Gandhi on the Future of the Village And The World

"In the future set-up we shall have only two things, the village and the world. We have the names of the countries on the map for the sake of convenience, but in reality, there will be no intermediary between the world and the village.  All the authority concerning the material side of life will rest with the village. The village will have power to order its own life. The power of moral advancement of the whole world will rest in the world center. The districts of the States will only be the agents of the Village community. Thus we shall have the village at the base and the World Authority at the Centre. Human society will be organized on the basis of small village communities, of, say, 2 to 3 thousands souls each. There would be no private ownership. The village will be a model of corporate life. The world centre will be the ultimate co-ordinating link between these primary communities." -- Mahatma Gandhi

This is my vision also. As the world increases in sattva-guna, artificial and impersonal political structures will fall due to being superfluous. It is only due to the demonic nature of increasing control that "countries" were created to begin with (please see chapter four of Spiritual Economics for more details on this). Some NWO hack has even been quoted as saying something to the effect that "countries were never that good an idea anyway." Of course he has it in mind that we shall do away with countries and have a global government under the control of a demonic oligarchy. 

Well, if we do not have a spiritual revolution, that is indeed what will happen. But, it is Lord Chaitanya's desire that the world will swim in the nectar of the holy names of the Lord, and if He wants it, that's what we shall have. Still we have to do the work. 

After we clean out the crud of Kali-yuga and sattva takes hold, what need is there for a political structure that is beyond any persons ability to participate? None. And so we shall see villages, wherein everyone has a voice in those questions that affect him or her, as the standard of life everywhere. It is our  business to create these villages in the standard of the Bhagavat culture. This is what we call Gitagrad -- the place where everyone lives according to the standard of the Bhagavad-gita.

Just a few days ago a friend introduced me to the concept of the "Chaordic organization," created by Dee Hock, the man who created the concept of the VISA credit card. He is an extraordinary man as you can read briefly in Wikipedia. Chaordic is a word that he created to describe systems that are both chaotic and ordered. It is worth the time to read and learn these concepts and I am now studying them to see how they apply or describe the varnashrama social system. My gut tells me that what he is explaining is the varashrama system, or at least that the concepts can be applied to create the neo-varnashrama that we will have in the future. 

For example, here are a few of the characteristics of chaordic organizations. They:

• Are based on clarity of shared purpose and principles.
• Are self-organizing and self-governing in whole and in part.
• Exist primarily to enable their constituent parts.
• Are powered from the periphery, unified from the core.
• Are durable in purpose and principle, malleable in form and function.
• Equitably distribute power, rights, responsibility and rewards.
• Harmoniously combine cooperation and competition.
• Learn, adapt and innovate in ever expanding cycles.
• Are compatible with the human spirit and the biosphere [and Bhagavat principles :-)].

 This is a great match with the varnashrama ideal and Gandhi's statement: "All the authority concerning the material side of life will rest with the village. The village will have power to order its own life. The power of moral advancement of the whole world will rest in the world center. The districts of the States will only be the agents of the Village community. Thus we shall have the village at the base and the World Authority at the Centre." 

Daiva-varnashrama, Gandhi's statement and the chaordic method all turn the present world order on its head. And that is how life should be. And, except for those who now run the world for their own pleasure, the world would run like this, and it the future it shall.

I invite you to read and learn about the chaordic way from the Permaculture Institute's Wiki. They see the chaordic principles as a natural harmonious fit with the ideas of permaculture and are endeavoring to apply them to practicing and teaching permaculture practices. There are very good articles there from Dee Hock and others. Please check it out here. You will find not only permaculture, but many ideas that can be applied now and in the coming post-modern world.

Another Reason to Spend More Time with Your Favorite Cow -- Bacteria Found In Cow Dung Can Make You Smarter

Researchers from the Sage Colleges in Troy, NY, reported today their findings that specific bacteria common to our environment may increase learning behavior. Dorothy Matthews and Susan Jenks, who conducted the study, shared their findings with those in attendance at the meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in San Diego.

The bacteria, Mycobacterium vaccae, is well known to scientists, as the dead bacteria is being tested as immunotherapy for asthma, cancer, depression, psoriasis, dermatitis, eczema and tuberculosis. M. vaccae, so named because it was first discovered in cow dung in Austria, is naturally found in soil, and it is inhaled when people spend time outdoors, especially where there are plants and trees.

It was found in previous research that heat-killed M. vaccae had anti-depressant effects on mice by stimulating the growth of neurons and levels of serotonin.  Mathews and Jenks, however, were curious about the effects of live M. vaccae, and fed live bacteria to an experimental group of mice to see how it would effect their navigation of a maze. 

The mice that were fed the live M. vaccae learned the maze twice as fast as the control group, which had not received M. vaccae, and the experimental group exhibited less anxiety as well.

Some time later, the experimental group was taken off the bacteria and tested again against the control group.  This time, the experimental mice did not learn the maze as fast as when they were given the bacteria, but they were still faster than the control mice.

In yet a third maze learning experiment, conducted after the mice had rested for three weeks, the experimental mice ran faster than the controls, but not fast enough to make a statistically significant difference. This suggested to the researchers that the effects of M. vaccae are temporary.

"This research suggests that M. vaccae may play a role in anxiety and learning in mammals," says Matthews. "It is interesting to speculate that creating learning environments in schools that include time in the outdoors where M. vaccae is present may decrease anxiety and improve the ability to learn new tasks."

Take a walk outdoors when you take a break.  You'll return more relaxed and smarter! 

Original article is here

A New Trend for the Cow Conscious

Fashionable or Freaky Hoof Footwear- Cloven Hoof Boots

Bovine footwear helps bring out the mooo in you. Check it out here.