The Living Room

Abide as the Self

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Michaela

The essential teachings of Ramana Maharshi

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Pacific

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Michaela

” I am a musician and my medium is dancing”
Mark Morris

Posted in Dance, Music & Movies, The Coffee Table | Leave a comment

Wag the dog

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Michaela

Is anyone surprised ?

Posted in Breaking the mould, The world we live in Now | Tagged Democracy, Lybia, political relations | Leave a comment

Eschew profit

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Michaela

By Clay Christiansen

Steve Jobs retires as the CEO of Apple with a reputation that will place him amongst the pantheon of history’s great global business leaders. Many people have written about what makes Jobs and Apple special, but I think they’re missing what truly set him apart. Jobs has succeeded by eschewing the one thing that most people view as the raison d’être for companies — profit.

When I left the industry to come to academia 22 years ago, it was driven by a set of questions that had troubled me for some time. Why was it that the best run companies in the world — companies that have had incredibly smart leaders, following carefully detailed plans and with tremendous execution ability — reliably seem to come unstuck? The answer to this question is what has become known as the theory of disruption.

In a cruel twist of irony, the pursuit of profit — something that Wall Street pushes so hard — is what leaves companies open to being displaced. As they grow, their ability to find opportunities that are big enough to sustain their growth is reduced. They become myopic; they listen only to their best customers. They focus disproportionately on their most profitable products, and strive to improve these the fastest.

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Posted in Breaking the mould | Tagged Apple, ceo, company, creativity, innovation, Steve Jobs | 6 Comments

A new human being

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Michaela

Mayan Calendar expert Dr Carl Johann Calleman in an interview. His interpretations sound fantastic – but strangely enough there seems also to be some truth in it. At any rate, the energy bearing down on the Old Earth is palpable right now – and so are the changes in the way human beings think and act. So maybe we are indeed not far from the age of unity.

For anyone wanting to get into this a bit more, the following is a full-length 90 minutes interview with Dr. Calleman on the ninth wave.

Posted in Make new from old, The world we live in Now | 3 Comments

Europe is angry

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Michaela

By Ulrich Beck

Germany’s European policy is about to undergo a transformation as significant as Ostpolitik –the country’s improvement of relations with the Soviet bloc — was in the early 1970s. While that policy was characterized by the slogan “change through rapprochement,” Berlin’s new approach might be dubbed “more justice through more Europe.”

In both cases, it is a question of overcoming a divide, between the East and the West in the 1970s and between north and south today . Politicians tirelessly insist that Europe is a community of fate. It has been that way since the establishment of the European Union. The EU is an idea that grew out of the physical and moral devastation following World War II. Ostpolitik was an idea devoted to defusing the Cold War and perforating the Iron Curtain.

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Posted in Breaking the mould, The world we live in Now | Tagged Activism, European Economic Community, European Union, Germany, Government, Youth | Leave a comment

Fast for justice

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Michaela

When we doubt that anyone could change a structural problem as ubiquitous like corruption, we forget that times have changed – and so have human beings. The access totechnology, like internet and mobile phone, has given rise to a self-governing body that could easily change injustice, that may benefit a few but disadvantages the whole.

Posted in Breaking the mould, The world we live in Now | Tagged ANNA HAZARE, Corruption, Earth, Human, India, Mobile phone, Political corruption, Spirit | 3 Comments

Pursuit of happiness

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Michaela

By Jeffrey D. Sachs

We live in a time of high anxiety. Despite the world’s unprecedented total wealth, there is vast insecurity, unrest, and dissatisfaction. In the United States, a large majority of Americans believe that the country is “on the wrong track.” Pessimism has soared. The same is true in many other places.

Against this backdrop, the time has come to reconsider the basic sources of happiness in our economic life. The relentless pursuit of higher income is leading to unprecedented inequality and anxiety, rather than to greater happiness and life satisfaction. Economic progress is important and can greatly improve the quality of life, but only if it is pursued in line with other goals.

In this respect, the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan has been leading the way. Forty years ago, Bhutan’s fourth king, young and newly installed, made a remarkable choice: Bhutan should pursue “gross national happiness” rather than gross national product. Since then, the country has been experimenting with an alternative, holistic approach to development that emphasizes not only economic growth, but also culture, mental health, compassion, and community.

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