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1. Unity in diversity. Diversity which is a unity in itself. This precludes that there are no more rich and poor and all are equal. Other distinctions of culture and color would then add to creativity and richness of living when all people are united to fulfill a common destiny and vision for a better world. 2. Universal goals, particular paths. Our common planetary goal shall be the uniting framework for our performance of particular paths. We shall traverse various paths according to our predilection, interests, preferences, strengths and weaknesses. 3. Universal justice and equality is the basis of unity of our planetary government. 4. The development of each is a condition for the development of all. 5. Mutual respect and cooperation considering individual backgrounds, culture, particularities. 6. Freedom can only arise in the context of social responsibility. 7. Commitment to the full flowering of the human being. :smile::smile::smile:

Hindu philosophy has a different perspective on health that it is intimately linked with spirituality. It considers the body, heart, and mind as vehicles for the spirit. Thus one identifies not with the body, nor with one's emotions nor with one's thoughts. Yet at the same time it considers the body, emotions, and mind as important so that it these "vehicles" should be in tip top shape for the spirit to use them and perform the duties of the spirit. I consider this as a superior perspective in such that the body will be taken cared of not as vanity would have it but for higher purposes. Also it considers the body for what really is, that it is going to die. But before it does, it should have helped strengthen the spirit to a high level already. Second is that it considers emotions as integrated to health and to spirit and that emotions are erratic and can only be put into the higher service of the spirit. Third it considers the mind as having an effect on physical health, emotions, and spirit. As a vehicle, the mind should be honed and trained and sharpened not as an end in itself but again in order to serve the higher designs of the spirit. Thus one becomes an aware soul that fully develops mind, body, spirit and emotions so that these "vehicles" no longer become the master but become tools for higher spiritual development. On the other hand, dominant science would segregate body, mind, and emotions and treat them separately...:artist:

My best friend is a martyr for our people. He was an avid environmentalist, a visionary, a writer, organizer, human rights worker and beloved of the poor. One night we has riddled with bullets because he spoke out against corporate interests and structural evils. Its his birthday today. I would like to share with you a dedication written by his wife. Remembering …a birthday… “…birth is one stage to another in the endless cycle of life…” August 29, 1968. Forty years ago, the fishes and turtles, the frogs and crabs sang, danced and had a feast… as you swam out of Nanang Teodora’s womb. The sea waves lapped the shore and washed away the birth pains as your cry pierced the stillness. You were the tenth among eleven siblings. And so you were christened Jose Riveral Manegdeg III according to your Tatang Juan’s lineage. A humble beginning from the peasantry and fisherfolks of Pagudpud, along the Ilocos coast of Northern Philippines. Then you were known by your folkname Pepe and by another name John. The memories you shared of your boyhood… of swimming with the sea turtles and your friends. ..bringing home a sack full of squash, a pail full of fish and shrimps with Tata Juan…harvesting rice in neighboring villages and bringing home a fair share for your labor, serving as altar boy in the Roman Catholic church…courting some of the girls…also your accidental fall while playing basketball and your frightful temper in a fight with your brother…your eagerness to learn how to cook from your grandfather and aunts…and your habit of reading newspapers at age 12 your teacher adds…how your father would command you to stand straight hands on your sides as you received disciplinary whacks on the butt when you went against his virtuous standards…I have not met him. I was honored to smell your beautiful rose garden watered by your mother fetching from a deep well. When you were eigthteen, your father’s life was stolen by murderous goons just around the corner away from where you last both stood together. You carried a guilt that was not meant…of regret that you did not walk all the way home with him in that dark night. You made a vow and kept the anger deep inside. In your vindictive compulsion you have wished to throw a bomb into the home of those you believed masterminded your father’s death. Then you withdrew into the space of silence, reading and writing. Denouncing the oppressiveness and tyranny that caused you to be fatherless in such tragedy. For in your heart, your father was a good and upright man. Standing against landgrabbing, upholding good governance. Working for the upliftment of the townsfolk as a duly elected local government official and challenging tyranny that stunted the growth of your town. We crossed path when you were turning 24 yrs old, at the Sedakah Mission House. I gave you a woven bookmark and a paper dove with short inscriptions for peace as a birthday present … without a thought it hooked into your soul. You said you fell in love with my poetry, crooked smile and crazy angst while you were brokenhearted then. What an entertainment I must have been…Did I believe you? You offered such irresistible proposal…of comprehensive friendship. And so we did become partners for 13 well lived years…married, worked together and built our family. You became a father that gave you a sense of completion from that night you lost a piece of yourself when someone stole your father’s breath. And we started cherishing the day each of us was born…given flesh to live fully human on this earth through rivers, seas, valleys and hills… Until… you too were assassinated along similar cause and vision as your father when you reached the age of 37 yrs. The sun set. Life was never the same again. The crickets and trees wept and so did all of the universe that witnessed such a bloody trail to go back to Mother Earth’s womb…bullets from a merciless assassin who believed you were guilty…of a crime…the crime of compassion in humanity… the crime of passion to meet me the next day… Happy Birthday my beloved comprehensive friend…we shall meet again…behind the curtains…beyond the borders…as I live the rest of my earthly life with our daughters and our dreams in a song, in a dance…happy birthday to you and to Kasiyana Peace and Healing Initiatives…as the sun shines…forever… Layad , Dom-an J

Only those who are truly aware of the finality of their deaths are the ones who truly live. Only then will we not take anything for granted. Only then will we realize the beauty of life. Yet sometimes our society distracts us from things that really matter in life. Sometimes we worry so much about our survival that we forget to really live. Worse is when we are preoccupied so much with making money that we become automatons of money. We become like living human machines with our boring daily routine. So safe and so secure we make of our existence that everything happens as expected and the unexpected has no room in our lives. Chance meetings, discontinuities, coincidences fail to make that subtle touch of the spirit because we become so insensitive and so cold and so preoccupied with what we call our lives. Stephen Donaldson wrote of this in his famous novel: These are pale deaths which men call their lives: for all the scents of green things growing, each breath is but an exhalation of the grave. Bodies jerk like puppet corpses, and hell walks laughing... Thus i am reminded of the song "Hotel California" where you find all the amenities, such a lovely place, plenty of room, where you can check out anytime you like but you can never leave... Its sad and its touching how the modern world has enslaved our souls with commercialism and left our spirits dry. I liken this to Max Weber's scathing criticism of society---where we find ourselves inside the "Golden Iron Cage of Bureaucracy". In the Gospel we read, "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but suffers the loss of his own soul?" :sad: