Theos-Talk Archives (February 2002 Message tt00554)

Ramadoss [writing to Adelasie]:

At 12:07 PM 2/18/02 -0600, you wrote:

> Great achievements are the result of individuals and not of organizations.
> A handful can change the world. So it is in the power of each one of us to
> try. The results can vary due to various conditions. But it is our duty to 
> Try!
On the local cable TV, there's a NASA channel now. It shows
educational shows on the space program and recent videos of
the earth as seen by space.

One show illustrated the incredible complexity of the space
shuttle program and how much science and hard work was necessary
to make it work. It showed how an organization based upon
exploration and the quest for knowledge could do things
otherwise impossible, where it not for the large-scale cooperation
of individuals in the organization.

I think it's possible for an large organization to be benevolent
and make for us a better world. The principle, as I see it, is
that we achieve more in cooperation rather than isolation. As
we become better at what we do and share it with others, we
become increasingly interdependent. The result is that we need
each other more, but benefit greatly from the interdependence.
The opposite tendency would be to seek greater independence and
isolation, leading to a hermit or survivalist lifestyle, giving
up contact with others but also losing all the benefits of their
creative output and the benefits of the hard work that they do.

Organizations get in trouble when the people in charge get
corrupted by greed and the lust for power. That's not the
fault of the organization, except in that it should have better
safeguards against that happening.

I'd say, don't blame the organizations, blame those in power
that fall prey to corruption. Then it's the individual's
responsibility to help bring in new leadership, not to blame
the organization.

-- Eldon