Tag Archives: achtsamkeit

If you still believe growth is the cure

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“If you still believe that growth is the only way to improve our world … start with health, freedom, love or peace.”

While economy is based on the assumption that only growth in production and consumption will lead to more prosperity, it appears there is a movement that started to acknowledge more universal desires, which in fact are not seeking for quantitative growth. There is a new quest is for less consumption, but better experiences; be it health, freedom, love or peace, we see an uprising of being versus having, quality versus quantity, experience versus possession.
Change is no more the sole vehicle for economic growth alone; change has become an option, and keeping the status quo has become an alternative. To some degree, this made ‘conservative’ a bad term, even though most people will indisputable agree that there are not many values like nature, freedom, love and peace, that deserve it more to be protected, preserved.

This is not about stagnation at all; it is about progressive change of our value system.
If we wish to pursue our long lasting future, we will need to move away from the illusion of eternal materialistic growth. We will need to move towards more ethically inspired concepts of qualitative growth, that – even when wasted or pervasively brought forward to all people in this world – may bring qualitative prosperity to every human being, and pave the way to a sustainable future.

One of the major steps to take will be the change of our measurement systems. We will not be able to measure the qualitative growth and progress in simple spreadsheets or existing currencies of our financial world. We will need to agree on a new currency, that denominates not financial wealth, but sustainability, quality of living, universal values.

Today, I have a more sound belief, that across any given culture in our diverse world, we ultimately share the same values, if we only take it to a high enough level. I have a hope that, fueled by our ability to overcome biological determinism, we take the chance to work on a joint future, to create a higher set of values that unite, and abdicate those that have taught us to compete and fight.
(mp)

The Mayonnaise Jar and Two Cups of Coffee

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“When things in your lives seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous “yes.”

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

“Now,” said the professor as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things–your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions–and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else–the small stuff. “If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

“Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first–the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.”

– Wisdom unknown.

Modern technology and the impact on our relationships

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Sherry Turkle – Professor of Social Studies of Science and Technology at the MIT – speaks about the impact that modern technology has on our relationships:
she speaks about phantom phone ringing, where people are anxious to get more exciting news; global connectivity that makes us always on; and how remote and alone we finally remain within this illusion of being connected.
– A speech so brutally true, that I should rather not have posted it on Facebook where people tend to create the ideal image of themselves. Even if Sherry puts her words with quite some drama and does not really provide solutions, we should THINK TWICE how we want to treat technology better, before it is treating us worse…

Some quotes:
“from multi-tasking to multi-lifing” – “technology proposes itself as the architect of our intimacies” – “technology is seductive when its affordances meet our human vulnerabilities”

“we are lonely, but fearful of intimacy; connectivity offers for many of us the illusion of companionship, without the demands of friendship. We can’t get enough of each other if – if – we can have each other at a distance in a manner (?) that we can control. Think of Goldilocks (siehe Wikipedia: ‘Goldlöckchen und die drei Bären‘), not too close, not too far, just right.”

“connection made to measure [..with..] the ability to hide from each other” – “too put it rather too simply: we would rather text than talk”

“often we are too busy communicating to think, too busy communicating to create, too busy communicating to really connect with the people we’re with in the ways that would really count, in continual contact, we’re alone together…”

Pictures of my life

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Back in the year 2000, I watched this Buddhist monk on the holiday island of Koh Samui, Thailand, wiping the floor with such humbleness and satisfaction, that it could not contrast the fun and holiday mindset of this island much more.

Five years later, I attended a workshop on managing your personal ressources. The trainer used stories of mastery from a book by the author Reinhold Dietrich. This book instantly became my best company when working with managers and adults, who were seeking to understand more about mastery and leadership. And this book became a good advisor for those questions in life that are hardly explained by long verbiage or discussion, but rather by listening and pondering…

It took me years to see, that my favorite book was actually showing the same theme like that picture I shot five years back.

Without knowing what came first – the book, the monk or the workshop – it finally came all together and made a lot of sense to me, as a whole.

– Marcus Pietrzak

The book: “Palast der Geschichten” bei Reinhold Dietrich.