James Patrick Kinney wrote the allegory "The Cold Within" in the 1960s. Though the Saturday Evening Post rejected it as "too controversial for the times”, it remains as meaningful today as the day it was written.
The verse sketches the attitude of six persons trapped in a bitter cold… Each has a stick of wood as they surround a dying fire… But each holds it back so that the other does not benefit… Their motives are varied… the stubborn stance is born of chauvinism against skin color, religion, race, class or just plain selfishness. All of them eventually succumb to the cold, that they refuse to fend lest the other benefits.
The poem captures the lesson so well when it confirms that “They didn't die from the cold without, they died from the cold within.” So often we find fault with others to the extent of considering them as undeserving of any human rights. We are consumed by a devastating hatred that does destroy our sense of logic and values. For the hatred that kills without, first devours us from within.
And it is not just negative actions that lead to ruin… intentional indifference does wreck as well. It is important for us to realize that our prejudices not only harm others, they incinerate us as well. Hence it is for own sake that we need to unlearn prejudices that instigate us to being inhuman in our response to other human beings.
To BE BETTER at fighting the killing cold without…
The cold within must be contested… have no doubt!
- Pravin-da
Monday, November 24, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
LIBRE KNOWLEDGE
Yours truly conducted two training workshops at the JCI World Congress held in Delhi from 4 to 9 November. Participants tend to be lavish in their praise if they like the workshop and we, as trainers, endeavour to sift the grain from the chaff so that we can connect to real feedback. The maximum appreciation is reserved for my action of giving away my entire presentation to the participants for free.
However, some question the wisdom of sharing knowledge so freely. In fact a couple of trainer friends advised me to stop the “professional hara-kiri” I was committing by sharing training anecdotes in my Monday Muse series. My response is to quote Rabindranath Tagore who wished for a land “where knowledge is free.”
It is ironic that in today’s internet driven knowledge world, some people insist on claiming ownership of learning which itself is based on an understanding based on the learning shared by others. Knowledge flourishes only when shared freely. In fact, knowledge is threatened by efforts to confine or control its sharing.
Learning needs to be freed of fetters to enhance collaboration and cooperation. The scope for development of knowledge is enhanced when it is allowed to be acquired, interpreted and applied freely. A choice to walk the path of libre-knowledge is very liberating. An individual who shares knowledge freely is considered worthy of not only affection, respect, trust; but also as deserving of greater sharing by others, too.
To BE BETTER at walking the way of the wise…
Choose to share knowledge freely to rise!
- Pravin-da
However, some question the wisdom of sharing knowledge so freely. In fact a couple of trainer friends advised me to stop the “professional hara-kiri” I was committing by sharing training anecdotes in my Monday Muse series. My response is to quote Rabindranath Tagore who wished for a land “where knowledge is free.”
It is ironic that in today’s internet driven knowledge world, some people insist on claiming ownership of learning which itself is based on an understanding based on the learning shared by others. Knowledge flourishes only when shared freely. In fact, knowledge is threatened by efforts to confine or control its sharing.
Learning needs to be freed of fetters to enhance collaboration and cooperation. The scope for development of knowledge is enhanced when it is allowed to be acquired, interpreted and applied freely. A choice to walk the path of libre-knowledge is very liberating. An individual who shares knowledge freely is considered worthy of not only affection, respect, trust; but also as deserving of greater sharing by others, too.
To BE BETTER at walking the way of the wise…
Choose to share knowledge freely to rise!
- Pravin-da
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