p40 Death Spiral

Several unrelated things, Plus a Death Spiral into a Dark Age

By John Taylor; 2008 Apr 09, 1 Jalal, 165 BE

 

Last evening we had our monthly public meeting in the Dunnville Library. Anne Pearson gave a lovely talk discussing the qualities of leadership needed today, with reference to her grandfather, former Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson. This attracted several people who also reminisced about his time as our national leader. Anne pointed out that the Harvard Business School is now training the executives of tomorrow essentially to be like Pearson was, and Abdu'l-Baha for that matter. Students there have to learn to be servants first, to center everything on principle rather than personalities, to consult humbly, to lead by example, and to encourage initiative in what used to be called "followers." The old authoritarian style of leadership is out the window and a Baha'i-like style of diffusing power into institutions and civil society rather than individuals is being promoted.

 

I have written about the world food crisis lately, and several readers have responded with interesting articles. One recommended the book "The End of Food," written by an Ontario farmer, among other things, Thomas F. Pawlick. Heck, I have eaten the products of Ontario farmers all my life, why should I not start reading their books as well? Here is the blurb on Amazon:

 

"Award-winning Canadian journalist and part-time farmer Thomas F. Pawlick documents the impending food crisis and traces its direct cause to the harmful methods of food production and processing currently used by the so-called agri-food industries -- a corporate-run factory farm system that increasingly values profits over nourishment -- to the detriment of everyone's health and well-being. Its a bleak picture, backed by hard-hitting evidence and true stories, but Pawlick makes it abundantly clear that it is not too late and devotes the latter part of the book to the many ways that ordinary citizens can take back control of the food supply by becoming active on a local level. This is an essential handbook for informing ourselves about the frightening but real decline of the quality of the food we eat and a self-defense guide to what everyone can do to put a stop to it."

 

It looks like an excellent book, especially the suggestions for ways to end this crisis. It is now on my "to get" list.

 

Former Haldimand resident Gail Emberson, now living in Arviat, writes:

 

"This site will show you what has been going on in our little town this week. Watching the mushers finally arrive in town is somewhat like seeing Santa Claus come in except the sled driver is real and being pulled by sled dogs.  It is very exciting. Check out the site www.hudsonbayquest.com. I will send you some pictures some of us took once I get them."

 

There is a prominent scholar of the Faith called George Collins, but yesterday the George Collins that we around here know and love turned up in the press. He used to live in Brantford, and moved up north; I recall back in the 1970's being on a small youth team with Myron Duncan doing direct teaching in Brantford. We visited George and enjoyed his hospitality for a few hours. He was a guidance teacher at the time. Here is the article:

 

<http://nnsl.com/northern-news-services/stories/papers/mar3_08gc.html>

 

I want to end with a quote from Abdu'l-Baha. Here is why I think it is important.

 

I was feeling guilty about so avidly reading Naomi Klein's book on disaster capitalism and discussing it here in such detail, since it definitely falls on the left side of the political spectrum. But today even the right is starting to realize that nationalist government and transborder corporations are in collusion. For example, it has been pointed out that the press is not just influenced by corporations, it _is_ corporations. The only owners of our press institutions are corporations. Government and civil society are on the outside looking in. Ditto for the White House. The president and his cabinet are not just influenced by corporations, they are executives. They are millionaire executives and owners of business. This is way beyond influence, it is beyond ownership, it is identity.

 

Government and corporations have, in the words of the TofA, "combined to assist one another" in order to plunder the public thing. This is the common heritage of the human race, and it is an extremely valuable commodity. We cannot hand it over by privatizing public equity. This unholy alliance between two powerful parts of society has happened in the past.

 

In the quote in question, Abdu'l-Baha describes how such a combination of priests with secular leaders corrupted Christianity. It went from a benevolent force for cross-cultural unity to an imperialistic cabal obsessed with power and doctrine. It was Friedmanism In Utero. The twin corruptors that dragged down the Roman Empire into the Dark Ages were the ascetics (on the individual level) and the monastics (on the collective level). Like today's capitalist politicians, they were obsessed with obscure details of doctrine, cared nothing for human suffering and were ready to kill or die for the most niggling point of difference. Here is the Master's description of how this unholy alliance spiraled out of control.

 

"The noted historians of Europe, in describing the conditions, manners, politics, learning and culture, in all their aspects, of early, medieval and modern times, unanimously record that during the ten centuries constituting the Middle Ages, from the beginning of the sixth century of the Christian era till the close of the fifteenth, Europe was in every respect and to an extreme degree, barbaric and dark.

"The principal cause of this was that the monks, referred to by European peoples as spiritual and religious leaders, had given up the abiding glory that comes from obedience to the sacred commandments and heavenly teachings of the Gospel, and had joined forces with the presumptuous and tyrannical rulers of the temporal governments of those times. They had turned their eyes away from everlasting glory, and were devoting all their efforts to the furtherance of their mutual worldly interests and passing and perishable advantages.

"Ultimately things reached a point where the masses were hopeless prisoners in the hands of these two groups, and all this brought down in ruins the whole structure of the religion, culture, welfare and civilization of the peoples of Europe." (Abdu'l-Baha, The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 86-87)