How bizarre!
How on earth did it happen that my post came to appear to be sent by
Helen?
Lee.
helen lobato wrote:
> Hi Ecolady,
>
> Yes, I agree that we need to grow spiritually. The difficulty has been
>
> over the last century that science has become the dominant religion of
>
> the day and frowns upon spirituality as being a lot of mumbo jumbo for
>
> simpletons. Now people are turning the other way, and given the
> freedom
> to believe nothing, or whatever they choose, many are exploring what
> beliefs there are out there apart from Chrisitianity, which was state
> enforced for so long that it became meaningless to those who did not
> turn to it by choice, in it's institutionalisation. I myself am a
> Christian (although I find church membership difficult, with the old
> pastors who still like to make jokes from the pulpit at the expense of
>
> their wives, who are generally required to smile sweetly from their
> seats in return; younger pastors tend to be more wary of offending
> women, and on and on), so it isn't meaningless to me, nor has it been
> forced upon me, but I understand the general sentiments of people,
> particularly people who have been brought up in the Roman Catholic
> church, who harbour bitter resentment against all the church stands
> for,
> which I hasten to add, is not necessarily what Jesus stood/stands for.
>
> Again, I say, many people seem to be exploring various avenues to the
> spiritual, the unknown, the supernatural, the Creator, the life-force
> that surrounds our universe, or whatever terms are relevant to those
> various paths, and I think this is a good thing.
>
> By economic "growth", I mean the current system which (I'm afraid
> economics is really not my strong point...) insists that for the
> economy
> to be "healthy", to continue to exist, and to ward off inflation and
> unemployment, the GNP must continually grow (correct me if I'm wrong
> in
> this anyone). This means that whatever is being produced this year
> will
> need to be increased next year, and the year after, in order to feed
> the
> ever hungry economy. Natural resources will necessarily need to be
> used
> up at a greater rate to achieve that, unless someone out there can
> make
> something from nothing - recycling is good, maybe more could be
> produced
> from recycled materials, but I believe that's still a drop in the
> ocean,
> and at any rate energy resources need to be used, whatever is being
> produced, and most of those that are efficient are non-renewable.
>
> So I'm not sure in what way you believe financial growth is possible
> without using up natural resources, nor why you deem financial growth
> to
> be desirable. An economy which is based on consumerism, as the present
>
> one is, is really the antithesis of a positive spiritual outcome. It
> necessitates the foul advertising industry which invites such
> disasters
> upon society as eating disorders, breast implants, the constant
> feeling
> that if only one had this or that item of clothing, home appliance,
> chocolate bar, one might be satisfied, or at least happier,
> pornographic
> fantasies in men, dissatisfaction with any given aspect of one's
> situation in life and general appearance.
>
> An alternative would be one where people produced most of what they
> need
> locally, shared expensive items such as power tools and what have you,
>
> stopped going off to work everyday to keep the monstrous bureaucracy
> going, but found work to do in the community to grow food, help
> neighbours build a chook pen, collect fruit from the neighbourhood
> fruit
> trees which grow in abundance where all the car parks and major roads
> used to be, getting together to play music with friends, making a
> piece
> of furniture here, helping a working bee there... It could be so
> different. You might have to do without dishwashers, forget the annual
>
> trip to Spain, and so on, but most of the things we do in the current
> system for the pursuit of happiness, and to save time are actually
> counter-productive. How much time to most people have these days, with
>
> all the labour-saving devices on hand? And for those who have loads of
>
> time because they're unemployed, how fulfilling are their lives?
>
> I'll stop there, because I'm digressing into a variety of lectures.
>
> Lee.
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> > Lee,
> >
> > Growth and Profit - Maybe we should define these terms. I think
> that
> > we are
> > misunderstanding each other. By profit I do not necessarily mean
> > financial
> > profit - By growth I do not mean expansion - could apply to personal
>
> > and
> > spiritual growth and profit. Profit - one could profit by an
> > experience not
> > necessarily make money from it by profit.
> >
> > YES, FINANCIAL growth and profit by corporate mentality is
> currently
> > at the
> > expense of nature, but it does not have to be. I agree we need
> > change but
> > we need to define exactly what that means. What exactly needs to be
>
> > changed
> > - In my humble opinion - Values as stated before and spirituality,
> we
> > need
> > more! Thanks! Ecolady
>
> --
>
> Conflict between separated parents
> http://www1.tpgi.com.au/users/resolve/ncpreport/
> \|/ \|/
> . .
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> http://www1.tpgi.com.au/users/resolve/globalcrisis/
>
> Sustainable Future Webring
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--
Conflict between separated parents
http://www1.tpgi.com.au/users/resolve/ncpreport/
\|/ \|/
. .
/|\ /|\
Live simply...we're killing the planet
http://www1.tpgi.com.au/users/resolve/globalcrisis/
Sustainable Future Webring
http://www1.tpgi.com.au/users/resolve/globalcrisis/webring.html
