Reposted here from Kevin Burt - I searched and found the introductory paragraph to add to the
context of the message. Overall, it sounds like a fascinating read, and I'm curious how the concept of mindfulness plays out in your lives -
"People in China, India, Vietnam, and other developing countries are still dreaming the "American Dream," as if that dream were the ultimate goal of mankind -- everyone has to have a car, a bank account, a cell phone, a television set of their own. In twenty-five years the population of China will be 1.5 billion people, and if each of them wants to drive their own car, China will need 99 million barrels of oil every day. But world production today is only 84 million barrels per day. So the American dream is not possible for the people of China, India, or Vietnam. The American dream is no longer possible for the Americans. We can't continue to live like this. It's not a sustainable economy."
Edited by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee. Golden Sufi Center publishing, 2013.
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| Image courtesy of Amazon. |
"The bells of mindfulness are sounding. All over the Earth, we are experiencing floods, droughts, and massive wildfires. Sea ice is melting in the Arctic and hurricanes and heat waves are killing thousands. The forests are fast disappearing, the deserts are growing, species are becoming extinct every day, and yet we continue to consume, ignoring the ringing bells [...].
"We need a kind of collective awakening. There are among us men and women who are awakened, but it's not enough; most people are still sleeping. We have constructed a system we can't control. It imposes itself on us, and we become its slaves and victims. For most of us who want to have a house, a car, a refrigerator, a television, and so on, we must sacrifice our time and our lives in exchange. We are constantly under the pressure of time. In former times, we could afford three hours to drink one cup of tea, enjoying the company of our friends in a serene and spiritual atmosphere. We could organize a party to celebrate the blossoming of one orchid in our garden. But today we can no longer afford those things. We say that time is money. We have created a society in which the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, and in which we are so caught up in our own problems that we cannot afford to be aware of what is going on with the rest of the human family or our planet Earth. In my mind I see a group of chickens in a cage disputing over a few seeds of grain, unaware that in a few hours they will all be killed.
"We need a kind of collective awakening. There are among us men and women who are awakened, but it's not enough; most people are still sleeping. We have constructed a system we can't control. It imposes itself on us, and we become its slaves and victims. For most of us who want to have a house, a car, a refrigerator, a television, and so on, we must sacrifice our time and our lives in exchange. We are constantly under the pressure of time. In former times, we could afford three hours to drink one cup of tea, enjoying the company of our friends in a serene and spiritual atmosphere. We could organize a party to celebrate the blossoming of one orchid in our garden. But today we can no longer afford those things. We say that time is money. We have created a society in which the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, and in which we are so caught up in our own problems that we cannot afford to be aware of what is going on with the rest of the human family or our planet Earth. In my mind I see a group of chickens in a cage disputing over a few seeds of grain, unaware that in a few hours they will all be killed.
"People in China, India, Vietnam, and other developing countries are still dreaming the "American Dream," as if that dream were the ultimate goal of mankind -- everyone has to have a car, a bank account, a cell phone, a television set of their own. In twenty-five years the population of China will be 1.5 billion people, and if each of them wants to drive their own car, China will need 99 million barrels of oil every day. But world production today is only 84 million barrels per day. So the American dream is not possible for the people of China, India, or Vietnam. The American dream is no longer possible for the Americans. We can't continue to live like this. It's not a sustainable economy."
- Thich Nhat Hanh, Spiritual Ecology: the Cry of the Earth, pp 26-27.
Edited by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee. Golden Sufi Center publishing, 2013.
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