A preview of the unpublished book A CIVILIZATION WITHOUT A VISION WILL PERISH: AN INDEPENDENT SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH by David Willis
LESSONS LEARNED BY THE AUTHOR (Part 13)
Prosperity during the period of chaos
In The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization, Thomas Friedman tells us that the defining symbol of globalization is the World Wide Web which unites everyone. The defining measurement is speed of commerce, travel, communication and innovation. Globalization means the spread of free-market capitalism to virtually every country of the world with its own set of rules, but it sometimes leaves the less good players brutalized or left behind. If globalization were a sport, it would be the 100-meter dash, over and over. And no matter how many times you win, you have to race again the next day. And if you lose by just one-hundredth of a second it can be as if you lost by an hour. This is the tough, stressful world in which our youth are going to earn a living and raise a family.
The right balance has not yet been found
Friedman visited the Lexus luxury car factory in Japan producing 300 sedans a day, made by 66 human beings and 310 robots and that experience defined a world intent on building a better Lexus, dedicated to modernizing, streamlining and privatizing their economies in order to thrive in the system of globalization. The olive tree defined everything that roots us to the warmth of family life, the joy of individuality, the depth of private relationships, as well as the confidence and security to reach out and encounter others. For most people, corporations and nations the right balance between the Lexus and the olive tree has not yet been found.
Lifestyle
In Western society, cancer is the second greatest killer after coronary heart disease. Research suggests that poor diet, poor lifestyle and stress contribute significantly to their onset. In Proof Positive: How to Reliably Combat Disease & Achieve Optimal Health Through Nutrition & Lifestyle by Neil Nedley, M.D. we learn that “it is possible to reduce coronary heart disease risk by 90% and cancer risk by as much as 80% through the right diet and lifestyle.” “Many deaths due to infectious diseases are caused by an immune system that is weakened by a poor lifestyle.” “How we live day by day determines whether our immune system works at peak levels.” “Three of the important ways to help our immune system are diet, exercise and stress control.”
Our mission
Our mission is to share with others our joie de vivre in making a comfortable living from a small piece of land where David grows much of our food. Christine is a ceramic artist and teacher who gains her inspiration from ancient Greek and Byzantine pottery. We have chosen educational agro-tourism as our means of earning a living as tourism employs one person in nine on the planet and is ideal as a family business. We have chosen education as we want to share with others what we have learned. We believe that to be a whole person we need to educate the mind, body and spirit.
We are citizens of the world
When people ask where we are from, we answer that we are citizens of the world. Mankind is one and we are all leaves of one tree and flowers of one garden. Only when we all buy into that way of thinking will we attain world peace. Socrates, the Greek philosopher who lived from 469 to 399 BC, said “I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.”