Virunga — Nobility and heroism in the struggle for peace and justice

Film:

Virunga, 2014

Synopsis (from the official website):

VIRUNGA IS THE INCREDIBLE TRUE STORY OF A GROUP OF BRAVE PEOPLE RISKING THEIR LIVES TO BUILD A BETTER FUTURE IN A PART OF AFRICA THE WORLD’S FORGOTTEN AND A GRIPPING EXPOSE OF THE REALITIES OF LIFE IN THE CONGO.

In the forested depths of eastern Congo lies Virunga National Park, one of the most bio-diverse places on Earth and home to the planet’s last remaining mountain gorillas. In this wild, but enchanted environment, a small and embattled team of park rangers – including an ex-child soldier turned ranger, a caretaker of orphan gorillas and a dedicated conservationist – protect this UNESCO world heritage site from armed militia, poachers and the dark forces struggling to control Congo’s rich natural resources. When the newly formed M23 rebel group declares war, a new conflict threatens the lives and stability of everyone and everything they’ve worked so hard to protect, with the filmmakers and the film’s participants caught in the crossfire.

A powerful combination of investigative journalism and nature documentary, VIRUNGA is the incredible true story of a group of courageous people risking their lives to build a better future in a part of Africa the world’s forgotten, and a gripping exposé of the realities of life in the Congo.

From director Orlando von Einsiedel and executive producer Leonardo DiCaprio.

My Thoughts:

My first thought is if you have not seen this film, please go watch it.  It is a beautiful documentary that combines investigative journalism with stunning imagery and deserves every award it has won.  I am very thankful to a friend for recommending it to me.

The thing that really struck me about this film was how it was able to show the nobility of the Virunga Park Rangers in both large and small moments.  These people face incredible adversity and over 100 have died in their struggle to protect this park, which is a beacon of hope in a violent and corrupt region with a complex history.  They face bribes, death threats, and ambushes on a daily basis from all sides, even from supposed allies, and yet continue to do their job to enforce the law and protect this World Heritage Site.  They put not just themselves but their families at risk in the effort to resist corruption and maintain order.

The entire time I was watching I kept thinking about the Hidden Words, and how the rangers/journalists and the rebels/business interests seemed to exemplify to two opposite poles of the nobility we should strive for and the abasement we bring upon ourselves:

O SON OF SPIRIT!

I created thee rich, why dost thou bring thyself down to poverty? Noble I made thee, wherewith dost thou abase thyself? Out of the essence of knowledge I gave thee being, why seekest thou enlightenment from anyone beside Me? Out of the clay of love I molded thee, how dost thou busy thyself with another? Turn thy sight unto thyself, that thou mayest find Me standing within thee, mighty, powerful and self-subsisting.

O SON OF SPIRIT!

The bird seeketh its nest; the nightingale the charm of the rose; whilst those birds, the hearts of men, content with transient dust, have strayed far from their eternal nest, and with eyes turned towards the slough of heedlessness are bereft of the glory of the divine presence. Alas! How strange and pitiful; for a mere cupful, they have turned away from the billowing seas of the Most High, and remained far from the most effulgent horizon.

O SON OF SPIRIT!
Noble have I created thee, yet thou hast abased thyself. Rise then unto that for which thou wast created.

There were moments that simply touched my heart while watching this film, moments that showed you just why the Rangers were doing what they were doing.  The 800 or so remaining gorillas have their own nobility.  They too have families and they too react with fear to the sound of shelling as the rebels set off bombs.  Some poachers strive to kill gorillas not even for profit but simply because they think that if all the gorillas are gone then there will be no reason to protect the park any more and they can plunder the resources there.  These animals showed traits that we share, such as kindness and grief at the loss of loved ones.

“You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.”—Malcolm S. Forbes.

But it isn’t just the gorillas who benefit from the park, but the people in the region.  The tourism generated from the park helps provide a positive source of income, which is unfortunately disrupted by the militants in the region.  Additionally there are people who live within the park who live off of sustainable subsistence fishing from the lake, which they have done since before colonization.  If the oil drilling in the lake commences, their whole way of life will be destroyed, and while SOCO has offered them money, they too aren’t in it for the money but instead want to continue living in harmony with the park around them in a way that allows both themselves and the endangered wildlife to thrive.  Unfortunately these advocates have been forced to evacuate due to the violence the rebels have brought.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”—Edmund Burke

So rather than doing nothing, what can we do to assist the triumph of justice over injustice in Virunga?  Watching the film is a great first step.  It is streaming on NetFlix right now.  Going to the website is a great second step.  There they outline several action steps, from getting the word out, to donating to the Park, to checking your investments to make sure your portfolio does not support companies like SOCO, which profit from the regional instability and are looking to plunder the park.

I am thankful for those who strive to practice their inherent nobility and rise to make the right and ethical choice in the face of both economic incentive and violent threats to do otherwise.  I am also thankful that I have never been put in a position to have to make such choices myself so directly, but hope that if ever I were, I would also honor the nobility within me and not abase myself.  My thoughts and prayers go to the Rangers who have lost their lives protecting justice and their families.

Blog Action Day — Water!!! Blue Gold

Film:

Blue Gold: World Water Wars, 2008

Synopsis (from the film’s homepage):

In every corner of the globe, we are polluting, diverting, pumping, and wasting our limited supply of fresh water at an expediential level as population and technology grows. The rampant overdevelopment of agriculture, housing and industry increase the demands for fresh water well beyond the finite supply, resulting in the desertification of the earth.

Corporate giants force developing countries to privatize their water supply for profit. Wall Street investors target desalination and mass bulk water export schemes. Corrupt governments use water for economic and political gain. Military control of water emerges and a new geo-political map and power structure forms, setting the stage for world water wars.

We follow numerous worldwide examples of people fighting for their basic right to water, from court cases to violent revolutions to U.N. conventions to revised constitutions to local protests at grade schools. As Maude Barlow proclaims, “This is our revolution, this is our war”. A line is crossed as water becomes a commodity. Will we survive?

My Thoughts:

In the whole world there is nothing softer and weaker than water.

And yet nothing measures up to it

In the way it works upon that which is hard.

Nothing can change it.

Everyone on earth knows

That the weak conquers the strong

And the soft conquers the hard —

But no one is capable of acting accordingly.

~Tao Te Ching, II:68

Watch this film now.  It is available on Netflix Instant, through iTunes, or Amazon On Demand.   Humans need fresh water.  Without it we will die.  Yet water is increasingly being treated as a commodity, privatized, and being controlled by water cartels.  Why are we giving away water only to have it sold back to us?  We are using our groundwater faster than we can replace it.  It takes 24 gallons to make one microchip.  117 gallons to make a banana.  This is a global problem.  It’s effecting agriculture, development, global warming. There are corporations that make money cleaning up pollution and therefore don’t want to prevent it.

This is an ethical, moral, and social problem.  Until we recognize that we are a united world, that water unites us but as it becomes scarce if we don’t work together we will end up fighting.  Already water scarcity has effected the West Bank issue.  It’s effected the relationship between Egypt and Sudan. And in Bolivia and in Tamil Nadu… yet often these resource wars are presented as religious or ethnic wars. (To see a map of water conflicts click here)

Everyone needs water and water is central to life, regardless of race or faith.  The hydrological cycle connects us all.  There are reasons that throughout the Holy Writings of every religion that water is used as a spiritual metaphor due to its power in this world.

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.   ~ John 3:5

When in the Gospels, Christ speaks of ‘water’, He means that which causes life, for without water no worldly creature can live—mineral, vegetable, animal and man, one and all, depend upon water for their very being.  ~ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

O servants! Ye are even as saplings in a garden, which are near to perishing for want of water. Wherefore, revive your souls with the heavenly water that is raining down from the clouds of divine bounty. ~ Bahá’u’lláh

As a lotus flower is born in water, grows in water and rises out of water to stand above it unsoiled, so I, born in the world, raised in the world having overcome the world, live unsoiled by the world ~ The Buddha

We need to come together to solve this water problem by recognizing each others humanity.  In order to become ‘unsoiled’ we must work together, live more sustainably, and overcome the greed that leads to abuse of water use.  Please meditate on what you can do and the choices you can make to help us deal with the growing problem of water.

Repost – Movie Review : Human Footprint

Hi everyone!  It’s been a while since I’ve written, but I figure you might enjoy this post from an eco-blog called Worldchanging.  Environmental stewardship and personal responsibility are spiritual and moral issues that we all struggle with. Here is a quote before but it’s worth repeating since I think it fits so nicely with the theme:

Every man of discernment, while walking upon the earth, feeleth indeed abashed, inasmuch as he is fully aware that the thing which is the source of his prosperity, his wealth, his might, his exaltation, his advancement and power is, as ordained by God, the very earth which is trodden beneath the feet of all men. There can be no doubt that whoever is cognizant of this truth, is cleansed and sanctified from all pride, arrogance, and vainglory. ~ Bahá’u’lláh

So without further ado, enjoy!

Movie Review: Human Footprint

from WorldChanging by Amanda Reed

4 people liked this

Two years ago, Worldchanging listed “Human Footprint” in its Holiday Gift Guide, but as far as I could tell no one here had offered a review of the film. Due to a recent flu that left me bed bound, I was able to watch the movie and I thought it would be of interest to Worldchanging readers if I offered a bit more information about it.

In true National Geographic fashion the film is a visual feast, with both captivating still life images and dramatic video sequences used to illustrate the vast quantity of stuff the average American uses over the course of a lifetime (where a lifetime = 77 years 9 months). The narrative is simple: the film follows an American boy and girl from birth to death and shows their average consumptive footprint. For example, at the beginning we learn that the average baby requires 1,898 pints of crude oil and 4.5 trees just to make their diapers; and then as teenagers the boy and girl develop hygiene habits that will lead to the use of over 156 toothbrushes, 389 tubes of toothpaste, 656 bars of soap, and 198 bottles of shampoo over their lives; and as adults it’s estimated that the young man and woman will live in a 2,000 square foot home and move about 10 times, with each home requiring 13,837ft of lumber, 17 tons of concrete, 400 lbs of copper piping, and 30 gallons of paint to construct. That’s a lot of awesome data, and the strength of the film is in how it visually demonstrates these abstract footprint values. As a primarily visual learner, this documentary really helped me to see how much stuff I potentially use in my life, both directly and indirectly.

Here are a selection of screen shots of some of the more impressive visual sequences that I took while watching the movie online at Snag Films:

(Screenshot of sequence showing a lifetime of showers with 28,433 rubber duckies.)

(Screenshot of a lifetime’s worth of appliances put on a wall.)

(Screenshot of sequence where a typical sports shoe is dismantled to highlight how many parts, materials and resources one shoe requires.)

(Screenshot of sequence where a Ford car’s parts are removed and arranged on a map of the world to show the global scope of the resource extraction and production of the car.)

In addition to simply making visual the hard-to-visualize large quantities of food and products I potentially consume over my lifetime, I thought the best parts of the “Human Footprint” film were in the scenes where they reveal the backstories of products or otherwise break down the sub-footprints of the things we use (see the above images of the dismantled car and sneaker, for examples). As the movie narrator says, “Without even thinking about it Americans are tapped into a global infrastructure.” This placement within a global infrastructure is of course true for all people and not just Americans. Hopefully after watching this film more people will think more about the global infrastructure within which they’re enmeshed.

The “Human Footprint” does not make a a strong argument about how you can reduce your carbon footprint or human footprint, but as a compilation of data coupled with dramatic and eye-catching images, I think the film serves as a good introduction to how big an impact our direct and indirect consumption of goods and services has on the planet. This knowledge can in turn lead to more solutions for revealing product back stories like in Patagonia’s The Footprint Chronicles project, or in providing eco-labels on products that show the materials, processes, transportation, energy, and water used in production, or through increased research into and mapping of supply chains, such as with Sourcemap and Tacoshed.

If you like The Story of Stuff or No Impact Man I think you’d also like this movie. You can view the “Human Footprint” online at Snag Films.

For more information on ecological footprints and product back stories, see the Worldchanging archives…

Previous stories about ecological footprints at Worldchanging include (in chronological order):
Ecological Footprints

City Limits London

Biocapacity and Ecological Footprints: Graph, Thousand Words

Principle 2: Ecological Footprints and One Planet Thinking

Personal Planets and the Little Prince

Ecological Footprint 2.0

Ecological Debt Day
Previous stories about product back stories at Worldchanging include (in chronological order):
Principle 1: The Backstory

The Eco-Nutrition Label

The Footprint Chronicles, Grey Matters

The Backstory of Stuff: New Sites Enable More Transparency in the Supply Chain

Help us change the world – DONATE NOW!

(Posted by Amanda Reed in Media at 11:00 AM)

Food Inc. — The Ethics of Eating

Film:

Food, Inc. 2008

Synopsis (from Netflix):

Drawing on Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation and Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, director Robert Kenner’s documentary explores the food industry’s detrimental effects on our health and environment. Kenner spotlights the men and women who are working to reform an industry rife with monopolies, questionable interpretations of laws and subsidies, political ties and rising rates of E. coli outbreaks.

My Thoughts:

First I would like to thank the reader who voted in the poll and suggested this film.  Secondly I would like to advocate that *everyone* watch this.  If you haven’t seen it, it’s on Netflix Instant.  Watch it now.  Ok, on with the post.

Robert Kenner begins this documentary saying that the food industry has changed more in the last 50 years than in the previous 10,000 and that his hope in creating this documentary is to “pull the veil back” and show people how they are really eating and where there food had come from.

Remove the veil from their eyes, and enlighten their hearts with the light of guidance. —‘Abdu’l-Bahá

This is a veil that I myself have been pulling back slowly but surely over this past decade, and it is quite shocking and disheartening.  Our food industry has become so industrialized and so far removed from those consuming the food that it’s interests no longer match those of the consumers.

In this documentary there were several interviews with farmers and one shared some statements that I thought were pretty profound that I would like to share with you. First:

“Industrial food is not honest food.  It is not produced honestly.  It is not priced honestly.  There is nothing honest about industrial food”

As we know truthfulness is the foundation of all virtue, and without it there cannot be justice.  The industrial food system is so highly subsidized that the food can be sold below cost.  This puts pressure on both independent farmers, as well as farmers outside of the US who cannot compete because they don’t have these subsidies and can’t sell below cost.  Also, the cost to the environment is not factored in to these industrialized methods which are not as ecologically sound.  E Coli was not a problem before this system.  These hidden costs are dishonest.  The food industry also uses undocumented workers who they can pay cheaply, and treat poorly.  It is the workers who are punished if caught even if the industry purposely goes to Mexico to recruit them.  Chickens have been manipulated to grow three times as fast but in doing so their bones can’t support their weight so they can barely stand.  This is also unjust.  How can we treat people and animals so cruelly? As the farmer so aptly put it:

“A culture that just views a pig as a set of protoplasmic structures to be manipulated will probably view other people in its community, and the community of nations with the same controlling type mentality”

Or if you prefer Holy Writings:

Burden not an animal with more than it can bear. We, truly, have prohibited such treatment through a most binding interdiction in the Book. Be ye the embodiments of justice and fairness amidst all creation. ~Bahá’u’lláh

Eating food is something we do everyday, three times a day.  How can we do so with integrity?  With justice?  Over 100 years ago Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle and that changed our food industry for a time.  People demanded better regulation.  But that system broke down as the food industry became more powerful.  Also, the cheaply subsidized food is not the healthiest food, but instead commodity crops, and has led to the epidemic of obesity.  At the end of the documentary the filmmakers list several suggestions as to how we can work together as a society and as individuals within this society to combat this problem.  Here are three:

You can vote to change this system. Three times a day.

Buy from companies that treat workers, animals, and the environment with respect.

If you say grace, ask for food that will keep us, and the planet, healthy.

It is up to us.  We can be the change we want to see in the world.  Those who can afford to, to vote with our wallets and support ethically grown food.  Doing so is better for us, for our health, for the world, and for peace.

My friends have also posted a wonderful blog on the topic of ethical eating.  Check it out here.

Blog Action Day — Climate Change!!!

In honor of blog action day I would like to point out some films on the topic of climate change and the environment for you to check out.  Taking care of the earth is a matter of environmental justice and social responsibility.  For other posts on the topic check out WALL-E,  the Future We Will Create, and the Man in the White Suit.

Every man of discernment, while walking upon the earth, feeleth indeed abashed, inasmuch as he is fully aware that the thing which is the source of his prosperity, his wealth, his might, his exaltation, his advancement and power is, as ordained by God, the very earth which is trodden beneath the feet of all men. There can be no doubt that whoever is cognizant of this truth, is cleansed and sanctified from all pride, arrogance, and vainglory. ~ Bahá’u’lláh

An Inconvenient Truth — The Award winning documentary by former Vice President Al Gore which lead to his Nobel Prize.  Edited together from a series of talks Al Gore gave around the country with evidence to show the veracity of human-cause Climate Change and to rally people together to try to act more responsibly.

Earth — A film based on the BBC amazing series Planet Earth which explores the beauty of the earth and how climate change is affecting wildlife around the globe.

The Day After Tomorrow — A science fiction film based on a novel about a climate change doomsday scenario focused on a group of intrepid American’s trying to survive the disaster.  Not scientific but deals with themes of social responsibility and environmental consequences to human actions.

The Antarctica Challenge — An up-to-date look at the climate change research currently being done by the scientists stationed in Antarctica.

The 11th Hour — Leonardo DiCaprio’s documentary on the environmental crisis and some pretty exciting and radical solutions.

Climate Change may seem daunting but if we unite as a world we can work to solve the problem and create a better, more just and environmentally sound world.  Scientists, political leaders, common people are joining hands.  It is so exciting to see the changes society has already made and how much more we can do if we put our hearts and minds toward the actions necessary to prevent crisis.

Look ye not upon the present, fix your gaze upon the times to come. In the beginning, how small is the seed, yet in the end it is a mighty tree. Look ye not upon the seed, look ye upon the tree, and its blossoms, and its leaves and its fruits. ~ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

Capitalism: A Love Story — The perils of greed and injustice

Film:

Capitalism: A Love Story

Starring Michael Moore

Synopsis (From IMDB):

On the 20-year anniversary of his groundbreaking masterpiece Roger & Me, Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story comes home to the issue he’s been examining throughout his career: the disastrous impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans (and by default, the rest of the world). But this time the culprit is much bigger than General Motors, and the crime scene far wider than Flint, Michigan. From Middle America, to the halls of power in Washington, to the global financial epicenter in Manhattan, Michael Moore will once again take film goers into uncharted territory. With both humor and outrage, Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story explores a taboo question: What is the price that America pays for its love of capitalism? Years ago, that love seemed so innocent. Today, however, the American dream is looking more like a nightmare as families pay the price with their jobs, their homes and their savings. Moore takes us into the homes of ordinary people whose lives have been turned upside down; and he goes looking for explanations in Washington, DC and elsewhere. What he finds are the all-too-familiar symptoms of a love affair gone astray: lies, abuse, betrayal…and 14,000 jobs being lost every day. Capitalism: A Love Story is both a culmination of Moore’s previous works and a look into what a more hopeful future could look like. It is Michael Moore’s ultimate quest to answer the question he’s posed throughout his illustrious filmmaking career: Who are we and why do we behave the way that we do?

My Thoughts:

I was a little skeptical going into this film because Michael Moore can be a bit of a bully in his films, but I really liked the message of this one.  Michael Moore looks at how capitalism enables greed and the accumulation of wealth into the hands of the few.  Really what this film is about is injustice.  There is a poignant part of the film in which there are protesters who were illegally laid off without notice or backpay and they were holding up signs that said “All religions promote justice”.    But I get ahead of myself.

Moore’s true critique comes in the deregulation of capitalism.  We have had this experiment for a while, but during the first half of the century regulations were put in place to cap greed and to put use wealth to help all of society.  The myth is that those who work hard will make more money, but Moore looked at airline pilots who were on food stamps and others who were clearly working hard but not getting by, versus those in the financial industry who capitalize off the labor of others without adding any value to that labor.

Moore is not criticizing rich people in general.  What he is criticizing is those who get rich at the expense of others, those who are willing to take 10 million dollar bonuses when there are others in their company who are either being laid off or working below the poverty line. And he is criticizing the poor for falling for the American Dream and allowing deregulation in hopes that one day they too will be rich.  And he is criticizing the government for putting the needs and interests of the richest 1% ahead of the rest of the citizens’ needs.

The problem is that with wealth should come responsibility.  There should be gratitude with having material means and stability, and there are some wealthy who practice the virtue of generosity and work to help the poor.

O YE RICH ONES ON EARTH! The poor in the midst are My trust; guard ye My trust, and be not intent only on your own ease. ~Baha’u’llah

or if you prefer sterner language:

O CHILDREN OF DUST!  Tell the rich of the midnight sighing of the poor, lest heedlessness lead them into the path of destruction, and deprive them of the Tree of Wealth.  To give and be generous are attributes of Mine; well is it with him that adorneth himself with My virtues. ~Baha’u’llah

The problem is that poverty leads to instability.  Poverty leads to desperation and raised crime rates.  If we want peace we have to work on ending poverty, on creating jobs and protecting our poor over profits.

“The inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute suffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the brink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation. The solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and practical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing consultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of economic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly affected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that is bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth and poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of which can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is itself a major part of the solution.”
(The Universal House of Justice, 1985 Oct, The Promise of World Peace, p. 3)

In the end this is how we will be judged and how Michael Moore already is judging the American society.  There was a time when we enacted a New Deal, when we championed a Great Society but that is no longer.  Instead the middle class is eroding and poverty rates are increasing as we deal with this economic crisis created by the greed of the financial industry and what is essentially legalized gambling (microtrading).

A democratic society is to be judged not by its success in catering to the needs of its privileged members or even its average ones. Instead, look at how it treats the poor, the disadvantaged, the ill – and the unpopular. ~ Lord Wolf, UK’s Chief Justice

The Future We Will Create: Inside the World of TED — Innovation, Hope, Cooperation, and Hardwork

Film:

The Future We Will Create: Inside the World of TED, 2007

Starring Daphne Zuniga, Al Gore, Rick Warren, Peter Gabriel, Larry Brilliant, Marjora Carter and others.

Synopsis (from NetFlix):

Hailed “the hottest gathering in the world” by Wired magazine, TED (Technology Entertainment Design) is an annual event where an eclectic group of brilliant minds exchange bold ideas for the future. Actress Daphne Zuniga is your host on this all-access tour of the conference. Guests include former Vice President Al Gore, musician Peter Gabriel, environmentalist Majora Carter, as well as comedians, authors and innovators from around the world.

My Thoughts:

I love TED.  I had never heard of this conference nor this documentary about it before NetFlix recommended it and I am so thankful it did (I am beginning to see a theme here… I promise not to gush too much about NetFlix any more… I just as frequently discover great films from my library and from friends).  Ok, back to the point.  Apparently TED is this great conference by invite only, in which technical innovators, scientists, artists, and social advocates come together to both speak about what they have been doing as well as to help each other achieve their dreams to better the world. The people who attended TED seem to live this mantra:

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
— Mahatma Gandhi

All these ideas were mind blowing.  There was an architect there who was working to design open source plans for developing countries so that they can build safe, efficient, sustainable, and inexpensive homes, schools, and clinics.    There was a medical scientist who had helped with the UN mission to eradicate smallpox and was now working on preventing a bird flu pandemic.  There was an 11-year-old violin virtuoso, and a beat poet.  The found of one laptop per child.  The list goes on an on.

There was such diversity of thoughts, of methods, of action, and yet such love and respect for one another here.  Whether scientist or artist, religious or atheist, these people all came together with the goal of changing the world for the better.  They were united by a common purpose which reminded me of this beautiful passage:

Consider the flowers of a garden: though differing in kind, colour, form and shape, yet, inasmuch as they are refreshed by the waters of one spring, revived by the breath of one wind, invigorated by the rays of one sun, this diversity increaseth their charm, and addeth unto their beauty. Thus when that unifying force, the penetrating influence of the Word of God, taketh effect, the difference of customs, manners, habits, ideas, opinions and dispositions embellisheth the world of humanity.

This diversity, this difference is like the naturally created dissimilarity and variety of the limbs and organs of the human body, for each one contributeth to the beauty, efficiency and perfection of the whole. When these different limbs and organs come under the influence of man’s sovereign soul, and the soul’s power pervadeth the limbs and members, veins and arteries of the body, then difference reinforceth harmony, diversity strengtheneth love, and multiplicity is the greatest factor for co-ordination. ~ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

What I didn’t realize was that Bono’s One Campaign was born from TED.  And even though the conference is invite-only, it is not exclusive but has an outward orientation.  Anyone can access and watch the speakers from their website.  This film of the conference really made me beam because it speaks to how much through education, hardwork, and cooperation we really can work together to solve the World’s problems.  This conference was all about unity.

So powerful is the light of unity that it can envelop the whole earth.

~Bahá’u’lláh

I can’t help but stress it enough.  Al Gore spoke of global warming which is a global problem.  But Rick Warren, a respected Christian minister also spoke.  Both religion and science recognize the power behind a united purpose.

¹As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ²Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. ³Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. ~ Ephesians 4:1-6

Or from a scientific point of view:

“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”
— Albert Einstein

Perhaps my thoughts have been all over the place, but I highly suggest you check out TED.  The great thing about the conference is that it was a mix of the biggest ideas, as well as ideas that are actually working, on the ground, right now to make the world better.

Your thoughts?

Finding Bibi — A Documentary about Identity and Understanding

I caught a glimpse of this video on Facebook and it looked amazing to me.  I thought I would share it with you all.  It has gotten me thinking about how, living in an increasingly globalized world, we can build understanding and trust between people of different cultures.  President Obama’s first major television interview was with Al Arabiya in the hopes to do just that.

Like President Obama, the filmmaker, Bita has lived as a cultural hybrid, and experienced different views on women and their role in society.  How can we all learn and grow so that men and women around the world can become educated partners instead of adversaries?

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Pilgrimage – A Sacred Experience

Hello readers!  I just wanted to thank you for reading my blog and let you know that I will out of the country until January 15th.  I have had the blessing and opportunity to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  Here is a beautiful video all about the pilgrimage I will be taking to tide you over until my return.  Enjoy!