A life without fear, this must be heaven.
A life full of joy, this must be heaven.
A life in total happiness, this must be heaven.
To live with a beloved partner, this must be heaven.
Do you think this from time to time too?
This heaven, of which you dream of once in a while, exists still in
yourself - but unfortunately you have forgotten about it.
You, as the soul you are,
have brought this heaven with you when you came to earth.
For this reason adults look at babies as heavenly beings.
A baby sleeps blessed composed, one with itself, peaceful.
Heaven is still so near for them.
And as grown-ups we come very close to this heavenly state
when we fall in love or have moments of great happiness.
Heaven is still in you.
And when you realised that you were not in heaven any more -
you gave it up. First you fought against it, but finally
you submitted to your destiny on earth.
You started to copy the life of others as they presented it to you.
And this way you lost the heaven in you more and more:
YOUR HEAVEN.
In between you had always some moments of happiness but not
many. A long time ago you gave up the faith in a constant
happiness - though it is the natural state of the soul that you are.
Only when normal life doesn't give you the satisfaction you desire
you start unconsciously to search for heaven again.
But you are looking outside of yourself.
And there, you won't find it.
When despite of your efforts, happiness doesn't appear, you start
again to content yourself with what you already have in your life.
You are very convincing to yourself.
You continue to believe that life doesn't provide you with constant
happiness ... life is like that, or you tell yourself
that you don't deserve it.
The earth is not heaven.
But when you live with yourself in unison,
when you find peace in yourself, when you surrender
to life in giving up your attachments.
Then you are able to bring heaven to this world,
and your inner heaven will radiate to the outside world.
And in this way you give others the opportunity
to rediscover also the heaven in themselves.
AND MAYBE THEN, IT WILL HAPPEN THAT EARTH BECOMES HEAVEN.
NINA Larisch-Haider, New Zealand |
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Just The View of some "Dude"-a quote- |
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"Only When Social and Economic Hurdles are Removed, Will We, As A People, Ever See The Race Ahead." -Christopher Scott Sanders- |
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Poem: If I could change the world |
Dear Jacque Fresco and Zeitgeist movement community,
I was glad to look through your material - glad there is a community of others looking for deep seated solutions to mankind's woes. However all that I have found online and on your movies outlining how governance would be dealt with in your perfect world has been glossed over with the answer that machines will take over government. Which seems inadequate to the complexity of the issue and insufficient. Although I agree that technology needs to revolutionize the very fabric of mankind in order to for us to grow. Machines do not have the same goals and aspirations and would choose things abhorrent to the peoples wants and put power into the hands of the programmers. What follows is my solution, I hope that this can be added to the fabric of the Venus project or that at minimum it inspires discussion. Egalitarian democracy as a project needs the same things as the Venus project to grow, willing dreamers to take actions towards a better world.
Sincerely
Brendan Baudat
http://www.bmedia.ca/
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Egalitarian Democracy
-Because Technology has yet to revolutionize Democracy-
The democracy found in the world today although functional is not true to its original ideals, which is: for the people to in essence rule themselves. In some democratic tribal governance systems all members of the tribe were called on to vote on issues regarding the well being of the tribe. As the populations in human society's grew, governance by all for all disappeared, one of the main reasons for this was because it became technically unfeasible to do so. The ancient Greeks had a form of democracy that we loosely base our political system on, in which the head of the household could vote on all major actions and policies the state would make. As such regular citizens could vote on bills and bylaws which ultimately had a significant effects on their lives.
The democracy of today in which we vote in politicians who represent our wants was created in an age in which getting everyone to vote on everything was at best technologically impractical. Today this is not the case. By creating machines Just like bank machines but for voting -"voting machines" as well as voting online, hand held devices, and on the phone, every bill, every decision brought through parliament could be voted on by the general public.
I have termed this Egalitarian Democracy. Egalitarian: of, relating to, or believing in the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities. Democracy: control of an organization or group by the majority of its members.
Theoretically this system would have multiple advantages. Firstly the people will have their voices heard if they want to be heard. Laws could be directly tailored to the peoples wants and needs. Secondly there are less positions of power that can be held by potentially corrupted officials or controlled by special interests. This should lead to a more efficient and flexibly run state. This system is now possible; direct control of the actions of the state can be in the hands of the people for which it matters most.
Here is how it could work: Elected members of parliament are still employed to create bills, which after due process become laws. The difference is that everyone gets to vote on whether or not the bills are passed. In this way the people set the policies of the government. Bills put forth by elected members of parliament are officially presented in the house of parliament and broadcast in multiple formats by multiple organizations. Statements for and against the bill in question are prepared by each of the major political parties in the house of parliament. These statements and a copy of the bill itself are shown to individual voters before they vote. Only the results of the majority of the voting public can turn a bill into a law or a government policy.
This system puts more power into the medias hands, so great care should be taken to ensure multiple views are presented both directly at the place of voting and in the general media. Security is a concern, as is the case with any vote for which the outcome is important. The security needed for a system like this, is already available as it is used in everyday transactions with banks, online banking, by phone, etc. However it is extremely important that all views are allowed to be heard and that the voting system doesn't get corrupted, as such the mechanics of voting must be carried out by a nonprofit entity entirely separate of the government.
Money must have a gold standard in order to cancel it's negative aspects such as inflation, debt, and corruption. Each unit of money whether bill or coin of money or electronic in nature is able to be traded in for a specified weight of gold. This is done with knowledge of how in the current money system - money is debt and until this is changed people are not free.
Bills put forth to the people in parliament will need to have an established deadline after which the votes are no longer tallied. For example: one week after a bill is presented in parliament to the people polls on that bill are closed (technically polling stations need never be closed). If changes are needed, it will come back in its modified form to be voted on again by the people, just as the first time, in the same time frame with all major parties and anyone else wanting to comment on it given freedom space and time and media coverage to speak.
A constitution will need to be created and it is hoped that this will also be figured out with the same Egalitarian Democracy voting technique. This constitution should; guarantee a gold standard for currency, protect the environment, protect freedom of speech and the health and welfare of the people, and all the various creatures, environments and property within the country.
Some issues of concern and control need to be set up so as not to be in the control of the government; things Such as: nuclear safety and religion. As well the media must not be monopolized or overly state sponsored. The issuing of ID and other important documents, vote tally and calculation need to be done by separate organizations without direct government control.
Arts funding, city planning and spending, provincial planning and spending will be decided with the same voting system but on a scale fitting to the issue. The guiding principle is that only people effected by the outcome of the vote can vote on that issue. For example: only people who reside in a city can vote on issues relating to that city, so to the provinces or territories. Although who gets to vote on what will be a hotly contested issue, most people who don't have any interest in the subject being voted on will not want to vote on that issue anyway. Who gets to vote on what will be decided when by the constitution gets worked out.
It is hoped that Egalitarian Democracy should prove to be a flexible system that takes the advantages of available technology and networks for the net result of putting more minds and therefor mind-power into our politics. This is an open source political rule that uses the efficiency of digital networks. In a way it is an expansion of modern democratic government or a revival of democratic tribal rule. This political system should have the following effects: an increase civic pride, policies will be more flexible and responsive to changing times, less social unrest, more equality, and the country will operate more efficiently and therefor be prosperous psychologically sociologically and environmentally friendly.
I am presenting this not as an original idea or as an expert. I know that others have had similar concepts. I am not employed in politics or have political training of any kind. I have written this to share this idea with the world; In hopes that someday somewhere, the ideas herein stated are used, and in turn the world becomes a better place. This is not a perfect system but it should prove to be a better system of governance than is currently in use in the world today. This is intended as an outline of a political process and should not be regarded as hard and fast rules as to how Egalitarian Democracy will work for it is hoped that this is a system that can figure itself out. Egalitarian Democracy's inner workings, its state charter or constitution, election terms, guiding principals should all be established using the same voting system that I outlined above.
Feel free to copy and comment on this and add some or all concepts to the fabric of your own movement. It is most important that this idea gets out to the people of the world and not what permutation it is in when it arrives.
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