> Gav: > who invented the businessman? > > The real issue is moral leadership, or the absence of it.
As global human race we have become quite adept at setting up all kinds of systems and meta-systems freewheelling their way into all kinds of avenues and alleys their makers never intended. Individual free will is a prized possession that should never be yielded but collective free will of the mindless sort will see us like lemmings going for the cliff or the bison rampaging across the prairie into oblivion. Systems by themselves, end their modern day agent, the businessman are rather amoral. As exchange mechanisms, their role has evolved from molecular interactions in the physical plane to genetic mergers and tradeoffs in the biological plane and to trade and war in the social plane. Now resources are traded on the basis of ideas alone and this is where the financial arena has been most sophisticated. Bad molecules, genes and tribes have disappeared from their inability to sustain these resources. A bad idea will find no investor of money, labour and support. In as far as businessmen are agents of exchange, they are agents of change. As we all know change can go in either direction. We can take the unthinking route and go with the lemmings. Or like Gandhi espoused, be the change we want to see in the world and decide not to go with the lemmings. If lemmings have it hardwired into their genes to go off a cliff then it would have to take a mutation to do the job of going against the tide. As also George Bernard Shaw would put it, "the reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." The real issue is dynamic quality, or the lack of it. Rgds Khoo Hock Aun > > > > --- On Sun, 22/3/09, Khoo Hock Aun <[email protected]> wrote: > > From: Khoo Hock Aun <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [MD] The Brujo > To: [email protected] > Received: Sunday, 22 March, 2009, 7:10 PM > > “*Be the change you want to see in the world*.” - Gandhi > > Gav, > > Interesting point about "that half naked fakir" Gandhi being the cosmic > counterpoint to Hitler. At a time when everyone is seeking answers from > without, do they realise the unthinking way they go around being part of a > whole system, and how they contribute to the system's existence in the > first > place. > > Everyone who is rattling at the cages now has been culpable; and they > can't expect to be absolved just because the system required them to do > so. > For an interesting comparison between Wall Street and Nazi War criminals, > Businessweek has an recent article : > http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/mar2009/ca20090319_591214.htm > > What is at fault is " a business model that routinely produced a similar > kind of remoteness and thoughtlessness, compounded by a widespread > abrogation of individual moral judgment." > > Its either the system, or its us. > > Which is it to be ? > > Rgds > Khoo Hock Aun > > On Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 3:12 PM, gav <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > hi dan, thanks for that story. > > > > i am more on walter's side re: astrology. not inferring causative > > relations, just saying everything's an analogue all the way down and > > up...think the stars and planets are 'out there'? > > > > been thinking about another brujo - the biggest brujo of them all in > modern > > times: gandhi. he provided the cosmic balance to hitler. he kicked the > > british out of india by being a peasant, by being honest, by being brave, > by > > refusing to hate anything and by being very very smart. he was after all > a > > distinguished attorney. > > > > we see nowadays a situation that seems hopeless to us (does to me a lot > > anyway) but if one man can free 700 million indians...how can we not > > succeed? > > > > what i am getting at is that we need to learn this lesson. gandhi > > SUCCEEDED.he succeeded because he strategically outhought the empire and > > because he was real, normal - humble. because he had nothing! > > > > he never reflected back the violence that the british showed him and the > > indian people. and when violence was shown by indians he refused to > accept > > and fasted til he died or they stopped. > > > > the simple truth of gandhi's victory seems salient today - > non-cooperation. > > it is simple, it is direct, it is non-violent but it is not passive - it > is > > very very active. the english could not govern india without the consent > of > > the indians - so simple. and when they withdrew their co-operation india > > stopped. and no amount of brutality could deflect their collective > spirit. > > 'you can break my bones, even kill me but then you will only have my dead > > body - not my obedience' > > > > what is our empire? what is our raj? well to return to that cosmic twin > of > > gandhi's - hitler, we see the picture emerge. hitler won. we have to face > > that truth. we live in a totalitarian world, a fascist world. this is the > > fact of the matter. the empire is everywhere and primarily it is in our > > heads. > > > > our occupying power is the giant's voice that occupies our minds. we are > > all occupied, to a greater or lesser extent. no man is an island. we > cannot > > free ourselves without everyone being free. > > > > no one is free: not the slave, not the master. as long as division > remains > > we have only the totality of global fascism, not the unity of a sane > world. > > > > we are all clinically insane. fact. we do things everyday that destroy > the > > very things we need to live. we destroy, we acquiesce, daily we are our > own > > police. we are fucking nuts man. we are rearranging deckchairs on the > > titanic. > > > > unless....unless we are choosing destruction. unless we are actively > > choosing this total nihilism, a sort of trance in which we mortify > ourselves > > and the world....in an effort to shake a metaphysical fist at an uncaring > > universe or a vengeful god. > > > > nihilism. that's the problem, metaphysically speaking. pirsig is one of > the > > solutions to it. > > > > so what to do? what does non-co-operation mean for us today? does it mean > > refusing to participate in destroying the earth? does it mean to refuse > to > > accept violence, injustice - anywhere in the world? does it mean the > > transcendence of nihilism? a sort of positive nihilism in which we reveal > > the values of our universe through our actions with others in it? the > > solidarity of the earth. > > > > perhaps, like gandhi, it means giving up money? > > > > perhaps we need an 'earth day'; a day when we don't work, drive, buy, use > > fossil fuels. a day of just giving the earth a break. maybe this day > would > > show us how easy it is to stop the machine. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Stay connected to the people that matter most with a smarter inbox. > > Take a look http://au.docs.yahoo.com/mail/smarterinbox > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > > Archives: > > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ > > > > > > -- > > [email protected] > 6016-301 4079 > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ > > > Stay connected to the people that matter most with a smarter inbox. > Take a look http://au.docs.yahoo.com/mail/smarterinbox > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ > -- [email protected] 6016-301 4079 Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
