By Jim Selman | Bio
I was playing a trivia game and had to answer what the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are. I got three out of four, but had to go to go to Wikipedia to get them all: War, Famine, Conquest and Death. These traditional Biblical symbols mark the ‘end of time’, when all things are put right and presumably all karma is erased and this journey will be complete. In researching each of them, I learned that ‘conquest’ is best translated in today’s language as ‘corruption’.
By Lauren Selman | Bio
This was first published at The Life of Lauren with the title "Adventure Starts Today". It is kindly republished here with permission.
This morning, I woke up at 6:30am to get on the road. My lack of sleep over the past couple days is finally hiting me as I stumble out of bed, down the stairs and to the airport. I was blessed because my friend Melissa took me to the airport. (Thanks hun!)
By Jim Selman | Bio
Do you know that terrible sinking feeling when something really bad happens that you didn’t expect—something that you know will have a major and probably permanently negative impact on your life and the lives of those you love—and there is nothing you can do about it?
Many of us have these kinds of feelings whenever we witness a disaster or tragedy unfolding on the news. We can’t get the pictures of what is happening out of our minds. We proclaim, “It’s awful”.
By Jim Selman | Bio
Being alive at any time is preferable to the alternative. However, as the years go by, I am increasingly appreciative of the extraordinary time in which we are living. I don’t mean this as some sort of a “Pollyanna” platitude, but as a serious reflection on our world and who we are becoming at this particular time in human history. I believe that what is happening today is analogous to what people who were conscious and aware of what was happening experienced in
By Jim Selman | Bio
Last Friday night I had the pleasure and the privilege of attending an “Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream” Symposium, an event offered by the Pachamama Alliance. This short program has each of us examine ourselves and our relationship to a world “in crisis”. The purpose of the Symposium and the Alliance is to change our collective vision (dream) and to “bring forth an environmentally
Climate change, peak oil and soil depletion will inevitably drive up food prices globally in the future. Some nations are looking to secure their future by investing in farming in developing countries. This can create the possibility of addressing local food shortages and rural development. But when wealthy developed countries (like China, Saudi Arabia, India and Japan) start purchasing land in poor countries (like Ethiopia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Sudan), it is for growing their own crops.
By Shae Hadden | Bio
Perhaps as a reaction to the annual peak of consumerism (the pre and post-Christmas holiday season sales), I’m thinking these days of ways of alternative non-material gifts for my friends. What comes to mind are the types of things we, in our technology-driven world, may be taking for granted as everyday conveniences. Yet, in many parts of the world, these are considered luxuries.It’s easy enough now to share images and videos of ourselves with either the world at large or a select group of friends and colleagues using sites like Flickr, Vimeo, Blip.tv, Facebook and YouTube. When it comes to gifts for loved ones, creative items
By Jim Selman | Bio
I am not an economist. Thank goodness. This is not a good time to be one. There is a wonderful overview of the field, “How Did Economists Get it So Wrong?”, by Paul Krugman in the New York Times. The bottom line is that the current situation “which nobody could have predicted” was predicted and it doesn’t take an economist to know that:
With all the theoretical back and forth between the various ‘schools’ of economic theory, one word jumps out at me: “technocrat”.
By Jim Selman | Bio
It was said that the philosopher Martin Heidegger’s last words were “Only God can save us.” He was, perhaps, one of the deeper thinkers (at least in modern times) on the question of who we are and what is really going on. As far as I know, he wasn’t religious. So what he meant by these words, if indeed he said them, is open to question.
My view is that he was talking about the fact that all human beings live in interpretations of “reality”—cultural and linguistic
By Jim Selman | Bio
Future historians may mark the first decade of the 21st century as the time when democracy died. And if they do, they will say that democracy died because people became so resigned and afraid that they retreated into closed and cloistered communities motivated by self-interest, ideological fervor and ignorance. History will note that what began as honest differences grew into an irreconcilable fragmentation of the body politic.
Some will make the case that it all began with