Got Mindfulness?

-Nisargadatta Maharaj

Neta Crawford of Brown University was interviewed on the radio program “World of Possibilities” regarding the Prospect of American Empire and possible alternative futures where the United States is able to genuinely entertain a dialog with other cultures in the world. This particular program was Being Number One: Costs and Alternatives to Empire (duration: approx. 50 minutes). Crawford is in the fourth interview which starts about 45 minutes into the program. However, when you have the time please do hear the entire program…

Crawford’s operative words are “As if”, meaning that if we conducted ourselves as if the world were a more peaceful place, we would move in the direction of creating such a world.

She advocates Civil Society taking an independent role, where individuals through contact with others develop a greater empathy and respect for others. So, for example, If we act as if it is possible to engage in dialog; and, if we act as if others deserve our respect, we will in fact gain the respect of others, and hopefully they will engage in greater dialog with us.

I’ve excerpted Neta’s ten minute interview, downloadable as an MP3.

To act as if…

To act as if we lived in a world where there are others who are concerned with Global Ecology, perhaps we can invoke the latent cooperation and participation necessary to bring about a new social paradigm in the 21st century.

To act as if we will be lifted up when we stumble by the hands of thousands of like-minded beings who want us to succeed on the path to a peaceful and balanced world society, perhaps we can invoke that cooperation and participation.

To act as if we live in a nondual reality, perhaps we can trigger selfless behavior in those we touch with our hearts and minds.

To act as if…

Food for thought.

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Neta Crawford’s book, Argument and Change in World Politics: Ethics, Decolonization, and Humanitarian Intervention takes on Change from another perspective – the power of argument to influence culture. Here is a link to a chapter excerpt of the book: Argument, belief and culture

And finally I also want to point out a remarkable “editorial” that Crawford wrote just days after 9/11 warning of a knee-jerk military retaliation against “the terrorists”. She asks the question “Why doesn’t retaliation work?”. She then offers an answer. Worth a read.