In nature's economy the currency is not money, it is life.
Vandana ShivaRead
I like to live my life so that my loved ones give me the things I need as gifts and I give them the things they need. Frankly a society built around consumerism is hell
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes a life focused on giving and mutual support rather than commercial consumerism.
In this quote, Vandana Shiva expresses a philosophy of life where relationships are built on love and mutual aid instead of materialism. She critiques consumerist culture, suggesting that true fulfillment comes from meaningful connections with loved ones, where gifts are not mere commodities, but reflections of genuine care and need.
In practice
This quote can inspire a discussion at a family gathering about the importance of meaningful relationships over material possessions.
In nature's economy the currency is not money, it is life.
Cultivating and conserving diversity is no luxury in our times: it is a survival imperative.
We are either going to have a future where women lead the way to make peace with the Earth or we are not going to have a human future at all.
We've moved from wisdom to knowledge, and now we're moving from knowledge to information, and that information is so partial – that we're creating incomplete human beings.
Earth Democracy connects people in circles of care, cooperation, and compassion instead of dividing them through competition and conflict, fear and hatred.
The time has come to reclaim the stolen harvest and celebrate the growing and giving of good food as the highest gift and the most revolutionary act.
Saints cannot arise where there have been no warriors, nor philosophers where a prying beast does not remain hidden in the depths.
Look... we're getting to be old men, and we've spent our lives looking for the weaknesses in one another's systems. I can see through Eastern values just as you can see through our Western ones. Both of us, I am sure, have experienced ad nauseam the technical satisfactions of this wretched war. But now your own side is going to shoot you. Don't you think it's time to recognise that there is as little worth on your side as there is on mine?
We've had a debate about immigration in New Zealand for some time. Now what we're trying to champion in that conversation is a recognition that New Zealand has been built off immigration. I myself am a third-generation New Zealander.
Perfect humility dispenses with modesty.
Alas! it is not till time, with reckless hand, has torn out half the leaves from the Book of Human Life to light the fires of passion with from day to day, that man begins to see that the leaves which remain are few in number.
Man cannot become attached to higher aims and submit to a rule if he sees nothing above him to which he belongs. To free him from all social pressure is to abandon him to himself and demoralize him.
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