Why we lose ourselves in a sea of identities, Spiritual Meditations, NewAgeIslam.com

Spiritual Meditations

Why we lose ourselves in a sea of identities

Acharya Mahaprajna

15 August 2009

In order to understand society, we must first understand the individual. He who knows one, knows all; and he who knows all, alone knows one, Mahavira would say.

Complete knowledge of an atom is not possible without understanding it in the context of other things. That is why, when analysing an atom, one comes to know the countless laws of the universe.

The individual faces three types of problems: Physical, social and spiritual. To cater to ones physical needs, economic power is required. To regulate these matters of commerce, trade, money and distribution -- the state is required. Administrative machinery run by the state becomes necessary when the needs of the people have to be taken care of. Hence multiple identities evolve out of various functions and responsibilities. However, the power-centres created for solving individual problems have often themselves turned into problems.

There is a story in the puranas of a mouse that performed penance to earn the blessings of Lord Shiva and the mouse turned into a cat. As a cat, the mouse no longer feared other cats. But still the fear of dogs continued. Through successive courses of penance he kept changing from cat to dog to leopard to tiger and finally to man. One day Shiva asked him, "Are you now free from all fears?" He replied, "Even by becoming man my problems are not over, for I am suffering from fear of death. I may, therefore, be favoured and turned into a mouse again." Lord Shiva once again blessed him and he returned to the original form of a mouse.

Money was invented to enable us to share goods and services in an equitable manner. Today, however, it poses major problems. There is the rich-poor divide. From being created as a means to fulfil needs, money has come to be flaunted as a status symbol. Money, because of its purchasing power, is a much sought-after commodity. Its scarcity among some gives rise to theft and corruption. Enforcing law and order is also therefore a duty of the state.

http://newageislam.com/why-we-lose-ourselves-in-a-sea-of-identities/spiritual-meditations/d/2358

U.K. bomb plotters admit 'nuisance', Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeISlam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

U.K. bomb plotters admit 'nuisance'

Jul 16, 2008

Mitch Potter, Europe Bureau

It was also revealed that they and two other defendants – Ibrahim Savant, 27, and Umar Islam, 30 – pleaded guilty to the public nuisance charge relating to videos discovered after their August 2006 roundup by British security teams in raids in and around London.

All eight face maximum life sentences on the more severe charges of conspiracy to commit mass murder using explosives disguised in soft-drink bottles. The jury is to weigh that question after the trial comes to a close next week.

British terrorism experts said the unexpected switch to guilty pleas on lesser charges further complicates the trial's outcome and also raises new questions about the gravity of the original threat, which prosecutors say was taking shape against seven specific flights from London's Heathrow Airport to destinations including Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Washington.

"You have to ask yourself, why would the defendants agree to the insane legal defence of pleading guilty to lesser charges when they face life in prison? That just is not done – and it makes you question the whole case itself," said Bob Ayers, a defence and security expert with the London-based think-tank Chatham House.

http://newageislam.com/u.k.-bomb-plotters-admit--nuisance-/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/236

It's the Oil, stupid!, Islam and the West, NewAgeISlam.com

Islam and the West

It's the Oil, stupid!

By NOAM CHOMSKY

July 8 2008

Negotiations are under way for Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners decades ago in the Iraq Petroleum Company, now joined by Chevron and other smaller oil companies — to renew the oil concession they lost to nationalisation during the years when the oil producers took over their own resources. The no-bid contracts, apparently written by the oil corporations with the help of U.S. officials, prevailed over offers from more than 40 other companies, including companies in China, India and Russia.

"There was suspicion among many in the Arab world and among parts of the American public that the United States had gone to war in Iraq precisely to secure the oil wealth these contracts seek to extract," Andrew E. Kramer wrote in The New York Times.

Kramer's reference to "suspicion" is an understatement. Furthermore, it is highly likely that the military occupation has taken the initiative in restoring the hated Iraq Petroleum Company, which, as Seamus Milne writes in the London Guardian, was imposed under British rule to "dine off Iraq's wealth in a famously exploitative deal."

http://newageislam.com/it-s-the-oil,-stupid!/islam-and-the-west/d/273