Matthew Henry John Bartlett

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Wednesday 14 September, 02005

by Matthew Bartlett @ 9:11 am

Sam E king of the upper case: ROCK PAPER INCISORS
Russell Brown say BAD NATIONAL

Enjoy a quote from the epilogue of EF Schumacher’s book Small is Beautiful, written in the early 1970s:

In the excitement over the unfolding of his scientific and technical powers, modern man has built a system of production that ravishes nature and a type of society that mutilates man. If only there were more and more wealth, everything else, it is thought, would fall into place. Money is considered to be all-powerful; if it could not actually buy non-material values, such as justice, harmony, beauty or even health, it could circumvent the need for them or compensate for their loss. The development of production and the acquisition of wealth have thus becom ethe highest goals of the modern world in relation to which all other goals, no matter how much lip-service may still be paid to them, have come to take second place. The highest goals require no justification; all secondary goals have finally to justify themselves in terms of the service their attainment renders to the attainment of the highest.
  This is the philosophy of materialism, and it is this philosophy – or metaphysic – which is now being challenged by events. There has never been a time, in any society in any part of the world, without its sages and teachers to challenge materialism and plead for a different order of priorities. The languages have differed, the symbols have varied, yet the message has always been the same: ‘seek ye first the kingdom of God, and these things (the material things which you also need) shall be added unto you.’ They shall be added, we are told, here on earth where we need them, not simply in an after-life beyond our imagination. Today, however, this message reaches us not solely from the sages and saints but from the actual course of physical events. It speaks to us in the language of terrorism, genocide, breakdown, pollution, ehaustion. We live, it seems in a unique period of convergence. It is becoming apparent that there is not only a promise but also a threat in those astonishing words about the kingdom of God – the threat that ‘unless you seek first the kingdom, these other things, which you also need, will cease to be available to you.’

8 responses to “”

  1. fester says:

    Matt, for a previous post… does your left hand know what your right hand is doing? Atlas school is a cool concept. By voting Greens you totally kill it.

  2. Sambo says:

    Challenge him to 15 ways of RPS Matthew. This insolence will not stand!

  3. Fester, Atlas is in the US. Are there similar ventures in NZ that the Greens plan to eradicate? Their education pages don’t appear to hint at anything like that.

    Sambo, RPS?

  4. Lynton says:

    One of the greatest books ever! I am going have to read again after I finish it and this time take notes and write down ways in which I can transform my life. I feel it may be a defining book in my life.

  5. fester says:

    does it matter if atlas is in new zealand or not?

  6. Mike Bryan says:

    I was quoting Schumacher to my wife just a few hours ago; the part where he says that a loss of religion is felt by the third generation. That would be about now in the UK from where we have left and where anti-social behaviour reaches new lows each day.

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