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22 Jul 2006 @ 15:45, by shreepal. Philosophy
We intend to end the present series of articles on the history of new civilization, though for the time being and till the opportune time comes, with a few observations. What is the relevance of history with a civilization that is yet to take birth? It is this: The new civilization cannot be founded on something that is totally new in its essence. The realty - the essence of truth - has to be discovered again and again by the marching mankind. It is a discovery of something that has always been there, though we think we had not grasped its essence and meaning in our previous discoveries as we think we have grasped today with our larest discovery. But the truth is that it was discovered in the past also, albeit with a different content and meaning. We have to discover this essence once again with a content that is acceptable to us and with a meaning that is understood by us, that is, the essence of realty couched in the modern scientific language and seemingly new in substance.
This realty was discovered in the past also by many known leaders of mankind and by many more who are not known. We do not have the appetite for now to refer to them here. We want to skip to the subject that is more important in utility and relevant in guiding us onto the correct path that lays ahead for mankind. What do we understand by new civilization? How different would it be from our "current" old civilization? What would be the basic features of new civilization?
Evolutionary agenda of Mankind
Nature is on its ceaseless task of evolving an instrument better than Mind. We have pointed out elsewhere that Mind follows a thought-processing method wherein there is separation of a part from the whole and then integration of this ‘now understood’ part into the whole. It is a trial and error method. All hypotheses – that are based on reason and logic of Mind – follow this blind method of trial and error. This method is flawed on account of its inherent weakness. Therefore, all truths discovered by this method – that is, by Mind – never expound a truth fully and completely. All scientific discoveries and their underlying scientific laws – like the laws of gravity, law of conservation of energy, et al – regularly undergo periodic modification.
But what we human beings know, animals do not. And, what animals know, plants do not. Each life-species has evolved over a long period of time her instrument of knowledge, which is still under the process of evolutionary refinement. Man is no exception to this process. Man and his Mind are undergoing change. It is axiomatic to say that it has always been so since the debut of Homo-sapiens on our Earth. But, significantly, this change is rapid today. Science is playing a decisive role in this process of evolutionary change. Science does affect not only the human being’s day-today life by offering levers to him in his struggle against Nature but his Mind also. His Mind grows more complex. With the advance of science, man becomes more capable to understand nature, and that includes his own life, and more aware of the limitation and insufficiency of the instrument (of Mind) that he is equipped with. This awareness is reflected in his growing sense of hollowness somewhere within and inability of science, despite its dazzling achievements, to account for many open questions.
Man and his science have reached a place where all branches of knowledge are converging onto a single point and a single query is staring them for answer: what is the nature of universal existence?
A new instrument that is better than Mind in efficacy and higher in evolutionary stage is in the offing. With the new instrument in place, Mind would not be discarded but would be relegated to a subordinate position in one’s life. This instrument would know the truth by a method where human consciousness would identify itself with the object rather than the method wherein consciousness disintegrates and re-integrates thoughts of objects into a harmonious whole. It would be a method of heart, which would replace and dominate the method of Mind – reason and logic. Though the new method still would be a mere shadow of the eternal Presence but there would be less distortion of this light in the process of downward percolation in its case than in the case of Mind.
New civilization ought to be dedicated to this evolutionary phenomenon and must be founded on its requirements. New civilization is not the civilization of human beings who are equipped with this new instrument of truth-perception but it is a civilization of those people who are ready and preparing to welcome the new advent. New civilization is the transitional civilization: a meeting place of two civilizations.
New civilization and the efforts to make its debut as early as possible is a serious subject and the same do not merit to be played lightly at our hands. New civilization cannot be made to happen and establish itself in a short period of time. It is bound to take not decades but centuries, if not more. Also, its happening is not dependent on human efforts. Individuals’ efforts, if made, may shorten the gestation period and help in a smooth birth that may become long awaited.
Nature is full of paradoxes. Yet it is the inability of our Mind that makes things look paradoxical. One such paradox of Nature is that it is cyclic in its operation and yet the things are not repeated again in exactly the same manner. It looks like a spiral evolution where things and events appear again and again, which are basically the same but in new forms to meet the new situations. History is no exception to this cyclic process.
We find in history seeds of human culture that sprout again and again in new forms but with the same qualitative contents to meet new situations brought into existence by the passage of time. We foresee that these seeds are once again ready to sprout in the fertile soil of our times. Our times are fully ripe for the germination of the old seeds. Our times are fret with problems that are unparalleled and unheard of in human history. These problems are so grave in their consequences and so encompassing in their scale that they put the mankind’s existence in peril. These are ideally fertile times for germination of the old seeds – that had saved mankind many a times in the past – once again in new forms. Mankind embattled with these problems is once again ready to listen – as in the past – to the teachings that have been taught in ages past in different contexts and different forms.
A new civilization that offers this old seeds in new form to bail out mankind is the need of the hour.
There are three signs of new civilization. Firstly, it would be based on the new understanding by human beings of the prime realty that has always existed there. Secondly, this understanding of the prime realty would be uniform for human beings and would not be divisive in nature as it had been in the past. The evolution of Mind would not only remove the geographic distance among different sections of mankind but it would also remove the difference of perceptions of the prime realty among these sections. And, thirdly, this prime realty, though still mystic to Mind, would be supported by its reason. New Civilization has not yet dawned on our Earth, where people have already gone global. Whenever it makes its debut, it would be compulsive in its utility and global in its reach. But this utility would not be its chief strength. Its strength would rather lie in the realization by our race that it has re-discovered the realty in a manner – so called scientific manner – that is the only one acceptable to reason and that this realty though always existed there but remained mystic to Mind. This realization would profoundly change mankind’s priorities and its institutions of collective living would accordingly undergo a revolutionary change. All these institutions – economics, culture and politics – could then no longer be allowed by the enlightened collective societal life to further the egoistic agenda of individual or collective living.
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 22 Jul 2006 @ 14:42, by ming. Economics, Financing, Banking
Yesterday I needed to make an important payment, with money I had in my U.S. account. Without thinking it through very well, I decided that the fastest way of getting the money over here was Western Union. "Money in Minutes", you know. Had I thought it through better, I'd have realized that the easiest thing is just to ask my bank to increase my cash advance limit, and then take them out in an ATM. As I'd have to use the same cash advance limit to make a Western Union payment. But I didn't think that through at first.
So, I got my bank to make $1000 available, and went to the Western Union website, and ordered the wiring of the money. And it said it had been ordered, but before the money would be available, I'd need to call them to answer some security questions.
Now, it has been a lot in the news recently that Western Union has blocked money transfers for anybody with an Arab name, in some misguided attempt of hindering the funding of terrorists. Which sucks if you're one of the millions of innocent people named Mohammed. But that doesn't really apply to me.
But it turned out that they've implemented a new elaborate security verification scheme. Which consists of asking me questions based on what they've found in the public record about me. They asked me about 10 different multiple-choice questions. They were basically two kinds: 1. giving me a list of domain names and asking if I've registered any of them, and if so which one, or whether I just don't recognize any of them. 2. giving me a list of addresses, and asking me whether I've had any relation to them, and if so what city they're in, chosen from multiple choices, or whether I don't recognize any of them.
I own lots of domains. But yet they gave me several lists of domains I'd never heard of, which I told them. And they gave me lists of addresses I didn't recognize. Except for one, which was an address I used to have a mailbox at, 15 years ago. And then they gave me a list of 5 cities, to identify which one would go with the address. The problem was that my address at East Broadway was in Glendale, California. But the choices were "Los Angeles", "Riverside", "San Bernardino", and a couple more. I explained that to the operator, that there must be some mistake, the address I recognized was in Glendale, and not in any of those, but if I had to choose one of them, the closest would be Los Angeles.
So, then after all 10 questions like that, he informs me that, sorry, but I don't pass the Western Union expanded security requirements. Which, obviously, are screwed up somehow. Essentially they take the kind of stuff that is in one's credit record, or in domain registrations, and if there's anything that happens to be a bit incorrect, or wrong, or one doesn't remember one's address of 15 years ago, one is out of luck.
Now, the problem is also that they already took my money. I.e. they charged a $1000 cash advance from my account when I ordered the money transfer, which registered on my account immediately. And now the guy says he'll cancel the transaction, but that it is no concern of his how and when my bank responds to that.
A call to my bank, after they opened a number of hours later, reveals that all they see is that I spent $1000 with Western Union, and if anything would be reversed, they'd estimate that it might take 2 or 3 business days. Which in itself is ridiculous, of course. If you can do an instant subtraction, you can of course just as easily do an instant addition. But that is often not how banks work. I can spend my money instantly, but if, say, I do a wire transfer between countries, it takes 5-7 business days. There's no good excuse for that, of course. Anyway, in this case the problem is that my $1000 instead of being transferred "in minutes" got locked up for a few days, and I've already spent my maximum cash advance limit for the day, and despite that there were more money in my account, there was no way of getting at them that day. Oh, I could have gone and bought a huge dinner with it, and VISA would have charged it instantly, but that's a different matter.
So, what sucks? Well, Western Union is really cumbersome, has a dysfunctional set of security requirements, and operators who's job it seems to be to give you a hard time, rather than helping you. And if they don't want your transaction, they keep your money for several days more anyway. Which might well be because the banking system sucks. More >
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 22 Jul 2006 @ 07:07, by judih. Violence, War
...........
early morning brings latest news
sinking heart
escalation of conflicts
engagement in battle
...........
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21 Jul 2006 @ 10:34, by vector8. Spirituality
It's the nature of the sun to shine.
It's funny how as babies most of us are adored for who we are. Your parents and family find you delightful. But slowly, bit by bit, your parents chip away at your unique self and try to mould you to become what they want you to be. More >
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 21 Jul 2006 @ 01:52, by delphinius. Shared Purpose
One of my pet symbols: The solid bronze lion statue in front of the MGM Grand Casino, Sin City - Las Vegas, Nevada. Our modern day Sphinx in the desert.
I've been reading in the news logs about the recent propositions for the mining of gold to establish a NCN Community. I have the following comment on the implications of gold, and our course into the future as I see it. More >
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 20 Jul 2006 @ 15:01, by mre. Education
Global Democracy & Sustainability literacy learning:
Why they must go hand-in-hand by Eric Schneider
Eric, this is a wonderful article, chock full of enthusiasm and sensible ideas. I applaud your ideas and sentiments, and am impressed by the !Positive News and Youth Views! Ezine at http://www.pnyv.org where you are a member of the Founding and Creative Board. I must add your latest at http://pnyv.org/literacies and how to trigger a new conference culture! Yes! More >
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19 Jul 2006 @ 09:24, by armos. Organizational Development
In the millenia people dreamed of a new society, more fair, more free, more reasonable. They dreamed not simply of a material prosperity and safety - they dreamed, speaking language of my concept, about freedom of self-accomplishment (self-knowledge, self-development and self-realization), about freedom of performance of the Supreme Mission, about freedom of construction of Paradise on the Earth. At last, this time, time of realization of high dream of mankind, has come... More >
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 19 Jul 2006 @ 05:39, by judih. Natural Health & Healing
"I love the swimming pool, especially at sunset," said Janine. "I love the rows of violets when the purple is at full blossom. I am invigorated and excited by flowers. Ah, the iris! Nir Oz is paradise, the garden of Eden, the flower of the desert."
"I love the landscape here." Janine continued in her unique French accented Hebrew, "There are places where the company of trees perform their own scripts for me, their audience."
These excerpts come from an interview with Janine, conducted last summer, 2005, by Hayuta Zilberman, as part of our 50 interviews of Kibbutzniks for our 50th Anniversary Jubilee Journal, which Hayuta and I were co-editing.
Five years ago, Janine was diagnosed with cancer. At that time, she began a journey into self-healing. More >
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17 Jul 2006 @ 21:40, by b. Entrepreneurs, Money Making
I have written a number of blog entries about the Newciv Gold Project and funding for a Newciv model community.
Originally what I proposed and have done now is create a company formation that is dedicated to discovery and devopment of gold mining in northern Neada, USA.
I have had a long and extensive experience with finding gold bearing properties, registring them and then proving them up.
I have taken an opportunity in 2006 to form the Majestic Discovery company in California to collect and register and devopment a gold ming property with proven reserves in Nevada. Gold is minded and milled in a variety of ways. The easiest types of gold to process is placer gold , that found near stream beads in gravel and quartz. There are many new high tech solutions available
I know a number of properties by personal experience and have kept in correspondence with technical people as to the most advantageous ways to develop these propeties.
I suggested all of this here at NCN to give some members opportunity to invest and receive a huge return on their investment in the form of this discovery company. It was my thought before making this proposal that of the 10,000 membership there should be qualified investors among the membership. People who have made investments in the past or are presently invested. Investments in things like mutual funds, stocks, commodities or even some members might have the knowledge and skills to play the market by observing the changing values and making puts andcalls. Or just investing in currencies. I have gained no knowledge of such members here.
From the responses that I have recieved to my various blog entries on these proposals and even my idea of using some of the profits to further and fund a model newciv community, I have had very little response. So I have taken the original proposal and presented it through several financial markets and there is interest in gold stocks, gold bars and precious metals that can be mined especially when the land can be restored after the mining.
So even if there is no direct participation by NCN members who don't or can't recieve profit I hope you wish me and these rojects well. I did and do want NCN members to profit from this experience. Even if there is little or no interest in individuals here possesing gold for keeping or for changing into goods or money. I still have some thought of benifiting members here whee I have been a long time NCN member. Maybe I will give each member one share of stock at the time when that happens. Would NCN membes accept a share? More >
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 17 Jul 2006 @ 20:38, by i2i. Spirituality
“...launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land, there is no other life but this.”
—Henry David Thoreau
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