My suggestion for navigating this blog at this stage, and with my completely limited knowledge of blogging, is to click on Contributors, and move from there into whatever interests you.
Keith
Tuesday 21 May 2019
Saturday 2 January 2016
What do we do about "Islamic" terrorist organisations?
What do we do about
“Islamic” terrorist organisations?
What is to be achieved by sending armed forces to Syria
against Isis? That is what they want us to do. Such actions enable them to gain
more conscripts. Such a move would fit the narrative of Armageddon which they
predict. But beyond that violence breeds more violence. And the greatest threat
of violence is within our own communities, not in eastern countries.
For the most part, those who arrive in Western countries as
refugees or migrants are happy to be there in relative stability, and make
efforts to be constructive members of society.
Some are Islamic, and that is not a threat to us, rather true Islamic
values can benefit our society. But the children of these migrants, educated in
the shallow way of the west - to be part of our overly-capitalistic society –
and experiencing prejudice against them and their parents, sometimes are drawn
to extreme movements which espouse doctrines totally unrelated to the teachings
of Muhammad, yet purport to be truly Muslim. These movements desire the
destruction of the Western system.
This worldwide Western system proclaims democracy and
freedom, and we wonder why these so- called ‘Islamic ’ movements seek to
undermine us. But if we step back and view our society with some distance, and
over a period of time, we can see that we came from a period of narrow rigid
values into a time of social revolution, but without true direction this became
a culture of hedonism – do what you like as long as it makes you feel
good. This was a time, though
proclaiming peace and love and tolerance, of a net reduction of values. From this the pendulum swung and we moved into
a time of gross materialism, the philosophy of greed proclaimed long ago by
Adam Smith taken to new heights of application in the philosophy of Friedman,
exported around all the western nations. Individualism replaced community, and
inequality extremes became a virtue. The loss of values moved onward.
Surely we can now perceive how
young people, born between two worlds and feeling intensely isolated, could
want to embrace an organisation proclaiming brotherhood and powerful rules with
the avowed aim of destroying the impure Western society.
Now we are faced with the
questions, “Will bombs and guns destroy ‘Islamic’ militancy? Will stopping the
flow of millions of migrants fix the world?” Surely the bombs and guns will
increase the flow of migrants? Different nations of the west have different
values as to who is a terrorist, to be bombed from the sky, and who is a
freedom fighter against oppression. And these bombs do not discriminate between
the people they land on, especially the women and children.
“We do not need guns
and bombs to bring peace, we need love and compassion.”
― Mother Teresa
“An eye for an eye
will only make the whole world blind.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
“I object to violence
because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it
does is permanent.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
The world is at war
and the human race is in travail and mortal combat. The dark night of hate hath
taken over, and the light of good faith is blotted out. The peoples and
kindreds of the earth have sharpened their claws, and are hurling themselves
one against the other. It is the very foundation of the human race that is
being destroyed. It is thousands of households that are vagrant and
dispossessed, and every year seeth thousands upon thousands of human beings
weltering in their life-blood on dusty battlefields. The tents of life and joy
are down. The generals practise their generalship, boasting of the blood they
shed, competing one with the next in inciting to violence. 'With this sword,'
saith one of them, 'I beheaded a people!' And another: 'I toppled a nation to
the ground!' And yet another: 'I brought a government down!' On such things do
men pride themselves, in such do they glory! Love -- righteousness -- these are
everywhere censured, while despised are harmony, and devotion to the truth.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from
the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 2)
When a thought of war
comes, oppose it by a stronger thought of peace. A thought of hatred must be
destroyed by a more powerful thought of love. Thoughts of war bring destruction
to all harmony, well-being, restfulness and content.
Thoughts of love are
constructive of brotherhood, peace, friendship, and happiness.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p.
29)
And to finish with a recent quote which supplies an answer
to the problem:
“With guns you can
kill terrorists, with education you can kill terrorism.”
― Malala Yousafzai
This is not just the shallow education we supply children to
make them efficient parts of the profit making machine, but true education into
the values of life, into true reality, as espoused by all the above leaders of
thought.
Tuesday 9 December 2014
Inklings of a New World
All religions have millennial prophecies in which “the end
of the world” is proclaimed for a future time.
Many also mention a millennial rule of order and justice also for the
future.
Baha’is believe that the foretold times have arrived and
that “the old world order” is dying, even as the new world order is emerging. That is, the old accepted way in which the
world functions, the separation of the human world into ‘sovereign nations’, the
separation of races, of classes, and economic systems of advantage, are all
being fast eroded. In their place new
systems are gradually evolving, and are often overlooked because of their
immature forms.
The United Nations, or a similarly purposed organisation,
must gradually evolve from its current condition to a world governing body that
properly embodies the following characteristics:.
“A world executive,
backed by an international Force, will carry out the decisions arrived at, and
apply the laws enacted by, this world legislature, and will safeguard the
organic unity of the whole commonwealth. A world tribunal will adjudicate and
deliver its compulsory and final verdict in all and any disputes that may arise
between the various elements constituting this universal system.”
(Shoghi
Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 203)
The creation and evolution of the Internet surely fulfills
this further part of the prediction,
written in the 1930s.
“A mechanism of world
inter-communication will be devised, embracing the whole planet, freed from
national hindrances and restrictions, and functioning with marvelous swiftness
and perfect regularity.”
(Shoghi
Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 203)
The imminent collapse of the economic system is foreseen by
many, though they are often labelled as doomsayers. However, an economic system
largely proclaiming to be the “free market”, yet where possible, the participants
subvert regulations and politicians to stamp out fair competition and increase
profits, and with a monetary system based on continuous rapid expansion where
the capital largely does not exist requiring the constant enlargement of debt,
cannot provide stability nor endure much longer.
So while this system is in its death throes, where is the new
system in its infancy, to replace the old financial order? Baha’u’llah, founder
of the Baha’i Faith, proclaimed that one world currency is needed. Might not
that currency be one of the digital ones being devised, such as Bitcoin? How
else will the nations be persuaded to relinquish their separate, age-old
currencies? Bitcoin is associated in peoples’ minds with crime and pornography,
but that was also the accusation against the Internet a couple of decades ago,
yet people now would not be without this system of communication and information. Who knows what will develop from these
systems given ten, twenty years?
But where is the economic system to replace the
multinational corporations dominating the world economic system and its
politics, and to utilise a new currency system? Even as world-embracing systems
such as Twitter and Facebook have rapidly evolved on the Internet, so systems
will evolve linked with digital currency, the Internet, and mobile phones.
Indeed mobile phone technology is starting to revolutionize the fortunes of
ordinary people in the Third World, and linked with digital currency, their
problem of a lack of banking facilities will be addressed. In the west now, we have the new technology of
Peer to Peer Lending, creating an alternative to conventional banking.
Some balance is
already being created in Third World economics through Micro-financing. Often
micro-financing is directed towards the women, bringing an important principle
into play, namely equality of men and women. This principle, announced by
Baha’u’llah, is indispensable to producing a just, stable world system.
Interestingly, there are other technologies being invented
in the West, which seem destined to bring equity to the world, such as solar
power. This technology, though of benefit to western countries, is immediately
revolutionary to the Third World. All benefits of new technologies, however,
can be reduced or undone by political and social instability.
Unless the world system becomes more equal between east and
west, there can be no long-term stability for any country in the world.
(Inspired foresight by
Baha’u’llah and Shoghi Effendi, opinions by Keith Mitcherson)
Friday 27 December 2013
Can Religion put a proper perspective on giving Tax Breaks to increase business and employment?
Can Religion put a
proper perspective on giving Tax Breaks to increase business and employment?
Governments are often pressured into giving huge tax breaks
to businesses. Film companies will seek benefits if they are to make the film
locally. Multinationals will seek tax breaks and incentives before establishing
a large factory in a certain locality. From the perspective of the government,
they are securing economic activity for their locality which would otherwise go
elsewhere, and something is better than nothing, so the reduced tax income does
not matter.
But if logic carries on this direction one can assert that
all businesses should not have to pay tax, and this would increase business
activity and therefore employment, producing benefits to all. Indeed, many are
trying to make this assertion, those who believe in the trickle-down theory.
However, it can be clearly seen worldwide that the rich are
getting richer and the poor are getting poorer – a direct result of the sort of
rationalising mentioned above. This cannot continue indefinitely. The obvious
limiting factor is that civil unrest will eventually ensue. Less obvious is
that as the extremes of poverty and wealth grow, trade will necessarily falter
due to the lack of ability of the masses to afford the rich array of goods and
services being offered to them. Wealthy
producers will increasingly struggle to find markets to continue their income
flow, but the markets will be in decline.
A major fallacy in the logic lies in our artificial division
of areas of the earth and populations into socially and economically separate
units. Although this may have been a
partially accurate truth in centuries gone by, there is no longer any validity
for this.
The current stage of development of mankind can be summed up
in one statement made by in the 19th century by Baha’u’llah, the
founder of the Baha’i Faith, and it is that:
“The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens”.
Therefore any government policy which does not keep this
perspective in mind cannot have enduring beneficial results, but will instead be
a part of the economical battleground, that tries to assert one locality over
another, fighting over ever-diminishing resources, instead of sharing in a
global, ever-growing wealth.
The other perspective ignored in giving tax breaks to
companies is that of justice and equity, as briefly alluded to above.
“We entreat God to deliver the
light of equity and the sun of justice from the thick clouds of waywardness,
and cause them to shine forth upon men. No light can compare with the light of
justice. The establishment of order in the world and the tranquillity of the
nations depend upon it.”
(Baha'u'llah)
Is it equitable for directors, executives and investors in
companies to get ever increasing returns/salaries while those who do the
practical work have to survive on a fixed or even a decreasing wage? Is it equitable that these same workers also
have to carry the tax burden on behalf of those businessmen? Economic theories
of greed threaten world order, and therefore the fortunes of those who
currently celebrate and advocate the same economic systems.
There is an indisputable rule to be considered in the light
of these statements, the Golden Rule of all religions.
One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself.
Or taken further
“Blessed is he who preferreth his
brother before himself.”
(Bahá'u'lláh)
Sunday 2 September 2012
Spring Renewal
Spring Renewal
Finally, at mid-afternoon, the weak spring sun finally broke
through the thin, wispy veils, warming and brightening the landscape. So I
grabbed the mountain bike and took the dog for a run along the Tukituki river
stopbank.
In the distance I saw what could have been a man in dark
clothing, beside a brightly lit poplar tree still unawakened in these first
days of spring, but as I approached nearer it proved to be the ‘negative’
shadow area on the side opposite the sunlight. This set me to thinking how what
can seem to be a real object or force is actually just a lack of a positive
presence. For instance, dark is the absence of light, and cold the absence of
heat, both of which had earlier been rectified when the sun won the battle
against the aerial water vapours. In the same way, we perceive evil as a
definite reality, yet it is actually the absence of good. Walking out into a
big frost early on a morning, one would want to assert that cold was a definite
force as that is how we perceive it, but the sun’s first rays can quickly
neutralise the challenge at this time of year. However I decided that one has
to carefully pick one’s metaphors when I considered that the peace and quiet I
was enjoying was due to the absence of sound!
“If there was no wrong how would you recognize the right?
If it were not for sin how would you appreciate virtue? If evil deeds were
unknown how could you commend good actions? If sickness did not exist how would
you understand health? Evil is non-existent; it is the absence of good; sickness
is the loss of health; poverty the lack of riches. When wealth disappears you
are poor; you look within the treasure box but find nothing there. Without
knowledge there is ignorance; therefore ignorance is simply the lack of
knowledge. Death is the absence of life. Therefore on the one hand we have
existence; on the other, nonexistence, negation or absence of existence.”
(Abdu'l-Baha,
Foundations of World Unity, p. 78)
Indeed, this world provides us with many metaphors,
intended, I believe, to instruct us should we open our minds, about a greater
existence than this physical world. In part our reason for existence is to
penetrate these hidden meanings.
"Divine things are too deep to be expressed by common
words. The heavenly teachings are expressed in parable in order to be
understood and preserved for ages to come. When the spiritually minded dive
deeply into the ocean of their meaning they bring to the surface the pearls of
their inner significance. There is no greater pleasure than to study God's Word
with a spiritual mind."
(Abdu'l-Baha,
Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 79)
“O wayfarer in the path of God! Take thou thy portion of
the ocean of His grace, and deprive not thyself of the things that lie hidden
in its depths. Be thou of them that have partaken of its treasures. A dewdrop
out of this ocean would, if shed upon all that are in the heavens and on the
earth, suffice to enrich them with the bounty of God, the Almighty, the
All-Knowing, the All-Wise. With the hands of renunciation draw forth from its
life-giving waters, and sprinkle therewith all created things, that they may be
cleansed from all man-made limitations and may approach the mighty seat of God,
this hallowed and resplendent Spot.”
(Baha'u'llah,
Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 279)
At the furthest point of my ride, where the track met the
river, I sat down on the river bank observing the flush of bright green as the
willows newly clothe themselves in these first few days of spring, and the
wattles glow in yellow, intending to ponder further. But gradually the dog
distracted me, wanting me to throw stones into the river for him to try to
catch in his mouth. The peace and quiet further deteriorated when a helicopter
flew past, turned sharply, and passed near to me to see what I and the dog were
doing. Shortly I left for home, but
after a short distance nearly rode over three
power lines downed by the helicopter shortly before my arrival, and so I
returned home in a great degree of excitement, instead of a mood of reverie.
Wednesday 10 August 2011
Increasing Disorder in the World
Increasing Disorder in the World
Why is there such an increase in disorder in the world,
especially among the youth? Western examples are, on the small scale,
escalating violence between girls, and on the large scale the riots in England.
Of course there are many contributing factors, but we need
to simplify and look at the major influences, ignoring complications such as
the increasing use of technology – since these powerful new tools can always be
used for good or bad.
Increasingly, education has been about developing the
intellect of children, but not teaching appropriate use of the intellect. That
is, our young are lacking in moral and spiritual education. This will be
discussed later.
The vacuum left by the weakening of religion, which for all
its faults was the greatest means for the pacification and disciplining of
humanity, has been effectively filled by the mass media, especially by a
bombardment of messages of one’s need to have the latest goods, and of
“labelled” goods.
“Should the lamp of religion be obscured, chaos and
confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness and justice, of tranquillity
and peace cease to shine.”
(Baha'u'llah)
Do we instruct our children and youth that the reality of
man is his truthfulness, trustworthiness, kindness, dignity and compassion, and
all the other qualities which lead to the building of civilisation, and which
were originally promoted by each religion?
Without these qualities, we are lower than animals.
We have left our youth adrift, believing that life’s
enjoyment is about ownership of things, and personal pleasure seeking a
priority. And now, many have no prospect of work, their benefits are being
reduced or stopped, and tertiary education intakes of students cut back, so
they cannot be educated into the jobs that are available. We are all given the
ability to discern true values for ourselves fortunately, but how many more
would attain true wealth if living in a supportive culture?
Sunday 7 August 2011
Discerning a True Leader
Discerning a True
Leader
Discerning a True
Leader
In order to make the distinction between an authentic leader
and a false one, it is necessary to look for certain qualities and
characteristics in the individual. As pressures grow on populations around the
world, there is a tendency to look for a “strong” leader, and to consider
radical methods for change, thus moving away from the old “tried and true”.
A false leader is likely to make passionate and radical
statements that lead to his/her popularity in difficult times, but such ascendancy
is fortunately short-lived, though considerable damage can be done in a short
space of time (remember the Second World War!). Radical statements can be
divisive and can be used to portray certain sections of society as the cause of
one’s miseries, resulting in racial, economic, religious, or other groups being
blamed for societal deterioration.
Truth will be very much manipulated to suit the circumstances, but the
detached observer, who does not get caught up in the passions provoked by
oratory, will notice untruths, or at least half-truths mixed with falsehoods.
Examples abound in the politicians of this day in all countries.
One key-identifier of a false leader is the offer of a
“quick-fix” for community problems.
An authentic leader, a real statesman, will be detached as
regards personal position, seeking only to serve and ensure the progress of the
community. Though also a “strong” leader, the strength exhibited is of a
different kind. The individual expresses his or herself with restraint yet is
inspirational, identifies and describes a process that leads to a gradual
improvement of circumstances, in contrast to the “quick-fix”, and allows for
minor setbacks along the way. For this true leader, truthfulness and
trustworthiness will in no way be sacrificed for political expediency, yet
cooperation and compromise will also be employed.
“Truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues” (Bahá’u’lláh)
Some may say this is an impossible ideal, and it is true
that we all have imperfections, but think of Nelson Mandela and Mahatma
Gandhi. A noteworthy characteristic of
theirs was personal sacrifice. Consider that sacrifice is giving up something
that is lesser for something that is greater. That could be physical comfort
for intellectual and spiritual growth and fortitude.
The present day true leader can never contradict certain
principles that especially apply to the age in which we now live, such as the
equality of people of whatever sex, race, or religion. That is, by belonging to
one group by no means gives ascendancy over other social groups, and no such
group is responsible for all the difficulties in society. We all have certain
human rights.
The heaven of statesmanship is made luminous and
resplendent by the brightness of the light of these blessed words which hath
dawned from the dayspring of the Will of God: It behoveth every ruler to weigh
his own being every day in the balance of equity and justice and then to judge
between men and counsel them to do that which would direct their steps unto the
path of wisdom and understanding. This is the cornerstone of statesmanship and
the essence thereof. From these words every enlightened man of wisdom will
readily perceive that which will foster such aims as the welfare, security and
protection of mankind and the safety of human lives.
(Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah)
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