Comments on: Reexamining the Good Life http://harmonist.us/2009/12/reexamining-the-good-life/ Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:29:32 +0000 hourly 1 By: comradesoul http://harmonist.us/2009/12/reexamining-the-good-life/comment-page-1/#comment-3085 comradesoul Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:03:08 +0000 http://harmonist.us/?p=3945#comment-3085 Like Vikram the word that repeatedly came to mind while reading this article was balanced. A very sensible approach. But who in this culture is interested in sensible? Desires for immediate sense gratification are manufactured by the almost omnipresent advertising that assaults us at every step we take, to enjoy now or never.."grab it while you can"..without ever taking time to weigh the cost/benefit of our actions is the driving force. It is a frenzied madness. This mentality can only truly be overcome by the knowledge that we are not these bodies and the results of our present actions follow us beyond bodily death. And more that real happiness is our inherent right as children of God and awaken within us naturally when we choose to live according to the principles He has set out for us, as in the Sri Isopanisad for example. I confess to longer holding out any hope of seeing this present society transformed. I seek now only to be transformed myself while helping a few others who will listen see the value of the karma/bhakti yoga way of life. "Simple living and high thinking." Like Vikram the word that repeatedly came to mind while reading this article was balanced. A very sensible approach. But who in this culture is interested in sensible? Desires for immediate sense gratification are manufactured by the almost omnipresent advertising that assaults us at every step we take, to enjoy now or never..”grab it while you can”..without ever taking time to weigh the cost/benefit of our actions is the driving force. It is a frenzied madness.

This mentality can only truly be overcome by the knowledge that we are not these bodies and the results of our present actions follow us beyond bodily death. And more that real happiness is our inherent right as children of God and awaken within us naturally when we choose to live according to the principles He has set out for us, as in the Sri Isopanisad for example.

I confess to longer holding out any hope of seeing this present society transformed. I seek now only to be transformed myself while helping a few others who will listen see the value of the karma/bhakti yoga way of life.

“Simple living and high thinking.”

]]> By: Vikram Ramsoondur http://harmonist.us/2009/12/reexamining-the-good-life/comment-page-1/#comment-3069 Vikram Ramsoondur Tue, 29 Dec 2009 09:30:14 +0000 http://harmonist.us/?p=3945#comment-3069 A nicely balanced and broad-minded piece indeed! P J O'Rourke's 'theory' of trammelled capitalism would seem close to what Etzioni is advocating, at least as far as the economics-oriented morsels of this analysis are concerned. I don't think that anybody outside America with a formal financial education would, for a minute, suggest that the savage, unbridled capitalism of the US is something any other nation on earth should emulate. Controlled, or trammelled, capitalism is best mirrored in the British or Canadian experiences, and whilst the systems prevalent in these places are short of perfect, they still generate markedly more equitable and just societies than the one observable in the States. In conclusion, I would posit that a verily flawless civilisational set-up has yet to manifest anywhere in the world - presumably, such a utopian concept will never factually come to be. What is thus incumbent upon us is to labour with what is presently available as a starting point, and gradually bring about the much-needed ameliorations of the varieties above proposed, in order to right many of the wrongs that plague the international community in these trying times. A nicely balanced and broad-minded piece indeed! P J O’Rourke’s ‘theory’ of trammelled capitalism would seem close to what Etzioni is advocating, at least as far as the economics-oriented morsels of this analysis are concerned. I don’t think that anybody outside America with a formal financial education would, for a minute, suggest that the savage, unbridled capitalism of the US is something any other nation on earth should emulate.

Controlled, or trammelled, capitalism is best mirrored in the British or Canadian experiences, and whilst the systems prevalent in these places are short of perfect, they still generate markedly more equitable and just societies than the one observable in the States.

In conclusion, I would posit that a verily flawless civilisational set-up has yet to manifest anywhere in the world – presumably, such a utopian concept will never factually come to be. What is thus incumbent upon us is to labour with what is presently available as a starting point, and gradually bring about the much-needed ameliorations of the varieties above proposed, in order to right many of the wrongs that plague the international community in these trying times.

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