I want to hear your opinion on culture.

Do you think that culture can change anything in this world?

I will be participating this week in a cultural forum in Avignon / France and will meet people there that put a lot of hope in what they believe in – the same way I do – but sometimes we feel that despite our best efforts the world doesn’t change.

Yesterday I saw a movie about WWI (“All Quiet in the Western Front”) and had the realization that a lot of things haven’t changed. Nonetheless we cannot lose hope – so this is why I’m turning to you: How do you think we could use culture in a more effective and powerful way?

I believe internet helps – given that it is a platform for people that are open to share ideas. So please, leave here your opinion so that I may share it with the people of this forum.

The egg, seen as containing the seed that will give birth to manifestation, runs in all cultures. Indeed the birth of the world from an egg exists in the Celtic, Greek, Egyptian, Phoenician, Tibetan, Chinese, Hindus and Japanese traditions.
It is the process of how this egg evolves that changes from place to place. In Ancient Egypt as well as in China, the egg is spit by a mythical animal and represents the manifestation of the verb. In Hinduism, the egg is born from primeval waters and when it cracks it creates the earth and the sky.
Mircea Eliade, who worked on symbols, sees in all these traditions a common streak - that the egg is an image of totality, usually appearing as the first principle after chaos.
Now you take the floor, what do you associate with the egg?

Not to be paralyzed by fear in the path of our dreams.

Many centuries ago, in the days of the samurais, a text was written in Japan on the spiritual art of wielding the sword: “Impassive comprehension”, also known as “The Treatise of Tahlan”, the name of the author (a fencing master and Zen monk). Below are some extracts that I have adapted:

Escaping from threats

We often think that the ideal attitude is to give life for a dream, but there is nothing more mistaken than this. In order to make a dream come true, we need to conserve our life, and so we have to know how to avoid whatever is threatening us. The more we premeditate on our steps, the more we stand to be wrong, because we are not taking others into consideration, or life’s teachings, or passion and calm. The more we feel we are in control, the farther we are from controlling anything at all. A threat gives no warning, and a quick reaction cannot be programmed like a walk on Sunday afternoon.

So if you want to be in harmony with your love or with your fight, learn to react fast. Using polite observation, do not let your supposed experience of life turn you into a machine, but rather use this experience always to listen to “the voice of the heart.” Even if you disagree with what this voice is saying, respect it and follow its advice, for it knows the best moment to act and the right moment to avoid action.

This also holds true for both love and war.

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The warrior respects the suffering of others and does not try to compare it with his own.

Welcome to Share with Friends - Free Texts for a Free Internet