2020/01/24

05 상相과 중도 상에 집착하지 말고 중도를 걸으라



(9) 05 상相과 중도 상에 집착하지 말고 중도를 걸으라는 논의 시리즈 준비로 먼저... - Chang-Seong Hong










Chang-Seong Hong
18 January at 03:56 ·



05 상相과 중도

상에 집착하지 말고 중도를 걸으라는 논의 시리즈 준비로 먼저 아리스토텔레스의 중도론을 내 방식으로 소개해 보았다.

밑의 사진 하나는 경주 석굴암 부처님이신데, 몇 해 전 다시 경주에서 뵌 모습으로부터 천여 년 전에도 불상에 한류가 존재했다는 점을 깨닫게 되었다. 한국인들의 예술적 '끼'는 고대로부터 역시 대단했다. 그 옆 사진은 아리스토텔레스다. 그의 제자 알렉산더대왕이 정복한 인도 서북부 간다라 지방에서 그리이스 조각의 영향을 받아 형성된 불상 문화가 고대 한반도에까지 이르렀는데, 한 눈에 보아도 석굴암의 조각에 그 흔적이 많이 남아 있다. 놀랍고 기쁜 인연이다.

https://www.dropbox.com/…/05%20%EC%83%81%EA%B3%BC%20%EC%A4%…

05 (2월 17일 원고 마감)
상相과 중도

우리를 극단으로 몰아가는 정치 이념이나 종교적 광신으로부터 거리를 두는 비판적 자세를 유지해야 한다. 그래야만 이념과 미신으로 우리에게 상相을 씌워 이용하려는 집단으로부터 스스로를 보호할 수 있다. 안타깝게도 역사는 정치 종교적 상에 집착한 사람들이 스스로를 구속하며 극단으로 치달아 저지른 재앙으로 점철되어 왔다. 그런데, 머무르지 않고 자유로워야 할 불자들이라면 이런 상에 집착해서는 안 된다.
극단을 피하는 지혜는 동서양을 불문하고 중도中道의 삶을 살라는 가르침으로 표현되어 왔다. 붓다의 중도와 비유되곤 하는 아리스토텔레스의 중도론은 그의 행복론을 뒷받침하기 위해 제시되었는데, 그는 행복을 위해서는 중도의 삶을 살아야 한다고 통찰했다. 나는 우리가 상을 여의고 중도의 삶을 살기 위한 방법을 찾기 위해서 이 고대 희랍 철학자의 견해를 음미해 볼 필요가 있다고 생각한다. 그리고 철학적 문제를 논의하기 위해서는 정치 종교와 같이 큰 주제보다는 일상의 소소한 생각거리로부터 시작하는 편이 논의의 초점을 흐리지 않기 때문에, 평범한 사례들을 들어 그의 중도론을 소개하겠다.
아리스토텔레스는 우리의 모든 행위가 스스로의 행복을 지향하고 있다고 보는데, 이는 서양에서는 상식으로 받아들여져 온 견해다. 서양인들은 행복이 삶의 궁극적 목적이라고 보며, 행복을 수단으로 추구할 더 높은 목표가 없기 때문에 행복은 그 자체로 좋다고 생각한다. 그렇다면 이렇게 좋다는 행복은 어떻게 이룰 수 있을까? 일부 극단적인 유물론자들을 제외하고는, 돈 많이 벌고 잘생기고 인기 얻어서 권력을 누리면 행복하다고 주장한 철학자는 없었다.
아리스토텔레스는 우리가 가진 잠재력을 실현하는 삶이 행복한 삶이라고 생각했다. 위대한 철학자의 통찰이라고는 하지만 실은 상식적이고 평범한 진리다. 자신의 가능성을 계발하여 원하는 일을 하며 사는 삶이 행복하다는 데 반대할 사람은 없다. 반면에, 예술가의 자질을 타고나 창조적 작업을 하고 싶은 사람이 부모의 강요로 돈만 버는 비즈니스밖에 할 수 없다면 그가 결코 행복하다고 볼 수는 없다. 나는 미국에서 철학과 대학원에 새로 입학한 40대와 50대 전직 의사들을 여럿 보았다. 젊은 날부터 동경해 온 철학하는 삶을 살고 싶어서 미국에서 최고 수입을 누리는 직업을 그만두고 늦깎이 대학원생이 된 사람들이었다. 그들은 대학원생 생활을 무척 행복해 했다.
그러면 잠재력을 실현하며 행복하게 사는 구체적인 방법은 무엇인가? 아리스토텔레스는 덕德(virtue)을 가지고 덕스럽게 행위하며 사는 것이라고 답한다. 설득력 있는 이야기다. 서양뿐 아니라 한국에서도 덕 있는 사람이 결국은 더 행복하게 살기 마련이라는 이야기를 많이 한다. 나 또한 이 말이 최소한 확률적으로는 옳다고 생각한다. 그런데 아리스토텔레스가 말한 덕이 반드시 우리가 생각하는 도덕적 덕목(moral virtue)은 아니었다.
희랍어로 ‘덕’에 해당하는 말(arete)은 원래 ‘탁월함(excellence)’을 의미했다. 트로이의 파리스 왕자가 (아폴론신의 보이지 않는 도움으로) 원거리에서 활을 쏘아 그리스의 영웅 아킬레스의 뒤꿈치를 맞힌 놀라운 궁술 같은 것이 희랍인들이 생각하던 덕이었다. 탁월한 능력, 탁월한 힘 같은 것이었다. 한자어 ‘德’도 원래 기능 또는 능력이란 뜻을 가지고 있었고, 영어에서도 현재 ‘in virtue of’ 같은 표현에 그런 의미가 남아있다. 도덕적 덕만 덕이었던 것이 아니다. 그래서 아리스토텔레스가 말하는 행복은 잠재력을 실현시켜 능력을 탁월하게 발휘하면서 얻게 된다.
그러면 이렇게 ‘탁월함’이라는 의미의 덕은 어떻게 얻고 또 따를 수 있을까? 이 물음에 대한 아리스토텔레스의 답변이 바로 그 유명한 중도론中道論이다. 예를 들어 ‘용기’의 덕은 만용과 비겁이라는 두 악덕의 중간에 있다. 용기를 결여하면 비겁하고 이것이 지나치면 만용인데, 덕으로서의 용기는 모자라거나 지나친 양극단을 피하는 중도에 있다는 것이다. 지혜로운 통찰이다. 손님대접에 ‘관대하다(generous)’는 덕은 접대를 아끼거나 낭비하지 않고 그 중도에서 모자라거나 넘치지 않게 행하는 덕이다. 이런 중도가 ‘탁월하다’는 의미에서의 덕이다. 동서양에 모두 중도의 가르침이 전해오는데, 그 이유는 분명 이 가르침에 삶을 행복으로 이끌어 주는 지혜가 있기 때문일 것이다.
그런데 이런 중도의 길이 옳다고 인정한다고 해서 우리가 중도의 덕을 곧바로 얻게 될까? 그렇지 않다. 덕은 머리로 이해한다고 해서 저절로 얻는 것이 아니라 오랜 기간 동안 덕스러운 행위를 반복해서 그것이 습관으로 굳어져야 형성된다. 덕은 이해가 아니라 체득된 성향(disposition)이다. ‘제비 한 마리가 날아왔다고 해서 여름이 오는 것은 아니’듯이, 누가 한두 번 자선단체에 기부했다고 그가 덕 있는 사람이 되지는 못한다.
붓다의 중도와 아리스토텔레스의 중도에 공통된 지혜가 담겨있다고 많이 논의되어 왔다. 우리는 왕자시절의 안락했던 생활이 싯다르타 태자에게 깨달음을 가져다주지 못했다고 들어왔다. 출가 후 6년 고행苦行도 그를 깨닫게 하지 못했다. 오직 이 두 극단을 피한 중도의 수행으로 그는 성도할 수 있었다. 악기의 줄이 너무 팽팽하면 끊어지기 쉽고, 그 반대로 너무 느슨하면 소리가 제대로 나지 않는다. 줄이 적당한 정도의 장력을 유지해야 제대로 된 악기 구실을 할 수 있다. 깨달음을 향한 수행도 지나치거나 모자라지 않게 적절히, 중도를 택해야 한다는 것이 붓다의 가르침이다.
그런데 붓다의 중도론은 서양 중도론의 영역을 초월한다. 아리스토텔레스의 통찰이 삶과 관련된 지혜에 국한되어 있는데 비해, 붓다는 만물이 존재하는 실제의 모습(實相) 또한 중도에 있다고 가르친다. 붓다는 사물에 영원히 불변불멸하는 아뜨만(또는 自性)이 있다고 보는 상주론常住論을 배격하지만 동시에 사물이 실제로는 존재하지 않는다는 단멸론斷滅論 또한 거부한다. 그래서 아무 것도 상주하지는 않지만 그렇다고 단멸되어 있지도 않아서 그 양극단을 피해 묘妙하게 존재한다는 것이 불교의 가르침이다. 붓다의 중도론은 아리스토텔레스의 중도론보다 더 포괄적인 가르침이다.

홍창성
미네소타주립대학교 철학과 교수




77조현, 孫永坤 and 75 others

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Soonki Lee 감사합니다. 공유합니다. 💕
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· 6d

최선규 중도가 세상을 살리지요.
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· 6d

조기현 철학적질의에앞서,교수님본인이지혜라는덕을갖추고계시다고생각십니까? 또한제가생각키로부처의중도는환상과같은현실에서나라하고하는몸뚱아리를지탱하기위한것이지즉환상속에서진제를끌고가기위한것이라고생각합니다 자세한비교는철학자의몫일것같고요토론은환영입니다
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· 5d


Chang-Seong Hong 스스로 훌륭한 연주자여야 음악비평가가 될 자격이 있는 것은 아니지 않습니까? ^^
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· 5d

조기현 홍창성 우문현답입십니다 다만 악기와 곡조 정도는 알고 있어야겠죠^^
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The value of owning more books than you can read - Big Think



The value of owning more books than you can read - Big Think

The value of owning more books than you can read
Or, how I learned to stop worrying and love my tsundoku.
KEVIN DICKINSON22 October, 2018

(Photo from Wikimedia)


Many readers buy books with every intention of reading them only to let them linger on the shelf.
Statistician Nassim Nicholas Taleb believes surrounding ourselves with unread books enriches our lives as they remind us of all we don't know.
The Japanese call this practice tsundoku, and it may provide lasting benefits.

I love books. If I go to the bookstore to check a price, I walk out with three books I probably didn't know existed beforehand. I buy second-hand books by the bagful at the Friends of the Library sale, while explaining to my wife that it's for a good cause. Even the smell of books grips me, that faint aroma of earthy vanilla that wafts up at you when you flip a page.

The problem is that my book-buying habit outpaces my ability to read them. This leads to FOMO and occasional pangs of guilt over the unread volumes spilling across my shelves. Sound familiar?

But it's possible this guilt is entirely misplaced. According to statistician Nassim Nicholas Taleb, these unread volumes represent what he calls an "antilibrary," and he believes our antilibraries aren't signs of intellectual failings. Quite the opposite.


Living with an antilibrary

Umberto Eco signs a book. You can see a portion of the author's vast antilibrary in the background.

Taleb laid out the concept of the antilibrary in his best-selling book The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. He starts with a discussion of the prolific author and scholar Umberto Eco, whose personal library housed a staggering 30,000 books.

When Eco hosted visitors, many would marvel at the size of his library and assumed it represented the host's knowledge — which, make no mistake, was expansive. But a few savvy visitors realized the truth: Eco's library wasn't voluminous because he had read so much; it was voluminous because he desired to read so much more.

Eco stated as much. Doing a back-of-the-envelope calculation, he found he could only read about 25,200 books if he read one book a day, every day, between the ages of ten and eighty. A "trifle," he laments, compared to the million books available at any good library.

Drawing from Eco's example, Taleb deduces:

Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. [Your] library should contain as much of what you do not know as your financial means, mortgage rates, and the currently tight real-estate market allows you to put there. You will accumulate more knowledge and more books as you grow older, and the growing number of unread books on the shelves will look at you menacingly. Indeed, the more you know, the larger the rows of unread books. Let us call this collection of unread books an antilibrary. [Emphasis original]

Maria Popova, whose post at Brain Pickings summarizes Taleb's argument beautifully, notes that our tendency is to overestimate the value of what we know, while underestimating the value of what we don't know. Taleb's antilibrary flips this tendency on its head.

The antilibrary's value stems from how it challenges our self-estimation by providing a constant, niggling reminder of all we don't know. The titles lining my own home remind me that I know little to nothing about cryptography, the evolution of feathers, Italian folklore, illicit drug use in the Third Reich, and whatever entomophagy is. (Don't spoil it; I want to be surprised.)

"We tend to treat our knowledge as personal property to be protected and defended," Taleb writes. "It is an ornament that allows us to rise in the pecking order. So this tendency to offend Eco's library sensibility by focusing on the known is a human bias that extends to our mental operations."

These selves of unexplored ideas propel us to continue reading, continue learning, and never be comfortable that we know enough. Jessica Stillman calls this realization intellectual humility.

People who lack this intellectual humility — those without a yearning to acquire new books or visit their local library — may enjoy a sense of pride at having conquered their personal collection, but such a library provides all the use of a wall-mounted trophy. It becomes an "ego-booting appendage" for decoration alone. Not a living, growing resource we can learn from until we are 80 — and, if we are lucky, a few years beyond.

Tsundoku

Book swap attendees will no doubt find their antilibrary/tsundoku grow.


(Photo from Flickr)

I love Taleb's concept, but I must admit I find the label "antilibrary" a bit lacking. For me, it sounds like a plot device in a knockoff Dan Brown novel — "Quick! We have to stop the Illuminati before they use the antilibrary to erase all the books in existence."

Writing for the New York Times, Kevin Mims also doesn't care for Taleb's label. Thankfully, his objection is a bit more practical: "I don't really like Taleb's term 'antilibrary.' A library is a collection of books, many of which remain unread for long periods of time. I don't see how that differs from an antilibrary."

His preferred label is a loanword from Japan: tsundoku. Tsundoku is the Japanese word for the stack(s) of books you've purchased but haven't read. Its morphology combines tsunde-oku (letting things pile up) and dukosho (reading books).

The word originated in the late 19th century as a satirical jab at teachers who owned books but didn't read them. While that is opposite of Taleb's point, today the word carries no stigma in Japanese culture. It's also differs from bibliomania, which is the obsessive collecting of books for the sake of the collection, not their eventual reading.

The value of tsundoku

Granted, I'm sure there is some braggadocious bibliomaniac out there who owns a collection comparable to a small national library, yet rarely cracks a cover. Even so, studies have shown that book ownership and reading typically go hand in hand to great effect.

One such study found that children who grew up in homes with between 80 and 350 books showed improved literacy, numeracy, and information communication technology skills as adults. Exposure to books, the researchers suggested, boosts these cognitive abilities by making reading a part of life's routines and practices.

Many other studies have shown reading habits relay a bevy of benefits. They suggest reading can reduce stress, satisfy social connection needs, bolster social skills and empathy, and boost certain cognitive skills. And that's just fiction! Reading nonfiction is correlated with success and high achievement, helps us better understand ourselves and the world, and gives you the edge come trivia night.

In her article, Jessica Stillman ponders whether the antilibrary acts as a counter to the Dunning-Kruger effect, a cognitive bias that leads ignorant people to assume their knowledge or abilities are more proficient than they truly are. Since people are not prone to enjoying reminders of their ignorance, their unread books push them toward, if not mastery, then at least a ever-expanding understanding of competence.

"All those books you haven't read are indeed a sign of your ignorance. But if you know how ignorant you are, you're way ahead of the vast majority of other people," Stillman writes.

Whether you prefer the term antilibrary, tsundoku, or something else entirely, the value of an unread book is its power to get you to read it.

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2020/01/23

[주태산 서평] “폭민정치 피하려면 ‘국민정서’ 우리에 가둬야” : 네이버 포스트



[주태산 서평] “폭민정치 피하려면 ‘국민정서’ 우리에 가둬야” : 네이버 포스트

[주태산 서평] “폭민정치 피하려면 ‘국민정서’ 우리에 가둬야”

이코노믹리뷰

5만 팔로워
2019.02.16. 14:31215 읽음

주태산 주필 | joots@econovill.com



<한국, 한국인> 마이클 브린 지음, 장영재 옮김, 실레북스 펴냄.

주의! 이 책을 읽다 보면 불쾌하고 불편할 수 있다. 화가 날지도 모른다. 국내 거주하는 외국인 저자들의 칭찬 일변도 한국 분석서와 달리 지나칠 정도로 객관적이고, 섭섭할 만큼 냉정하기 때문이다. 저자 마이클 브린은 햇수로 38년째 한국에서 살고 있는 영국인 저널리스트다. 그는 한국인들보다 한국을 더 잘 아는 외국인이라는 평을 듣는다. 수십년간 <더 타임즈>, <가디언>, <워싱턴 타임즈> 특파원으로 활동하면서 지적인 분석과 통찰로 한국 사회를 추적해왔다.

그는 격동의 시기를 겪고 있는 한국을 ‘객관적’ 시각으로 분석한다. 특히 1948년 건국 이후 숨가쁘게 달려온 한국인들에 대해 ‘냉정하게’ 살핀다. 내용에 대한 평가 없이 책 내용을 옮긴다. 그 자체로 생각거리가 될 것이다. 일부 문장은 편의상 줄이고 붙였다.

-한국인은 성미가 급한 민족이며, 자신이 상상하는 선진국 사람들처럼 되기를 갈망한다. 그리고 자신의 나라가 눈높이에 미치지 못할 때는 지나칠 정도로 자책한다.

-(198년 첫 한국 방문 당시) 모두가 한국의 지속적 발전을 의심하는 가장 큰 이유를 알게 되었다. 한국인들이 가장 비관적이었다. 모든 것이 잘못되리라는 한국인들의 우려는 외국인 관찰자들에게도 지대한 영향을 미쳤다. 이런 비관적 성향 때문에 한국인은 한국이 세계무대에 진출했다는 사실을 늦게까지 깨닫지 못했다.

-1920~1950년에 태어난 세대의 업적은 진정 놀랄 만하다. 한국의 성장은 모든 세대가 참여하고 기여한 데 힘입었다. 하지만 그들의 자식과 손자들은 그들을 고루하다고 생각한다. 그러나 젊은 세대는 전쟁과 독재체제, 고된 일 사이에 해변으로 갈 기회도 없었던 시절 등 윗세대가 헤쳐 나온 모든 고난에 빚지고 있다.
-한국에서는 ‘국민정서’라는 개념이 이례적인 힘을 갖고 있다. 국민정서는 민주 한국의 신(神)이다. 국민정서는 폭민(暴民)정치를 피하기 위해 우리에 가둬 놓아야 할 짐승이다.

-“국민에 의한, 국민을 위한”이라는 말은 거리시위나 온라인 항의에 의해 의사결정이 이뤄진다는 의미가 아니다. 안정된 민주주의는 대의제도와 법치에 기반을 둔다는 것을 이해하는 지도자가 필요하다.

-서울 도심에서 매주 토요일 시위가 계속됐다. 시위 양상은 전 세계 많은 사람들을 감동시켰다. 몇 주 뒤 국회는 박근혜를 탄핵했고 2017년 3월 헌재가 탄핵을 인용했다. 5월 선거에서 문재인이 청와대 주인이 됐고, 박근혜는 감옥에서 재판을 기다리게 되었다. 그러나, 한국에 거주하는 많은 외국인들과, 특히 이 현기증 나는 사태를 자국 정부에 보고해야 하는 외교관들에게는 사라지지 않는 의문이 남아 있었다. 박근혜가 실제로 잘못한 것은 무엇인가? 이 글을 쓰는 지금까지도 아리송하다. 한국의 민주주의가 미국처럼 법에 기초했다면, 조사과정에는 상당한 시간이 필요했을 것이다.

-민주주의의 다음 과제는 검찰을 청와대의 간섭에서 독립시킴으로써 노무현이 시도했지만 이명박이 깔아뭉개버렸던 변화를 실현하는 것이다. 그와 동시에 검찰의 책임을 기소에 한정하고 수사권이 경찰에 이양되도록 해야 한다.

-남한은 낙후되고 부패한 독재체제에서 산업화된 현대적 민주주의 강국으로 거듭났다. 한국은 미국의 지원 하에 이러한 위업을 성취할 수 있었다. 이제 세계는 북한도 그 뒤를 따르기를 기대한다.

-한국에서 산업의 개발이 1막이고, 민주주의가 2막이었다면, 그 이야기를 완성하는 것은 문화다. 외국인들은 경제성장과 민주화를 기적이라고 말하는 반면에 한국인은 외국인이 한국의 문화에 관심을 갖고 받아들인다는 사실을 기적처럼 느낀다.

-2068년에 북한 김정은은 85세가 된다. 그러나 그 전에 통일이 이뤄지고 김씨 왕조는 단지 역사가들의 관심사가 되고 말 가능성이 크다.
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2001 What I learnt about the Australian bushfires living on the edge of the Sahara Desert - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)



What I learnt about the Australian bushfires living on the edge of the Sahara Desert - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)




OPINION
What I learnt about the Australian bushfires living on the edge of the Sahara Desert
By Tony Rinaudo

Updated about 9 hours ago
PHOTO: Tony Rinaudo prunes a thorny acacia tree, which helps transform useless-looking "desert bushes" into potential trees. (Supplied: Tony Rinaudo)
RELATED STORY: The two climate change conversations we need to have at the same time
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From 1981 to 1999 my family and I lived in Niger Republic, a borderland of the Sahara Desert.

I was in charge of a small reforestation project. The hard-earned lessons acquired during that period serve me to this day.

When I arrived in 1981, I was confronted by an environment on the cusp of ecological collapse and barely able to support life.

The country was in undeclared crisis. In 1984, Niger faced famine.

Severe drought and crop failure the previous year precipitated this crisis.

Deforestation and land degradation over previous decades significantly exacerbated the impact.
Our message wasn't popular
The destruction of nearly all tree cover had resulted in loss of soil fertility and the soil's ability to store and slowly release moisture.

Trees in that environment radically reduce soil and air temperatures and wind speeds, reducing the rate at which the soil dries out and increasing the utilisation of what rain does fall.
PHOTO: From 1981 to 1999, Tony Rinaudo and his family lived in Niger Republic. (Supplied: Tony Rinaudo)



Additionally, many of the indigenous species in Niger exhibit hydraulic lift — the ability to draw up water from deep in the soil profile and leak it out through shallow roots. This can in turn effectively bio-irrigate crops.

While our first priority was to get food to desperately needy families, we did not shy away from tackling one of the major root causes of the problem — deforestation.

It wasn't a popular message.
A tipping point had been passed

But a crisis needs to be called out for what it is. No other designation will result in the required concerted corrective action necessary to solve the problem.

Deforestation contributed to land degradation and desertification.


I did not know about climate change at the time, but it was not sufficient to declare that drought was a normal part of the climate cycle.

A tipping point had been passed which called for a more intensive level of intervention.

In relation to our own predicament in Australia, only the most hardened fingers-in-ears denialist would still cling to the fantasy that the current drought and unprecedented bushfire scenario are a normal part of the Australian milieu.
We are in a climate crisis

Unfortunately, it's not just a war of words. Failure to declare a climate emergency has resulted in a failure to prepare and take action.

This bushfire season we have experienced the catastrophic consequences of those failures.

How climate change has impacted the world since your childhood
Global warming is already changing the world before our eyes — let's see what has happened in your lifetime, and what's in store for your future.



We are in a climate crisis and the first step towards addressing a crisis is to declare it so.

In Niger, individuals and communities for the most part weren't particularly interested. Most didn't want to change.

Regardless, we combined humanitarian relief activities with aggressive reforestation activities. Gently, patiently, respectfully bringing people on a journey.

We were teaching, but also learning with them, about the best methods, the best species, the best crop-tree dynamics.

The crisis had people's attention and opened the door of comprehension and willingness to change more than a notch.
There's one big fib we're telling ourselves

The result was an environmental transformation which has been described as perhaps one of the most significant positive environmental changes in all of the Sahel, if not all of Africa.

Today, Niger boasts more than 6 million hectares of farmland with an average tree density of 40 trees per hectare (about 240 million trees) — up from four trees per hectare in 1980.
PHOTO: A local farmer proudly shows his regenerated trees in Maradi state, Niger Republic. (Supplied: Tony Rinaudo)



Had we waited until after the crisis to tackle deforestation it would have been too late. People's heightened sense of urgency and the need to act decisively would have passed.

And that's what concerns me about the current response to the bushfire crisis in Australia: the calls to only treat the symptom and not the underlying causes.
The big fib is that now is not the time to talk about the climate.
It's time to tackle the causes

Today, even though Niger remains a drought and disaster-prone country, farmers in Niger are growing an additional 500,000 tons of grain every year without external aid.

The gross annual income going directly to 4.5 million of the world's poorest farmers is estimated at $US900 million.
PHOTO: Today, farmers in Niger are growing an additional 500,000 tons of grain every year without external aid. (Supplied: Tony Rinaudo)



I would argue strongly that even as we put all of our efforts into keeping Australians safe, putting out the fires and helping with recovery, we simultaneously need to be on a war footing, tackling the causes of the fires.

The project I managed was minuscule in size and budget. I only had a few staff and we worked in just 12 villages at the start of the famine, yet the famine impacted millions.

USAID made an assessment of our capacity. We only found out through others that they had dismissed us as too small to have any serious impact.

Yet, eight months later we had purchased 1,800 tons of grain and distributed it in 100 villages, assisting over 50,000 people.
PHOTO: Farmers have learnt to thin and prune regrowth from trees in Humbo, Ethiopia. (Supplied: Tony Rinaudo)



Importantly, in the following 20 years, the reforestation technique introduced during that period went viral in Niger.

Today it is spreading across Africa and beyond.
There's no excuse for foot-dragging

We could have given up because we were too small, too insignificant in our own eyes. We could have said, "we've done our bit, let the big guys do theirs".

The problem was, initially at least, the big guys weren't stepping up to the plate either and people were going hungry. Children were dying.


I no longer care about how small my contribution may appear. I know I can make a difference.

I owe it to myself and I owe it to those I can help and to those I can give hope to.
PHOTO: We could have given up because we were too small, too insignificant in our own eyes. (Supplied: Tony Rinaudo)



Even though Australia's emissions are small on a global scale, this is no excuse for foot-dragging on emissions reductions and unfettered exploitation of fossil fuel reserves for fast profits.

We need to reduce our reliance on coal and drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to the climate changes which have contributed to the unprecedented drought, extended fire seasons and high temperatures.

To not do so would be to commit ourselves to perpetual firefighting mode.
It is not too late to show leadership

We also need to take seriously the outstanding examples of regenerative agricultural practices our first nations peoples and farmers have pioneered.

Australia could fall apart under climate change
If effective global action on climate change were to fail, I fear the challenge would be beyond contemporary Australia, writes Ross Garnaut.




These include 

  • Indigenous land management systems and burning practices, 
  • permaculture, 
  • natural sequence farming, 
  • keyline farming, 
  • native pasture cropping and 
  • application of minimal tillage and 
  • holistic grazing management principles.


These practices simultaneously mitigate against climate change while enabling adaptation.

It is not too late to show leadership. Our economy is still strong enough to divest from the short-term benefit of fossil fuel exploitation and invest in energy sources of the future — and through the ingenuity and example we provide, lead the way for other nations to follow.

Our leadership in regenerative agricultural practices is having a ripple effect beyond our shores. Now is the time to seriously scale up adoption at home.
We know the answer — now it's time for action

Living on the edge of the Sahara Desert I learnt that being environmentally responsible and having economic growth and prosperity are not mutually exclusive. Truly sustainable prosperity is co-dependent with environmental responsibility.

It has been pointed out that while there are many environments with no economy, there are no economies that do not rely on the environment.
PHOTO: Tony Rinaudo overlooks the once forested but now degraded landscape in Tigray, Ethiopia. (Supplied: Tony Rinaudo)



It was always difficult to convince hard-pressed families, many of whom regularly lived on the edge of hunger, that managing the landscape differently, working with nature instead of fighting against it, would give them much greater prosperity and food security than by always destroying nature and working against it.

And this has proven true in country after country that I have worked in. It took a severe crisis to elicit positive change.

Sadly, Australia is going through a severe crisis right now.

The question is, will we be satisfied with continuing to deal with symptoms? Or will we make the hard choices and tackle root causes even as we deal with the immediate crisis?

We know the answer and we've heard all the arguments. Now it's time for action.

Tony Rinaudo is the Senior Climate Action Adviser at World Vision Australia.
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Elisabeth Kübler-Ross - Wikipedia

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross - Wikipedia

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

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Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004).jpg

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
BornJuly 8, 1926

Zürich, Switzerland

DiedAugust 24, 2004 (aged 78)

Scottsdale, Arizona, United States

Known forKübler-Ross model
Spouse(s)Manny Ross (1958–1979)
ChildrenKen Ross
Barbara Ross
Scientific career
FieldsPsychiatry
InstitutionsUniversity of Chicago
InfluencedCaroline Myss, Vern Barnet, Bruce Greyson, Sogyal Rinpoche
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American psychiatrist, a pioneer in near-death studies, and author of the internationally best-selling book, On Death and Dying (1969), where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, also known as the "Kübler-Ross model".[1]
Elisabeth was a 2007 inductee into the National Women's Hall of Fame,[2] she was named by Time (magazine) as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th Century[3] and she was the recipient of nineteen honorary degrees. By July 1982 Kübler-Ross taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.[4] In 1970, she delivered an Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University on the theme On Death and Dying.

Birth and education[edit]

Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926, in Zürich, Switzerland, into a Protestant Christian Family. She was one of a set of triplets. Her survival was jeopardized due to complications after birth.[5] Her father wanted her to run his small business. She went to the university of Zurich to study medicine and graduated in 1957. She was a tireless worker but regretted not taking more leisure time.In an interview she stated:
In Switzerland I was educated in line with the basic premise: work work work. You are only a valuable human being if you work. This is utterly wrong. Half working, half dancing - that is the right mixture. I myself have danced and played too little.[6]
During World War II she worked with refugees, in Zürich, and following the war, did relief work in Poland. She would later visit Majandek death camp which sparked her interest in the power of compassion and resilience of the human spirit. The horror stories of the survivors left permanent impressions on Elisabeth.[8]

Personal life[edit]

In 1958 she married a fellow medical student from America, Emanuel ("Manny") Ross, and moved to the United States. Becoming pregnant disqualified her from a residency in pediatrics, so she took one in psychiatry. After suffering two miscarriages, she had a son, Kenneth, and a daughter, Barbara, in the early 1960s.[9] Her husband requested a divorce in 1979. [age 53]

Academic career[edit]

Kübler-Ross moved to New York in 1958 to work and continued her studies.
She began her psychiatric residency in the Manhattan State Hospital in the early 1960's, she began her career working to create treatment for those who were schizophrenic along with those faced with the title "hopeless patient". These treatment programs would work to restore the patient's sense of dignity and self-respect. Elisabeth also intended to reduce the medications that kept these patients overly sedated, and found ways to help them relate to the outside world[8] During her time at the hospital, she realized how appalling the treatments of the imminently dying patients were. This realization made her strive to make a difference in the lives of these individuals.
In 1962, she accepted a position at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. There, Elisabeth was a junior faculty member and gave her first interview of a young terminally ill woman in front of a roomful of medical students. Her intentions were not to be an example of pathology, but Kübler-Ross wanted to depict a human being who desired to be understood as she was coping with her illness and how it has impacted her life. [8] She states to her students,
"Now you are reacting like human beings instead of scientists. Maybe now you'll not only know how a dying patient feels but you will also be able to treat them with compassion the same compassion that you would want for yourself"[8]
Kübler-Ross completed her training in psychiatry in 1963, and then moved to Chicago in 1965. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical psychoanalysis training in Chicago. She became an instructor at the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine where she began to conduct a regular weekly educational seminar that consisted of live interviews with terminally ill patients. She had her students participate in these despite a large amount of resistance from the medical staff.[8].

Healing Center[edit]

Kübler-Ross encouraged the hospice care movement, believing that euthanasia prevents people from completing their 'unfinished business'[citation needed].
In 1977 she persuaded her husband to buy forty acres of land in Escondido, California, near San Diego, where she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace). She intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the American Holistic Medical Association.
In the late 1970s, she became interested in out-of-body experiences, mediumship, spiritualism, and other ways of attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya Healing Center, in which she was duped by Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could channel the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.[10] Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards attended a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.[11][12][13]

Investigations on near death experiences[edit]

Kübler-Ross also dealt with the phenomenon of near-death experiences. Her reputation began to decline when she began researching the controversial subject of near-death experiences. Elisabeth was also an advocate for spiritual guides and afterlife,[8] serving on the Advisory Board of the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS)[3] Elisabeth reported her interviews for the first time in her book, On Death and Dying: What the dying have to teach doctors, nurses, clergy, and their own families (1969)[14][15]

AIDS work[edit]

One of her greatest wishes was her plan to build a hospice for infants and children infected with HIV to give them a lasting home where they could live until their death. This was inspired by the aid-project of British doctor Cicely Saunders. Elisabeth attempted to do this in 1985 in Virginia, but local residents feared the possibility of infection and blocked the necessary re-zoning. In 1994, she lost her house and possessions to an arson fire that is suspected to have been set by opponents of her AIDS work.[16]
She conducted many workshops on AIDS in different parts of the world. In 1990, she moved the Healing Center to her own farm in Head Waters, Virginia, to reduce her extensive traveling.

Death[edit]

Kübler-Ross suffered a series of strokes in 1995 [age 69] which left her partially paralyzed on her left side, in the meantime Shanti Nilaya Healing Center closed. She found herself living in a wheelchair, slowly waiting for death to come, and wished to be able to determine her time of death.[17] In a 2002 interview with The Arizona Republic, she stated that she was ready for death and even welcomed it, calling God a "damned procrastinator"[3]. Elisabeth passed in 2004 at a nursing home in Scottsdale, Arizona, in the presence of her son, daughter, and two family friends.[3] She was buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens Cemetery.

Contributions[edit]

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross was the first individual to transfigure the way that the world looks at the terminally ill, she pioneered hospice-care and near-death research, and was the first to bring terminally ill individuals' lives to the public eye.[8] 
Elisabeth was the driving force behind the movement for doctors and nurses alike to “treat the dying with dignity”.[3] Her extensive work with the dying led to the internationally best-selling book On Death and Dying in 1969, she proposed the, now famous, Five Stages of Grief as a pattern of adjustment: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. In general, individuals experience most of these stages when faced with  facing their imminent death. The five stages have since been adopted by bereavement as applying to the survivors of a loved one's death as well alike.
Elisabeth wrote over 20 books on death and dying. [3] At the end of her life she was mentally active, co-authoring a book with David Kessler on grief and grieving.[3]

Honorary degrees[edit]

  • Doctor of Science, H.C., Albany Medical College, New York 1974
  • Doctor of Laws, University of Notre Dame, IN.,1974
  • Doctor of Science, Smith College 1975
  • Doctor of Science, Molloy College, Rockville Centre, NY, 1976
  • Doctor of Humanities, Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, IN. 1975
  • Doctor of Laws, Hamline University, MN. 1975
  • Doctor of Humane Letters, Amherst College, MA. 1975
  • Doctor of Humane Letters, Loyola University, IL 1975
  • Doctor of Humanities, Hood College, MD 1976
  • Doctor of Letters, Rosary College, IL. 1976
  • Doctor of Pedagogy, Keuka College, NY 1976
  • Doctor of Humane Science, University of Miami, FL 1976
  • Doctor of Humane Letters, Bard College, NY 1977
  • Doctor of Science, Regis College, Weston MA., 1977
  • Honorary Degree, Anna Maria College, MA., 1978
  • Doctor of Humane Letters, Union College, New York 1978
  • Doctor of Humane Letters, D'Youville College, New York 1979
  • Doctor of Science, Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1979
  • Doctor of Divinity, 1996

Selected bibliography[edit]

  • On Death & Dying, (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1969
  • Questions & Answers on Death & Dying, (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1972
  • Death: The Final Stage of Growth, (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1974
  • Questions and Answers on Death and Dying: A Memoir of Living and Dying, Macmillan, 1976. ISBN 0-02-567120-0.
  • To Live Until We Say Goodbye, (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1978
  • The Dougy Letter -A Letter to a Dying Child, (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1979
  • Quest, Biography of EKR (Written with Derek Gill), (Harper & Row), 1980
  • Working It Through, (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981
  • Living with Death & Dying, (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone), 1981
  • Remember the Secret, (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press), 1981
  • On Children & Death, (Simon & Schuster), 1985
  • AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge, (Simon & Schuster), 1988
  • On Life After Death, (Celestial Arts), 1991
  • Death Is of Vital Importance, (Out of Print- Now The Tunnel and the Light), 1995
  • Unfolding the Wings of Love (Germany only - Silberschnur), 1996
  • Making the Most of the Inbetween, (Various Foreign), 1996
  • AIDS & Love, The Conference in Barcelona, (Spain), 1996
  • Longing to Go Back Home, (Germany only - Silberschnur), 1997
  • Working It Through: An Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Workshop on Life, Death, and Transition, Simon & Schuster, 1997. ISBN 0-684-83942-3.
  • The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying, (Simon & Schuster/Scribner), 1997
  • Why Are We Here, (Germany only - Silberschnur), 1999
  • The Tunnel and the Light, (Avalon), 1999
  • Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living, with David Kessler, Scribner, 2001. ISBN 0-684-87074-6.
  • On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss, with David Kessler. Scribner, 2005. ISBN 0-7432-6628-5.
  • Real Taste of Life: A photographic Journal

References[edit]

  1. ^ Broom, Sarah M. (Aug 30, 2004). "Milestones". TIME.
  2. ^ "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross". Women of the Hall. National Women's Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 3 January 2008.
  3. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g [(https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799085/ "Obituaries: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross"] Check |url= value (help). Journal of Near Death Studies. 2004.
  4. ^ "Turn on, tune in, drop dead" by Ron Rosenbaum, Harper's, July 1982, pages 32-42
  5. ^ Newman, Laura. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. (2004). British Medical Journal, 329 (7466),627. Retrieved November 17, 2006.
  6. ^ de.wikipedia
  7. ^ "Elisabeth Kübler-Ross | American psychologist". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2019-12-04.
  8. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g Blaylock, B (2005). "In memoriam: Elisabeth kubler-ross, 1926-2004". Families, Systems, & Health. 23: 108–109 – via EBSCO.
  9. ^ Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth
  10. ^ Sex, Visitors from the Grave, Psychic Healing: Kubler-Ross Is a Public Storm Center Again by Karen G. Jackovich. In People, October 29, 1979, page found 2011-03-05.
  11. ^ Playboy Interview with Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's' Playboy Magazine, May, 1981
  12. ^ TIME.com, The Conversion of Kubler-Ross, TIME, November 12, 1979
  13. ^ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the Afterworld of Entities by Kate Coleman, New West, 30 July 1979
  14. ^ Video: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross über Nahtoderfahrungen (1981) , abgerufen am 14. März 2014
  15. ^ Bild der Wissenschaft: Sind Nahtod-Erfahrungen Bilder aus dem Jenseits? abgerufen am 16. März 2014.
  16. ^ Kinofenster.de (in German)
  17. ^ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, On life After Death, Foreword by Caroline Myss p.vii. Celestial Arts. ISBN 9781587613180

Further reading[edit]

  • Quest: The Life of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, by Derek Gill. Ballantine Books (Mm), 1982. ISBN 0-345-30094-7.
  • The Life Work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Its Impact on the Death Awareness Movement, by Michèle Catherine Gantois Chaban. E. Mellen Press, 2000. ISBN 0-7734-8302-0.
  • Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: Encountering Death and Dying, by Richard Worth. Published by Facts On File, Inc., 2004. ISBN 0-7910-8027-7.
  • Tea With Elisabeth tributes to Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, compiled by Fern Stewart Welch, Rose Winters and Ken Ross, Published by Quality of Life Publishing Co 2009 ISBN 978-0-9816219-9-9
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External links[edit]

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