So we are here at Checkpoint Charlie (Berlin). Twenty years ago there was a wall here. Unfortunately there’s still another type of wall separating people. So my question this week is: how can we tear down this wall called “the clash of civilizations”?
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The walls between our us are illusory. Even from a reductionist’s point of view we are all the same. The two primal urges of man, it is said, are food and sex. Everything else stems from these urges and I agree with that. We behave a certain way because that’s what’s acceptable. We want to be acceptable to help us thrive in our environment in order to get, maintain or increase our access to food and sex.
The differences in our civilizations reflect different methods thatt have worked in the past to achieve these goals. Even celibate people believe in perpetuation of the species though they don’t practise it themselves. If we accepted our fundamental nature it would be easier to get along.
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Les barrières
La nuit s’élève resplendissante d’une aura majestueuse. Elle étire ses tentacules étoilés pour nous enlacer dans la grandeur d’un univers tout proche et à la fois si lointain.
Infime barrière que celle des illusions qui font l’Homme puissant, isolé sur sa petite planète.
L’Humanité bâtie au fil d’une histoire sauvage sur la grandeur dérisoire de grains de sables insignifiants qui s’écoulent sans faim d’un appétit égocentrique.
Un océan de terre friable s’effiloche à l’horizon comme un destin inéluctable pour un semblant d’unité formant un peuple. L’Humanité réduite à la somme d’une multitude d’individus mais ne formant toujours pas une unité.
Les grands écrasent les petits. Parfois des petits se regroupent pour être pus grand et à leur tout écraser d’autres petits ou certains grands devenus petits. Un ensemble réglé comme un ballet joué depuis la nuit des temps. L’Homme, intelligence capable d’apprendre, stagne dans ses instincts primaires qu’ils réfutent à grands cris sous couvert de civilisation.
Il a inventé le droit de non ingérence qui autorise le massacre sauf pour raisons économiques. Il a crée les Nations Unies en introduction à un scénario de science fiction d’un avenir encore lointain. Il s’est trouvé la raison d’état, celle qui a des raisons que la raison n’oserait jamais avoir. Il a dessiné des pays sur des rouleaux de papier pour affiner les différences et surtout ne pas les respecter. Il a élevé des frontières, érigé en dogme tout puissant pour se protéger et en même satisfaire son besoin de les envahir.
De mot à mot, l’Homme a su s’entourer de principes flamboyants codifiés dans une littérature abondante sous couvert de civilisation. Pour mieux s’autoriser à les renier dans un élan destructeur et finalement masquer d’un voile éthique que rien n’a changé.
Le lance flamme remplace la torche, la kalachnikov devient la massue, le FRF2 le sigle de l’archer isolé, nos chars d’assaut portent bien leur nom de régiment de cavalerie.
L’âge de pierre est volontairement trop loin pour nos petites mémoires, pas assez pour notre égo, si proche de nos actes.
Un ensemble qui se perpétue dans un éternel renouvellement oubliant les expériences du passé pour inlassablement se répéter. Un schéma protecteur appliqué par chacun pour l’union de tous derrière les barrières illusoires d’un éphémère passage. La majorité nie de l’appliquer pendant que certains sous couvert de l’assumer ne nous ferons pas plus progresser.
Chacun érige ses propres barrières pour se protéger, issues de l’expérience, de l’éducation, d’un milieu social, d’une vague idée que l’on se fait de soi, de valeurs, illusions de chacun qui se mêlent et s’entremêlent. Illusions de l’ensemble espérant le temps où enfin elles se démêlent…
Chacun fait ses courses dans le supermarché de la vie. La liste noircie de petites cases à cocher dans un passage précipité entre deux rayons. Petites cases muettes qui marque irrémédiablement du sceau de la discrimination ce qui est acceptable ou non. Aucune place pour le hasard qui risquerait de perturber les croyances immuables en la valeur futile de nos critères forcément exhaustifs.
Trop grand, trop maigre, trop loin, trop blond, trop riche, trop pauvre, trop, au premier abord sélectionne impitoyablement puis si cela ne suffit point, « pas assez » entre en scène et vient à la rescousse. De trop en pas assez, la voie se dégage peu à peu, se vidant de toutes consistances, laissant derrière nous le chemin chargé de tout ce que ces petites cases à cocher sont incapables d’imaginer.
La Liberté devient l’exorcisme de la peur et celle de ne pas choisir en limitant les autres à la perception subjective de nous même. La chrysalide se traîne laborieusement sur un sentier escarpé. Elle se pare déjà de l’éclat du papillon fuyant les couleurs à naître pour se goinfrer de certitudes. Chacun reconnaît gracieusement la valeur des différences ainsi qu’à l’autre le droit d’exister, dès l’instant où cet autre à la décence de bien vouloir exister ailleurs. Ainsi le Petit Prince erre de planète en planète, s’effeuille doucement de rose en rose pour toujours se piquer de ce qu’il ne sait pas regarder.
Les mots s’emplissent d’émotions embellissant une grandeur d’âme qui virevolte au dessus d’une masse incongrue. Pour une soyeuse réalité chérie dans l’alcôve du fantasme de ce que nous pourrions être.
De petits mots s’amoncellent pour nous décrire tels que nous sommes. Petit tas de lettres qui forment une chaîne entre notre propre image et nos croyances. Une phrase plus loin, le paragraphe nous ressemble déjà moins teinté de la nuance de l’interprétation. Quel adjectif subversif s’est ainsi glissé entre notre conscience et notre image pour montrer finalement une autre ?
Comment se peut il que ce petit rien négligeable lève à lui seul un voile si soyeux qu’il nous cachait à nos yeux. ?
Chaque espace libre devrait être vide de la plénitude de rien dans l’attente de tout. Quel espace reste-t-il à une liberté déjà pleine de manque et emplit d’un idéal restreint dans la certitude qu’il n’existe pas ?
Une pieuse revendication portée haute dans les cieux pour une ouverture d’esprit limitée au choix de vouloir connaître. Le désir de croire que tout est possible limité dors et déjà par le choix de définir l’impossible en érigeant des barrières infranchissables.
Les barricades se dressent l’une derrière l’autre, solidement ancrées dans les profondeurs de notre absolue vérité. Encore une fois un ego démesuré qui nous fait savoir avant de connaître, juger avant d’écouter simplement pour ne pas prendre le risque d’entendre ?
L’insolence de l’absurde démesure qui fait caresser d’un regard, d’offrir un petit geste de tendresse se trouve balayer dans un souffle d’une multitude de petites cases.
Pour dix centimètres de moins, la barre est trop haute. Alors que pour cinq de plus, la voici soudain trop basse. Dix de plus uni avec cinq de moins ne sont pourtant qu’une simple distance qu’il appartient de désirer parcourir.
Deux cœurs l’un contre l’autre battent bien plus vite et peuvent aller bien plus loin sans s’essouffler.
Je serai un hérisson, je résoudrai pour une fois le dilemme en m’éloignant des humains qui après avoir éliminés allègrement d’autres espèces aiment à accuser les autres de finir le travail.
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….. Hay que encontrar aquellos puntos en que somos iguales, y aceptar que no somos identicos….
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No puedo derribar paredes que no se que existen.. que no comprendo.
Para construir puentes, abrir puertas, conectar corazones, necesito auto-conocimiento, auto-estima, seguridad de lo que soy en lo profundo, CONGRUENCIA, de estas bases nace la seguridad en si, y en este cimiento crece el amor a todo creado… como derribo el muro que quedo en el animo… amando, esperando, creyendo en esa parte buena que nos une… en la semejanza que transparece cuando nos dejamos ser y nos sentimos hermanos…no hay muros que resistan la fuerza del amor incondicional.
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I am confident this wall will disappear. Open your arms to receive your neighboor. Accept the other as a neighboor. We are all people who want and need to live. Do not stress on the differences, but look for common interests. Forget what has happened in the past, make a new start. You don’t have to become friends, but we can start with accepting the needs of others; think about what’s good for everyone, not just about yourself.
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International Court of Justice
The only participents seem to be the ones that did not tow up the line ,aam I wrong?
Sadam, did not took part in it, was this a error of justice?
How come the US and Israel are not in it? This is strange, isn’t it?
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Carolena Sabah
Thanks for your comment.
Why the name? I just realised the more I read, the less I know. I am grateful for the opening of the Internet, a melting pot of brilliant people with brilliant minds, I am here for learning. I just love it.
I had a look at your site, it is beautiful.
Congratulations on winning the “Experimental Witch” project too.
I had the opportunity of meeting people from Iran with so much wisdom…
AH AH !I liked your story too, it is a case of psychology in reverse, isn’t it?
Thanks for sharing that.
Love
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I believe first we tear down our own wall, then we create a mirror that hopefully will shine onto others…*
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oi Paulo!
Mto bonito assunto desta semana e muito bonito os comentarios aqui deixados. E sempre um grade prazer frequentar seus sites, e eu agradeço muito à vc por tudo.
Na minha humilde opinião creio que so o amor e aceitação podem derrubar os muros construidos pelo homem. O pior muro é aquele que, enquanto esta sendo construido, não se tem consciência do que se perde de vista. Os muros aprisionam o homem de todas as outras possibilidades de que se ele nao existisse. Os muros destroem o amor, enquanto oque se espera é exatamente o contrario. Se os seres humanos aprendessem a aceitar a liberdade de seu proximo, não seria necessario nenhum muro para impor isso.
Que possamos ainda assistir muitos muros desmoronarem!:)
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Paulo,
queria escrever algo e algo brilhante (ridículo, o escritor aqui é você). Acho que o conhecimento pode ajudar a tear down walls. A tolerância, a perseverança. As vezes me pergunto se sei o real siginificado destas palavras.
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The walls are meant for a purpose,
you cannot tear them down. The hate has made them too strong.
You can only climb over them .with some effort and thats love
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Dear Noraida, thank you. I fully agree with you : MIND OVER MATTER!
LOVE,
Thelma
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What about Albert Einstein, who managed to have the US Congress discuss his theory of relativity? That man is a cracker!
That’s what I call Passion.
and one side mind>
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The easiest way to tear down a wall is to envision & see in our minds clearly that “there is no wall at all,,,,”
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People should start to live for other deep meaningful things in this life.No only for money,power.. Acceptance, understanding ,empathy and
more, more love…
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If we refer to walls as barriers, I think that the only way to tear them down is proactivity. Many of us (if not all of us) are somehow pre-programed by their respective societies to react to diferences they see in others. For example, we are pre-programed to feel compassion (or pitty) when we se a disabled person. Compassion is a good thing, however, it might not be the right response in all cases. To make my point a bit clearer, I would invite all those who read to think for 5 or 10 minutes about the last time they reacted in a certain way after seeing or meeting someone from a different culture, different social background,in a different physical shape, or just people with different ideas. Obviously, our reactions are not always what we want them to be - be it consciously or unconsciously. They are conditionned by our education, the societies we grew up in, and many other factors. So, when I say that the solution is proactivity, I am pointing to that choice we make when we react to the stimuli we recieve from other people in daily life. Yes, we do maje a choice, since there is a time threshold between the moment we recieve the stimulus and the time we respond to it. To be proactive is simple to refuse a reaction that is “by default”, and rather choose that reaction according to our values and principles. In that way, we can avoid many tensions, make room for mutual understanding and empathy, and enhance mutual respect among not only individuals but also entire cultures.
I hope these words find you all in peace.
Much respect,
Souhail from Morocco :-)
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I find it interesting that an article is posted here about walls. Last Sunday I was talking about walking through walls. I would like nothing better right now than to have the ability to physically walk through walls. The circumstances that put the walls up will never change. I can do nothing about it. I can only move through the walls to get what I want. So far I have physically been unable to walk through a wall. What I have been able to do is use my love, will, respect, faith, hope, dreams, words, and even my voice to get what I want from within the walls.
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What is a wall?
I think of a wall like it is in the history of the first houses. They are keeping the roof up, and the purpose of a house is to keep us warm and safe. In a point of the history some humans changed the purpose of the wall and used it to keep humans closed inside the houses, build stonewalls around thei porperties, to mark, this is my land, I own it.
If the leaders of this world, would use their power to tell humans and show that we want a world with peace and harmony, they should tell the countries that has walls, to put them down, as like the Berlin wall did. The chinese wall is open, it didnt work, because humans dont see any rules written on the wall, so they climb it, to see whats on the other side, the grass isnt greener on the other side.
Still hope, of a peaceful world, living in harmony with the earth!
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What if, instead of tearing down, we use the walls to support the bridges we build to connect the civilizations? What if, instead of tearing down, more of us demonstrate that walls are illusory in the face of love? Tearing down is only an invitation to build another. Love and acceptance, water and wind, can dissolve walls into grains of sand.
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Dear Paolo,
All walls are for money and power. The only way to tear down the them is to change the values. People should start to live for other deep meaningful things in this life.
And also I agree with opinion “acceptance of difference”
Thank you
Jaz
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The wall will be transcended by the ultimate source of love, which in my philosophy of life and vocabulary is termed God.
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Marie-Christine,
Yes, indeed.
Pleasure is all mine. :)
I appreciate all those who are trying to break the clouds of walls and bringing new hope, ideas and inspiration towards greater achievemnts of mankind.
Good day !
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Santosh K
‘I meant they are tearing down walls here.
:;
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Santosh Kalwar,
I am glad you are.
Keep smiling.
:D
I can tell you something, they are walls here, it is happening, it is real. Good, isn’t it? Not a cold war any longer.
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All the above commentators seem to agree that walls are necessarily evil things. I do not agree with that point of view. Look at what is happening today in the world. Globalization tends to destroy all walls which were built in hundreds and thousands of years, and in the process it destroys beautiful ancient cultures. A world without walls is a world without differences. Lets not turn intro some New Age utopians…
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Thank You for Your books!They support in a cruel world and make my mind to think!
Unfortunately, my English is not good to express all the feeling i have while reading THE BOOKS, but they are so fantastic that any words are needn’t)
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Marie-Christine,
Thank you for your concern. I am awake today.
World need to awake too… We need to realize our potentials and do the things that are close to our hearts. Listen to what others has to say and respect different voices from around the corner or globe.
Have a good day ! :)
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Good food is essential for us to grow into healthy and efficient members of the community.
A food chain that is recognised around the world as one of the leading ones in terms of humanitarian aids, respect of animal, safety commitment on textiles and clothing for babies,works to prevent the obesity amongst young children(a “phone-coaching is available for families with obese children”) is the Carrefour Group from France.
It is the second largest leading Food Chain group in the world, the biggest in Europe. It is established in 30 countries, Europe, Asia and South America. The Carrefour Group uses local suppliers on 90 to 95% of their products, recruits and train its staff to one of the highest standards with regard to safety, hygiene, quality regular audits in stores and warehouses,has a team of scientific experts that monitors and test products for”carcinogems, allergies, toxicology, antibiotics, food hygiene, microbiology.”
These high standards have been adopted by a huge number of countries.
The customer is always right. Complaints are immediately followed. There is a 24/7 phone line and products can be withdrawn within a 2 hours period.
Carrefour is very supportive of people in need. Food is distributed every day to welfare stores and charities. More than 34,ooo,ooo million meals are distributed around the world (Poland, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Columbia, Argentina, Brazil) refrigerated vehicles are used to carry the food and donations of blankets, water, logistics and equipments).
Sponsorship programs are in place for health and sports.
Good nutritional products that are rich in Omega 3, low in sugar and cholesterol, fibres and vitamins are displayed on the shelves with labelling that are easy to understand.
‘Suppliers sites are audited by Carrefour , its service providers or certification agencies on a regular basis and the rules are very stringent.”
Carrefour values are :
Freedom
Responsability
Sharing
Respect
Integrity
Solidarity
Progress
If you want to find out more about Carrefour, just type “Carrefour Group”.
Carrefour means “Crossroads” in French.
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Thanks Charlie.
Love
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You are, or were in Berlin and I didn’t know that? We could have met;) I passed Check-Point Charlie so many times…In Berlin it might no be that obvious anymore but when one drives through Germany from West to East or East to West there is still a distinction, physically and in teh minds of the people.
I remember that I drove with two other students one time from my University (former East Germany) to a city called Nordhorn (in former West Germany) and I remember that one of them said:”Wow, one can still see the difference!”
But it is not just seeing it, it is also the way of feeling it. The question of how one can overcome the differences is a fundamental question in a social and political sense in Germany. We are fighting for years and it seems there will be always something that hollowering over us that says we are different. But does it have to be negative? Cultures, societies, religions are different from one another and ther is or at least should be a certain respect and understanding, but when it comes to differences within a social group things become more difficult because we as humans like to make it difficult.
In how we grow up, what our parents have been teaching us certainly influences our perspective on things. We are growing up in a box filled with attitudes, perspectives and judgements made up by our surrounding environment of parents, siblings, teachers, and friends. We need to break out of this box and learn to dicover things on our own, creating our own judgement and opinion to become free in our own thinking.
But it requires discipline and most of us don’t have it. Let’s be honest we are influenced every single day by someone elses opinion.
We have to learn a lot more to actually be able to tore down those invisible/visible walls.
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Since I was born in Germany (west) and did grow up with the shade of this wall in many aspects of my life, I also experienced the knocking down of the real wall as an extraordinary emotionally event, I was extremely moved and soaked with tears of joy often that time. Within a few days, the ecstatic high had not completely ebbed away yet, the resentments slightly appeared.
One side did not want to share brotherly … the other side did need exorbitantly. We from the west part were also facing the knocking down of our wall of values (freedom, unity, equal rights …) we’re singing of in our anthem before … erased by our need, greed, envy and hatred. We got ashamed. It is shame which kills heroes.
My view for a solution may be seemingly a paradox: Stop striving for being loved! – Hence as long you do, you do need, you do want and so on … this always leads us to the low energy fields (some may call it sins) and disconnects us with the real source of energy. Makes us seeing separate.
My suggestion is a fundamental way: Just be (love).
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Ignoramus, you are not so ignorant why call yourself that.
You are right, about children and violence, that’s where it starts.
I have a picture where I’ve extended my arm and my hand is in the shape of a gun, pointing to the viewer. My 4 year old niece looked at the picture and said, that’s you, I said yes honey, and she said, but you’re bad over there, and I said, yes honey you are right. I think she is too young for me to explain to her that it’s the good fight I’m fighting. I’m wearing white, with a black glove.
But one day she will know.
So now for some Good news. Thankfully. Again, I heard it from my mother since I don’t watch TV.
A man heard footsteps inside his house which he didn’t recognize, so he slowly looked and saw a man in the process of stealing his television. He looked outside and saw a van, he sneaked out the house, got into the van, drove off and called the police, saying that he stole a car, but the car owner is stealing his tv inside his house. This made the operator laugh. What a smart thing to do!
So the thief when noticed his car is gone, lol… he left the tv and scrammed at once.
Ha Ha, we need more heroes like him! Thank God for Goodness!
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It’s funny (peculiar;) how things seem to level out… we don’t have to do a thing… we need no tools… a no high IQs… because God tears the walls down… and gives us a second chance
The Financial Market, a castle built from “lazy credit”, is crumbling fast… so let’s use the rubble to build fine bridges… to bring humanity together again
Love, Paul
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