Transcript Document

“Think Globally,
Act Locally”
Dada Maheshvarananda
 2007 Proutist Universal
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• “Another world is possible”:
tremendous power in this
common dream.
• But what type of world do we
want?
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Six Keys to Peace
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Just Economy
Community
Ecology
Ethics
Ideal Leadership
Spiritual Values
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1. Just Economy
The Global Capitalist Economy is based
on profit, selfishness and greed. The
tragic result: half of world population lives,
suffers and dies in poverty.
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Corporate-owned USA government
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Economic Inequality:
Does it matter?
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The Richest Venezuelans
1. Lorenzo Mendoza and family,
head of Polar beverages, has
US$ 6 billion.
2. Gustavo Cisneros and family,
the emperors of mass media,
have US$ 6 billion.
They are 3 times and 4 times
richer than they were 10
years ago. Are you?
www.forbes.com
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Advertising
• Portrays a very pleasurable life
• Makes people want the glamorous clothes,
cars and houses of TV
• Most Venezuelan children see their parents
struggling with insufficient money.
• Start to feel backward and primitive.
• So TV makes people want to be rich…
• …and white!
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What do
you really
want?
Most people
respond:
•
•
•
•
Happiness
Love
Peace
Health
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“Progressive Socialism”
Prout is the abbreviation for the Progressive
Utilization Theory, a new socio-economic
model based on:
• economic self-reliance
• cooperatives
• environmental balance and
• universal spiritual values.
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Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar
(1921-1990)
•
•
•
•
•
Indian philosopher
Author of 400+ books
Composer
Spiritual master
Political prisoner from 19711978.
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“Prout’s cooperative model… sharing the
resources of the planet for the welfare of
everyone, deserves our serious
consideration.” – Dr. Noam Chomsky, MIT
"A welcome, interesting and valuable
contribution, … showing how ancient
and new wisdom can join to build a
better world, based on spiritual values
and sustainability." – Frank Bracho,
former Ambassador of Venezuela to
India, ecologist, writer
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Prout is not a rigid mold to be imposed on
any society. It is a holistic set of dynamic
principles that can be applied appropriately
by the citizens and leaders to help their
region or country prosper and achieve selfreliance in an ecological way.
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Prout’s Solution to Economic
Inequality
• The world’s physical resources are limited.
If individuals accumulate too much, there is
not enough for everyone.
• Every country should decide maximum
salaries, wealth and land ownership.
• The only reason to pay more is to motivate
people to make a greater effort to benefit
society.
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2. Community
Latin definition: to give amongst each other.
Sociologist Sergio Luio: A group of people who do
favors for one another.
Prout: A group of people moving together like a
family towards a common goal.
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Neoliberal Perspectives
on Community
British Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher: “There is no such thing as
society – there are only individual men
and women.“
Neoliberal Economist Milton
Friedman: The idea that business has
a social responsibility is
“fundamentally subversive“.
Sir James Killen, Australian Minister for Defence:
“Anyone who does anything for anything other than
profit is either a madman or a bankrupt.“
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Moving
together
• “Bayanihan” in
Philippines means to
move a house together.
• Ayni in Quechua (the
language of the Inca
Empire) means
cooperation and
solidarity as a way of life.
• Cayapa in Venezuela
also evokes the
cooperative spirit of
community.
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COOPERATIVES ...
... the path to full employment
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Cooperatives
"Cooperatives are the businesses of the
future."
Felipe Perez-Marti
• Workers own the cooperative.
• More incentives for workers to be efficient.
• No conflict between owners and employees
• Workers benefit from the effort they put in.
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Cooperatives need:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Honest leadership
Good business plan
Strict accounting
Community support
Government should provide:
1. More training
2. Regular inspections
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MISSION
To empower all people to improve their quality
of life and live in a more just society by fostering
the development of worker cooperatives, selfreliant communities, environmental protection,
universal ethics and spiritual values.
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VISION
To be an independent model institution,
recognized in the national and international
community for its research, training,
conferences and publications. We strive to
strengthen worker cooperatives, so that people,
by working together, become a strong force to
create true economic democracy and regional
self-reliance.
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3. Ecology
“When the last river
and the last forest
have been
destroyed…
man will discover
that he cannot eat
money.”
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Most progressive and inspiring
constitution in the world
Yet some principles are not
yet reality:
• Article 305: The State shall
promote sustainable
agriculture as the strategic
basis for overall rural
development...
• Article 127: …It is a
fundamental duty of the
State, with the active
participation of society, to
ensure that the populace
develops in a pollutionfree environment…
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The Future of
Petroleum?
The Stone Age lasted for hundreds
of thousands of years. It did not
end because the world ran out of
stones…
…it ended because humans discovered metals!
So why wait until the last petroleum has been
extracted before looking for better, non-polluting
technology?
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What can you do?
•
•
•
•
Do something!
Plant trees
Recycle
Educate
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4. Ethics
• American Psychiatric Association: the most
common factor among criminals is the
tendency to lie.
• This defect is also common
in some lawyers, corporate
directors, accountants,
advertisers, politicians…
• Throughout history, ruling
classes have created moral
rules and laws to maintain
power.
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Cardinal Human Values
• honesty, courage,
• mercy, humility,
• self-restraint,
compassion.
• Protect the weak,
• avoid harming others,
• overcome selfishness.
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5. Ideal Leadership
The world needs leaders with moral
force, spiritual vision and courage to
fight injustice and exploitation.
Anyone can become an ideal leader
by setting a personal example of
honesty, self-discipline, sacrificing
spirit and dedication to the welfare of
humanity.
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Ideal Leaders in Venezuela
P. R. Sarkar, founder of Prout, visited
Venezuela in 1979. He said: “Venezuela needs
good spiritual political leaders. If Venezuela
can produce spiritual political leaders, it will be
not only the leader of Latin America, but also
the leader of the planet.”
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Gen. Raul Baduel
A Source of Inspiration
• His duty is to protect
the country, its people
and its democracy.
• Inspired by the dream,
“Then they will hammer
their swords into
plowshares.” (Micah 4:3)
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An Intensive Training
Course: “Creating Ideal
Inspirational Leaders
in the Venezuelan Military”
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•
•
•
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•
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Effective Decision Making
Warrior Psychology
Overcoming Stress and Fear
Understanding Your Opponent
How Intuition Can Save Your Life
Achieving Your Personal Goals
Service: The Key to Winning Hearts
and Minds
• Alternative Futures for Venezuela
• Fire Walk!
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6. Spiritual
Values
President Hugo Chavez said, “Thank you very
much, brother, and let's continue with
spirituality, spirit, good faith, morality, and the
mystical force that moves the world.”
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Universalism: Respect for all forms of mysticism.
Inter-religious gathering in Rio de Janeiro.
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“At the risk of
sounding
ridiculous, I
would say that
the true
revolutionary is
guided by great
feelings of love.”
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“When the
power of
love
overcomes
the love of
power, then
the world will
be at
peace.” –
Jimi Hendrix
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The Power of Love
Dr. Bernie Seigel
“If I told my cancer patients to raise
their blood levels of immune globulines
or killer-T cells, no one would know how.
But if I can teach them to love themselves and others fully, the same
changes happen automatically. The truth
is: love heals.”
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Meditation
In the struggle for world peace
and justice, we should not
neglect our own internal peace.
Meditation is an ancient
practice with many benefits:
overcoming insomnia,
depression and mental
complexes; increasing memory,
concentration, willpower, selfcontrol, self-esteem and
tolerance;
developing mental peace, wisdom, compassion and
unconditional love.
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Meditation
Close your eyes and open your mind
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How to Meditate?
1. Close your eyes
2. Sit straight
3. Breathe deeply
4. Repeat your mantra
5. Practice every day
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Baba Nam
Kevalam
universal mantra
in Sanskrit that
means:
“Everything is an
expression of one
loving infinite
Consciousness.”
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Circle of
Concern
Think
Globally
Circle of
Influence
Act
Locally
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“There is something which is stronger
than all the armies of the world, and that
is an idea whose time has come."
--- Víctor Hugo, French writer
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Arundhati Roy
(Recipient of Booker Prize for The God of Small Things)
“Another world is not only
possible, she’s on her way.
Maybe many of us won’t be
here to greet her, but on a
quiet day, if I listen carefully, I
can hear her breathing.”
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For more information:
www.ve.prout.org
Tel. 58-212-633-0131 (weekdays), 58212-782-2103 (nights and weekends),
cell 58-412-601-6572
E-mail: [email protected]
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