"The spirit lusteth against the flesh and the flesh lusteth against the spirit."
Do you know it is vogue to be an atheist on university campuses? Do you know that every young person finds it interesting, modern and attractive when a professor or student says, "I don't believe in God" or "God doesn't matter." There is only one God, whether we be Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, animist. "God is the same for all religions and, therefore, Christianity is neither here nor there," our modern intellectuals would say.
There is also a popular sophisticated agnosticism which says, "I don't know if there is a God or not; it doesn't matter, we just need to live our lives passionately."
How can I deny an inner yearning, a deep desire, sometimes a desperate desire to kneel and bow before the almighty God and simply cry out: "I place myself before you, Almighty God. I know that I am nothing." Sometimes in exultation, sometimes in desperation, but always we want to submit ourselves to the almighty God as sinners, or, as someone yearning deeply for meaning. There are times we feel empty in this lonely and selfish world of ours, but better that than giving into the world.
Christ shows the way
Christ, the incarnate God, revealing the Father's will in the flesh, serving others, forgiving sins, performing miracles, dying on the cross, restoring the brokenness of our nature, loving us and calling us to repentance and to His heavenly Kingdom, suffered rejection and death as he fixed his attention on us, of His infinite love. He shows the way in an absolute world of absurdity, while we journey to the light and everlasting life.
There is a rebellion against the Church and Christianity in our modern times. We are like sheep who have gone astray. Many of us, pastors and shepherds, have lost the central focus of life, which is Christ.
There is also the media's lack of respect and its infinite variety of pagan values and pleasures. This flesh is always crying out to be satisfied. The vulgar part of us wants everything for me, my flesh, my popularity, position and prestige, rather than the spiritual desire to be one with the eternal God.
We no longer believe in the divine, the transcendence of God, and the longing of our spirit, our souls, to go beyond ourselves. Our materialistic and hedonistic flesh wants no moral mandates or restrictions. We want to be free, we want to be on our own, we want to do what pleases us.
Happy with atheism
Christianity - and its call (if it is the true brand of Christianity) - do not go along with the craving for self-fulfilment of every appetite. The market, or the world, is happy with atheism, individualism, and self-satisfaction. Thus, it needs to destroy Christianity and free us to live a hedonistic life.
We cannot continue feeding this valley of the flesh that Europe and North America seem to be encouraging all over the world, taking advantage of the poor countries and their naïve trust of rich countries which propose self-indulgent ways of living to be progressive.
The restlessness of our worldly appetites will only bring about death. We want to destroy the babies in the wombs, the old people, the people who are defective (by some people's definition), the poor and the non-productive people our world.
Wealthy, advanced persons of our world haven't been able to solve the problem of poverty. The rich must kill off the poor in order to eliminate conscience problems.
Yet, the call to self-sacrifice and service shall not stop. Christ, the crucified one, the one true God, the only God of all gods, who lived, suffered, and died for us remains indelibly on our souls, an everlasting image stamped in the very depth of ourselves, forever and ever.
The atheistic, materialistic world finds Christ dangerous. Today, He is ridiculed and mocked in movies, the general media, and the fuzzy-headed arguments at the universities and in our homes. But His word and His ways are firm: "I am the living bread of life: without me you will die."
We might rebel for a while but, finally, we must face up to the truth: "I am the way, the truth, and the life."
Father Richard Ho Lung is founder of Missionaries of the Poor Jesuit charity.
August 29, 2011
jamaica-gleaner
An International Caribbean Online Log about the news and opinions in the Americas and World. This Caribbean Blog of global reach and appeal is maintained by Bahamian Blogger - Dennis Dames with all readers and subscribers in mind.
Showing posts with label Individualism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Individualism. Show all posts
Monday, August 29, 2011
Thursday, December 23, 2010
WikiLeaks, wiretapping and democracy
By Rebecca Theodore
All eras contain words that more or less accurately define them. There is very little doubt, in my opinion, that democracy and national security are the words that characterize our present time. Democracy is an internal form of government within states and gives the power of the government to the people.
National security, on the other hand, maintains the survival of the nation state through the use of economic, military and political power and the exercise of diplomacy. However, the trend appears to be moving towards a new communication revolution, leaving critics in contemplation as to whether it is an obvious good and positive sign.
If democracy is a government that includes the right to free press, and allows for individualism and freedom of opinion among its citizens, then democracy’s natural place is civil society, as it interprets democracy more as a civic culture of association, participation and mobilization.
To state, as Kamla Persad Bissessar has done, that “the SIA's wiretapping operations in Trinidad and Tobago without the people’s consent is contrary to democracy, is representative of dictatorship and illustrate the dark and sinister side of any government,” ignores the fact that there must be a useful criticism of democracy in a constructive way, which is something the system needs in order to keep growing to produce an honest transmission of the truth.
Government diplomats and high ranking government authorities, who knowingly tell lies to influence serious events, and who misrepresent the trust and honour given to them as public servants, threaten the very process of democracy because, to start with, democracy was born out of the reality of res publica, public issues, or public life.
If we are going to evolve within the realms of democracy, then we should start by acknowledging that our interest in public life and common good is a long way from that of the fathers of democracy, as everything seems to be shrouded in private life rather than public life. Today, our current democracy is much different from the Athenian model, which was concerned with knowledge, wisdom, debate, and discussion and possessed a civic culture that we just simply lack. Citizens actively participated in the public life of the polis -- thus the origin of the word politics.
Not only do I join the chorus with Texas congressman and former presidential candidate Ron Paul on the WikiLeaks debacle that in “a free society we are supposed to know the truth and if truth becomes treason, then we are in big trouble,” but also share the thoughts of social scientist Alexis de Tocqueville in evaluating human society, as he provides us with a simple, clarifying, and thought-provoking parameter that the future of humankind is linked to democratic society and not to aristocratic society.
Democratic society promotes the level of human development, emphasizes individualism and the pursuit of personal happiness. Since it favours equality before freedom, a democratic society favours public sector expansion, which will provide government with the resources it needs to equalize conditions between classes or income. Ministers of government, members of the judiciary, trade unionists, editors, journalists and businessmen are not all that constitute the people. Everyone should be involved in the decision making process.
In the court of public opinion, the alleged actions of former prime minister of Trinidad, Patrick Manning, and WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange are drowned in a sea of terrorism and dictatorship, whereas if we examine the dubious coin carefully, we will at once notice that they have made the Caribbean and the world a better place for democracy.
It is important to understand that spying on law-abiding citizens, under the guise of battling crime and ensuring national security, is something that has been happening all the time. How doomed could we have been to the Owellian drama? It just got out of control in Trinidad and Tobago.
On the other hand, Assange’s imprisonment for publicizing secret cables, exposing crimes and conspiracies carried out by US officials is nothing more than a psychological protective mechanism loaded with political overtones. There is no evidence that either Mr Assange or Mr Manning committed a crime in Australia the US or Trinidad and Tobago.
The wiretapping and WikiLeaks has not comprised the national security of Trinidad and Tobago or the US because the public right to know should not be censored. If the debates over the wiretapping and WikiLeaks are about the role of secrecy then, while most world governments would argue that they must be allowed to conduct their dealings with a certain amount of secrecy, it is my contention that full transparency is also a better way to cure the ails of a democratic society as it determines who the biggest law-breakers are and also encourages democracy in the public interest.
It cannot be doubted that the advancement of new technological changes emboldens civil society with ways to act in which our forefathers could not and this might very well be a new challenge in information technology. As to whether the instigators of the wiretapping and Mr Assange have boldly gone where no one has gone before, it is clear that they have empowered conspirators with new means to conspire a new wave of literacy and trigger a communications revolution regardless of Trinidad and Tobago’s Communications Bill 2010 or Assange’s imprisonment.
One way or another, the communications revolution is upon us. It has already exploded and the only real question is whether we will realize it in time to stop another WikiLeaks controversy or another wiretapping saga.
Richard Holbrooke in Foreign Policy has admitted “The chances of catastrophe grow as organizations grow in number and in size and internal communications become more time-consuming, less intelligible, and less controllable...” Hence, we must be prepared for the coming of the communications revolution.
December 22, 2010
caribbeannewsnow
All eras contain words that more or less accurately define them. There is very little doubt, in my opinion, that democracy and national security are the words that characterize our present time. Democracy is an internal form of government within states and gives the power of the government to the people.
National security, on the other hand, maintains the survival of the nation state through the use of economic, military and political power and the exercise of diplomacy. However, the trend appears to be moving towards a new communication revolution, leaving critics in contemplation as to whether it is an obvious good and positive sign.
If democracy is a government that includes the right to free press, and allows for individualism and freedom of opinion among its citizens, then democracy’s natural place is civil society, as it interprets democracy more as a civic culture of association, participation and mobilization. To state, as Kamla Persad Bissessar has done, that “the SIA's wiretapping operations in Trinidad and Tobago without the people’s consent is contrary to democracy, is representative of dictatorship and illustrate the dark and sinister side of any government,” ignores the fact that there must be a useful criticism of democracy in a constructive way, which is something the system needs in order to keep growing to produce an honest transmission of the truth.
Government diplomats and high ranking government authorities, who knowingly tell lies to influence serious events, and who misrepresent the trust and honour given to them as public servants, threaten the very process of democracy because, to start with, democracy was born out of the reality of res publica, public issues, or public life.
If we are going to evolve within the realms of democracy, then we should start by acknowledging that our interest in public life and common good is a long way from that of the fathers of democracy, as everything seems to be shrouded in private life rather than public life. Today, our current democracy is much different from the Athenian model, which was concerned with knowledge, wisdom, debate, and discussion and possessed a civic culture that we just simply lack. Citizens actively participated in the public life of the polis -- thus the origin of the word politics.
Not only do I join the chorus with Texas congressman and former presidential candidate Ron Paul on the WikiLeaks debacle that in “a free society we are supposed to know the truth and if truth becomes treason, then we are in big trouble,” but also share the thoughts of social scientist Alexis de Tocqueville in evaluating human society, as he provides us with a simple, clarifying, and thought-provoking parameter that the future of humankind is linked to democratic society and not to aristocratic society.
Democratic society promotes the level of human development, emphasizes individualism and the pursuit of personal happiness. Since it favours equality before freedom, a democratic society favours public sector expansion, which will provide government with the resources it needs to equalize conditions between classes or income. Ministers of government, members of the judiciary, trade unionists, editors, journalists and businessmen are not all that constitute the people. Everyone should be involved in the decision making process.
In the court of public opinion, the alleged actions of former prime minister of Trinidad, Patrick Manning, and WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange are drowned in a sea of terrorism and dictatorship, whereas if we examine the dubious coin carefully, we will at once notice that they have made the Caribbean and the world a better place for democracy.
It is important to understand that spying on law-abiding citizens, under the guise of battling crime and ensuring national security, is something that has been happening all the time. How doomed could we have been to the Owellian drama? It just got out of control in Trinidad and Tobago.
On the other hand, Assange’s imprisonment for publicizing secret cables, exposing crimes and conspiracies carried out by US officials is nothing more than a psychological protective mechanism loaded with political overtones. There is no evidence that either Mr Assange or Mr Manning committed a crime in Australia the US or Trinidad and Tobago.
The wiretapping and WikiLeaks has not comprised the national security of Trinidad and Tobago or the US because the public right to know should not be censored. If the debates over the wiretapping and WikiLeaks are about the role of secrecy then, while most world governments would argue that they must be allowed to conduct their dealings with a certain amount of secrecy, it is my contention that full transparency is also a better way to cure the ails of a democratic society as it determines who the biggest law-breakers are and also encourages democracy in the public interest.
It cannot be doubted that the advancement of new technological changes emboldens civil society with ways to act in which our forefathers could not and this might very well be a new challenge in information technology. As to whether the instigators of the wiretapping and Mr Assange have boldly gone where no one has gone before, it is clear that they have empowered conspirators with new means to conspire a new wave of literacy and trigger a communications revolution regardless of Trinidad and Tobago’s Communications Bill 2010 or Assange’s imprisonment.
One way or another, the communications revolution is upon us. It has already exploded and the only real question is whether we will realize it in time to stop another WikiLeaks controversy or another wiretapping saga.
Richard Holbrooke in Foreign Policy has admitted “The chances of catastrophe grow as organizations grow in number and in size and internal communications become more time-consuming, less intelligible, and less controllable...” Hence, we must be prepared for the coming of the communications revolution.
December 22, 2010
caribbeannewsnow
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Regionalism: The Caribbean prospective - Part 1
By D. Markie Spring
Turks and Caicos Islands:
It is evident that individual islands within our region cannot stand alone; therefore we need regional integration into every aspect of our system.
However, it must be noted that there are some islands in the region that are doing well. The Bahamas, Barbados, the British, American, French and Netherlands overseas territories, states and departments have sustained economies; British and US Virgin Island, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, the ABC Islands, Guadeloupe and Martinique.
Conversely, Jamaica, Trinidad and Guyana have weakening economies, but they have sport teams that are competitive at the highest level. The Eastern Caribbean has semi-strong economies.
In my honest opinion, I believe that the Caribbean could be a force to be reckoned with; only if we unite all of our efforts. As a region we should come together and compete against the rest of the world.
Let me start this debate with sports. The Caribbean had regionalised its effort to build the most successful cricket team in the world. This had worked for many years until the West Indies cricket team was severed by a number of factors, including poor player selections. It was clear that, if the West Indies unites its other resources, we could accomplish many things. Why do we have so many individual sport teams?
We should also combine our efforts in tourism. Although some Caribbean nations greet millions of tourists per year, this is not a fraction of the amount of tourists that travel to other parts of the globe.
To illustrate this further, the Bahamas has more than a million tourists visiting its shores annually, when France alone has 74 million.
Many citizens across our region believe that only the Caribbean has lush valleys and mountains, and white sandy beaches with crystal clear waters. No, my people, the Philippines, Thailand and other far eastern Asian countries also boast these qualities.
We should adapt the business term called Comparative Advantage, where each country identifies its strongest attractions and builds on them -- from a regional prospective. This means that countries such as Turks and Caicos Islands should market its white sand beaches, while other countries like St Vincent and the Grenadines promotes its eco-tourism environment.
Furthermore, the Caribbean has to integrate its economy into a single economy, if it wants to create an economy that is recognised and competitive to the world. These days, individual markets are developing impeding problems. Our regional economies are too dependent upon each other.
There is, however, some strong evidence that a single economy would derive better results. Although the OECS countries are not fully integrated through economic efforts, its dollar has maintained comparative and competitive value for decades.
In this sense, it is safe to say that our regional leaders do not have that regional vision needed to push our nations forward. We cannot depend upon developed economies to assist us -- not in these difficult economic times.
Countries like the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, BVI and USVI and the Cayman Islands often decline membership and their willingness to integrate. One thing these nations must realise, though, is that their economies are not diverse enough to stand on their own for much longer; therefore, we need to unite as one Caribbean.
Some leaders and citizens alike believe that the economies of too many islands are too weak to have successful integration. We must look at the European Union. The only countries in the EU that are economically vibrant are those located in Western Europe. To date, the EU combined maintains the world’s biggest GDP. Is this something to learn from?
We must direct our efforts away from Individualism and start thinking collectivism. All we are doing in the region is competing against each other and stealing the little we possess.
I realise that some readers may find this article contrary to their beliefs. However, with this criticism I am ready to debate my ideologies. I am a young professional who believes in oneness and that there is no form of survival without unity. In addition, I believe that people with different ideologies may be isolated and their lives might be spearheaded by political affiliations.
July 29, 2010
Regionalism: The Caribbean prospective - Part 2
caribbeannetnews
Turks and Caicos Islands:
It is evident that individual islands within our region cannot stand alone; therefore we need regional integration into every aspect of our system.
However, it must be noted that there are some islands in the region that are doing well. The Bahamas, Barbados, the British, American, French and Netherlands overseas territories, states and departments have sustained economies; British and US Virgin Island, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, the ABC Islands, Guadeloupe and Martinique.
Conversely, Jamaica, Trinidad and Guyana have weakening economies, but they have sport teams that are competitive at the highest level. The Eastern Caribbean has semi-strong economies. In my honest opinion, I believe that the Caribbean could be a force to be reckoned with; only if we unite all of our efforts. As a region we should come together and compete against the rest of the world.
Let me start this debate with sports. The Caribbean had regionalised its effort to build the most successful cricket team in the world. This had worked for many years until the West Indies cricket team was severed by a number of factors, including poor player selections. It was clear that, if the West Indies unites its other resources, we could accomplish many things. Why do we have so many individual sport teams?
We should also combine our efforts in tourism. Although some Caribbean nations greet millions of tourists per year, this is not a fraction of the amount of tourists that travel to other parts of the globe.
To illustrate this further, the Bahamas has more than a million tourists visiting its shores annually, when France alone has 74 million.
Many citizens across our region believe that only the Caribbean has lush valleys and mountains, and white sandy beaches with crystal clear waters. No, my people, the Philippines, Thailand and other far eastern Asian countries also boast these qualities.
We should adapt the business term called Comparative Advantage, where each country identifies its strongest attractions and builds on them -- from a regional prospective. This means that countries such as Turks and Caicos Islands should market its white sand beaches, while other countries like St Vincent and the Grenadines promotes its eco-tourism environment.
Furthermore, the Caribbean has to integrate its economy into a single economy, if it wants to create an economy that is recognised and competitive to the world. These days, individual markets are developing impeding problems. Our regional economies are too dependent upon each other.
There is, however, some strong evidence that a single economy would derive better results. Although the OECS countries are not fully integrated through economic efforts, its dollar has maintained comparative and competitive value for decades.
In this sense, it is safe to say that our regional leaders do not have that regional vision needed to push our nations forward. We cannot depend upon developed economies to assist us -- not in these difficult economic times.
Countries like the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, BVI and USVI and the Cayman Islands often decline membership and their willingness to integrate. One thing these nations must realise, though, is that their economies are not diverse enough to stand on their own for much longer; therefore, we need to unite as one Caribbean.
Some leaders and citizens alike believe that the economies of too many islands are too weak to have successful integration. We must look at the European Union. The only countries in the EU that are economically vibrant are those located in Western Europe. To date, the EU combined maintains the world’s biggest GDP. Is this something to learn from?
We must direct our efforts away from Individualism and start thinking collectivism. All we are doing in the region is competing against each other and stealing the little we possess.
I realise that some readers may find this article contrary to their beliefs. However, with this criticism I am ready to debate my ideologies. I am a young professional who believes in oneness and that there is no form of survival without unity. In addition, I believe that people with different ideologies may be isolated and their lives might be spearheaded by political affiliations.
July 29, 2010
Regionalism: The Caribbean prospective - Part 2
caribbeannetnews
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