Spiritual Economics /Secrets from Roof of the World

[drbubb]

Spiritual Economics :

We need to "keep score" by counting more than money.

================

(name of thread changed, to broaden potential interest)

 

= = =

 

Secrets from the Roof of the World, Will Tibetan spirituality feed hunger in Han China?

 

That's the theory of an American film-maker operating in Tibet

 

2/

 

Mr. Lawrence Brahms, an ex-lawyer, who gave up his legal career was interviewed on CCTV-9 today, and spoke about monks and lamas using the internet, to understand the world, and bring harmony and eco-consciousness to the world.

 

 

A new railway is open this month, linking Lhasa to Shanghai and Beijing, whichmeans that Llhasa can take more of a role on the world stage: perhaps linking China and India, and helping materialistic China too rediscover spiritual roots

[Whosthedaddy?]

Call me cynical, but I think the new railway has been built to exploit the mineral wealth of Tibet.

 

Tibet has apparently vast natural resources in fact more than 120 identified minerals with significant reserves of the world's deposits of uranium, chromite, boron, lithium, borax, and iron. Further, reserves of corundum, vanadium, titanium, magnesite, sulphur, mica, cesium, rubidium, arsenic, graphite, lepidolite and potash are some of the largest in both Tibet and China. Besides there are globally significant reserves of copper, gold, silver, zinc, oil and gas and other minerals on the plateau.

 

The Dhalai Lhama has adopted a 'wait and see' view and is hoping it will bring prosperity to an impoverished people. I wish I had his optimism.

 

Time will tell.

[drbubb]

"the new railway has been built to exploit the mineral wealth of Tibet"

 

no doubt- but it may backfire, and wind up exporting tibetan culture as well

 

more tibetan photos: http://www.beva.org/pilgrimage/robert/bgtown.htm

[drbubb]

Tibet sees surge in tourism thanks to new railway, airport

 

Tourism grew rapidly in Tibet in the first nine months of year, thanks to a newly-opened railway and airport, local authorities said Monday.

 

The number of visitors to Tibet reached 1.9 million in the first nine months, up 29 percent on a year earlier, a government spokesman told a news conference.

 

Tourism revenue topped 2.03 billion yuan (250 million U.S. dollars) during the period, up 24 percent, the spokesman said.

 

Driven by tourism, other industries -- such as hotels, catering, transportation, communications and entertainment -- also developed rapidly, he said. Retail sales reached 6.21 billion yuan in the period, up 18 percent year-on-year.

 

The spokesman attributed the growth of the service sector in the region to the newly-opened railway and airport.

 

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which starts from Xining, capital of northwest China's Qinghai Province, and ends in Lhasa, capital of southwestern Tibet Autonomous Region, is the first railway ever to go to Tibet.

 

Before the 1,956 km history-making railway began service on July 1, people could only reach Tibet via air or highway.

 

Nyingchi Airport, Tibet's third airport after Lhasa and Qamdo, began operation on Sept. 1.

 

Source: Xinhua @: http://english.people.com.cn/200610/24/eng...024_314468.html

[webmaster]

v=v=v (( Let's Talk ... Spiritual Economics )) v=v=v

 

As Alfredo Sfeir-Younis put it:

 

"Economics must be at the service of our societal vision (also a global vision), at the service of what we want our society to be(come), and not vice-versa. The material expression of our vision should not be the result of economic and financial transactions. It is our vision the one that must guide economic thinking and procedures. And our spiritual dimension is always an essential ingredient of this vision, as we are not 'material beings' having a spiritual experience but 'spiritual beings' having a material experience."

 

In my own words:

 

We need to "keep score" by counting more than money.

If we are get rich, and cannot breath our air and or drink the water, we are truly impoverished. If we have all the luxuries in life, but everywhere we look we see poverty, we will lock ourselves into a gilded prison, surrounded by jealousy, resentment- and unpredictable danger.

 

We need a wider vision of the purpose of economics, whiuch encompases the health and future of our planet, and the wellbeing of the people, animals, and other life forms that share this place with us. The Law of karma works in a very real way in this world, and it becomes more apparent every day. Our waste may be carted away, out of our sight. But all to often it comes back to us in unexpected ways. What we simply throw away, and stop counting, does not disappear or become "some else's problem". It remains part of a larger equation.

 

And what we borrow, to spend and waste rather than invest, is something that we must be prepared to repay, along with the interest or other consequences that go with it.

 

To be effective, we must work at a community level, where we can see the full reality of the consequences of our positive and negative actions. If we help our neighbors, within our communities, we enrich the community. Improvements in the health, the education, the understanding of our neighbors, strengthens the our neighborhood.

 

Neighbors who respect and grow their own communities, are good citizens of their nations, and of the global community. What we see work at a grassroots level, we know can work at broader levels too. What we practice at home, we tend to practice abroad, and in the wider world.

 

- GEI webmaster

[webmaster]

# # # # #

(here's another expression of a broader vision):

 

"The new planetary economy is retooling, not from butter to guns, but from excess to survival, to focus on three sectors:

+ self-sustaining communities

+ good work valuing everybody for true homeland security

+ environmental stewardship

 

There are global opportunities for small businesses, dedicated to healing our environment and our culture, to plan new strategy to supply products and services for:

 

1. community preparedness, restoration, and most of all, appropriate technology with renewable energy/resources for self-sustaining production of basic needs, independence and security in regional economies

 

2. crises and consequences, first-response and disaster relief, training of trainers, innovation of equipment and methods

 

3. public knowledge for self-protection and community vision transforming our work to bridge

...the new motivating factor of 21st-century reality -- community survival

 

In wartime, small business mobilizes a democratic economy to allow full participation, valuing the work of all who want to contribute as a means to counter prolonged stress, empower the public, optimize creativity, innovation and productivity, and align our spiritual purpose with good work, replacing old economic patterns that make decisions only by counting money.

 

...continues: http://www.jung-soul.com/Consulting.html

[drbubb]

A RESULT good for the Spirit, but a nice more practical chinese way of looking at it is this:

 

"Only after the underdeveloped nations gain reasonable growth and prosperity will the world walk out of the old traps of poverty and conflict. As a Chinese saying goes, "The way to protect the rich to the fullest is to help the poor gain a better life." Indeed, with a more progressive mindset, the developed world would be able to make more contributions to global development in the next stage."

 

@: http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editoria.../2006/1108.html