Here’s a link to the fabulous website Age of Stupid.
Produced by Lizzie Gillett, this film should be watched by everyone. It is a thought-provoking and entertaining film that has grown from a seed to this massive achievement through the work of many.
C’mon fellow bloggers, let’s support them.
Guy
I am ill and have been bed bound since boxing day and it looks like I will still be in bed until next year ( just a few days to go thank goodness!). In between my relapses I have taken the opportunity to do things that I would not normally get the time to do, like read this amazing book.
I am looking for inspiration next year and Kahlil Gibran offers a mirror and lens. A mirror to view the past but also a lens through which to view the future. The key decision will be how to live the present!
The book was first published in 1926 and I have posted a few quotations from his writings
Of Work ‘You work so that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth. For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons and to step out of life’s processions that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite…when you work you fulfil a part of earth’s furthest dream assigned to you when that dream was born’
Of Buying and Selling- ‘ To you the earth yields her fruit and you shall not want if you but know how to fill your hands. It is in exchanging gitts of the earth that you shall find abundance and be satisfied. Yet unless the exchange be in love and kindly justice, it will lead to greed and others to hunger’
Of Reason and Passion - ‘ Your reason and your passion are your rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul. If either of your sails or your rudder is broken you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas’
Of Talking - ‘And in much of your talking, thinking is murdered…for thought is a bird of space that in a cage of words may indeed unfold its wings but cannot fly’
I have chosen the first three quotes because in some way they are all relevant to Planet Positive - Our work constantly reminds us of our connectedness to the planet, it is our destiny(?). We believe in the just distribution of its resources;what we do is is our passion and reason.
The fourth I offer as a dilemma. Is it better to find time and space to think without boundaries or is it sometimes necessary to take action and in doing so accept that there are limits in what you can do? How can we translate this freedom of thought into freedom of action?
GB
30th December 2008
I thought I would share this with you. I like it, not because it speaks of regret and ‘if only’ but because it ultimately speaks of hope and that It is nevver too late to do what you always wanted to do even up to the age of 84 years and 364 days.
Esentially this is what Planet Positive is all about and why we started it. No one told us to do it, no one even asked us for it; it was something we all felt that we HAD to do and rather than sitting back and waiting we jumped off the edge and are now trying to make it happen.
So here it is
‘Instants’ by Jorge Luis Borges
If I could live again my life,
In the next - I’ll try,
- to make more mistakes,
I won’t try to be so perfect,
I’ll be more relaxed,
I’ll be more full - than I am now,
In fact, I’ll take fewer things seriously,
I’ll be less hygenic,
I’ll take more risks,
I’ll take more trips,
I’ll watch more sunsets,
I’ll climb more mountains,
I’ll swim more rivers,
I’ll go to more places - I’ve never been,
I’ll eat more ice creams and less (lime) beans,
I’ll have more real problems - and less imaginary
ones,
I was one of those people who live
prudent and prolific lives -
each minute of his life,
Offcourse that I had moments of joy - but,
if I could go back I’ll try to have only good moments,
If you don’t know - thats what life is made of,
Don’t lose the now!
I was one of those who never goes anywhere
without a thermometer,
without a hot-water bottle,
and without an umberella and without a parachute,
If I could live again - I will travel light,
If I could live again - I’ll try to work bare feet
at the beginning of spring till
the end of autumn,
I’ll ride more carts,
I’ll watch more sunrises and play with more children,
If I have the life to live - but now I am 85,
- and I know that I am dying …with thanks to the Free Speech Online, Bue ribbon Campaign
Please join us today in our mission!
Guy Battle
16,12.08
