- Rien ne se crée, tout se transforme: c'est une loi physique?
- bah, oui
- L'économie est-elle une science?
- sûr!
- S'enrichir, est-ce créer de la richesse... ou capter de la valeur?
It seems rather odd, somehow, that Taoism, the way of the Whole Man, the True Man, the Spirit Man (to use a few Taoist terms), is for the most part interpreted here in the West by the Scholarly Owl - by the Brain, the Academician, the dry-as-dust Absentminded Professor. Far from reflecting the Taoist ideal of wholeness and independence, this incomplete and unbalanced creature divides all kinds of abstract things into little categories and compartments, while remaining rather helpless and disorganized in his daily life. Rather than learn from Taoist teachers and from direct experience, he learns intellectually and indirectly, from books. And since he doesn't usually put Taoist principles into practice in an everyday sort of way, his explanations of them tend to leave out some rather important details, such as how they work and where you can apply them.
On top of that, it is very hard to find any of the spirit of Taoism in the lifeless writings of the humorless Academic Mortician, whose bleached-out Scholarly Dissertations contain no more of the character of Taoist wisdom than does the typical wax museum.
But that is the sort of thing we can expect from the Abstract Owl, the dried-up Western descendant of the Confucianist Dedicated Scholar, who, unlike his Noble but rather Unimaginative ancestor, thinks he has some sort of monopoly on---- Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh
"– Ni kommer aldrig få mig att darra på manschetten när det gäller det som ger jobb, det som ger exportinkomster till Sverige. Sverige har byggt sitt välstånd, sin rikedom, våra möjligheter att ha bra sjukvård, bra välfärd, på att vi handlar med andra länder. Det är det vi har diskuterat under en lång stund, hur små, öppna ekonomier ska kunna klara den konkurrensen."
-Fredrik Reinfeldt angående vapenexporten till Saudiarabien
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
– Martin Luther King, I Have a Dream Quote
Tidigare har man kunnat läsa om hur en nederländsk före detta medarbetare på Lundin Oil rapporterat om hur företaget har samarbetat med regeringen för att fördriva människor. Visste Bildt detta? Vi ska inte gräva ner oss i detaljerna. Vi kan bara konstatera att krig som business är en sjuk idé. Och att det verkar som om moderaterna har en bit kvar innan de lever upp till sitt egna partiprogram.I juni 2010 presenterade European Coalition on Oil in Sudan (ECOS) – ett nätverk bestående av mer än 50 olika frivilligorganisationer – en rapport vid namn ”Unpaid Debt”. I denna rapport hävdar ECOS att tusentals människor dödades och närmare 200 000 människor fördrevs som del av den sudanesiska regeringens försök att ta kontroll över oljefält Block 5 a, där Lundin Oil ägde prospekteringsrätterna. Uppgifterna stöds av satellitbilder över odlingsmark som visar hur civilbefolkningen fördrevs från sina områden. Rapporten menar också att det finns tydliga kopplingar mellan regeringen och Lundin Oil. Bland annat beskriver rapporten att regeringssoldater var anställda av Lundin Oil.
No matter by what names we may be called, nor what garments we may wear, nor in the presence of what priest we may be anointed, nor how many millions our subjects may number, nor how many guards may be posted on our journey, nor how many policemen may protect our property, nor how many so-called criminals, revolutionists, or anarchists we may execute - no matter what exploits we may perform, nor what states we may establish, nor what fortresses and towers we may erect - from the Tower of Babel to the Eiffel Tower - we have before us two ever present and unavoidable conditions, that deprive our mode of life of all significance: (1) death, that may overtake each of us at any moment, and (2) the transitory nature of all our undertakings, that disappear, leaving no trace behind them. No matter what we may do, found kingdoms, build palaces and monuments, write poems and songs - all is but fleeting and leaves no trace behind. Therefore no matter how much we may attempt to conceal this from ourselves, we cannot fail to perceive that the true significance of our life lies neither in our individual, physical existence, subjected to unavoidable suffering and death, nor in any institution or social organization.
Whoever you are, you who read these lines, reflect upon your position and your duties, not upon the position of landowner, merchant, judge, emperor, president, minister, priest or soldier, which you may assume but for a time, not upon the imaginary duties which these positions impose upon you, but upon your actual and eternal position as a being, who, after a whole eternity of non-existence, is called by the will of Some One from unconsciousness into life, and who may at any moment return whence he came by the same will. Consider your duties! Not your imaginary duties of landowner in regard to your estate, nor of merchant to your capital, nor of emperor, minister, or governor to the State, but of your real duties, of a being called forth into life and endowed with love and reason. Do that which He who has sent you into this world, and to whom you will shortly returns, demands of you. Are you doing what He requires? Are you doing right when, as landowner or manufacturer, you take the products of the labour of the poor, and establish your life on this spoliation, or when, as governor or judge, you do violence in condemning men to death; or when, as soldier, you prepare for war, for fighting, robbery, and murder - are you doing right?
[...]
If you are told that all this is essential for the support of the existing system of life; that this system, with its pauperism, famine, prisons, executions, armies, wards, is necessary for society, and that if it were to be abolished worse evils would follow, you are told so only by those who benefit by this system; while those who suffer from it - and their numbers are ten times greater - all think and say the opposite. And at the bottom of your heart you know that this is false - that the existing system has had its day, and must inevitably be remodelled on new foundations; and that there is no need whatsoever to support it by the sacrifice of human life.
Tolstoj, The kingdom of God is within you