from Verse One Hundred Sixty-SixEven an ignoramus would not hold a map of the world in his left hand and cut his throat with his right hand; the body is more valuable than the world. Those who go to their death in times of trouble for their leaders or relatives look upon death as like going home; justice is more important than the body. Therefore the enormous profit to be had from the world is small in comparison to the body, and what is considered important for the body is slight in comparison to humanity and justice.~ Wen-tzu: Understanding the Mysteries ~
As I gaze out onto the world of today, I wonder what has happened to the concepts of humanity and justice. In the world of politics, people continually are ugly and mean to each other. They call each other names and make all sorts of veiled and unveiled threats. Few people seem concerned about the common good; all they care about is what each of them personally will get out of it.
But it's not just in the political realm. A person can find this same uncaring attitude in the field of business or even in many families. We live in a me-oriented society and far too many don't give a hoot about anyone else.
While there has been much alarm raised about global warming/climate change, I believe this selfish mentality may well doom us as a species before we render the planet uninhabitable. Our dog-eat-dog mindset may well consume us all!
From time to time, we seem able to breakout of our rut through outpourings of charity and humaneness. Unfortunately, this most often happens as the result of a natural or human-caused calamity. It's really nothing more than a transient phenomena. As soon as the immediacy of the emergency dies down, we go right back to our self-imposed bunkers where we lob hand grenades at each other.
As far back as Lao Tzu's time, the wise realized this was an unsustainable methodology. Yet, in the thousands of years since, we still haven't learned the lesson.
Will we ever?
This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.
But it's not just in the political realm. A person can find this same uncaring attitude in the field of business or even in many families. We live in a me-oriented society and far too many don't give a hoot about anyone else.
While there has been much alarm raised about global warming/climate change, I believe this selfish mentality may well doom us as a species before we render the planet uninhabitable. Our dog-eat-dog mindset may well consume us all!
From time to time, we seem able to breakout of our rut through outpourings of charity and humaneness. Unfortunately, this most often happens as the result of a natural or human-caused calamity. It's really nothing more than a transient phenomena. As soon as the immediacy of the emergency dies down, we go right back to our self-imposed bunkers where we lob hand grenades at each other.
As far back as Lao Tzu's time, the wise realized this was an unsustainable methodology. Yet, in the thousands of years since, we still haven't learned the lesson.
Will we ever?
This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.
I doubt it.
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