (maya, lila,

brahman..)

 

in a text i tried to develop such a perspective.. one of its central

arguments is that if we accept that maya (in the text this is called

this the 'web of beliefs and desires') is real, we are the awareness

of the 'whole maya' (the awareness-consciousness of the whole web of

the present, past and future,..).. and not just awareness of a part

of the web (fe. identities)..

in other words, if each being is the whole awareness (brahman) and as

such no being at all (parabrahman), we cannot accept the major

emphasis-concern and violent struggle for specific nationalities,

cultures, ethnic identities.. thus i try to 'argument', first brahman

(the awareness of the whole), then maya or lila (our 'identities',

nationalities).. excuse me if this terminology sounds weird-

inappropriate..

 

if you have some time to read, i would appreciate all your comments

and critiques very much! please do not hesitate to react.. you can

find the text here:

http://www.vub.ac.be/boerplato/jeroenscriptie.html

 

 

to end, a quote from j. krishnamurti on political change..

 

'..Violence can only breed more violence…It appears you all want

quick changes only outwardly. You want to end wars immediately, with

which most of us agree, but as long as there are divisions of

nationalities, of religious beliefs with their dogmas, there must be

conflict. Any form of division will breed antagonism and hatred. We

want to change the surface of things without going to the very heart

of the matter. The heart of the matter is education. It is the total

understanding of man and not an emphasis on one fragment of his life –

whether it be technology or earning a livelihood..'

 

'..Education should not encourage the individual to conform to

society or to be negatively harmonious with it, but help him to

discover the true values which come with unbiased investigation and

self-awareness…Education is not merely acquiring knowledge, gathering

and correlating facts; it is to see the significance of life as a

whole…The purpose of education is not to produce mere scholars,

technicians and job hunters, but integrated man and woman who are

free of fear; for only between such human beings can there be

enduring peace…Systems whether educational or political are not

changed mysteriously; they are transformed when there is a

fundamental change in ourselves. The individual is of first

importance, not the system; and as long as the individual does not

understand the total process of himself, no system, whether of the

left or the right, can bring order and peace to the world..'

 

 

much love