Discovering A New Source of Fuel

When small kids are together they learn and absorb good things from one another, but also infect each other with bad elements. So perhaps it would be better if children stayed at home? There are plenty of people who believe that it is better for kids to stay at home, away from an environment made up of their peers, despite this being in complete opposition to their development.

Of course we receive both good and bad from our environment. There is no doubt about this. However, what we have not yet actually grasped is that it is impossible to grow without these two opposite elements. In our mutual connection we are always moving between two opposite points, proximity and separation, because the closer we try to become, the more we discover the forces of separation.

If only we were aware that the opposite force is our springboard to a better way of life, to actually adding more love to our lives in the long run. True love integrates all the varied parts and opinions under a single umbrella, raising human values way up high where they are supposed to be. The height is not physical but rather ethical, emotional, and intellectual. The goal is for people all over the world to enjoy full satisfaction from life: from myself, my community, and my country. No one said that we were meant to suffer in this life.

Mutuality is the electrical field of the human race, and our only hope for rising above all the differences between us without cancelling our common life here. At any given moment, our life is made up of a multitude of material and emotional qualities, yet mutuality is the only path toward providing us with a genuine sense of happiness and satisfaction in life. This is no cliché. Mutuality translates itself throughout all possible parameters of our life to bring about success and prosperity. Why? In a true family model, everyone is concerned and responsible for one another. No real family consciously forgets someone at home. Mutuality is the only way to realize the thoughts and desires that we have inside. The environment and society around us essentially offers an added bonus of love that we are granted to help us reach our fullest potential. But we have to educate ourselves about mutuality before we can benefit from it.

In a society of mutual values our thoughts and opinions pass from one to the other, so everyone has a chance to merge with the forces of others around them. If each of us is only a point that cannot feel more than itself at the individual level of development, then at the mutual development levels we are strengthening the connection between one another with the force of mutuality that is being built between us. This mutuality that we are building is based on feeling closeness over separation, especially when it comes to focusing on the eternal connection that binds us together. Nowadays that is not such an easy feat with everyone having their own internal barrier raised high, which makes it increasingly difficult to approach others easily. There is a need to overcome all that if we want to eat the fruit in the Garden of Eden.

As poet John Donne wrote, “No man is an island entire of itself” because there are forces of the entire society that we each are part of. Each of us merges with our environment, and in that way we increase and fortify our inner strength and potential, which in turn provides us with the fuel to overcome any challenge together, no matter how great or small.

The Fuel For A Better Tomorrow: The Energy of Life

Up until now, the business world has focused on improving life for the individual. As we stand on the threshold of a new stage of our evolution, there is a need to shift awareness to the collective. The only way we will be able to achieve sustainable results in this stage is by conveying vital information about the new process humanity is going through: the integral and interdependent stage of our existence.

The only energy source that will fuel a better tomorrow is the energy of life: our collective vitality. Inside each of us are tremendous powers that need to be brought to the surface. That is what nature is pushing us toward.
So what is really at stake here? Here are some guidelines to help decision makers understand what’s really important and how to navigate the challenges ahead:
Now more than ever there is a need to leverage existing channels of communication to explain the global processes we are going through together.
Humanity does not exist to worry about the price of fuel, but rather to discover the fuel that gives us life.
The concern about fuel prices will not determine the future of the world. Only man himself can determine how his life will turn out. An individual determines and shapes his own world. The world does not decide.
What can we do about the rising fuel prices? Not a thing. Only the concern for human life will determine our collective fate.
Nature was created to serve man’s purpose and therefore we must learn to use it in the correct manner in order to achieve a sustainable way of life.
The time has come for major corporations to align their business interests with the values of the new era.
Corporations must leverage their power to promote positive messages that can shape the new humanity.

The Connection Between Oil and Global Sustainability

The volatility in prices for a single barrel of oil never stops, and it is hard to imagine where all this is headed. What is really behind the current price of $3.67 for a gallon? It is a controversial and unanticipated rise in the U.S. consumer price index and the fact that oil is the most politically-motivated traded commodity today, and that it always reacts extremely to geo-political shifts in the world. It actually reacts automatically each time the word “war” is mentioned, and especially when it comes to high-risk areas such as the Middle East. Most recently it was the riots at the British Embassy in Tehran that helped end the day with a rise in oil prices.

What is the connection between the price of oil, and the student riots in Iran? There is a very tight connection. Let us go over some of the events leading up to the riots in Tehran.

The U.S. and Britain came out with a series of sanctions against Iran, due to it sticking to its nuclear plans in violation of its safeguards agreement with the United Nations. It is difficult to say what the actual repercussions of the sanctions will be regarding Iran exporting oil to the rest of the world. However, even without the Iran issue, the oil market is reacting to all possible speculation regarding supply and delivery. The escalating riots at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran are simply a reminder to all the oil users and traders in the world about how the relations, or lack of relations such as the case with Iran, influence the entire world. The quick deterioration of relations is a possible scenario for the end of the supply of Iranian oil to the global market. As a result oil prices will continue to skyrocket without any direct connection between supply and demand as necessary in a properly functioning trading environment.

Since we have already mentioned signs of a global recession, we should also take into account Standard & Poor’s downgrading the credit ratings of the world’s major international financial institutions such as Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. Reducing their rating has already impacted the capital market, not just the reduced futures trading on Wall Street. A savvy investor will know how to remain cautious and search for what is effecting the developments as well as the price of oil.

The events of last summer exposed waves of riots across the Middle East where thousands poured into the streets of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya causing critical concern in the West and especially the U.S. Because so many were concerned about the consequences closer to home such as higher gas prices along with Occupy demonstrations throughout the U.S., this caused quite a headache for many leaders. There was also concern about how a general outbreak of rioting would affect the Saudi oil empire. The combination of these issues led top analysts to generate speculation about the price of oil. Some of the experts even went so far as to express their opinion without any concern whatsoever, that the energy prices could destroy the American economic recovery while it was still in its early stages.

Has The Price Of Oil Lost Its Connection With The Real Economy?

The uncontrollable shifts in the price of oil, which constitute a definite recipe for economic disaster, have also been the main factor in forming American strategy since at least the ‘70’s. At that time it was prompted by Arab countries significantly reducing the supply of oil to the U.S., in reaction to the West’s support of Israel during the Yom Kippur War. The striking rise in crude oil prices at that time contributed to a failing world economy. Many Americans still have memories of long lines for gas, increased unemployment, increased prices and price indices, along with the subsequent feeling of lack of security and helplessness. This is how an oil crisis is defined in economic terms.

Apparently steps were taken at the time to ensure the supply of crude oil from the Middle East, making it the focus of America’s national interests. This also explains the increasing presence of the American army in the Middle East, which has turned into something permanent. Even if we ignore the U.S.’s adventure in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. has troops stationed permanently in Oman, Saudi, Yemen, Turkey, Katar, and Bahrain.

America’s growing dependence on oil from the Middle East raises a number of questions that do not really have clear answers. Even more worrisome is the fact that at least 40% of America’s commercial deficit accumulated from oil, and half of America’s defense expenditures are tied to protecting the flow of oil. Is there any truth to the American concern beyond the national trauma of the past?

Even in the first half of 2000 there began to be doubts along with serious question marks about the stability of the European monetary system, as a result of the drastic weakening of the Euro’s value. The concern about breaching the economic balance of the Eurozone along with the beginning of a difficult financial crisis, forced the interference of the European and American central banks. The goal was to strengthen the Euro through stability and global balance toward preventing a major crisis.

For a long time we have been witnessing a non-stop increase in oil prices, which has reached a peak over the last three months. There is a growing sensation among experts that the listed price of oil lost its connection with the real economy a long time ago, especially within the context of the uncertain world economy at the moment.

Is it the price of oil that has lost touch with reality? Or is it each of us that continues to believe that spending more will solve everything? Can we afford to ignore all the signs at this point and continue to imagine that everything is OK with our world?

When It Comes To Oil — Time Is Not On Our Side

The non-stop instability over the last two years is still continuing in the market, where the price of oil seems to be dependent on the mood in the stock exchange more than ever before. Oil prices continue to fluctuate against the backdrop of Europe’s financial markets, and against the backdrop of new governments’ lack of ability to manage their own affairs, such as in Italy and Greece. The uncontrollable shifts cause no end of uneasiness in the market in general, as well as in the trading of oil. The question is how long oil will be able to stand against the faltering stock indices and the very real economic recession.

It is almost impossible to predict how much investors around the world will continue to believe, since oil prices have risen sharply for a lengthy period, even when the stock exchange is in a constant descent, and the same goes for the gross national product.

The current state of affairs brings together two greats on the verge of bankruptcy, the crude material called oil and the monetary economy. How these two examples of unfinished business are going to make peace together without breaking the branch they sit on is difficult to imagine. Even with the most optimistic outlook, it is hard to see how we can fill the growing gaps in global economies. There is no need to mention that along with these growing gaps in economic disparity come social gaps. This is a ticking time bomb laid right in front of our common home, earth.

At this point we have two options to choose from:

1) The first is to wait until things get really bad and until it is no longer clear what we have and what we do not.

2) The other is to try to preempt the blows headed our way. In our common global activity we can attempt to catch a glimpse of eternity, as opposed to the hourglass that has begun its countdown.

Let us try to grasp at this critical stage that anything we achieve together from this point forward will reveal another layer of our perfect future. A future so bright, where time is completely on our side.

Oil Is A Non-Renewable Resource

Speaking recently of the civilization crisis, the Chairman of Serbia’s socialist party highlighted three factors:

1) The end of the oil era;

2) The end of the cheap food supply era;

3) An increase in the Earth’s temperature.

According to Dragutin Matanovic, who also serves as the Senior Advisor to the Interior Minister of Serbia, this combination will bring about the collapse of neoliberalism, and the end of capitalism in general.

Additional insightful points in his presentation included the fact that oil is a non-renewable resource. Ninety percent of all production uses oil, and there is no alternative to it. Therefore the end of oil is sure to cause conflicts and wars.

The collapse of neoliberalism implies the destruction of the idea of European unity. As a consequence, nationalistic and left-wing parties are coming to power in Europe.

The EU policy towards other new members of the EU and the countries of the former Soviet Union is to destroy their industry and agriculture. This is because the production capacity in the West is huge, and they just need a market for their goods, not competitors.