markmeredith2002 wrote: > > Good post Turquoise. The book "The Guru Papers" mentions how gurus > often come up with gradiose plans near the end of their mission -- a > few relevant paragraphs are quoted below. > > "When the guru realizes that most people are not going to acknowledge > him, he often compensates, if he can afford it, by building monumental > edifices that proclaim his greatness."
C. Northcote Parkinson, In _Parkinson's Law_, points out that institutions do their really important work in makeshift quarters. By the time they get around to building edifices to themselves, their real work is done. From the book: "A perfection of planned layout [of a building] is achieved only by institutions on the point of collapse. ... During a period of exciting discovery or progress there is no time to plan the perfect headquarters. The time for that comes later, when all the important work has been done. Perfection, we know, is finality; and finality is death." He cites many examples, including the Palace of Versailles, completed just as the decline of Louis's power had begun, and the British colonial capital of New Delhi, into which Lord Irwin moved in 1929, just as the Indian Congress demanded independence. In the United States we can think of our own Capital, not completed until nearly four score and seven years after the Declaration of Independence; and the Pentagon, completed at the end of World War II. The Sears Tower rose as that company's empire fell to Wal-Mart and all the other stores that now dominate retailing. Think of all the vaastu-compliant buildings built by now-closed businesses in Fairfield. For all of you laboring in cramped, inadequate quarters, be thankful. - Patrick Gillam To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
