Rivers do not drink their own water
Trees do not eat their own fruit
Clouds do not swallow their own rain.
What great ones have is always for the benefit of others.
- Hindu Proverb
3/21/17
Sweet Rose of Virtue (for the worldwide day of Poetry)
Sweet rose of virtue and of gentleness,
delightful lily of youthful wantonness,
richest in bounty and in beauty clear
and in every virtue that is held most dear―
except only that you are merciless.
Into your garden, today, I followed you;
there I saw flowers of freshest hue,
both white and red, delightful to see,
and wholesome herbs, waving resplendently―
yet everywhere, no odor but bitter rue.
I fear that March with his last arctic blast
has slain my fair rose of pallid and gentle cast,
whose piteous death does my heart such pain
that, if I could, I would compose her roots again―
so comforting her bowering leaves have been.
by William Dunbar [1460-1525]
loose translation by Michael R. Burch
3/14/17
Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things
Is minimalism the road to a fulfilled and worthy life? Watch the full documentary on NetFlix and comment by yourself :
https://www.netflix.com/title/80114460
Here's a short comment from me and things I've learned in life so far :
The less you own, the more free you are. The less you try to be happy for others, the happier you'll be for yourself and the ones that really matter. The more you travel, the more you understand that happiness and bliss are to be found in simplicity and humility. Trust me, been there and done all that more than once!
Don't be afraid to take steps back. Having the wisdom to reiterate and reconsider is hard and it takes crushing your pride and your established lifestyle - including things and people you have been used to admire mostly for the wrong reasons. Ask yourself : are you truly fulfilled with the life you created or you're trying to create? What's missing? Money? Things? Or true people, true experiences and true friends that make you a better human being?
We all need a purpose in life. Define it in terms of the things that really matter. The important things.
Maybe we shouldn't be minimalists after all! We can be maximalists in love, positivity, solidarity and caring.
Maybe we can be humans again!
P&L
C.K.
1/30/17
Reengineering our Future
I always liked how technology sounds.
The art of observation merged with improvisation. Balancing
on a thin line between science and engineering. Where theory becomes reality. Where
nature meets the human.
We’ve tamed the sea and the skies, gone faster than the
speed of sound, played dice with giants and cells and we have won. Is there a
driving force to this eternal quest for progress? Where do we stand now? Are
our problems solved? Is the passion still alive?
People say that humanity cannot avoid its nature. Let’s assume
that progress is linked to our nature and thus is inevitable. Do we invent and
innovate due to a nature call? We surely desire a better life for ourselves and
our kids. What about the other kids though? Is their nature weaker than ours? In
a world where money and power talks, progress tastes quite aristocratic. It
seems we fail to acknowledge the importance of universal growth rather than
hot-spot paradises. Our nature is the driving force but it is hard-wired to
each other. If we focus on the tree, we miss the forest; the only path to real
progress is the path of cooperation, solidarity and universal growth. By solving
today’s problems of the world, we elevate and avoid the reverse inertia of
progress which leads to wars, oppression and suppression of our nature. And technology
is the key.
I guess you will agree with me to the fact that we have
solved a tiny amount of the world’s problems. Let me recap for you some of them…
Poverty, hunger, diseases, oppressing regimes, terrorism, religious fundamentalism,
lack of human rights, ghettos, unemployment. All these exist today in some
corner of the world. Today, 1 out of 10 people lack access to safe water. Isn’t
this outraging? We managed to send robots through space till the edge of our
solar system and we can’t provide clean water to the citizens of the Earth. May
it be impossible or have we stop trying? I refuse to accept that humanity as
whole can not deliver. We have the know-how and we have the resources. We miss
two important things. Individual and global will. Resources need to be
allocated towards projects that tackle the most important issues of our
societies globally. Most of the scientific, research and engineering groups are
way under-funded when it comes to those projects. This ill-conditioned
environment is a direct consequence of the societies we have built. Profit,
money, personal success, cheap recognition blind us from reality leading to big
corporate interests along with corrupted governments and a world that revolves
around false idols. Our problems are not solved and won’t be solved until we
innovate again, boost universal progress and converge to a higher global status
quo. Until we reengineer our common future.
In the end, it is a passion. It is a passion to create,
fail, reiterate, succeed and move forward. Forward, together as one, because
there is no other way. Progress is a passion, a natural one, when it involves
the people and their needs. This is the real driving force. Technology is just
a part of this process but once again it can be a key one. The basic needs of
this planet can be solved through innovation and engineering. We need to start
cultivate again this passion for technology. Teach our kids the beauty of
science and technology, the passion of innovation and engineering, the need of
solutions to real problems instead of virtual applications that provide useless
services. Let’s define universal progress as our driving force instead of money
and personal recognition.
Until we reengineer our common future.
C.K.
Painting by Leon Zernitsky (Technology)
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/technology-leon-zernitsky.html
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