Poverty of Our Imagination

There is no reason to suppose that the world had a beginning at all.  The idea that things must have a beginning is due to the poverty of our imagination.

– Bertrand Russell

Off to NYC

Am off to put in some face time on campus with my co-workers this week.  Will return to the irregular posting schedule by the middle of May.

Freedom from Fear

‘FREEDOM FROM FEAR AND WANT HAS BEEN
PROCLAIMED AS THE HIGHEST ASPIRATION
OF THE COMMON PEOPLE.’

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948

Intolerance

Intolerance consists in being so sure of the truth that you want to impose it on everyone else by persuasion, or even by force.  We must have an open mind to realize that what suits us doesn’t necessarily suit others.

– Matthieu Ricard

April is Genocide Prevention Month

The tragedies of Darfur, Bosnia, Rwanda, Cambodia, the Holocaust and Armenia all have anniversaries this month and so April is Genocide Prevention Month.  You can take the Pledge to Observe Genocide Prevention Month, which states:

Remarkably, six genocides have major anniversaries in the month of April – a tragic testament to the international community’s inexcusable failure to stop inhuman and barbarous acts.

This April, we – survivors of genocide and mass atrocities, their descendants, and anti-genocide advocates – will honor those who were lost and those who survived.  And we will urge immediate action to stop the ongoing Darfur genocide.

Our collective voices will remind the international community to make its commitment to mass atrocity prevention absolute.  Until we do, we are destined to repeat the most shameful chapters in human history.

We all share the rights enshrined in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights as adopted by the UN in 1948, and it is up to each one of us to witness and act against those who would deny those basic rights to our fellow sisters and brothers.  There are many ways to help by making a donation, education, activism and volunteering.  Please consider making whatever commitment you can to be of benefit to all.

Shake the World

In a gentle way, you can shake the world.

– Mahatma Gandhi

Part of a Whole

A human being is part of a whole, called by us the ‘Universe,’ a part limited in time and space.  He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest – a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.  This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us.  Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

– Albert Einstein