12 DEC 2017 by ideonexus

 The Capitalist-Consumerist Ethic

We are all good consumers. We buy countless products that we don’t really need, and that until yesterday we didn’t know existed. Manufacturers deliberately design short-term goods and invent new and unnecessary models of perfectly satisfactory products that we must purchase in order to stay ‘in’. Shopping has become a favourite pastime, and consumer goods have become essential mediators in relationships between family members, spouses and friends. Religious holidays such as Christmas ...
  1  notes
 
04 AUG 2012 by ideonexus

 The Noble Person Keeps Their Mind in Virtue

君子知夫不全不粹之不足以為美也,故誦數以貫之,思索以通之,為其人以處之,除其害者以持養之。使目非是無欲見也,使耳非是無欲聞也,使口非是無欲言也,使心非是無欲慮也。及至其致好之也,目好之五色,耳好之五聲,口好之五味,心利之有天下。是故權利不能傾也,群眾不能移也,天下不能蕩也。生乎由是,死乎由是,夫是之謂德操。德操然後能定,能定然後...
Folksonomies: virtue
Folksonomies: virtue
  1  notes

[Translated] The noble person knows that what is not complete or what is not pure is unworthy to be called beautiful. Therefore he recites and reiterates so as to integrate it, reflects and ponders so as to comprehend it, determines his associations so that he may dwell in it, and eliminates what is harmful in order to preserve and nourish it. He causes his eyes to be devoid of any desire to see what is not right, his ears to be devoid of any desire to hear what is not right, his mouth to be devoid of any desire to say what is not right, and his mind to be devoid of any desire to think what is not right. Having arrived at this, he takes utmost pleasure in it. His eyes will take greater pleasure in it than in the five colors; his ears will take greater pleasure in it than in the five sounds; his mouth will take greater pleasure in it than in the five flavors; and his mind will benefit more from it than from possession of the world. Therefore he cannot be subverted by power or profit, nor swayed by the masses and multitudes, nor unsettled by the whole world. He follows this in life; he follows it in death — this is what is called holding firm to inner power. He who holds firm to inner power is able to order himself; being able to order himself, he can then respond to others. He who is able to order himself and respond to others is called the complete man. Heaven manifests itself in its brightness; earth manifests itself in its breadth; the noble person values his completeness.

01 JAN 2010 by ideonexus

 Most People Just Want Technology to Work

"Media are used by the masses if they have some relevance to everyday life," says Rolf Schulmeister, the educational researcher. "And they are used for aims that people already had anyway." Young people have now reached this turning point. The Internet is no longer something they are willing to waste time thinking about. It seems that the excitement about cyberspace was a phenomenon peculiar to their predecessors, the technology-obsessed first generation of Web users. For a brief transition...
Folksonomies: generation @
Folksonomies: generation @
  1  notes