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Historian • Economist • Intercultural Scholar • Author
Awakening to the Middle Way
Gerrit De Vylder
Awakening to the Middle Way
in Economics & Society
A lifetime devoted to scholarship, intercultural dialogue, global engagement, and the search for a more balanced understanding of economics, history and society.
A Moment of Reflection
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History demonstrates that ‘a good idea’, if not stopped at a middle point, like suggested by Buddhist (and other non-dual) Middle Way-ethics, becomes its opposite, ‘a bad idea’. History repeats itself because of fear, greed, ambition, and the need to control others and everything. This ‘Short Memory Disorder’ caused climate change. We argue that climate neutral technologies, if unchecked, may lead to another ‘bad idea’. While Climate Change is focused, Mind Change is overlooked. Story-telling (passing on experience and wisdom) is replaced by story-selling (brainwashing causing a wrong black/white perspective). Problems cannot be solved with the same thinking which created them. What is needed is a Middle Way obtained through meditation, awareness, quietness, and eventually leading to consensus.