Soul, passion and imagination from an atheist

I have finished reading the first 200 pages of a book which will outcome today. The author is atheist in his own words. I blogged about it here:

The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism

This however the most passioanate, written in language at blood temperature- hymn and odysee of the (possible) soul of capitalism I ever heard about.  Lucid to the bones. liberating soul, heart and spirit, body and emotion for ANY creative endevor.

So a voice and face of so called atheism is manifesting here something utterly beautyful and powerful. If anybody is seriously interested in the book let me know. I have a gift to offer.

Drop me an email to:

albertklamt@aol.com


The God Pod needs to host this atheistic firework of creational passion and soulful eruptions too…:=

Re: Soul, passion and imagination from an atheist

The book has a volume of over 700 pages. Its simply- for me -the best one about the soul of the potential of capitalism. Of the power of creation and at the end Howard gives some advice, similar as to his earlier clients in Rockn Roll. To stakeholders, leaders, innovators, pioneers, businesspartners, networkers, project collaborators and everybody who wants to make a difference. I enjoyed it very, very much.


“…
In the 1990s corporate leaders were taught to work on behalf of others–on behalf of investors and employees–their major groups of “stakeholders.”  But the concept of stakeholders missed the point.  What many analysts failed to see was a deeper moral imperative at the heart of the Western system. 

Feed your flock with more than loaves and fishes.  Feed them with caring, sharing, warmth, and new tools for friendship.  Feed their lust for novelty, their hunger for belonging, and their need for admiration and attention. Feed them entertainment and escape.  Feed them meaning and commitment.  Feed them the surprise of recognition that bursts from unconventional, unexpected truths. Feed the flames of identity-hunger, feed the flames of those whose souls flicker in the way that yours does, too.  Dare to be Promethean.   Steal the fire of the gods and give it to those you brush past in the street. 

Stop and talk to strangers. Visit neighborhoods and towns you've never seen.  Do what saints and saviors do.  Go among your people.  People you've never imagined meeting.  Get to know them. Stand up for them at meetings. Fight for them when plans are laid.  Bring humanity new ways of being, new ways of seeing, and whole new forms of life and play.

Stretch the range of human powers, as the first stone toolmakers did.  

Give us ways to show that we belong and yet stand out, as the creators of the first ground-stone makeup kit in India did.

Stretch the range of fantasy the way the makers of the first stone-walled city, Jericho did.

Stretch the reach of comfort and security the way the makers of the first brick city–Catal Huyuk–did. 

Give us new metaphors with which to puzzle out our mysteries–mysteries that range from private insecurities to the wheeling of the cosmos–as the first shepherds and the first explorers did. 

Give us pride and higher aspirations the way the first pyramid builders did.

Turn our trash to treasures as the Mesopotamian deal-recorders who turned squabbles into writing did. 

Give us goals and meaning, as Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed did.

Surprise us–satisfy our lust for novelty and choice–the way Phoenician merchant-sailors did.

Give us power over our moods as David and the real-life equivalents of Orpheus did.

Give us new tools with which we can connect in global productivity teams, as Croesus of Lydia, inventor of money, and as the Roman and Venetian bankers did. 

Validate us in our moments of confusion, as the Greek oracle creators and the Roman dream-book publishers did. 

Upgrade the convenience of the everyday as the Roman concrete creators and their aqueducts did.

Stretch the breadth of our horizons, as Marco Polo, Prince Henry the Navigator, and Christopher Columbus did.

Give us tools to win others to our ideas, as the pamphlet-printers who empowered Christopher Columbus and Martin Luther did. 

Satisfy our needs for the harmless but undignified, as Benvenuto Cellini and William Shakespeare did.

Give us new rituals to make sense of our day, new ways of coming together and of exciting each other as the importers of the afternoon tea ceremony from China and the importers of Yemeni coffee at the first cafés did. 

Give us new frivolities and new openings to the formerly strange as the importers of tulips from Turkey did.

Give us new levels of reality, new virtual plateaus of possibility, as Daniel Defoe and novels did.

Give us new ways to share the phantasms drifting through our brains as Prince Ferdinando de' Medici and his instrument maker, Bartolomeo Cristofori, the inventors of the piano did. 

Give us your soul and bare your emotions, as Jean-Jacques Rousseau did.

Give us new tools of understanding, as Adam Smith and his Wealth of Nations did.

Turn luxuries into everyday commodities, as the mass-producers of cotton did. 

Warn us of our failings, of our complacency, of our alternatives, and of our dangers, as Isaiah, Marx, and Ida Tarbell did.

Give us an ego-stake in your plans the way Linnaeus did and we will pull through for you.  Add us to your brain-trust–add us to your group IQ. Give us your visions, give us your obsessions, give us your heart and give us your caring.  Give us new tools, and we will give new visions, new obsessions, new fantasies, new realities, new powers, and new emotions back to you.

Help us serve a purpose higher than our selves.  Help us do what slime mold, bees, and ants achieve.  Help us serve the interests of our fellow human beings.  And help us serve the goals of biomass, the grand experiment of life.  Help us achieve our destiny as antennae of creation, as explorers in an evolutionary search engine, as participants in a god-like process, as agents of creation in a secular genesis machine…”

Re: Soul, passion and imagination from an atheist

This is really unusual and intriguing Albert. I found the overall manipulation and power over quite disturbing. What did you think?

Love,

Nicole

Re: Soul, passion and imagination from an atheist

What manipulation do you refer to, Nicole?

Re: Soul, passion and imagination from an atheist

the manipulation of the free market system, to convince people that they really want things they didn't even know about, and then that those wants are needs that must be satisfied at all costs. From the above:

Feed your flock with more than loaves and fishes.  Feed them with caring, sharing, warmth, and new tools for friendship.  Feed their lust for novelty, their hunger for belonging, and their need for admiration and attention. Feed them entertainment and escape. …


Surprise us–satisfy our lust for novelty and choice–the way Phoenician merchant-sailors did. …


Give us new frivolities and new openings to the formerly strange as the importers of tulips from Turkey did.

Give us new levels of reality, new virtual plateaus of possibility, as Daniel Defoe and novels did. 

Give us new ways to share the phantasms drifting through our brains as Prince Ferdinando de' Medici and his instrument maker, Bartolomeo Cristofori, the inventors of the piano did.  

Give us your soul and bare your emotions, as Jean-Jacques Rousseau did. 

Turn luxuries into everyday commodities, as the mass-producers of cotton did.  

Re: Soul, passion and imagination from an atheist

If you read the whole book you can see the background of Howards statments.
Of course regulations in the public spheres are necessary. We discussed it especially in London Integral Circle for months.

On the other side a psssionate entreprenurial approach is needed. Not oriented to shareholder value but to mainstreet. Pop musici rockan roll and entertainment in general served postive purposes. The same in literature . Recently I comented about the lack of real new literature.

Nothing which is radically new can be separated from the markets totally. Even mother theresa knew this.

The historic examples Howard quotes in his book include for example Chris Columbus too. A great case study as it becomes clear bloodless idealism nowhere leads to success. Monetizing new values is a really cutting edge challenge.

Look what Gaiam is doing. The mother company of Gaia. Where and how do you thnk money for Gaia is generated?:):)

Howard is calling for these new infrastructures of fantasy and imagination.

Re: Soul, passion and imagination from an atheist

Oh, yes, I do know about Gaiam :) never been a big fan of this conscious capitalism. Something to do with being Canadian and hopelessly flawed :)

Love,

Nicole

Re: Soul, passion and imagination from an atheist

Hi Nicole,

and I am from Western Europe.):)

I can tell you: No size fits all.

Alone this summer I had discussions with hundreds of people from all continents. The relationship between the individual and the collective,  between private entreprenurship, public spheres and the global commons, is oscillating heavily if you put great people like Otto Scharmer, Nancy Roof, James Quilligan, Michael Strong, John Mackey, John Bunzl, Rbobin Wood, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Don Beck, Mike Jay, Howard Bloom and hundreds others together.

Protagonists from Western Europes social democratic countries are not even present in this assembly:):)

Right now we have discussions in EU if Tony Blair or somebody from Continetnal Europa should be the first EU president.

its always- and we here see the deep intelligence of the double helix of the spiral- the twin impulses of personal, individual engagment and entreprenurial drive and collective public regulation.

Right now, after the German elections this polarity is again flickring. Trying to calibrate both poles. The same in Europe.

Not to mention what happens in the BRiC countries.

The basic question for me is:

How are the patterns of change in the respective cultures?

Check out the next issue of Kosmos Journal. Nancy Roof told me interresting topics to come:):)

Cheerfully,

Albert

Re: Soul, passion and imagination from an atheist

I very much would like to know more about change in cultures all over the world. We are so deeply saturated everywhere with US culture that seeks to obliterate all others that important voices are not being heard. I am hoping you will alert us about the issue of Kosmos Journal?

Love,

Nicole

Re: Soul, passion and imagination from an atheist

Nicole,

my pleasure to do so. Lots is happening in Europe right now. I am actively involved and engaged to bring Germany to the radar screen too.

Communicating with you, Nicole, and others is really enriching for me too. This isthe way to co-emerge, to co-evolve and to synergize all our potentials across the atlantic and for sure, increasingly across the Pacific too.

Very best, blessings,

Albert

Re: Soul, passion and imagination from an atheist

Albert, what does he mean by these referecenes?
Give us ways to show that we belong and yet stand out, as the creators of the first ground-stone makeup kit in India did.

and

Stretch the reach of comfort and security the way the makers of the first brick city–Catal Huyuk–did. 

Re: Soul, passion and imagination from an atheist

I feel the same, Albert, deeply enriched and synergised. Thank you so much.

Meenakshi, love to you, appreciate you coming by here,

Hugs,

Nicole

Re: Soul, passion and imagination from an atheist

Nicole,

your voice, reflecting the great richness and specific energy coming from Canadian Culture is absolutely essential.

I am writing from continental Europe which has not even close connection to UK: The explanations the British Center for human emergence gives in is blog about identity has broadened my picture of the Commonwealth Cultures in toto.

For me, writing here at Gaia often has a feeling of Diaspora as virtually nobody engaged in France, German speaking countries or other neighbours of Germany is showing up here for a longer time.

So hopefully some small steps can be made here to build bridges on the one side and define the necessary distinctions on the other side. Besides our connections in minds and hearts.

Thank you very much,
Albert

Re: Soul, passion and imagination from an atheist

Albert, yes, we need those missing voices from France and other countries. We have many people here from the UK too, which as you say is totally different from Europe, but not many who engage in discussions in the way you do. 

Love,

Nicole

Re: Soul, passion and imagination from an atheist

Meenakshi,

as it is a big book with over 700 pages I suggest 2 things:

First, there is a Facebook group initiated by Howard himself.

Second, I ofer to send you the book in ebook version. Just drop me an email as as suggested aboce and I will send you as ebook.

Best,
Albert