Global Warming: Balancing Perspectives and Facts

Here's a great illustration from InformationIsBeautiful.net on the often stark contrasts between the "industrialist-capitalist" apologetic front and the ongoing scientific research and consensus on the effects of the CO2 on global warming. The concept of "truthful speech" is evidently a virtue long-lost in the antiquity, when we live in a world where warped or false state statements to advance slanted agendas have become the norm of the day. Below is a composite of the diagrams for eye-food. Please see the full documented illustration and related notes on the website.

= A Compilation of Illustrations from the Global Warming Visualization =

People keep thinking the world isn't ever going to tip out of balance despite our global efforts to sap her dry and to pump her full of every conceivable kind of harmful substance in liberal excess. Hoping to consume without worry for the future is however a very short-sighted utopia. Our imaginative sugar-coatings of the emerging problems may give us a hollow sense of solace, yet if we fail to address the actual existing problems at the bottom of the buzz, all we will have accomplished is juggling a parade of words while the world grows all the more morbid on the background.

Whenever you take too much and neglect the greater balance, whether in nature or the society, you'll be deprived of the pleasures of your loot at the end of the day. If you don't build with two eyes for sustainability, you're not going enjoy a balanced life-cycle in production — a concept not at all outside the realm of common sense, if you care enough to actually pause and think about it. There are no infinite resources, there is no infinite tolerance — and if you don't know where exactly the line is drawn in water, then by all means err on the side of caution!

= Fact Checking: "The Global Warming Skeptics vs The Scientific Consensus" =

Foresight is everything if you intend to operate on a scale with potential global impact, whether we're talking about governments, corporations, or anyone else in the helm. The evil of confusion is rampant in the absence of foresight for sustenance and balance, and this cardinal vice is at the heart of countless environmental disasters. Greed makes us blind in one eye; greed-driven power blinds them both. And we all know the story of the blind leading the blind into the proverbial dark pit!

= Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1526–1569): The Blind Leading the Blind =

As with the global warming chart here, whenever we form opinions and broadcast thoughts on important topics like these, let's seek to look at all the perspectives — if only to ensure we're actually commenting on the real issues deserving attention, not just the ongoing popular hearsay. Whether it's politics, global warming or ideological conflicts, we need to carefully identify and understand the variables and relations of the whole big picture — and to keep double-checking our perspectives to ensure we're battling beyond the lofty realms of our stimulated imagination!

There's too much broadcasting of strong opinions in proportion to the little homework people do with the information they digest and pass on as facts. A saturation of convoluted opinions and off-balance commentary leads to an overall convolution and degradation of the level of helpful and constructive discussion, leaving the actual pressing issues all but resolved while we bicker on about trivialities. Comparing perspectives and getting to the bottom of claims is not optional at this point, for the amount of warped information flowing across the cyber-highway has grown by leaps and bounds over the last decade.

= A Holistic System Definition: Spirituality and Wisdom Grid (SySpir) =

Let's not contribute to the confusion, let's contribute to the solutions! The actual solutions will only become more evident once we've cleared through the buzz of confusion and arrived at real data and more reliable information to work with. Check your sources and distill information to facts, look for gaps and seek for the full spectrum of insight, double-check your own thoughts and question your trail of reason, keep your approach open and subject to recurring peer review — and contribute your share in a solution of wisdom to heal the growing state of confusion in the interconnected world of information.

Five Inner Merits for Better Communication

Yahoo Shine published a fresh and "real simple" psychology piece by Amanda Armstrong under the heading 5 Ways to Win People Over, or how to deal with situations where you don't seem to link with others, and need to create a sense of synergetic connection to improve communication and cooperation. It's simple if you can take a moment to reflect on it and put it into practice — and it gets awfully complicated if you don't or won't!

Alexander the Great is famous for cutting the endless Gordian Knot.
Before using a sword to get heard, please consider the following options.

Armstrong's interviews with professional "influencers" resulted in five simple considerations on how to deal and not deal with people. When things just don't seem to click, keep the following in mind:

1. Puncture your own ego — or cut a bit of slack and be less serious about yourself and your pride,
2. Don’t be needy — or don't recruit people to ride your hectic roller-coaster only to scare them away,
3. Tell someone (nicely) what he/she has to lose — or present the reasons behind a prospect instead of building up mirages,
4. Throw a curveball in conversation — or first find common ground and then build toward the actual issues at hand, and
5. Reiterate the other person’s argument — or think of yourself in his/her shoes, and show that you actually understand their position.

Be sure to read the source article for more on the why and how of these five simple adjustments to your approach. Let's have a look at the background and ponder the inner mechanics behind, if only to escape from the often unavoidable reality of people manipulating and abusing others under unsavory pretenses. If you communicate, you have an ethical responsibility even with the best of tricks in your arsenal.

These five simple approaches to help win people over hold a strong inner merit — which is why they work to begin with, because actual positive inner prospects become shared. Your success in communication is a reflection of your own inner state. Always remember and never forget — inner peace and a sense of connection and security are attractive prospects for one and all.

The positive prospects in the above list arise from (1) absence of obsessive ego, (2) absence of greed and thoughtlessness, (3) helpful attitude of goodwill, (4) perception of unifying perspectives, and (5) a "do-unto-others" mentality with the perspective shift — and they help both you and others around you.

On the other hand, when you (1) push your ego without giving in, (2) rock on "I want it all and I want it now", (3) prefer mirages over helpful realism, (4) doggedly push on and refuse to listen and pay attention, or (5) fail to see and relate to others' perspectives — it's all downhill from there onwards.

Even while it all sounds simple, the fact is that we're all too often so lost and conditioned in our small worlds that even the simplest of considerations seem like an ocean away. As patterns and systems of advancing narrow selfish and partisan agendas escalate and collide, they give rise to degeneration, corruption and violence, ensuring a healthy dose of mayhem and pandemonium for everyone, despite possible best intentions in absence of virtue and wisdom.

Prophets emerge and diverse systems of faith and ethics are created in forming a common playground, to prevent the emerging chaos and the evils of ill will, poor spirit, and general disarray. Over time, these establishments forget their essential wisdom and virtue, degenerating and ultimately only further advancing the same dynamics they once sought to prevent. The exact same patterns are at play with nations that initially form to serve the interests of the people, and then proceed to leech and feed on the citizens as the inequalities escalate.

Wouldn't it be sweet if everyone could read and understand a simple bullet-point list, like the ones seen in this blurb? They could just grasp the basic points on spirituality and wisdom, be happy and be done with it, and move onward to living positive lives — instead of battling their own shadows until the bitter end of their days.

Embodiment of wisdom and virtue is what I consider true and beneficial transhumanism — not the prospect of plugging a hard drive into one's head, only to contain even more information...

The Dangers of Incoherent Internet Usage

Internet forums and blog comments tend to fill with the obscurest possible attempts at verbal communication. Many posts are so indescribably incoherent that they are rarely intelligible even to the architect of the verbal potpourri himself. It's all fun and games they say, yet few understand the very real dangers writing on the internet in an incoherent state of mind can cause to innocent readers.

Be a responsible internet person — consider the potential psychological and physiological injuries your readers may sustain when exposed to your writings. The following flowchart presents a basic five-point-program to help overcome the urge to post in heightened states of incoherence. If you are an incoherent addict, print it out and and study it whenever you feel the urge to post your productions to a website.

Exercise particular attention when posting to a site you are addicted to, as addictions tend to lower the threshold for emotional and irrational responses. A special word of caution is in place for addicts posting under anonymous aliases on sites they've sworn to never participate at again. While self-control and peer support may help some get over their budding addiction, advanced cases of focused iOCD are best left in the hands of trained professionals.