Load

We were told, as children, that the future would be in our hands. Nobody told us it would feel this heavy. As humans we must be accountable for the load our generation carries. The load of making society better. The load of strengthening the foundations of society: health, security, justice, and education. The load of making it our mission to develop knowledge in the physical, mental, and spiritual areas — and to invest in them. The load of upholding the Golden Rule as our main moral value, so that it may serve as a guide for better decisions. The load of building cohesion in society so that, as a whole, we reach the objective of creating an ethical and philosophical society — a society that seeks wisdom, a society of brotherhood. The load of helping people reach their potential and fulfil their purpose of loving, serving, and seeking truth.

When we were children we were told that the future would be in our hands. Now is that future. Now is our turn. Now we must work together as one. Now we must work as good and kind brothers and sisters. Now we take accountability. Now is when we make dreams happen. Now is our present. Now we must act.

Pledge

There are two ways to read a pledge. One leads to war. The other leads home.

There is a problem with fanatics who interpret religious writings as the word of God and bend them to fit their own interests. The pledge of the land to Israel — as there is a land, and people created a state called Israel — leads some to believe that everything is valid in reaching that purpose: killing, lying, whatever it takes. To them, the land cannot be the Kingdom of God that is within us when we live in peace. To them, Israel cannot be anything other than a place exclusively for Jews — it cannot be a people who simply live as good persons, who let their light shine, the light that is inside every person who chooses to recognise it.

The true pledge is to everyone who loves, serves, and lives in truth — to return to the source, the Kingdom of God, the light and eternal life. The call is to recognise God in ourselves and in others, and to see the exterior in the interior as the interior in the exterior: we are the same light. Love the other as your own soul — because both are part of the same whole. It is as though after dying in the physical world we wake up and see that the experience we lived was like a dream, and every experience — from everyone — is part of the same being.

We cherish the experiences where the lost sheep is found, where the prodigal son returns, where a species grows and lives in the light.

Operaciones

¿Qué operaciones realizamos en lo físico, lo mental y lo espiritual?

a) Físico. Estamos acostumbrados a usar la palabra operaciones como sinónimo de cirugía. Se realizan operaciones en quirófanos donde, con el buen uso del conocimiento, se busca salvar vidas. También en química existen operaciones que buscan disolver, separar, integrar o unir elementos. Y tenemos operaciones que buscan llegar a la Luna, conocer otros planetas, explorar el mundo exterior —y del mismo modo el interior—, continuando con el estudio de los átomos y lo que hay más allá.

b) Mental. En lo mental asociamos la palabra operaciones con las matemáticas y la lógica. Las búsquedas de patrones son operaciones. Al final, son acciones que separan o unen —similares, en esencia, a las físicas—.

c) Espiritual. Así como las operaciones se ven en lo físico y se entienden en lo mental, las operaciones en lo espiritual no se ven con los ojos, no se tocan con las manos, no se escuchan con los oídos. No se perciben con los sentidos físicos. No escuchas un dos, ni lo tocas; lo físico interactúa con expresiones de los conceptos mentales. Del mismo modo, lo mental solo puede interactuar con expresiones de lo espiritual.

Si lo espiritual es la fuente que se expresa en lo físico, es como el ojo que no puede verse a sí mismo —pero puede usar elementos para reflejarse, y así veremos reflejos de la luz—. El mundo material y el mental son, entonces, como reflejos de lo espiritual. La separación ha habitado las criaturas; la unión nos lleva de regreso a la fuente.

Guide

We begin by dividing the world into inside and outside. But wisdom, in the end, erases that line.

a) External. An external guide can be any person. At the beginning they are our parents, then our grandparents, brothers and sisters, and other members of the family. When we go out into the world and meet other people, they become guides too — our teachers, friends, everyone — whether we are aware of it or not. We also choose specific guides deliberately: tutors, psychologists, mentors, people we admire. We can choose people who are alive or dead, accessing the latter through their texts and videos.

b) Internal. We nourish our mind and spirit, and as we grow, we place increasing trust in ourselves. We learn to nourish ourselves so that we become trustworthy to ourselves. But we also learn that the source — God — is part of us, and we are part of it. This leads us to see the external guides as part of the same whole. We make the external internal, and the internal external — because we see ourselves in others, and in ourselves we see others. Then we understand that we are the same. We are the whole.

Brillante

Esta palabra tiene varios significados que puedo ligar a las tres áreas de desarrollo: físico, mental y espiritual.

a) Físico. Las estrellas son brillantes, y contemplar un cielo estrellado es un espectáculo hermoso. Las auroras boreales también. El fuego, que el ser humano utilizó para cocinar, iluminar y revelar lo oculto, abrigar, fundir o separar elementos, purificar el oro y preparar la tierra para sembrar. El brillo en las cosas suele indicarnos cuidado, belleza, novedad, lujo.

b) Mental. Se dice que una persona es brillante cuando es inteligente y astuta —cuando muestra una gran comprensión de las cosas y usa el conocimiento con ingenio—. Nos deslumbra con su brillantez, que se manifiesta en creatividad, imaginación y capacidad de resolución. El ingenio es el destello de esa brillantez que una persona posee.

c) Espiritual. Dios se asocia con la luz: lo que ilumina, muestra el camino y nos libera de la oscuridad y lo desconocido. Se liga a lo bueno, lo puro, lo santo. A los santos se los suele representar con un aro brillante sobre la cabeza. A los ángeles, rodeados de un resplandor; y en la literatura se habla de luz, fuego brillante, fulgores. Las personas que han estado cerca de la muerte hablan de una luz brillante al final de un túnel oscuro. En general, relacionamos lo brillante con lo bueno.

Algo que personalmente me encanta es el brillo en los ojos de una persona. Son tan brillantes que parecen iluminar —parece que se ve la vida en ellos—, como si fuera el alma mostrando su bondad, su felicidad desbordando a través de los ojos.

Poco

¿Qué es poco? Una década es poco respecto a la vida de una persona centenaria. Cien mil años es poco respecto a la edad de nuestra Vía Láctea. Poco puede ser el conocimiento que ha acumulado la humanidad hasta hoy, comparado con el que puede alcanzar en mil años más. Tal vez no. No tiene por qué ser lineal, ni tampoco acumulativo. Puede haber un declive y luego un incremento —como la bolsa de valores—, ¿o no? ¿Somos capaces de imaginarlo? Si somos capaces de imaginarlo, entendemos que es posible. Y por poco que seamos capaces de imaginar, al final somos capaces de imaginar, de ser creativos, y por ello de evolucionar mentalmente.

Durante millones de años hemos evolucionado principalmente de forma física, y esa es la base que sostiene el desarrollo mental. Ahora estamos en una fase evolutiva mental y espiritual. Cuando tomábamos decisiones lógicas e instintivas estábamos al nivel de los animales, y así llevamos cientos de miles de años. En algún momento, la mente humana dejó de guiarse únicamente por el instinto y tomó una decisión moral. A esa capacidad la llamamos el origen del alma. Ahora estamos, también, en una era de desarrollo espiritual.

Llevamos miles de años en ella —desde que el ser humano comenzó a adorar, a buscar a Dios—. No sabemos si fue algo enseñado —seres no humanos—, pero sí sabemos que hoy el concepto está ligado a una perfección de lo bueno.

Hilos

¿Quiénes mueven los hilos? ¿Cómo podemos saberlo? Existe un poder político y un poder económico. Intentemos verlo también desde las tres áreas de desarrollo: físico, mental y espiritual.

a) Físico. Aquí entra la fuerza pública —pero también la privada—: mercenarios y la propia población. La fuerza pública responde al poder político, y este responde, en teoría, a la presión de los contribuyentes. Pero puede ignorarlos y actuar movido por la presión económica o por quien esté moviendo los hilos en la sombra. La fuerza mercenaria, por su parte, está al alcance del poder económico.

b) Mental. El poder económico puede crear división en la sociedad porque compra los medios de comunicación masivos y las productoras de cine, y puede presionar a las universidades —como ha hecho Trump—, quien a su vez responde a intereses económicos. En otras palabras: con poder económico puedes comprar políticos, científicos y periodistas.

c) Espiritual. El poder lo tienen los líderes religiosos —no tanto como siglos atrás, quizás—, pero son capaces de promover propaganda, como hacen algunos evangelistas a favor de Trump. En otras religiones, como la musulmana, existe mayor cohesión en torno a la fe. El problema de fondo es que cuando el valor del dinero es lo que te permite vivir, termina superponiéndose a valores esenciales como la regla de oro. No sé con certeza quién mueve los hilos. Pero sé que quien controla el dinero, los medios y la fe, los mueve todos.

Division

There is a division in the world right now. On one side, those who oppose a government accused of genocide. On the other, those who try to justify it. What do those who justify it say? They play the victim card. They argue that they have always suffered oppression at the hands of others — Romans, British, Germans. The Nazis are well known for their atrocities against Jewish people. Another justification is that they are under attack by terrorists and therefore have the legitimacy to defend themselves, responding however necessary to keep their people safe.

What do those who oppose say? First, that the suffering inflicted by the Nazis —or by anyone else— is not a justification for committing atrocities in turn. They are not permitted to do whatever they wish. It is a moral matter. Second, if those who attack them hide among hundreds of innocents, it is evil to kill all of them. The innocents do not necessarily have to be held to account for it. Third, an independent investigation is needed —because there is evidence suggesting they may be funding and arming those they call terrorists, effectively creating the problem themselves as a pretext to seize land. They do whatever is necessary to reach their objectives: lying, bribing, violating international law and basic morality. In doing so, they are committing the same atrocities the Nazis committed —against anyone who stands in their way.

Eat

There are four foundations that I believe we need to cover in order to search for wisdom and build a brotherly society: health, security, justice, and education. We can relate eating to the first one — health — and health comes first. Our brothers and sisters need to eat, as we do, before they can study or work. There are many people who do not eat as we do, and there are plenty of people we could help.

We also need to work towards a better design for how we produce food. I think cities need to be planned with nearby sources of food as a contingency — a way to survive under emergencies such as natural disasters or wars. People must also know basic growing and harvesting skills in order to obtain their own food. Those with enough space at home could have their own greenhouse or keep animals as a source of food to complement what they obtain from the market.

We must also learn what best nourishes our bodies, and this should be part of mandatory education. We need practical subjects that teach sowing, harvesting, and cooking — not only theoretical knowledge. If we truly want to reach our objective of building a society that seeks wisdom, ethics, and brotherhood, we need to work on our threefold mission of developing in the physical, mental, and spiritual areas. Just as junk food weakens the body, junk information weakens the mind, and moral laziness weakens the spirit. We need a balanced diet in all three.

Jacket

We must put on the team jacket and work toward our goals. That jacket is a mark that we belong to a group. It gives us cover — physically, from wind, rain, and cold — but also mentally, because we embrace the cohesion of being part of something bigger than ourselves. And it can be spiritual too, when we embrace moral principles and an ethical code that unites us as a brotherhood.

A jacket can represent the group but also be personalized — with the person's name or initials, for example. There we find a symbol of individuality within the group. This is an example of carrying both sides: the group and the individual. Both matter.

In society we must also find the coexistence of both. We must allow the development of the individual and the group as one. And we must learn where to draw the line — where one part begins to endanger the other. The liberty of the individual must not put the liberty of other individuals or the group at risk. Nor must the liberty of the group put the liberty of the individual at risk. We are speaking of liberty here, but the same applies to rights and obligations.

This is what it means to wear the jacket of brotherhood. Are we all wearing the same jacket?

Demonio

Tal vez hemos inventado esta palabra para culpar a otro de nuestras malas acciones: para descargar responsabilidad. O bien el demonio nos tentó, o es cosa del demonio. En otras palabras, quien hizo el mal fue el demonio, o fuimos nosotros pero porque el demonio nos engañó. Ambas son actos de excusa, de irresponsabilidad, de lavarse las manos y no asumir responsabilidad.

Por eso algunos pensadores debieron reflexionar y concluir que el demonio está en nosotros, o que es parte de nosotros. En realidad, es una forma de etiquetar el mal dándole una personalidad ajena, o tratándolo como algo que podemos separar de nosotros mismos. Pero puede ser simplemente el resultado del libre albedrío ejercido por seres espiritualmente inmaduros.

Si el propósito de todo ser es amar, servir y buscar la verdad, entonces en su punto más maduro y perfecto es a lo que llamamos Dios. El demonio es solo el otro extremo. Y según el nivel de madurez espiritual de un individuo, este se encuentra más cerca de un extremo o del otro.

Cuando líderes espirituales como Jesús dicen que Dios está en nosotros, debe ser porque tenemos el potencial de llegar a ser como Dios. Para ello debemos desarrollarnos espiritualmente: la regla de oro es el camino.

¿No os gustaría revivir experiencias? Si fuéramos todopoderosos, podríamos vivir una infinidad de experiencias. Y nosotros somos, en cierto modo, experiencias. Al final, debemos ser experiencias de Dios en esta simulación llamada vida.

Lump

I like a mug of milk with Cola Cao. And I like the lumps that form in it. This usually happens with cold milk, not with hot milk. I like to add some chocolate powder and play with my teaspoon — wetting the lumps, watching them absorb the milk. I take them out with the teaspoon and eat them. Then I add a little more chocolate and repeat the process.

It is a good way to be present in the moment. I watch and enjoy the lumps being wetted. I smell the chocolate. I hear the teaspoon entering the mug and stirring through the milk. I feel the teaspoon in my hand — and through it, the resistance of the lumps. I feel the lumps on my tongue and how they break apart. I taste the chocolate wrapped in milk, and then the pure chocolate that releases when the lump breaks. All five senses, fully in the moment.

That is a moment of relief — just relaxing, enjoying, and flowing. A moment of finding joy in small things.

Nowadays we eat while watching videos and scrolling through social media. We put food in our mouths and swallow it without being present, without joy. Why? We have become addicted to being entertained. It is also a trap disguised as efficiency — the feeling of being productive by doing two things at once, learning and eating simultaneously. But in reality we lose the present moment, and with it, the joy of food.

Afilar

¿Conocen la breve historia de afilar el hacha? Hay dos personas: una empieza a cortar un árbol directamente con su hacha, y la otra se detiene primero a afilarla. Al final, quien dedicó tiempo a afilar tarda menos en ejecutar el trabajo, y además se desgasta menos físicamente.

Esta historia nos enseña que es importante dedicar tiempo a prepararnos. Pero igualmente importante es evitar los extremos.

¿Cuáles son esos extremos? Uno es no prepararse en absoluto y lanzarse a la acción: tan impulsivos y torpes que quizás ni siquiera cogemos el hacha, y queremos derribar el árbol a cabezazos. El otro extremo es querer afilar tanto el hacha que nunca llegamos a cortar el árbol: nunca nos lanzamos a la acción, o lo hacemos demasiado tarde —cuando otro ya nos ganó—, o cuando ya no importaba que lo hiciéramos nosotros.

Para mí, estas enseñanzas deben estar inseparables. Solo así evitamos caer en dichos extremos. Hay muchas enseñanzas que debemos examinar con esta misma lógica: ¿es inseparable de otra en el contexto social de la época en que vivimos? Otro ejemplo puede ser el de la libertad: para que no nos lleve a la dictadura de los ofendidos ni al libertinaje sin responsabilidad. Hay más variables en el arte de afilar que debemos tener siempre presentes. Me hace pensar que ninguna virtud existe sola, siempre necesita una hermana que la equilibre o complemente.

Recruit

Do we need mandatory military service? I think it is not strictly necessary — if what we learn through it can be acquired in other ways, perhaps with the help of similar institutions. But in order to prepare and train society in certain areas, we should at least consider some aspects of it.

I do not think we need to be recruits just to learn how to march. My point is that we must be trained to know how to act in emergencies — natural disasters, dangerous environments, whether in the mountains, the desert, the sea, or the jungle. A couple of presentations from doctors or police officers on first aid or earthquake safety is not enough.

We must stop giving talks and put everyone into practice — in primary school, secondary school, university, and every few years after that, to stay ready and updated on current standards. It could take the form of a gap year between secondary school and higher education, or it could be distributed throughout mandatory schooling. Either way, we must be prepared. And critically — to avoid forgetting what we learn — we must repeat the training regularly. A week once a year, or a few weekends, where people come together, retrain, and practice rather than just listen.

This is true learning. And it is a way to build brotherhood and a mark of a wise society.

Listen

We spend years learning how to speak. But how much time do we spend learning how to listen? We learn how to speak and how to listen — and both require continuous improvement. In communication there is a sender and a receiver. As someone who wants to communicate a message, we must learn to improve our delivery and put effort into communicating as well as possible. Along the way we learn about melody, silence, body language, presentation, tone, types of audiences, and so on.

But as receivers of messages, we must also learn how to listen. We must put effort into understanding the message even when the sender is not communicating it well — because we can empathize with the fact that not everyone is a master communicator, and many are still learning. Also because good listening requires the humility and curiosity of a child: always open, always waiting to learn and understand.

Listening is a skill we need to develop as part of building the four foundation areas: health, security, justice, and education. It is an essential part of education in particular. And it will help us reach our goal of an ethical and brotherly society, as part of our purpose of loving, serving, and seeking truth.

Colgar

Hay una frase que dice: colgar las botas. O colgar algo relacionado con la profesión: como una forma de finalizar, de abandonar una etapa.

Si se cuelgan las botas, que sea porque se ha disfrutado de una hermosa experiencia y ahora estamos listos para una nueva. Contentos de lo vivido, realizados.

Si se cuelgan las botas porque ya no se puede más, porque las cosas no salieron como se esperaba, que sea con la alegría de haberlo intentado y de haber aprendido en el camino —de haber disfrutado la experiencia, de haber crecido y madurado— y porque estuvimos el tiempo suficiente luchando: ni demasiado, ni demasiado poco.

Si se cuelgan las botas con tristeza, que se sepa que la tristeza es pasajera. Y recordemos que en el futuro podremos verlo todo desde la perspectiva del crecimiento, de la sabiduría: con una sonrisa en el alma.

Si se cuelgan las botas, que sea con una sonrisa. Y que cada vez que lo recordemos, eso mismo nos haga sonreír.

Si se cuelgan las botas, que sea para ponerse unas nuevas. Y con la sonrisa de quien sabe que al final de esa nueva experiencia le espera otra sonrisa.

Inspector

An inspector has a very important job. Inspectors are our safeguards — they check things and verify whether others are doing their work correctly. This does not necessarily imply distrust. But if you have never thought about why inspectors exist, let me offer one reason through an example.

When an advertisement is published, there are many people behind it. And yet, despite all those people being involved, errors still make it to the end — as when a soft drink company printed the wrong prize on its bottle caps, or when a fast food restaurant ran a promotion it could not fulfill. The point is this: when you are working on something closely, you become blind to certain issues. You might catch them later if you step away for a while — but that is exactly why other people should check your work. A fresh pair of eyes can spot what you missed.

This reduces errors. But even when many people are involved, the same blind spot can affect the whole group — and an outsider becomes invaluable precisely because they do not share it. That is one reason for the inspector's role, beyond mere distrust. There are many good reasons for the work they do.

Fiscal

¿Debemos asumir por defecto que todo contribuyente es un delincuente o que trata de estafar al Estado?

En abril comienza la campaña de la declaración de la renta. Este deber fiscal es importante como mecanismo para reunir recursos y reinvertirlos en la sociedad, en lugar de depender de los métodos del siglo pasado: maratones benéficos, bingos, colectas basadas en la caridad puntual; esa caridad que da lo que sobra, no la que nace del compromiso social, y que además elige a quién ayudar. Pero ese es otro tema en el que podríamos profundizar en otro momento —por ahora, sigamos con lo fiscal—.

Volviendo a lo fiscal: creo que a nadie le gusta pagar impuestos si el dinero se malgasta, si hay corrupción y los recursos se pierden en lugar de destinarse a la salud, la seguridad, la justicia y la educación. Pero la solución no es desmantelar el sistema, sino mejorarlo: hacer los procesos más eficientes y construir mecanismos que reduzcan la corrupción. La computación, por ejemplo, no avanzó de otra manera: cada problema encontró una solución que lo mejoró. Si algo no funciona bien, se busca cómo hacerlo funcionar. Eso es lo que debemos hacer, en lugar de dejarlo morir bajo el argumento de la privatización, que tampoco es la solución.

Estados Unidos es el ejemplo que no se acepta como contraejemplo: solo se mira el PIB, no a la gente que muere por no poder pagar un médico, ni la decadencia social que llena las calles de personas sin hogar y drogodependientes. Ese modelo no debería ser el referente que es.

Y volviendo al inicio: no debemos tratar al contribuyente como delincuente, porque si lo tratamos como tal, termina comportándose como tal.

Laboratory

The COVID pandemic of 2020 raised doubts in some people about whether its origin could be a laboratory — meaning, made by humans. This also means it could have served as a weapon, or, as some believe, it might have been a test to observe how people react and to control them.

I do not want to argue either against science or against conspiracy theories as such. But my point may end up sounding critical of how science is practiced. One of the principles of science is due process — and scientists must follow it. We are expected to trust that process, but there must also be checks to verify it: governments must oversee it, and independent organizations must have access to investigate.

The point I want to make is this: we should avoid believing something simply because it is labeled science, as if it were impossible for someone to hide behind the mask of science and act in bad faith. We must always be cautious. We have plenty of examples of how governments and supposedly independent organizations failed — and caused serious crises. Take the 2007 real estate crisis: regulations were loosened, allowed by lawmakers, perhaps due to corruption or questionable political beliefs. Organizations rated things as safe simply because they could not conceive of acting differently toward powerful companies.

Science is not a religion. It should not be followed blindly. Science has produced the most reliable knowledge in human history — and precisely because of that, we must hold it to the highest standard of transparency.

Craftsman

We need to know how to be craftsmen. We must not become lazy or totally dependent on others.

If we want to develop in the three areas — physical, mental, and spiritual — and our goal is to create an ethical and brotherly society, and our purpose in life is to love, to serve, and to seek truth, then we must be craftsmen in something. Being a craftsman of our body, of our mind, and of our spirit is the way to grow and nourish ourselves in these areas.

Being a craftsman in some activity also allows us to teach others — not only the youngest, but anyone — about ethics and brotherhood. We can serve others by being capable of doing real work for them. And we must know the basics in order to handle the basics ourselves. When something is more complex, we turn to specialists. But for everyday things, we should be able to manage — as our ancestors did.

I do not mean everything our ancestors did, because there may be things I am not thinking of right now. But knowing how to hunt, start a fire, change a light bulb, build a wall, make a table, bake bread, write, paint — we must try these things, do them, and find among them what we enjoy and feel comfortable doing.

Sentir

El sentir es un instinto que nos indica cómo algo nos afecta. ¿Puede el sentir ser un indicador erróneo? Mi respuesta es: ¿por qué no? Si está basado en criterios erróneos, en lógica defectuosa, en modelos mentales equivocados, claro que puede indicarnos algo falso.

El sentir básico de lo bueno —el amor— puede ser un indicador esencial, la última referencia a la que acudir cuando todo lo demás falla. Si la información que recibimos es difusa y contradictoria, y nos hace sentir que algo está mal, ese instinto merece atención.

Pero cuando vemos que hay quien no confía en el relato oficial porque no cree en sus fuentes, y sin embargo sí cree en el relato del opresor, ¿qué está pasando? Su sentir parece indicarles que deben rechazar todo aquello que va en contra de lo que ya creen. Aunque se encuentren contra la pared por inconsistencias e incoherencias, el instinto es defenderse: sienten que están siendo atacados porque se identifican con esa postura y, por ende, perciben cualquier cuestionamiento como un ataque a sí mismos.

Por eso debemos aprender a hablar de la verdad partiendo de la verdad que hay en el argumento del otro, y evitar señalar sus errores de forma directa. Aunque también —y esto es igualmente importante— debemos aprender a reflexionar cuando alguien nos señala los nuestros, y no tomarlo como un ataque a nuestro ser. Tenemos que aprender a desligar el ser de las ideas. ¿No es así?

Unlawful

What the Israeli Parliament did is unlawful. They approved the death penalty exclusively for Palestinians. That is equivalent to Spain approving the death penalty only for foreigners, only for Buddhists, or only for people from Andalusia. It is a violation of International Law. It is an example of a law that, under any broader frame of reference, is unlawful — but above all, it is immoral.

Part of Israeli society appears to have been deeply affected by decades of conflict and trauma — shaped by narratives of destruction and dehumanization that feed hubris and hatred. Some use the name of God to justify what can only be described as evil. In doing so, they shame the memory of their own ancestors — people who suffered persecution — by becoming the persecutors. They kill brothers and sisters, the elderly, children, pregnant women. They kill those who are not Palestinian simply for helping Palestinians. They act with apparent impunity.

How can people carry out acts of such cruelty while believing they are doing good? It suggests a deep disconnection from conscience and moral feeling. And why do I believe I am right to say this? Because I hold that every being capable of moral choice is a brother — and every brother must be treated as an equal.

Clavel

Sé que un clavel es una flor, pero no recuerdo cómo es. Hay tantas cosas que conozco de manera superficial, y hay tantas cosas por conocer que me parece innecesario tratar de memorizarlo todo, porque me perdería en los detalles. Prefiero los modelos mentales que me ayuden a discernir.

Y es que una cosa es la memoria, que nos permite acceder a información al instante, y otra es la inteligencia, que consiste en saber utilizar ese conocimiento de forma eficaz y eficiente. Pero la sabiduría va más allá de la inteligencia, pues no se trata solo de eficacia y eficiencia: se trata de moralidad. Se trata de hacer las cosas con bondad, y de encontrar en eso la belleza divina que nutre el alma y nos hace felices.

Un clavel puede parecernos bello por su forma física, pero más bello aún puede ser cuando representa una conexión de amor entre dos seres. Un amor verdadero y bello. Hay belleza física, pero la belleza divina es la que nos toca el alma: aquello que es eterno, puro, y que permanece inocente en nuestro interior.

Y como dijo el Principito sobre su flor: de entre todas las flores que son iguales, la suya es la más hermosa porque es a la que le dedicó tiempo, con la que compartió su experiencia.

Environment

 

What do we need in order to build an ethical, philosophical, and brotherly society? We need to nourish the right environments. Specifically, we need to fulfill four conditions: 1) Health, 2) Security, 3) Justice, 4) Education.

1. Health. The instinct of any animal or plant is to obtain nutrients in order to survive. The first humans simply wanted to gather food. Before private property, before cities or villages, people needed to cover the most basic need: nourishment — to be healthy, to have energy for working, fighting, defending, and learning. Without health, nothing else is possible.

2. Security. Once people satisfy their basic well-being, they can look for a place to rest and to trade. This is the origin of villages, which in turn need protection — both from internal conflict and from external threats. Without these two forms of security, the next conditions cannot exist.

3. Justice. People need to cover their material needs in order to live comfortably. But a society also needs rules to live together and resolve conflicts peacefully. Without justice, there is no stable structure — and without structure, society cannot grow.

4. Education. When the minimum conditions of the previous three are met, a society can turn its attention to education. That allows it to search for knowledge, and through knowledge, to search for wisdom — a natural next step. That wisdom leads people toward ethics and moral life, and gives them a purpose: to love, to serve, and to seek truth. Then, and only then, will humankind live in an era of true brotherhood.

Pioneer

 

What do we need to be pioneers?

We need imagination, creativity, and necessity — three things that, combined, make us innovative. And once we are truly innovative, we are already pioneers.

a) Imagination. This skill allows us to build different universes in our minds, based on what we already know. With the help of analogies and metaphors, we can conceive what does not yet exist. First we visualise it — then we make it real.

b) Creativity. This skill helps us try different approaches. We mix ideas together, and inspiration finds us while we are working. We must keep trying, again and again. Taking a break also helps — it lets our subconscious work in the background — and then we return and try again. Passion and even obsession are often found in this process.

c) Necessity. When we are in need, that is precisely when imagination and creativity activate to find solutions. We test those solutions one by one, and eventually we choose the one that works.

But should we be pioneers of destruction? Should we be pioneers in the making of war? We must remember our purpose: to love, to serve, and to search for truth — and to follow the Golden Rule as our highest value. We can be pioneers of war — or pioneers of brotherhood. History will remember both. The question is which one we choose to build.

Meadow

I like green meadows in spring. They are so beautiful. They show life and transmit peace and calm. That peace can be felt in the body, in the mind, and in the spirit.

That spring came after winter, and winter came after autumn. It is a cycle. This serves as a reminder that if we are going through a difficult time, it will pass — and we must remain calm, imagining the spring that will come. That hope keeps us going. And if we are going through a good time, we must enjoy it and remain calm too, knowing that spring will end. That is not meant to depress us, but to keep us humble. Understanding this is part of becoming wiser.

We must also avoid always judging things as simply good or bad. Using the example of seasons: spring is not necessarily good, and autumn is not necessarily bad. We must find joy in all seasons. There is beauty in autumn too, when we see meadows covered in leaves — those reds, yellows, and browns are beautiful. As is the white of winter or the golden light of summer.

The search for wisdom will help us understand that there is beauty in all seasons. And we can see it if we prepare our mind and spirit to look for it. How? By seeking wisdom and following the Golden Rule.

Next time you stand in a meadow, whatever the season, ask yourself: can I find the beauty here? If you can, you are on the right path.