The Paradox of change - Palestine brain

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Permalink Reply by Neri Bar-On on May 7, 2008 at 1:17pm

Here is my card on global-mindshift

http://www.global-mindshift.org/myprofile/member_profile.asp?userid...

Thank you for the info.

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Permalink Reply by Wael_ on May 7, 2008 at 10:43pm

Hi Neri .. I know it is not easy for Philosopher to be fasten by identity. But still I am interested to your opinion about the "romantic" difference between "Palestine- and Israel Brain" I mentioned at the beginning. Does it make sense to you?

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Permalink Reply by Roger Eaton on May 11, 2008 at 6:24pm

Hi Neri,

Going back to your original post about the world-centric / ethno-centric paradox, there is a solution of sorts to this paradox. The world-centric perspective is perhaps better seen as a "unity and diversity" or "both/and" view, while the ethno-centric perspective is the "us vs them" or "either/or" view. The paradox remains because these two perspectives themselves can be seen as in conflict, so it is "unity and diversity" vs "us vs them"! Still, I think we make real gains when we enlarge our view to accept the global perspective without dropping our national perspective.

Perhaps seeming to change the subject, but not really, global warming is our friend in this endeavor to accept our humanity as of equal weight with all our other identities added into the balance. Global warming is extremely serious. With business as usual, the oceans will rise some ten to 20 feet over the next century. (Please read the paper at climatecodered.net - it is all too convincing.) Given the stress the rise in sea level will create as 500 million people retreat uphill, and with all the nukes on hair-trigger, civilization surely, and maybe even the human race is threatened in a big way. And it is not just global warming, but also all the other destruction that our population/technology surge is causing, that needs to be brought under control. No way that can happen without the whole world coming to its senses. We are forced by necessity to adopt the world-centric view. If we do so, everyone wins and if we don't, everyone loses.

Peace is a big part of that global success, including peace between Israel and Palestine. Not just "including", either, but especially between Israel and Palestine. Because of the religious significance of Jerusalem, there is world interest focused on the Middle East conflict. If the Israelis and the Palestinians can be reconciled, this would be a tremendous symbol of hope for the world and would release positive energies on the scale that is needed to cope with our global problems. Here in Los Angeles I remember a big interfaith meeting back in 2000. Meher Mathout, an important leader of the L.A. Muslim community began his speech this way: "Thank God," he said and paused, "that Krishna and the Buddha did not also go to Jerusalem!". Everyone had to laugh.

Wael's Palestine Brain is to be seen as a part of a Global Brain mediated by the internet and including an Israel Brain as well as a Middle East Brain. Please also check out the Global Assembly Dialog. Sign up if you will. The GA Dialog uses a voting-on-messages technology that enables groups to elect messages. The aim is to elect messages on a global scale thereby creating a "voice of humanity". Briefly, we alternate between "unity" and "diversity" rounds. In the unity rounds, everyone together elects a message to represent their common humanity. In the diversity rounds, the different groups each elect their own message. This alternating structure marginalizes the hard-liners. Either they participate, in which case they are effectively endorsing the common humanity of the groups and therefore undercut their own hatred of the "other", or they decline to participate and lose influence entirely. The full writeup is worth a look.

All the best,

-- Roger Eaton

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