Good morning, Arnoldo!
It is always especially pleasant for me to hear from you and Rosa, because of your great and unique efforts to be in touch with socioeconomic reality and spiritual reality, at the same time, with the same intensity.
Your thoughts deserve much more detail than I can afford this morning. But some quick thoughts, first on the
Brazil oil find --
-- The Financial Times ran a story a few weeks ago about the Iraqi who saved Norway. Having seen how much other nations were damaged by the discovery of oil in their land, he worked hard to create at least one example of how a nation and people can do it right, to avoid that damage. Maybe he is the person who should be invited to speak to
the top levels of Brazil today. (I shudder to think what could happen if Brazil grew its own Cheney.
It reminds me of FGeneral (Florio?) of Florianpolis, and the analogy between Brazil's old south and the USA's old north.)
And then an X-rated section which I ask people to please ignore if they have strong idoelogies...
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Arnoldo:
Dear Paul,
It is really interessting to disgress about what type of " natural " resources come related to what type of develoment. I guess this also happens in other dimensions. Seeking Siddhis or pschyic power were considered as risky and wrong approach for spiritual development. The cas I remmember now is Devadtta in the time of Buddha who wanted to be his sucessor by all means ( being his cousin ) and for that , he asked some of The Arahats around Buddha to teach him some siddhis. He lost himself again. The same happen during the Mahabarata when some teachers were using their powers to gain control , but could´nt overcome Krishna´s Pandavas team.
" ..You are the Salt of The Earth, The Light of The World "( Mt5, 15-16 )
Many people in the global dialogue need to remember that "money economies" are not a synonym for "capitalism."
Money has been a near-universal phenomenon in human society for millenia now. Thus there are many concepts
in mathematical economics which can HELP us understand aspects of history which go far beond capitalism.
In fact, when organization X gets Y dollars revenues, and spend Ys dollars of that money either to buy and control slaves, or to buy and control oil-rich land or government official... that isn't exactly what Adam Smith or Marx or Walras had in mind in defining "capitalism." Also -- the AMOUNT of money going to control land or government officials (or OTHER government officials) has a decisive effect here; the GROWTH in slavder circa 1800, and the growth in real oil
prices, can convert a major political problem into an overwhelming tyranny, if it is not prevented. The proposed measures in the last paragraph of www.werbos.com/energy.htm are intended to put a cap on that growth before it is too late.
The flow of money is actually just ONE EXAMPLE of what we sometimes call a "credit assignment system," in the study of intelligent systems. There is a kind of more universal mathematics at work here, of which mathematical economics is just one branch or subset.
At the end of the day, life experience has taught me that there is a lot of truth in some form of the "Gaia hypothesis"
or the "omega hypothesis," that there is a kind of 'invisible' system of intelligence on this planet of which we all are part. (If Hazel's old friend, Barbara Hubbard, were on this list, I would expect her to elaborate.). Instead of flows
of money, it is based on another kind of flow, which people all over the world have groped to name and explain.
I have seen such words as "prana," "grace," "charisma," "qi," "tao," "karma," "luck," "tama" and "stuff"..
and "jing" and "shen"... used to name this flow, or the various branches or "currencies" of it.
(Added later: and "mana" and "the light" and some extensions of "cathexis" and "catharsis.")
As with the money economy, the flow of credit can be misdirected, for a variety of reasons, but on the whole it seems to be far less vulnerable to the sorts of gross manipulation and monopoly and theft effects we see with money
(native American myths notwithstanding). The main source of misdirection is simply a lack of understanding.
If we believe that A causes B, and it doesn't, our sincere belief may nonetheless cause credit (or blame) signals
to flow from B back to A, until or unless we or others learn better.
The case of siddhis is especially tricky. Actually, the part of www.werbos.com which deals with world religions has sections on Marxism and on Buddhism, and a page on siddhis, which relate to some of the details. The exploration of siddhis is a rightful and important part of the process of LEARNING, which is as fundamental and as positive as things can get. Societies which try to prevent the growth of all human capabilities are as perverted and unnatural as those which tied up the feet of Chinese women in past centuries. And nature will not abide such things lightly. A lot
of the excess materialism in the world today is a natural human spiritual reaction to the excesses of some religions... and vice-versa. At the same time, however, misunderstanding can lead to bad objective results in the world when
learning proceeds in the wrong order; it is like the old story of letting toddlers run across a crowded street before
they understand the dangers. And of course, misunderstanding of the nature of siddhis can lead to the most common risk, the risk of getting nowhere and learning nothing but psychopathic illusions.
(Added later: while many "Christian" churches warn against developing talents, Jesus was quite clear on that subject, and on opposing the oppression of women in general. And he warned how those with other motives might twist his words. He who has an ear, let him hear.)
All for now. Must now go buy food for the family after an unusual week...
Best regards,
Paul
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