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| Photo from
http://bfi.org |
Buckminster
Fuller (1895 - 1983) was a pioneering thinker who invented the
geodesic dome. Throughout his life, Fuller was concerned
with the question "Does
humanity have a chance to survive lastingly and successfully
on planet Earth, and if so, how?"
"I
want you to think about this as individuals. An individual
will say to me, “What can I do? What
can I do? I’m
just a little tiny guy.”
And,
I say, what you can do — I’m repeating something
I said to you earlier — that we are really in the final examination
— I did get, last night, to you that we are a function in the
universe. We’re here for local universe information gathering,
local problems solving in support of the integrity of an eternally
regenerative universe.
But
integrity is the essence. In an invisible world there’s
no visible aesthetics. In an invisible world the only aesthetics
is integrity. It’s our great computer world we’re
going into.
So
I simply say, I am really confronting you with the way — I’ve
lived through all that - because I was a comprehensivist, I’ve
kept the records; that’s the only reason I’m
able to say all these things to you I am up to. I am giving you
a very faithful record of what’s going on economically.
So
I simply say, what you can do personally is commit yourself
to what is the truth. That’s all.
You
have to remember that we didn’t invent — design the
universe, and we’re not running
the universe.
I’m
absolutely willing to give credit to — to the — I like what
the Indians say “The Great Spirit.” The
word “God” tends to infer a human being’s form,
so I say “The Great Spirit” so you realize that I
don’t mean anthropomorphic when I say “God.”
But, if you operate with integrity, God wants to know right
now whether human beings have the courage to go along with their
own minds, or do you have to go along with the crowd? Do you
have to go evenly with the game, or are you going to dare?
If
we really dare to go with our minds, we’ll stay here.
We’ll go into an entirely new era in humanity.
It
will not be a matter of earning a living. You’ll be
doing what you see needs to be done because you’ll feel
you’ll want to do it — you’ll want to qualify
to be able to serve one another. There will be nothing -- you
will have no question at all about earning a living.
At
any rate, personally then — we’ve got two minutes
to this session — it comes back to each one of you, as the numbers
multiply of individuals who are willing to commit themselves
to integrity — whatever the truth may be — and really commit
themselves to making all humanity a success.
You
have to ask yourself the question, “Are my reflexes
so conditioned that I resent someone else enjoying themselves?
Am I really willing to really love my humanity, my fellows?
If
you do that, we will win. If you can do it, if it is spontaneously
arousable in you to operate with integrity and really go along
to love — to love comprehensibly. That’s it."
Visit
the website of the Buckminster Fuller Institute here for more
information.
"Everyone
is born a genius, but the process of living de-geniuses them."
(Buckminster Fuller) |