Tuesday, February 19, 2013

What is the point of development?

The ultimate goal of development should be freedom. People should live in dignity. The prerequisite for that is their basic physical needs are satisfied. Economic unfreedom results in spiritual downturn. Think about  Jean Val Jean who was put into prison for years just because of stealing a loaf of bread to save his dying nephews.

"Economic unfreedom, in the form of extreme poverty, can make a person a helpless prey in the violation of other kinds of freedom....Economic unfreedom can breed social unfreedom, just as socia or political unfreedom can also foster economic unfreedom."   --Amartya Sen

We should never deny our human nature. Even saints are not totally free from the human nature. We should instead channel it and let it express in a healthy environment.  Our nature as human is actually vital from our spiritual enlightenment. Our nature is the pathway through which we can truly have a glimpse of divinity.

"There is no 'royal road' to geometry." Euclid to Ptolemy
"It is not clear that there is any royal road to evaluation of economic or social policies either."

"People themselves must have responsibility for the development and change of the world in which they live."

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