“Expand your Moral Imagination”.
Have I said that I love Obama? This is such a good interview by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith when Obama won Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. He is so articulate, and his humanised rationality reminds me a lot of the Dalai Lama’s values. (I wrote up some notes on these here)
Ha, when Will Smith said he was nervous I love it when Obama says “just think back to Prince of Bel Air, man”.
I suspect Obama could probably rap the Fresh Prince Theme.
Awesome, I found Alicia Keys and Julian Marley doing Bob Marley’s “War”! The lyrics are almost literally derived from a speech made by Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I before the United Nations General Assembly in 1963. (Description from Wikipedia)
Until the philosophy which hold one race superior
And another
Inferior
Is finally
And permanently
Discredited
And abandoned -
Everywhere is war -
Me say war.
That until there no longer
First class and second class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a man’s skin
Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes -
Me say war.
That until the basic human rights
Are equally guaranteed to all,
Without regard to race -
Dis a war.
That until that day
The dream of lasting peace,
World citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion to be pursued,
But never attained -
Now everywhere is war - war.
And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes
that hold our brothers in Angola,
In Mozambique,
South Africa
Sub-human bondage
Have been toppled,
Utterly destroyed -
Well, everywhere is war -
Me say war.
War in the east,
War in the west,
War up north,
War down south -
War - war -
Rumours of war.
And until that day,
The African continent
Will not know peace,
We Africans will fight - we find it necessary -
And we know we shall win
As we are confident
In the victory
Of good over evil -
Good over evil, yeah! (Repeat as necessary) [fadeout]
Meditation is a very simple phenomenon. Another clip by guru guy.. I like how he articulates meditation as putting yourself as the eye of the storm while all is moving around you.
Dalai Lama Visit
I went to see the Dalai Lama talk a few weeks ago and it is something that will stick with me for a long time. If you ever get the chance to see him talk I’d really recommend you head along. He’s such a down-to-earth guy and so optimistic about humanity despite all the shit we cause for ourselves!
My favourite parts:
1. Upon being greeted by the Maori welcoming party and shaking hands, everyone was serious, unsure how of to act in front of such an important figure. He raised his eyebrows, paused, and asked “Hmm? No nose press?”. Everyone cracked up! Then he said sometimes when he is overseas he likes to tell people “I’m gonna welcome you Maori style! Nose press!”
2. If a person’s core values include compassion, that person will never knowingly harm another. So our goal should be to instill this value into all people; only then can we achieve world peace and harmony across the human race. Imagine if values, ethics and peace were a core school subject like math and science.
3. He admitted to being the bully of his older brother when he was a kid, and to thinking of telling an interviewer to “Shut up” when they were asking stupid questions. He’s a “normal” guy who has attained his peace of mind as a result of constant “Analytical Meditation”.
4. Explanation of “Analytical Meditation”: This is not a ‘sleepy’ state of mind; it is a conscious analysis of one’s observations. The laws of cause and effect will appear to be present in everything, and thus one can comprehend the universe because everything is connected.
4. He says we should be realistic - there will never be 6 billion Buddhists, or 6 billion Christians or 6 billion Non-Believers. As long as people are encouraged to strive for the human ideals of compassion, tolerance, patience, mutual respect… the way they get there is all good to him.
5. Asked how he feels when world leaders refuse to meet him mostly due to political pressure from China, he said [paraphrasing]: ”No problem. I don’t want cause trouble for anyone, and I still am able to achieve my number one goal which is to talk with the people themselves”.”.
6. Asked if humanity will ever achieve world peace, he said that although the 20th century was ‘the century of bloodshed’, he has noted a growing consciousness of those who express their opposition to war through non-violent protests. (For example an unprecedented number of people worldwide attended peace marches in opposition of the U.S. invasion of Iraq). Thus he is optimistic, which gave me optimism too.
OSHO - Guru guy on How to Love. Get past the cheesy intro and give it a chance; I found this pretty profound although a bit long.
