Re: Theos-World According to demand or creating the demand
Jun 15, 2005 07:58 PM
by Jerry Hejka-Ekins
Dear Anton,
So, they created radio apparatus out of coca-
cola preserve, using buffalo's excrement as a source of energy.
I had a small collection of newspaper and magazine articles about people
who did things like make their cars run from pig's excrement, recycling
rain water for gardening, solar energy for heating water, building
techniques to take advantage of the sun's energy etc. Occasionally I
hear of someone who put it all together and became independent of the
water and power companies, but yet meet any of them. I always thought
that a real service would be to have people master these technologies
and teach them in the US which uses 80% of the world's resources. I
suspect that if it happened, the energy corporations would get a lot of
laws enacted in order to make such projects impossible.
Maybe the most interesting and applicable would be his way of
breaking stereotypes in which mind see the things. He had some
interesting graphic exercises to that purpose, but I can't reproduce
it here, so I will send you an example on your private e-mail.
Yes, I remember this from the 60s when Gestalt therapy become popular. I
was working at an open setting Community Mental Health center at the
time. The mind travels its well worn groves until one gets
(metaphorically) slapped across the head by a larger reality. I always
thought of the Secret Doctrine as one of those books which forces the
reader to start forming new pathways if they are to begin to understand
what is in that book. It is a really extraordinary book, but must be
read slowly, carefully and thoughtfully.
Yes, the methodology is neutral per se. It is the operator who
determines the nature of its use. And as always, it is the motive
which is important. Individuals and agencies have to earn for their
living and if there are public resources lacking (due to the
privatization of public budget) they lose their independence and
they have to, to not jeopardize their existence, adopt themselves to
the demand of employer, often quite self-restrectively. (We used to
say here that they have a political commissar in their head.) And
there are really only few who are courageous enough to challenge
such situations.
Yes, there were political polls preceding the 2004 Presidential election
predicting a win for Bush, and others for Kerry, which were trying to
influence the public. There were others out there who were trying to
accurately measure who was favored where. This is the first time I have
ever seen a Presidential administration so blatantly trying to
manipulate public opinion. I remember all of this starting in the Reagan
administration where they made a fine art of it. But what they are doing
now is comparatively crass.
Far for being an expert, but I got the impression that he is not the
right person for such type of competition, it seemed that he is not
in his shoes, and that they should conduct a different campaign or
have another candidate.
I'm not sure if anyone is right for that kind of competition. The Karl
Rove technique is to go after the candidate's strongest points and
destroy them from there. They did that to Kerry by attaching his war
record and then took a line out of context from one of his speeches to
give the impression that he was unable to lead. The party which wins is
always the party which controls the rhetoric. Eventually the average
person will realize that the Iraq war is another Vietnam situation, and
we are nearing a very serious recession. The signs are all around us and
a few people are beginning to see them. Retail is down, gasoline is
near, and sometime over $2.50 a gallon. There are the kinds of things
which usually brings about a change of parties--but not always. There
are some very popular Republicans who might have a good chance in 2008.
I would say that this is quite common in Europe. People see their
political leaders as more or less corrupt and the state as enemy
which takes their money and otherwise hinders their freedom and
which don't care much about their needs. Maybe the Scandinavian
countries are different for there the social awareness is quite high.
Well, that is something to ponder. In this country, most voters are of
retirement age and are primarily interested in things like building more
prisons and have more police in order to protect their property. Seems
that in Europe, political awareness cuts across all age levels.
Yes, and I would add that this development of discrimination demands
not only the capability to think but also the capability of ethical
evaluation and that a really awaken human being sees the "sorrow in
the eyes of forgotten children" and acts accordingly.
It seems that their are always a few souls who naturally gravitate in
the direction of altruism--more people just want to make sure that get a
piece of the pie and don;t want to know anything else. My wife developed
and teaches a graduate level course which exposes public corruption. It
is a life changing course for many of them. Few are aware of the extent
and systemic nature of the public corruption and are very deeply shocked
when the material is presented to them. Near the end of the semester
they begin to feel depressed and helpless. But these are all students
who are training to become Public Administrators, so she uses the last
part of the semester to teach them things they can do in order to
mitigate against the trend.
Best Wishes,
Jerry
Anton Rozman wrote:
Dear Jerry,
From the review this does indeed appear to be an excellent book. I
am especially impressed that he is interested in helping the
underclass.<
Yes, he undertook some really impressive projects with his students,
for instance, designing wireless and TV sets for undeveloped regions
of Africa and Asia. So, they created radio apparatus out of coca-
cola preserve, using buffalo's excrement as a source of energy. The
cost of this unique wireless set was 8 cents, but people could
listen to their local news and decorated it as they want, creating
some really special pieces. If I recall well the cost of TV set was
50 dollars.
Perhaps there are some ideas here which could be applied to other
altruistic efforts? Ideas which we can use?<
Maybe the most interesting and applicable would be his way of
breaking stereotypes in which mind see the things. He had some
interesting graphic exercises to that purpose, but I can't reproduce
it here, so I will send you an example on your private e-mail.
As he worked as professor at the California Institute of the Arts
too, maybe they have some more information about his unique
educational approach.
But I read this book long time ago and don't have it anymore, so I
can remember only some fragments and his well grounded idealistic
orientation and enlightening message. And there is another book of
his, The Green Imperative: Natural Design for the Real World, which
unfortunately I didn't read yet.
For interested here is his biography link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Papanek
Often poles are used in political campaigns in order to create
public opinion. But, poles can have more honest uses too, and they
often do.<
Yes, the methodology is neutral per se. It is the operator who
determines the nature of its use. And as always, it is the motive
which is important. Individuals and agencies have to earn for their
living and if there are public resources lacking (due to the
privatization of public budget) they lose their independence and
they have to, to not jeopardize their existence, adopt themselves to
the demand of employer, often quite self-restrectively. (We used to
say here that they have a political commissar in their head.) And
there are really only few who are courageous enough to challenge
such situations.
Kerry's was the most poorly managed campaigns since Goldwater in
1964.<
Far for being an expert, but I got the impression that he is not the
right person for such type of competition, it seemed that he is not
in his shoes, and that they should conduct a different campaign or
have another candidate.
One thing I like about France is that the people (on the whole) do
not trust their government. That, combined with a free press and a
public who remains politically aware, they do a good job keeping
their government in check.<
I would say that this is quite common in Europe. People see their
political leaders as more or less corrupt and the state as enemy
which takes their money and otherwise hinders their freedom and
which don't care much about their needs. Maybe the Scandinavian
countries are different for there the social awareness is quite high.
The fatal flaw is that most Americans don't want to know how bad
things really are.<
I think that this is quite natural reaction, and if their social
position is not in danger people don't want to see ugly things. They
usually turn away from bad scenes. But here comes in play one's
moral dimension. Morally developed person takes the responsibility
and tries to overcome this natural reaction of lower bodies and to
act to eliminate injustice.
The development of discrimination requires training. People have to
be trained to think critically. Most do not know how. … Theosophy is
for people who can think, or who can drive themselves to think. One
could also apply this to what is required to become an awakened
human being.<
Yes, and I would add that this development of discrimination demands
not only the capability to think but also the capability of ethical
evaluation and that a really awaken human being sees the "sorrow in
the eyes of forgotten children" and acts accordingly.
Warmest regards,
Anton
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