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- Your grandchildren will likely find it incredible – or even sinful – that you burned up a gallon of gasoline to fetch a pack of cigarettes! Paul MacCready Jr.
- Quid sit futurum cras fuge quaerere. (Forbear to ask what tomorrow may bring.) Old Horace
- The tragedy of human history is decreasing happiness in the midst of increasing comforts. Swami Chinmayananda
- This age is marked by nuclear giants and ethical dwarfs. ‐——–
- Today we have guided missiles and misguided men. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- To put the world in order we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order we must cultivate our personal life; to cultivate our personal life we must first set our hearts right. Confucius
- If a man be upright in his heart, there will be righteousness in his character. If there be righteousness in his character, there will be harmony in the home. If there be harmony in the home, there will be order in the kingdom. If there be order in the kingdom, there will be peace in the world. Confucius
Before we lose the Word/ That bids New Worlds to birth, / Needs must we loosen first, / The Sword of Justice upon the Earth. Rudyard Kipling
Inspite of being blessed with the unique faculty of consciousness, thought and foresight, we did not, back then at the dawn of the Industrial Age of Modernity, pause to ‘think’ of the impact and ramifications of our thoughtless actions further down the road on the following generations and the world-life in general. Yet, a centuries old Indigenous Peoples’ Wisdom advises: “Before we change anything in the normal rhythm of our everyday life or introduce a new method or appliance or amend a law or alter our habits or patterns of worship or behaviour we pause and think, carefully weighing and mindfully considering its resultant downstream impact and effects on our progeny and our surroundings for the next seven generations.”
The only question is whither — this planetary-scale ecology-systemic collapse — will be rapid or gradual …or will we, the Lord be praised, swiftly awaken to the sign of the times and urgently act, therapeutically and curatively, by doing what it takes to turnaround this dire situation of near-certain, collective self-annihilation …in time to set new course; a fresh, more evolved, benevolent and sustainable pathway into the future.
Today, finally, the attainment of a global state of collective awareness of this near-mortal mega-environmental tragedy in-the-making, has at last reached its state of criticality — ” the 100th Monkey” has arrived, — trumpeting out loud and clear our last and final wake-up call. The warning bells are clanging, resounding across the face of our sacred Planet Mother Earth, beseeching us to swiftly awaken and urgently, decisively and correctively act …before the sands of time run out on us, you and me …and our progeny.
Will man doom or redeem himself and even more … go on to fulfill the reason, meaning and purpose of his existence and the greater game of creation and life as per the Original Scheme-of-Things …or not? Only time will tell …sooner rather than later. What’s your best guess?
It behooves repeating and clarifying here for the n’th time, the very thought that mankind can so act as to effectively neutralize or defuse his current epic-scale environmental time-bomb — threatening not only the welfare of current generations but, even more horrendously, the unborn still to come — through the use of smart scientific ideas, colossal economic power and nifty man-made techno-artifacts to stymie the near-mortal environmental rot from swamping us, is nothing more than a pie-in-the-sky, a smoke ‘n’ mirrors show, menacingly injected by the dark forces of nihilism in order to divert man’s attention from the critical point-of-focus, ‘himself’. Thus delaying him from arriving at and applying the ‘Pivotal Solution’ – the initiation of a more evolutionary and compatible ‘Self-transformational change’ in resonance with the newly emerging environmental imperative …in time to pull-back from the abyss of species self-annihilation …and salvage the dire situation. Thereby, reasserting the ultimate triumph of the forces of light over darkness, of life over death, of civilization over barbarism. Are we on the same page?
So now today, one way or another, just around the corner looms the apocalyptic specter of a swift and sudden (or slow and gradual) humanity-impacted, planetary-scale, environmental chain-reaction triggering off an irreversible, house-of-cards-type Ecological Systemic-Collapse, a runaway cataclysm which …when it finally hits … could strike overnight (not so metaphorically speaking) uprooting and engulfing everything in its path on a worldwide basis, taking everyone by surprise even before they’ve had the chance to gather their wits, let alone their baggage. No amount of economic-muscle, no number of sophisticated techno-devises or resourceful scientific devices and magic-fixes or tonnage of collective human will and determination directed to urgent corrective action … will then be of any avail.
But, even at this time of the final crunch, there lies a faint glimmer of hope that the burden … some would even say joy and exhilaration, at being confronted by this colossal near-mortal challenge of extricating ourselves from this apparently inextricable situation, will hopefully spur us to curative action; awakening in us the spark to change our dire condition, inspiring us with the zeal to creatively respond and stimulating us, you and me, to wisely choose, prudently decide and innovatively act, decisively and correctively so as to not only surmount this mortal threat, once and forever, but as profoundly, kick-start the new, reformed 21st century global civilization onto a fresh, more benign and evolved trajectory towards an ever increasing State of World Homonymy.
So, the only way we can untangle ourselves from the empirical tentacles of this mega-environmental problem-challenge that threatens our collective survival is to first and foremost honestly confront the true epistemological-metaphysical dynamics of the mega-problem – understand and acknowledge its anthropomorphic cause and effects — courageously go through the ordeal of immense mental upheavals, feeling the emotion-wrenching angst and soul-chastening pain that follows in admitting and accepting our culpability (mea culpa prima) in these ‘Crimes Against the Environment’, this mindless Process of Ecocide we have so unthinkingly unleashed on a benign and unsuspecting host Planet, and thus be overwhelmed by a severe and sincere sense of regret, remorse and repentance and be spiritually transformed, psycho-emotionally renewed and physically spurred to boldly initiate the curative action, the corrective solution that leads to problem resolution.
As an aside, in a separate context but similar past (albeit still extant) case of our 20th century global civilization confronting a survival threat (thermo-nuclear war), Sir Brian, an eminent nuclear-physicist, stepped out of the secretive world of tight-lipped, white-coated experts in 1976 with a grim message, “I am saying please ask your self if that is the path down which you wish to go. Stop and think before you take the next step, stop and think!” This advise “to think” holds as true for us today, as our 21st century global civilization eye-balls a new and different type of crisis, albeit also man-made — the ecology-collapse induced self-extinction crises. But as Henry Ford ominously stated, “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.” But then again as Prophet Zarathushtra announced, “The Power to ‘Think’ is man’s most precious right and his proudest privilege.”
So today, the time has now come, for each and everyone of us to think for him or her self as to which road s/he wishes to take on this crucial, near-mortal 21st century crossroad confronting us all — the road to extinction or the road to evolution — and to choose wisely between the two, judging for him or her self the better option and acting in accord with this conviction. The upshot will reveal whither our choice was wise …or otherwise. What choose you? Keep in mind: “There are two kinds of failures: those who thought and never did, and those who did but never thought,” as Laurence Peter reminds.
At this point, make note, the biggest and only obstacle to the successful resolution of this mega-threat lies within man himself, within his own ignorant mental make-up, his own state of emotional complacency and apathetic resistance to change by taking refuge in a state of denial or illusory rationalizations that create a state of quasi-security, thus freeing him from the inconvenience of having to confront and come to terms with the overwhelming problem-situation.
A Stockholm Peace Research Institute report published in the 1970s high-lighted the fact that in insulating ourselves from major world problems we can only hasten our final end. It stressed that the greatest danger mankind faces today is man’s mechanical survival-based ability to adjust to new overpowering dangers or crisis situations by insulating himself in a cocoon of pseudo-security, apathy and complacence that serves as an instrument of defense, an immunity apparatus that keeps the full force of his harsh reality and its dire portents from directly impacting on his mind and shattering his psyche. This mechanism enables him to adapt less painfully to the frightening new scenario of heightened danger by resigning his psychic ‘framework of expectations’ into accepting the bitter gall of his mortally threatening condition by imagineering a palatable set of illusory, escapistic, ego-absolutions and rationalizations more acceptable to him. Else the shock of admitting this harsh fact and accepting its moral responsibility would be too painful and disorienting; an unacceptable situation in his reckoning.
Thus, conveniently blinkered by our acceptable ego-rationalization of an unpalatable, overpowering fait accompli, we tend to dilute the pure fact and sugarcoat the bitter truth by schizophrenically seeking to delude ourselves into believing that “it isn’t real”, that “it can’t be” or that “it will never happen to me/us.” Once our psych has suitably numbed itself into accepting this ‘high-danger’ situation through a deceitful web of denials and pseudo-rationalizations – cast in a suitably modified and digestible form – then we become resigned and reconciled to living with it passively – this mortally threatening condition of heightening danger — without feeling any pangs of guilt at being its author or showing any awareness of the vital need to get involved and act on solving it. Having willingly assimilated it within our psychic structure and framework of expectations, it becomes very justifiable, reasonable and acceptable, making it far easier for man (as his conscience has been subverted) to carelessly say “I give a damn” or just as simply and uncaringly push the ‘red-button’ that promises a worldwide thermo-nuclear holocaust, (a 20th century global civilization threatening problem still ominously looming over our heads today). Thereby marking the final triumph of the malignant, life-negating forces of darkness, death and barbarism, over the benignant, life-affirming forces of light, life and civilization.
Hence, in the final analysis, this 21st -century near-mortal, crucial crossroad confronts us today with a ‘no-choice’ situation that offers us but one tenable, permanent solution; only one way out of this Environmental Catch–22 — indigestible as it may be to cognize and accept … a creative, deeply thought out world-life paradigm-shift initiated by human species ‘Self-Transformational Change’, World-View Transmutation and Collective Lifestyle Reorientation triggering-off a Civilization Course-Correction on an urgent basis …or else. Where do you stand on this?
How choose you? Answer quickly! For on your answer depends whither you are the one seated in the palanquin or the one who carries it?
Cogitate, ponder, mull, chew, regurgitate the quotes below to judge for yourself what our world’s worthies have to say on this human species survival-threatening issue; on this Madness of Man.
1. SUICIDE OF CIVILIZATION – CENTRAL PROBLEMATIQUE
As for those who would take the whole world/ To tinker with as they see fit, / I observe that they never succeed: / For the world is a sacred vessel/ Not made to be altered by man. / The tinkerer will spoil it, / Usurpers will lose it. Lao Tzu, Ch 19
Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production. Adam Smith, Scottish Economist
The history of mankind is the story of a bunch of apes playing with matches in a petrol dump. Bertrand Russell
The social and ecological problems that afflict us, cannot be solved by mere tinkering with the symptoms alone –conventional technological solutions though important, will not be entirely sufficient. The key lies in our own way of life and the ethical values that govern it. Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Ex-Dir’ UNEP
Unsustainable, unrestrained, unbalanced development is many times more dreadful than the nuclear holocaust. Acharya Mahapragnya
It is clear we are living under the sign of the collapse of civilization. It is still standing because it has not yet been exposed to the destructive pressures which overwhelmed the rest, but like the rest, it is built on rubble and the next landslide will very likely carry it away. Albert Schweitzer – The Philosophy of Civilization, 1923
Today we are bearing witness to the process of the suicide of civilization; in fact the process is now well underway… Man has long lot his ability to think, to foresee and foretell. He will end by destroying the earth. Albert Schweitzer, Anthropologist-Doctor-Philosopher–Author-Musician-Activist
Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. H. G. Wells
Yesterday’s meeting was a political call to action, a time for all countries, big and small, to grasp the moral imperative of tackling climate change with a new urgency, and to begin to understand our mutual self-interest in doing so. Climate change is the defining issue of our time. The science is clear. …Global warming is real. Its impact, if left unchecked, could be devastating if not catastrophic over the coming decades. We know what we have to do. We have affordable measures and technologies to do it. We must begin to attack the problem, right now. Ban Ki-moon, Sec Gen, UN. (In article published [TOI 25.9.07] on the day after a high-level meeting of world leaders convened by him on the issue of Climate Change.)
At the beginning of the last two decades of our century, we find ourselves in a state of profound worldwide crisis. It is a complex multi-dimensional crisis whose facets touch every aspect of our lives – our health and livelihood, the quality of our environment and our social relationships, our economy, technology and politics. It is a crisis of intellectual, moral and spiritual dimensions, a crisis of scale and urgency unprecedented in recorded human history. For the first time we have to face the very real threat of the extinction of the human race and all life on this planet. Fritjof Capra, Physicist — The Turning Point, 1982
I do not wish to seem over dramatic but I can only conclude from the information available to me as Secretary General that the members of the United Nations have perhaps ten years left in which to subordinate their ancient quarrels and launch a global partnership to curb the arms race, to improve the human environment, to defuse the population explosion and to supply the required momentum to development efforts. If such global partnership is not forged within the next decade, then I very much fear that the problems I have mentioned will have reached such staggering proportions that they will be beyond our capacity to control. U Thant, U. N. Sec’ Gen, in Club of Rome Report – The Limits To Growth, 1972
The problem that confronts us is that every living system in the biosphere is in decline and the rate of decline is accelerating. There isn’t one peer-reviewed scientific article that’s been published in the last 20 years that contradicts that statement. Paul Hawken, Author-Green Entrepreneur — The 11th Hour, 2007
The most basic thing to understand about our global economic system is that it’s a sub-system. The larger system is the biosphere, and the sub-system is the economy. The problem, of course, is that our sub-system, the economy, is geared for growth; it’s all set up to grow, to expand. Whereas the parent system doesn’t grow; it remains the same size. So, as the economy grows it displaces, it encroaches upon the biosphere, and this is the fundamental cost of economic growth. It’s what you give up when you expand. Herman Daly, World Bank Economist — The 11th Hour
It is clear that present growth patterns and practices are self-destructive and cannot be sustained. The challenge that humanity now faces is nothing less than that of creating a whole new approach to the growth of our society, to the goals of growth, to the processes of growth…Maurice Strong, Environmentalist- 1977
During the last few decades, humans have emerged as a new force of nature. We are modifying physical, chemical and biological systems in new ways, at faster rates and over larger spatial scales than ever recorded on earth. Humans have unwittingly embarked upon a grand experiment with our planet. Jane Lubchenco, Ex-Pr American Assoc for the Advancement of Science
Our massive tampering with the world’s web of life – coupled with the environmental damage inflicted by deforestation, species loss, and climate change could trigger widespread adverse effects, including unpredictable collapses of critical biological systems whose interactions and dynamics we only imperfectly understand. World Scientist’ ‘Warning to Humanity’, Signed by 3500 Scientists, 1992
There are many signs that the next general international crisis is going to be about the environment. There have been warnings of environmental abuse for decades, but concerns were separated from high politics and security. Now convergence has begun. Flora Lewis
Most of the great environmental struggles will be either won or lost in the 1990s…. and by the next century, it will be too late to act. Thomas Lovejoy
We don’t know where the global warming will stop, but the worst-case scenario is that Earth would become like its sister planet, Venus, with a temperature of 250 Centigrade, and raining sulphuric acid. The human race could not survive under those conditions. Stephen Hawking, Scientist – The 11th Hour
I am tired of hearing that man is on his way to extinction along with most other forms of life. My own view of man suggests that something worse than extinction is in store for us. It is not man, as a species, that ecological crisis threatens to destroy but the quality of human life. The attribute that makes human life different from animal life. Rene Dubois
While many nice things can be said about liberalizing and thus increasing trade, the structure of trade, as we know it at present, is a curse from the perspective of Sustainable Development. Trygve Havellmo & Stein Hansen – Noble Laureates (World Bank Papers)
We can make it hard or we can make it easy. The easy step is to price carbon into the economic system. Carbon has to have a price. You cannot allow someone, given what we know, to emit carbon for free. It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution, but when you price carbon, you force a shift to green energy, to solar, to efficiency and away from things like coal. David Orr – The 11th Hour
I think the industrial system has to be reinvented. Today the throughput of the industrial system, from mine and wellhead to finished product, ends up in a landfill or incinerator. For every truckload of product with lasting value, 32 loads of waste are produced. That’s mind-boggling but true. We have a waste making system. And clearly we cannot continue to dig up the earth and turn it to waste. Ray Anderson, Industrial Engineer-Businessman – The 11th Hour
Despite all our technological breakthroughs we still live in a world where a fifth of the developing world’s population goes hungry every night, a quarter lack access to even a basic necessity like drinking water and third live in a state of abject despair – at such a margin of human existence that words simply fail to describe it. UNDP’s – Human Development Report, 1994
For as we have seen, technical inventions, improved means of communication and methods of production leading to progress, physical growth and material results though seemingly increasing our powers in the struggle with nature, all take away much more from civilization than they give to it. P. D. Ouspensky, 1932
It has been suggested that declining human fertility, rising environmental standards, increasing resource and energy costs, institutional constraints and changing social values may make it undesirable to sustain the material growth rates that have characterized industrial nations over the past century. Growth in the broadest sense will not stop, nor should it, but it may in the future assume new forms, serve different ends and be sustained by different policies than those that concern decision makers today. The Mitchell Prize – Alternatives to Growth, 1977
We are living in a historical transitional period in which the awareness of the conflict between human activities and environmental constraints is literally exploding…. Never before in our history have we had so much knowledge, technology and resources..…Never before have we had such great capacities. The time and the opportunity have come to break out of the negative trends of the past. Gro Brundtland
We have the Climate Change Action Plan, the US Climate Alliance —it has 40 or 50 businesses signed up, including GM and other big companies. I don’t think it’s entirely cosmetic. WalMart is trying to look at it its whole supply chain …but I think there is a shift happening. Businesses aren’t of a mind yet – they’re still trying to figure out what they want to be when they grow up. A big question is whether or not capitalism can be made green fast enough and in a way adequate enough. But I don’t see an alternative. David Orr – The 11th Hour
If we look back at this period of time and ask ourselves “What did I do?”, I think we’re all going to have to take stock of where we were personally responsible. The fact is we know the solutions exist. The science, the technology is there. Visionary people have already explored and set up new ways of organizing ourselves and our communities and new ways to do business. It’s all readily available to us, to the government, to corporations. We need to push hard to make sure this change becomes government policy. That’s the biggest challenge. Leonardo DiCaprio, Actor-Environmentalist: Film-Documentary – The 11th Hour
We find ourselves on the brink. Its clear humans have had a devastating impact on our planet’s ecological web of life. Because we’ve waited, because we’ve turned our backs on nature’s warning signs and because our political and corporate leaders have consistently ignored the overwhelming scientific evidence, the challenges we face are that much more difficult. We are in the environmental age whether we like it or not. So, what does the future look like? Will our pivotal generation create a sustainable world in time? Leonardo DiCaprio, Actor-Environmentalist: Film-Documentary – The 11th Hour
The great thing about the dilemma we’re in is that we get to re-examine every single thing we do… there isn’t a single thing that doesn’t require a complete remake. There are two ways of looking at that. One is: Oh my gosh, what a big burden. The other way which I prefer is: What a great time to be born! What a great time to be alive! Because this generation gets to essentially completely change this world. Paul Hawken, Author-Green Entrepreneur — The 11th Hour
When you look at the data, it’s hard not to be depressed, but when you look at people, think about things like their resilience and creativity and determination, there is hope. Paul Hawken, Author-Green Entrepreneur — The 11th Hour
No matter how upbeat you try to be, you have to be honest and admit that this stuff is discouraging. We have a very bleak future, and to avoid it, we need dramatic change worldwide. It needs to go way beyond politics or religion. It’s scary and it’s daunting. But it is also our obligation to make whatever efforts are required. Leonardo DiCaprio, Actor-Environmentalist: Film-Documentary– The 11th Hour
There are risks and costs to a programme of action. But thy are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable non-action. John F Kennedy, Pr. USA
During the transition to sustainability, political leaders and citizens alike will be forced to re-evaluate their goals and aspirations, to redefine their measures of success and to adjust work and leisure to a new set of principles that have at their core the welfare of the future generations. World Watch Institute – State Of World Report, 1990
No generation has a right to impose debt for future generations. Thomas Jefferson, Pr. US
Left or Right, we have a duty to protect the future, to be good trustees. Well, what does that mean? It requires biological diversity. It requires climate stability, clean air, clean water. Edmund Burke
Sustainable development is not a fixed state of harmony, but rather a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientations of technological development and institutional change are made consistent with future as well as present needs. World Conference on Environment and Development Report, 1987
Conservation is the management of the human use of the biosphere so that it may yield the greatest sustainable benefits to present generations, while maintaining its potential to meet the needs and aspirations of future generations. World Conservation Strategy Report, 1988
Sustainable development is a process of social and economic change in which resource-use, technology and custom are all in harmony, thus enabling the current generation to responsibly meet its needs and fulfill its aspirations, without compromising those of the future generations. Eco Zed
In my own part of the world, I keep telling people, “Let us not cut trees irresponsibly. Let us not destroy especially the forested mountains.” Because if you destroy the forests on these mountains, the rivers will stop flowing and the rains will become irregular and the crops will fail and you will die of hunger and starvation. The problem is, people don’t make those linkages. Wangari Maathai, Noble Peace Prize ’04 – Green Belt Movement, Kenya
London is in the grip of a smog attack that makes anything we’ve ever seen look trifling; it’s a wonder to me that everyone here isn’t hospitalized with some kind of pulmonary illness, because breathing is like burying your head in a smokestack. Dr. S. J. Perelman, 1953
Most of the earth’s biological systems are in a state of collapse because we over-logged, over-trawled, over-hunted or cultivated them to maximize short-term production. Plant and animal species are going extinct at the fastest rate in 65 million years.
Human impact has raised the temperature of the entire planet and set in motion a series of inexorable forces that will continue to raise it still further before, if at all, we will be able to bring it back to equilibrium. No matter what corrective action we undertake. Annual damages from weather disasters have increased over 40 fold. We have no institutional framework within which to address global environmental issues. UNEP is underfunded and lacks regulatory and enforcement power. Most human institutions are based on the increased exploitation of nature.
The global economy has more than doubled in the last 30 years with pressure on most countries to increase export income. All increase in revenues earned at the cost of selling precious natural resources results in the decimation of one stock after another, with a continually diminishing catch-rate. World Watch Institute Report, March-April 2000, Vol 3 No: 2
Our own devastating impact on the biosphere will probably be a singular event, not a part of a recurrent pattern. Why? Because we probably won’t survive long enough as a species to do it again. David Quammen, The Song of the Dodo
Everyone saw it coming. Everyone understood its hard deadline. Everyone understood its worldwide scope. Everyone realized its massive potential for harm. And everyone let it happen. Harris Miller, Disaster Mgmt Expert
Everybody talks of computerizing their Disaster Plans. But woops! In a disaster there is no electricity and not enough batteries. Gary Sikich, US Emergency Planning Consultant
We have forgotten to be good guests, how to walk lightly upon the earth, as its other creatures do. Stockholm Conference ‘72
There is something fundamentally wrong in treating the earth as if it were a business in liquidation. Herman Daly – Economist, World Bank
Both economic pressures and political instincts encourage a short-term focus; but pressures to wring too much out of land in the short-run can destroy it in the long run. U.S. Farmer
Increasing human demands are damaging the natural resource-base – land, water, air on which all life depends. State Of World Population Report, 1988
An indiscriminate pursuit of science and technology in the third millennium without any respect for nature, could spell doom for humanity. Richard Ernst – Noble Laureate
Before we acquire great power we must acquire wisdom to use it well. R. W. Emerson
Science can find no individual enjoyment in nature; science can find no aim in nature; science can find no creativity in nature; it finds mere rules of succession. A. N. Whitehead – 20th C Philosopher
In Nature there are neither rewards nor punishments – there are only consequences. Robert G Ingersoll
It is the fate of the policy maker to live in the paper world and to risk being deceived into thinking it is the real one. Alan Cottrell
Service is the rent we pay for our room on earth and I’d like to be a good tenant. Eddie Cantor
The choices humanity makes to remedy the havoc now endangering the survival of our Planet, not only affect the evolution of humanity, but also the evolution which has been going on for millennia on other planets of the galaxy. For all planets are connected by extremely subtle sympathetic bonds. Christian Bernard – Rosicrucian
These are times that try men’s soul. Thomas Paine
This time, like all other times, is a very good one if we know what to do with it. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Accuse not Nature! / She hath done her part; / Do thou but thine. John Milton
And unawares, morality expires. Alexander Pope, Playwright
You can throw Nature out with a pitchfork, but she will always return. Horace
It is the top of the ninth innings. Man, always a threat at the plate, has been hitting Nature hard. It is important to remember however, that Nature always bats last. Paul Ehrilch
Man is no lawgiver to Nature. He is an absorber. She it is who stands firm. He it is who must accommodate himself. William James
Nature is proving that she can’t be beaten – not by the likes of us. She’s taking the world away from intellectuals and giving it back to the apes. Robert E Sherwood
2. MAN – ROOT OF ROT
Until he extends the circle of his compassion to include all living beings, man himself will not find peace. Albert Schweitzer
Science has made us gods even before we are worthy of being men. Jean Rostand
Science without conscience is the soul’s perdition. Francois Rabelais, Pantagruel, 1572
Technology owes ecology an apology. ————-
Ethics and Sciences need to shake hands. Richard Clarke Cabot
No one should approach the temple of science with the soul of a money changer. Thomas Browne
For individuals as for the community, life without a world-view (weltanschauung) is a pathological disturbance of the higher capacity of self-direction. Albert Schweitzer, Doctor-Philosopher-Author-Musician-Activist
Scientists, therefore, are responsible for their research, not only intellectually but also morally. This responsibility has become an important issue in many of today’s sciences, but especially so in physics, in which the results of quantum mechanics and relativity theory have opened up two very different paths for physicists to pursue. They may lead us – to put it in extreme terms – to the Buddha or to the Bomb, and it is up to each of us to decide which path to take. Fritjof Capra, ‘The Turning Point – 1982
Nations have passed away and left no traces and history gives naked cause of it. One single, simple reason in all cases; they fell because their people were not it. Rudyard Kipling
Civilizations, like empires, fall not so much because of the strength of their enemy outside, as through the weakness and decay within. PM India, Jawaharlal Nehru
The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination or ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference and under-nourishment. Robert Hutchins
I believe that civilizations have always been brought to grief by their own faults and failures, and not by any external agency. Arnold Toynbee, Historian
Before we acquire great power we must acquire wisdom to use it well. Emerson
If there is technological advance without social advance, there is almost automatically an increase in human misery. M. Harrington
Unless man increases in wisdom, increase in knowledge will be increase in sorrow. Clarence Darrow
The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom. Isaac Asimov, ‘Science and Nature Quotations’
States are not moral agents, people are, and can impose moral standards on power institutions. Noam Chomsky
No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be. Issac Asimov, SciFi Author
Before we change anything in the normal rhythm of our everyday life or introduce a new method or material or amend a law or alter our way of living or patterns of worship or habits of behaviour we pause and think, carefully weighing and mindfully considering its resultant downstream impact and effects on our progeny and our surroundings for the next seven generations. Centuries-Old Indigenous Peoples Wisdom
The UN is your instrument of peace and justice; it can be no wiser, no more competent and no more efficient than those member states that now comprise it. Koffi Annan, UN Sec’ Gen’, Inaugural Speech
It is not science that has destroyed the world, despite all the gloomy forebodings of the earlier prophets. It is man, who has destroyed man. Max Lerner
Our environmental problems originate in the hubris of imagining ourselves as the brain of nature. We’re not the brain; we are a cancer on nature. Dave Foreman, Author
Environment … is not the total causation in culture shaping … it is beyond doubt the most conspicuous single factor … but there is still an indefinite factor, which may well be designated, quite frankly as ‘x’, the unknown quantity apparently psychological in kind. … ‘x’ is not the most conspicuous factor in the matter, it certainly is the mot important, the most fate-laden. Means, Anthropologist, ‘Ancient Civilization of the Andes’
If the ethical foundation is lacking, then civilization collapses; even when in other directions creative and intellectual forces of the strongest nature are at work. … The difficult problems with which we have to deal, even those that lie entirely in the material and economic spheres, are in the last resort only to be solved by an inner change of character. Albert Schweitzer
The most decisive factor in the collapse of our civilization of the 20th century is the abdication of thought. Albert Schweitzer
Nations, like individuals, live and die but civilization survives. The true test of a civilization is not the census, nor the size of the cities, nor the crops, no, but the type of men the country turns out. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The human race’s survival is now once again in doubt for the first time since man established his ascendency over non-human nature… This time it is human nature that threatens mankind with extinction. The recurrence of this ancient threat from this new quarter is a challenge to all human beings to subordinate their traditional parochial loyalties to a new paramount loyalty to Mankind itself. Arnold Toynbee, Historian
Many people are concluding, on the basis of mounting and reasonable objective evidence that the length of the life of the biosphere, as an inhabitable region for organisms, is now to be measured in decades rather than in billions of years. This is entirely the fault of our own species. G. Evelyn Hutchinson – Scientific American Sept ‘70
It is clear that present growth patterns and practices are self-destructive and cannot be sustained. The challenge that humanity now faces is nothing less than that of creating a whole new approach to the growth of our society, to the goals of growth, to the processes of growth. Maurice Strong, Environmentalist- 1977
The human race’s prospects of survival were considerably better when we were defenseless against tigers than they are today when we have become defenseless against ourselves. Arnold Toynbee, Historian, 1930s
We scatter seeds with careless hands, / And dream we ne’er shall see them more; / But for a thousand years / Their fruit appears, / In weeds that mar the land, / Or healthful shore. John Kebel, Poet
The worth of a state, in the long run, is the worth of individuals composing it. John Stuart Mill
The life of a nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful and virtuous. Frederick Douglass
Among a people generally corrupt, liberty cannot long exist. Edmund Burke
A great city is that which has the greatest men and women. Walt Whitman
Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. Samuel Adams
All reform except a moral one will prove unavailing. Thomas Carlyle
Our inner universe manifests itself outwardly in sickness and health, in joy and sorrow, in peace and stress. If we want to change externally, it must first take place within us. Otherwise it will only be a mechanical patch-up job. Nalin Nirula
For in the final analysis, destiny takes the direction of one’s thought process. It is the inner world that changes the outer world. If thoughts can be controlled destiny too can be altered. M.P.K. Kutty
God’s creation in-itself is good; it is beautiful in proper proportion and well adapted for the functions it has to perform. There is no evil or disorder in it. Such evil or disorder that creeps in is due to man’s ‘will’ (khudi) and spiritual teaching is directed to train and cure that ‘will’ to bring it into conformity with the Universal Order or Plan. Muhammad Iqbal
Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all –the apathy of human beings. Helen Keller, Blind Woman
Nothing can bring us peace but the triumph of principles. R.W. Emerson
The splitting of the atom changed everything, save the modes of our thinking and thus we drift towards unparalleled catastrophe. Albert Einstein
The man, who knows how to split the atom but has no love in his heart, becomes a monster. J. Krishnamurthy
Evil does not lie in the atom, but in man’s soul. Adlai Stevenson
Before we acquire great power we must acquire wisdom to use it well. Emerson
If there is technological advance without social advance, there is almost automatically an increase in human misery. M. Harrington
Unless man increases in wisdom, increase in knowledge will be increase in sorrow. Clarence Darrow
(Human greatness) lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves. Gandhi
Significant problems cannot be solved at the same level of thinking from where we created them. Albert Einstein
Our curiosity must turn aside from its present path and take another direction. It must leave the physical and psychological in order to follow the ethical and spiritual. Dr. Carrel
When Heaven sends down calamities, there is hope of weathering them. When man brings them on to himself, there is no hope of escape. T’ai Chia
3. OUTER WORLD-CONDITIONS REFLECTION OF MAN’S INNER STATE-OF-MIND
If a man be upright in his heart, / there will be righteousness in his character. / If there be righteousness in his character, / there will be harmony in the home. / If there be harmony in the home, / there will be order in the nation. / If there be order in the nation, /will be peace in the world. Confucius
The world is a reflection of ourselves; what we create outwardly springs from what we are inwardly. Rig Veda
We are what we think, all that we are arises from our thoughts, and with our thoughts we make the world. Buddha
The principles of religion are all built upon the eternal principles that are in men and nature. Vivekananda
States are as the men are; they grow out of human character. Plato
Every single creature has in human nature, a stake in the Eternal. Meister Eckhart
Every particle of human life is a symbol of Universal existence. Rig Veda
What we do to the world, we do to ourselves. Chief Seattle
For you are the world and the world is you. J. Krishnamurthy
Do you not see how God has put all that is on the earth, under your command? Qur’an
Because of the innate connections between ‘Man’ and ‘Nature’, the inner-self of man is reflected in the external order. Therefore, it follows that, when man’s inner being has turned to darkness and turmoil, nature is also turned from harmony to disequilibria and disorder. … A traditional Muslim would see in the bleakness and ugliness of modern industrial society and the ambience it creates as an outward reflection of the darkness within the soul of men who have created this order and who live in it. Syyed Hossein Nasr
Our inner universe manifests itself outwardly in sickness and health, in joy and sorrow, in peace and stress. If we want to change externally, it must first take place within us. Otherwise it will only be a mechanical patch-up job. Nalin Nirula
The fountain of contentment must spring up in the mind; and he who has such little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition, will waste his life in fruitless efforts and multiply the grief he proposes to remove. Samuel Johnson
The greatest discovery of any generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitude of mind. Albert Schweitzer
The social and ecological problems that afflict us, cannot be solved by mere tinkering with the symptoms alone –conventional technological solutions though important, will not be entirely sufficient. The key lies in our own way of life and the ethical values that govern it.
Without a revolution of the spirit, the forces, which had produced the inequities of the old order, would continue to be operative, posing a constant threat to the process of reform and regeneration. Aung San Suu Kyi — Noble Peace Prize For Peace
I hold that democracy cannot be evolved by forcible methods. The spirit of democracy cannot be imposed from without; it has to come from within. ‘History of the Congress’
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding. Albert Einstein
The gateway from the old paradigm to the new is through the ‘creative individual’, and change in the individual springs from within, from his own intrinsic consciousness or spirit. You cannot bring about a change in your personal circumstances or even that of your neighbour’s, leave aside the world condition, without first initiating the process of transformation within your own self; a self-transformational change in your own attitude, your own worldview, behaviour and lifestyle. Eco Zed
Transformation can be bought about only by the individual. Great things are performed by individuals and you can bring about a phenomenal radical revolution when you understand yourselves. … We cannot change society; only the individual can change. J. Krishnamurthy
The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and head and hands. Robert M. Pirsig
4. CHANGE —- OLD MIND–TO–NEW MIND
Your sons and daughters are beyond your command/ Your road is rapidly ageing/ Please get out of the New One if you can’t lend a hand/ For the times, they’re a changin’. Bob Dylan, Vocalist
Ring out the old, ring in the New/ Ring out the false, ring in the True. / Ring out a slowly dying cause/ And ancient forms of party strife, / Ring in the nobler modes of life/ With sweeter manners, purer laws. Alfred Lord Tennyson, Poet
I am not eager to rehearse my thoughts and theories, / Which you have forgotten./ These things have served their purpose, let them be; / For last year’s words belongs to last year’s language/ And next year’s words await another voice./ And to make an end is to make a beginning. T.S. Eliot, Poet
The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them. William Lawrence Bragg
Eschew the old. Embrace the new! Eco Zed
Change your thoughts and you change your world. Norman Vincent Peale
If ye have need of something new, ye must first overcome the ‘old’ condition that dominates within thee. Qur’an
The Lord will change not that condition which is without man, unless he first changeth that condition which is within him (attitude). Qur’an
(Human greatness) lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves. Gandhi
Do not model yourself on the behaviour of the (old) world around you; but let you behaviour change, modeled by your ‘new’ mind. St Paul, Rom 12.2
You must put aside your old self … your mind must be renewed by a spiritual revolution so that you can put on the new self that has been created in God’s way. St Paul, Eph. 4:22.24
So get rid of all the old yeast and make yourselves into a completely new batch of bread. St Paul, 1 Cor. 5:7
Forgetting those things, which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things, which are before, I press toward the mark. St Paul, Philippians 3.VV. 13-14
Let us not grow so as to become old after being new, but let the newness itself grow. St Augustine
Our survival demands new ways of operating our civilization. D. Hoffman
We must learn to think in new ways. Gorbachov – Pr. USSR
It is clear that present growth patterns and practices are self-destructive and cannot be sustained. The challenge that humanity now faces is nothing less than that of creating a whole new approach to the growth of our society, to the goals of growth, to the processes of growth. Maurice Strong, Environmentalist- 1977
Moving towards gender equity is not a technocratic goal – it requires a new way of thinking – it’s a political process. Human Development Report, 1995
No law can be an unchangeable law. It must be based on knowledge and as knowledge grows, it must grow with it. Jawaharlal Nehru – Ex PM, India
I hold that man is right, who is most closely in league with the future. Henri K. Ibsen
New Deliverer – the New Age eagerly looks / To the paths of your coming. / What message have you brought to the World. Rabindranath Tagore, Poet
When old words die out on the tongue, new melodies break forth from the heart; and where old tracks are lost, a new landscape is revealed with all its wonders. Rabindranath Tagore, Poet
Make of us the hero warriors we aspire to become. May we fight successfully the great battle of the future that is to be born, against the past that seeks to endure; so that the new things may manifest and we may be ready to receive them. Mother Superior.
Everything has been said before but since nobody listens, we have to keep going back and beginning all over again. Andre Gide
The world in which we exist… will pass away, burnt up in the fire of its own passions: and from its ashes will spring a new and younger world, full of fresh hope, with the light of morning in its eyes. Bertrand Russell
An old world is collapsing and a New World rising. We have better eyes for the collapse, than the rise, for the old world is the one we know. John Updike
When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door, that we do not see the one that has been opened for us. Helen Keller
The past belongs to the past, but we do not belong to the past. We are makers of the future, but we do not belong to the future. Gandhi
The people who live in the past must yield to the people who live in the future. Otherwise the world would begin to turn the other way. Arnold Bennett
The past must no longer be used as an anvil for beating out the present and the future. Paul-Emile Bordaus
The most urgent problems of technology today are no longer the satisfaction of primary needs, but the reparations of the evils and damages wrought by the technology of yesterday. M.N.
The people who live in the past must yield to the people who live in the future. Otherwise the world would begin to turn the other way. Arnold Bennett
Forgetting those things, which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things, which are before, I press toward the mark. St Paul, Philippians 3.VV. 13-14
Let us not go over the old ground, let us rather prepare for what is to come. Markus T. Cicero
When a person crosses a river, he ought not to forget that he has left the other bank. Alladi Krishnaswami
Our curiosity must turn aside from its present path and take another direction. It must leave the physical and psychological in order to follow the ethical and spiritual. Dr. Carrel
Those who learn nothing from the past are condemned to repeat it. George Santana
He that learns nothing from the past will be punished by the future. Zarathushtra
I will speak to youth, which can accomplish everything precisely because it accepts no past, obeys no present and fears no future. Rudyard Kipling
We can only repay our debt to the past by putting the future in debt to ourselves. John Buchan
After a point of time comes the ‘turning point’. The powerful light that has been banished, returns. There is movement but it is not bought about by force. …the movement is natural, arising spontaneously. For this reason the transformation of the ‘old’ becomes easy. The ‘old’ is discarded and the ‘new’ is introduced. Both measures accord with the time, therefore no harm results. I Ching
At our time it was thought that the atmosphere, the seas, the forests and the land surface of the planet were vast enough to absorb any amount of pollution and rehabilitate themselves. The law was consequently very lax… However, with the realization that a ‘limit’ situation would soon be reached …the law found itself compelled to reorient its attitude towards the environment. Christopher G Weeramantry, Sri Lankan Judge
The old story sustained her for a long time – it shaped our emotional attitudes, it provided us with life’s purpose, it energized our actions, it consecrated suffering, it guided education…. Now the old story is not functioning, and we have not yet learned a new. Thomas Berry
We need a new global agenda that would provide a win-win solution for everyone… We need new architecture for the way we work. Our test will be to see how adept and wise we are in finding a (new) solution. Richard C. Celeste. U.S. Ambassador to India in XLRI Workshop
Often we are most vulnerable during moments of transition…. For a pivotal moment the mind has nothing to hold on to and in its insecurity it may suggest all kinds of (trivial) things. …Suddenly, any of these can seem fraught with urgency, though you know in the back of your mind that they are a poor use of your time. Eknath Easwaran
When a new group of phenomena compel changes in the pattern of thought, even the most eminent of physicists find immense difficulties. For the demand for the change in thought pattern may engender the feeling that the ground is to be pulled from under one’s feet. I believe that the difficulties at this point can hardly be overstated. Werner Heisenberg, Scientist
The way of cowardice is to embed ourselves in a cocoon in which we perpetuate our obsolete habit patterns. When we are constantly re-creating our basic (fixed) behaviour patterns, we never taste the fresh air or know the new ground. Trungpa
The Master said, ‘if it is peace you want, seek to change yourself, not other people. It is easier to protect your feet with slippers than to carpet the whole of the earth’. —–‐——–
Let everyone sweep in front of his own door and the whole world will be clean. Goethe
We must become the change we seek. Gandhi
Let a soul reflect upon what it sends ahead for the morrow. Qur’an, LIX. 18
Those who learn nothing from the past are condemned to repeat it. George Santana
He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the greatest innovator. Francis Bacon
He that learns nothing from the past will be punished by the future. Zarathushtra
If in the last few years you have not discarded a major opinion or acquired a new one, check your pulse you may be dead. Gelett Burges
5. CHANGE SELF TO CHANGE WORLD
Never doubt that a handful of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead
Everybody thinks of changing humanity but nobody thinks of changing himself. Leo Tolstoy
If you have need of something ‘new’, you must first overcome the ‘old’ that dominates within you. Qur’an
To change your circumstance — your outer world-life condition, change first your inner mind-state — your innate attitude and worldview towards the world-life. Eco Zed
The social and ecological problems that afflict us cannot be solved by merely tinkering with the symptoms alone – conventional technical solutions while important, will not be entirely sufficient. The key lies in our own way of life and the ethical values that govern it. Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Ex. Dir – UNEP
But we have failed to see the overall magnitude and urgency of the environmental crisis – a magnitude and urgency that are at least as great as that of the nuclear arms crisis and probably even greater. We have failed to see that the environmental crisis has a towering spiritual dimension, which must be addressed if the crisis is to be solved. Marshall Massey — Quaker
The difficult problems with which we have to deal, even those that lie entirely in the material and economic sphere, are in the last resort only to be solved by an inner change of character. Albert Schweitzer
Without a revolution of the spirit, the forces, which had produced the inequities of the old order, would continue to be operative, posing a constant threat to the process of reform and regeneration. Aung San Suu Kyi — Noble Peace Prize
Change yourself and you have done your part in changing the world. The world cannot become peaceful unless you yourself begin to work for peace. It is only by removing hate from our hearts that we can live a peaceful life. Parmahansa Yogananda
He who is eager to reform the world must first understand himself: for he is the world. … We are totally responsible for the whole state of the world. … For you are the world and the world is you. J. Krishnamurthy
Transformation can be bought about only by the individual. Great things are performed by individuals and you can bring about a phenomenal radical revolution when you understand yourselves. … We cannot change society; only the individual can change. J. Krishnamurthy
It is because nations tend to stupidity and baseness that mankind moves slowly; it is because individuals have a capacity for better things that it moves at all. George Gissing
Our curiosity must turn aside from its present path and take another direction. It must leave the physical and psychological in order to follow the ethical and spiritual. Dr. Carrel
Because of the innate connections between ‘man’ and ‘nature’, the inner state of man is reflected in the external order. Therefore, it follows that when man’s inner being has turned to darkness and turmoil, nature is also turned from harmony to disequilibrium and disorder….A traditional Muslim would see in the bleakness and ugliness of Modern Industrial Society and the ambience it creates, an outward reflection of the darkness within the souls of men who have created this order and who live in it. Seyyed Hossein Nasr
God’s creation in-itself is good; it is beautiful, in proper proportion and adapted for the performance it has to perform. There is no evil or disorder in it. Such evil or disorder that creeps in is due to man’s will and spiritual teaching is directed to train and cure that to bring it into conformity with the universal order or plan. Mohammad Iqbal
Narcissism, signifies a loss of self-hood, not self-assertion. In a world of endless images, lifestyles and disposable products, it refers to a ‘self’ threatened with disintegration and by a sense of inner emptiness. Christopher Lasch
The principles of religion are all built upon the external principles that are in man and nature. Vivekananda
States are as men are they grow out of human character. Plato
What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to each other. Truly, as Gandhi said, ‘an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind’. Chris Maser
Illness is in part what the world has done to a victim but in larger part it is what the victim has done with his world and himself. Karl Menninger
The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and head and hands. Robert M. Pirsig
The Master said, ‘if it is peace you want, seek to change yourself, not other people. It is easier to protect your feet with slippers than to carpet the whole of the earth’. ‐———-
I cannot always control what goes on outside, but I can always control what goes on inside. Wayne Dyer
I discovered I always have choices and sometimes it’s only a choice of attitude. Judith M. Knowlton
Everybody thinks of changing humanity but nobody thinks of changing himself. Leo Tolstoy
Before healing others, heal yourself. Gambian Proverb
Let everyone sweep in front of his own door and the whole world will be clean. Goethe
We must become the change we seek. Gandhi
6. MORALLY MANDATED VIOLENCE
Before we lose the Word / That bids New Worlds to birth. / Needs must we loosen first, / The Sword of Justice upon the Earth. Rudyard Kipling.
Effective environmental agreements need to include carrots as well as sticks. H. F. French
Without knowing it we utilize hundreds of products each day that owe their origin to wild animals and plants. Indeed, our welfare is intimately tied up with the welfare of wildlife. Well may conservationists proclaim that by saving the lives of wild species, we may well be saving our own? Norman Meyers
If environmentalists use all ethically means acceptable – including discriminatory moral violence – to slow down the current juggernaut of ‘destructive development’ so as to give Future Generations some breathing space and opportunity for sustainable survival, it will have been well worth it. Eco Zed
I think people of conscience and courage who know and understand the value of the last remaining wild-places on earth, act correctly when they act on their conscience and do what it takes to protect these places. Our lives are short, 70 years on an average 120 years at very most… The forests we are taking about have trees that were bursting from their seed coat when Moses was leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. Dr. Eliot Norse
One speaks of the possibilities of violence with caution… But I definitely prefer to be called an alarmist than to stand by, a silent witness to impending doom. Whitney Moor Young Jr.
Our goal is a very simple, clear and direct one – to bring about a confrontation between the People of Death and the People of Life. We insist on conserving the environment for our children and future generations. 1st Greenpeace Broadcast, Sept 16th, 1971
First I thought I was fighting for the rubber-tappers, then I thought I was fighting for the Amazon, then I realized I was fighting for humanity. Chico Mendes – Martyred Rain Forest Activist
We must set out to combat and systematically weaken the main institutions of the Industrial System – the State, the Corporation and the science and technology they use to transform Society and the Natural World. At the same time, we must do everything to recreate an economy not based on them; reducing in this way an almost universal dependence on a destructive economic system that in any case is certainly in decline and may well be close to collapse. Goldsmith – Environmentalist
When the earth is sick and the animals and plants begin to die, the Indians will regain their Spirit and gather together peoples of all nations, colour and creed to join together in the fight to save the Planet and they will be known as the ‘Warriors of the Rainbow’. Prophecy By Old Cree Indian Woman
You throw the sand against the wind and the wind throws it back again. William Blake
Alas, which we sow, that we reap; the hand that smites us is our own. James Allen
To tell you the truth non-violence is the primary duty, but violence for the right cause is also a duty. This is our creed, the creed of the followers of Truth. Shanti Parva 271 – 20
Tolerance does not mean the mute and passive acceptance of wrong and evil. Bigoted behaviour, which threatens the lives of others unjustly, should be opposed by all means available, and as a last resort, even by force and violence. Guru Nanak
Resist that, even with weapons – the scourge of evil that lays the country desolate. Zarathushtra, Gatha 31.8
That man, who with the strength of righteousness protects the immediate neighbourhood that the rogues are devastating, gains my pleasure. Zarathushtra, Gatha 50.3
Aggressive fighting for the right is the noblest sport the world affords. Pr. F. D. Roosevelt
As long as there are powerful armies, there will always be the danger of dictatorship. Although I am deeply opposed to war, I am not advocating appeasement. It is often necessary to take the right stand to counter unjust aggression. XIV Dalai Lama
Where there is only one choice between cowardice and violence, I would advice violence. Gandhi
May your wrath burn both, him who commits a wrong and also him who permits a wrong to be perpetuated. Rabindranath Tagore
He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps the perpetrator. Martin Luther King Jr
One, who, in spite of his ability does not try to suppress violence from being committed before his own eyes, himself partakes a share of the sin. Adi Parva – 180.11
He, who accepts evil without protesting against it, is cooperating with it. Martin Luther King Jr
7. DIVINE IN NATURE
I believe in God, only I spell it ‘Nature’. Frank Lloyd Wright
I’ve always regarded nature as the clothing of God. Alan Havhaness
Nature is the art of God. Thomas Browne
The colour of the mountains is Buddha’s body; the sound of running water is his great speech. Dogen, Zen Master
God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars.Martin Luther, Protestant Reformist
Art gallery? Who needs it? How could indoor art be any more masterfully created than God’s museum of nature? Grey Livingston
The sun is the epitome of benevolence – it is lifegiving and warmthgiving and happinessgiving, and to it we owe our thanksgiving. Jessi Lane Adams
O powerful waters, I might have violated / the laws of Nature / Knowingly or unknowingly, / Foolishly or impudently. / Take away whatever is wrong / or deficient in me. Rig Veda 1.23.22
Thou shalt chant the cleansing words and the house shall be clean; clean shall be the fire, the water, the earth, the cow, the tree, the faithful man and woman the stars, the moon, the sun, the boundless light and all good things made by Ahura Mazda. Zoroastrian Text, Vendidad vol. 4, xi. v.2
Great Spirit fill, us with the light, Teach us to walk the soft earth as relatives to all that live. Help us, for without you we are nothing. Native American Prayer
In Nature we see Him / In Nature do we hear Him speak / In Nature lies the essence of joy and peace. / Earth, skies and nether regions comprise Nature. / The whole Creation is an embodiment of Him. Guru Granth Sahib
Nature is too thin a screen; the Glory of the One breaks in everywhere. Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you want to tell anything to God, tell it to the wind. African Proverb
For the Great Spirit is everywhere, he hears whatever is in our minds and hearts so it is not necessary to speak to him in a loud voice. Black Elk – Sioux Tradition
8. ERRONEUS SEEING-THINKING-LIVING
There’s nothing wrong with the world, what’s wrong is our way of looking at it. Henry Miller
We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are. Anais Nin
The major problems in the world are the result of the differences between the way nature works and the way man thinks. Gregory Bateson
What we observe is not ‘nature’ itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning. Werner Heisenberg
The existence of the scientific method makes us think that we have solved our problems; but problem and method pass each other by. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosopher – 20thC
The gap in our economy is between what we have and what we think we ought to have —and that is a moral problem, not an economic one. Paul Heyne
We suffer primarily, not from our vices or weaknesses, but from our illusions. Daniel Boorstin
If I were to begin my life again, I should want it as it was. I would only open my eyes a little more. Jules Bernard
When you overcome your illusions and misunderstandings within, the world changes outside. Werner Dornik
There’s nothing wrong with the world, what’s wrong is our way of looking at it. Henry Miller
Change your perceptions and you change the world. Eco Zed
When our inner vision opens, our horizons expand. Louise L. Hay
Begin to change your attitude and your whole vision of the world will change. Everything will be peaceful and good. This is the Non-dualism of Vedantic vision. This is the highest knowledge. Swami Tejomayananda
It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It is that they can’t see the problem. G. K. Chesterton
If you are able to state a problem, it can be solved. Edwin H. Land
We have learned the answers, all the answers; it is the questions that we do not know. Archibald MaCleish
He that learns nothing from the past will be punished by the future. Zarathushtra
History is always repeating itself, but each time the costs go higher. Anon
If we really understand the problem, the answer will come out of it: because the solution is not separate from the problem. J. Krishnamurthy
9. DESTRUCTIVE ATTITUDES
Greed – for lack of a better word – is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Wall Street (‘87 Movie)
The inclination to aggression…. constitutes the greatest impediment to civilization. Sigmund Freud
I would rather be an opportunist and float than go to the bottom with my principles round my neck. Stanley Baldwin
I do not think that winning is the most important thing. I think winning is the only thing. Bill Veeck
A man, who thinks only of his own generation, is born for a few. Seneca
Had I been present at the Creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the Universe. Alphonso – King Of Castile
Take the cash and let the credit go nor heed the rumble of a distant drum. Omar Khayyam
The first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means. George Bernanos
Profitability is the sovereign concern of the enterprise. Peter Drucker, Marketing-Management Expert
Policy sits above conscience. Shakespeare
What do we chop, when we chop a tree? A thousand things that you daily see. Y Harburd – Song of The Woodsman
The machine threatens all achievement. Rainer Maria Rilke
No matter who reigns, the merchant reigns. Henry Ward Beecher
The biggest waste of water in the country by far. You spend half a pint and flush two gallons. Prince Philip, Commenting on Toilet Flush System
An ounce of image is worth a pound of performance. Laurence J Peter
Buying credit is robbing next years crop. African-American Proverb
There is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree and then mount the stump to make a speech on Conservation. Adlai Stevenson
Ah, fill the cup what boots it to repeat, / How time is slipping underneath our feet, / Unborn tomorrow and dead yesterday, / Why weep for them if today be sweet. Omar Khayyam
The commerce of the world is conducted by the strong, and usually it operates against the weak. Henry Ward Beecher
The meek will inherit the earth, but not the mining rights. John Paul Getty, Industrialist-Billionaire
The business of America is business. Calvin Coolidge, US President
War is the ultimate expression of the inner conflict. There is war gong on all the time; in the business world, in the world of religious peoples, between the various gurus, the various dogmas. J. Krishnamurthy
No one is eager to gain new experience, as he doesn’t know how to make use of the old ones. Marie Ebner Von Eschenbach
The scholar digs his ivory cellar in the ruins of the past and lets the present sicken, as it will. MaCleish
They spend their time mostly looking forward to the past. John Osborne
I have often thought of stopping (eating meat) myself. However I realize, whether I eat them or not, the same number of animals will be slaughtered in the world, it will not make any difference. So I don’t. but if the whole world were to turn vegetarian, I would happily join… Busybee, Editor; (ADC 29.8.00)
WORK-IN-PROGRESS: THIS WORK IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE-CORRECTION-DEVELOPMENT
