Many of the problems we confront today are our own creation.
The Dalai Lama
Brute force can never subdue the basic human desire for freedom. The thousands of people who marched in the cities of Eastern Europe in recent decades, the unwavering determination of the people in my homeland of Tibet and the recent demonstrations in Burma are powerful reminders of this truth. Freedom is the very source of creativity and human development. It is not enough, as communist systems assumed, to provide people with food, shelter and clothing. If we have these things but lack the precious air of liberty to sustain our deeper nature, we remain only half human. The old concepts of "we" and "they" are no longer relevant in an interdependent world. In the past, oppressed peoples often resorted to violence in their struggle to be free. But visionaries such as Mahatma Gandhi and the Rev Martin Luther King Jr have shown us that successful changes can be brought about nonviolently. I believe that, at the basic human level, most of us wish to be peaceful. Deep down, we desire constructive, fruitful growth and dislike destruction. Continue reading on the Gaianicity website, then return and post a comment.
1 comment:
We live in an era which sees human challenges as challenges to dogma. The Dali Lama reminds us that we will not begin to solve our problems until we move beyond dogma and accept our interconnectedness. It's not a new idea. But we need to be reacquainted with it.
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