Page 30 of 49

Beyond – Three Voices For Peace

July 7, 2009 /

I got the CD Beyond from a close friend of mine. The website is at Beyond Singing – Buddhist and Christian Prayers. The main site is in German but there is an English version. The site has a Flash-player so you can listen to short pieces of the songs there.

The CD contains a spiritual message by Tina Turner (inspired by Deepak Chopra and RUMI), the full message can be read at her fansite BEYOND. Here is the beginning of Tina’s message:

Nothing lasts forever, nobody lives forever. The Flower dries and dies, the winter passes and spring comes. Embrace the circle of life: That is the greatest love. Go beyond the fear. Don’t give in to the insistence of fear, anger and vengeance and thou shall be beyond the fear, where love grows and thrives. To be liberated means to really feel yourself. Start each day like the birds singing. Singing helps you beyond, far, further, more and more.

It’s amazing how well the Buddhist and Christian prayers blend, it’s a real pleasure to listen to. Beyond creates a sense of peace and calm.

JK Rowling Harvard Commencement Speech

July 3, 2009 /

On Twitter @ColinLewis mentioned the JK Rowling Harvard Commencement Speech from June 5 2008 on the benefits of failure and the importance of imagination. It’s a brilliant speech with wit and wisdom, I have listened to it several times already. Total time is around 20 minutes, time well spent.

There are several versions available, these ones have great sound:
• J.K.Rowling speaking at Harvard part 1
• J.K.Rowling speaking at Harvard part 2
• J.K.Rowling speaking at Harvard part 3

This is part 1:

This was originally posted at Forty Plus Two, another blog of mine.

The cracked pot

June 23, 2009 /

This post is copied to my new blog The Wise Owl.

I got this classic story from a friend, it’s great and makes us see cracks and flaws in a different way.

A water bearer in China had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which he carried across his neck. One pot had a crack in it, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After 2 years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. “I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.”

The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I planted flower seeds on your side of the path. Every day while we walk back, you’ve watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.”

Moral:
Each of us has our own unique flaws. We’re all cracked pots. But it’s the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.

This was originally posted at Forty Plus Two, another blog of mine.

Wordle, create word clouds

June 22, 2009 /

I found Wordle through Lifehacker.

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes.

The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

It’s an interesting tool that I will test, could be fun to do for blog posts.

How Twitter is Changing the World of Professional Poker

June 21, 2009 /

TwitterReadWriteWeb has an interesting article about How Twitter is Changing the World of Professional Poker. Professional poker players are using Twitter during tournaments, commenting on the game as well as providing information about themselves and their intensions. But just as in the game of poker they might be bluffing.

The article mentions PokerRoad as a site that uses information from Twitter.

As example of a professional poker player that uses Twitter they mention Doyle Brunson, @TexDolly. There are more professional poker players on Twitter, like Gus Hansen @gus_hansen.

TEDx Copenhagen

June 16, 2009 /

I am a big fan of TED and TEDTalks. TED has spun off a series of TEDx-events, learn more at TEDx.

In the spirit of “Ideas Worth Spreading,” TEDx is a program that enables schools, businesses, libraries or just groups of friends to enjoy a TED-like experience through events they themselves organize, design and host.

We’re supporting approved organizers by offering a free toolset that includes detailed advice, the right to use recorded TEDTalks, promotion on our site, connection to other organizers, and a little piece of our brand in the form of the TEDx label.

Wemind, @wemind on Twitter, is now officially planning TEDxCopenhagen, see also the TEDxCopenhagen Facebook page. You can also follow @TEDxCopenhagen on Twitter. Copenhagen is close to where I live and this can be a really interesting event.

This was originally posted at Forty Plus Two, another blog of mine.

Born to be wild

June 1, 2009 /

Live your dreams, “Born to be wild” is a commercial for a Norwegian lottery.

Watch it below or on YouTube at Born to be Wild.

Video: Born to be wild

This was originally posted at another (now extinct) blog of mine.

The Seven Generations Perspective

May 24, 2009 /

Vattenfall has been awarded the Climate Greenwash Awards 2009, probably not an award they desired.

Swedish energy company Vattenfall is a master of spin when it comes to climate change, portraying itself as a climate champion while lobbying to continue business as usual, using coal, nuclear power, and pseudo-solutions such as agrofuels and carbon capture and storage (CCS).

For more information about why they got the award, read Vattenfall – Nominated for branding problems as solutions.

The prize reminded me of a post in my Swedish blog, Vattenfall och indianfilosofi from May 22, 2008. The managing director of Vattenfall said that “According to Indian philosophy you should look six generations ahead.” It’s safe to say that if Vattenfall had fully understood that concept and had walked that talk they would not have recieved this award.

Newspapers questioned the six generation concept and I could not find anything about it either. But I did find several sources that mention seven generations ahead.

The Six Nations: Oldest Living Participatory Democracy on Earth says that:

In making any law our chiefs must always consider three things: the effect of their decision on peace; the effect on the natural world; and the effect on seven generations in the future.

Oneida Indian Nation writes that:

Tradition also requires both the Nation’s leaders and its Members to consider the impact on the next seven generations when making decisions.

In the book The Manifestation Wheel it says that:

The elders of the Iroquois Confederacy councils taught that in our every deliberation we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.

I especially like the Six Nations version. What would happen if our decisionmakers did consider these three things:

  • the effect of their decision on peace
  • the effect on the natural world
  • the effect on seven generations in the future

Credit: Photo by Thiru Murugan.

This was originally posted at Forty Plus Two, another blog of mine.

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2025

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑