Eight Worldly Sins
Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 5:34 am
Just read this excerpt from Arum Gandhi, about his grandfather, while listening to Norah Jones sing "I think it's gonna rain"-
"Materialism," Grandfather said, "has an inverse relationship with morality. When one increases the other decreases." It is obvious that materialism today is in the ascendancy while morality has been consigned to the waste bin. Capitalism, materialism, market economy, the pursuit of one’s goals, and the right to democratic privileges are wonderful goals but decidedly harmful when overindulged.
For any society to be cohesive, rather than corrosive, we have all got to come together to knit a strong fabric. We are almost obsessively concerned about our rights in a democracy, but not all of us are willing to share the responsibility of making democracy healthy and viable.
Grandfather taught me what he called the "Seven Sins of the World."
They are:
Wealth without Work,
Pleasure without Conscience,
Knowledge without Character,
Commerce without Morality,
Science without Humanity,
Worship without Sacrifice,
and Politics without Principles.
Recently, I added the eighth "sin"—
Rights without Responsibilities."
(Arum Gandhi)
"Materialism," Grandfather said, "has an inverse relationship with morality. When one increases the other decreases." It is obvious that materialism today is in the ascendancy while morality has been consigned to the waste bin. Capitalism, materialism, market economy, the pursuit of one’s goals, and the right to democratic privileges are wonderful goals but decidedly harmful when overindulged.
For any society to be cohesive, rather than corrosive, we have all got to come together to knit a strong fabric. We are almost obsessively concerned about our rights in a democracy, but not all of us are willing to share the responsibility of making democracy healthy and viable.
Grandfather taught me what he called the "Seven Sins of the World."
They are:
Wealth without Work,
Pleasure without Conscience,
Knowledge without Character,
Commerce without Morality,
Science without Humanity,
Worship without Sacrifice,
and Politics without Principles.
Recently, I added the eighth "sin"—
Rights without Responsibilities."
(Arum Gandhi)