“Instead of improving the world let us concentrate on Self-improvement”
Mahatma Gandhi
For Nora, Kathrin, Philipp and Patrick,
who inspired me to write this book.
This book is based upon the German Edition but it is modified and condensed, with a greater focus upon the central theme of Experiencing the Golden Wind.
The German Edition may be accessed as follows:
“Leben im Goldenen Wind. Jetzt bin ich endlich mal DA. Reifungs- und Transformationsprozess eines Topmanagers” /Frieling-Verlag Berlin
ISBN 978-3-8280-3061-9 430 pages
Auflage 2011/ 2. Auflage 2013
ebook Kindle Edition 20.7.13
Authors German Homepage: www.leben-im-goldenen-wind.de
Authors English Homepage : www.thegoldenwind.net
ISBN 978-3-8280-3211-8
Cover painting: Doris Karner-Klett
Cover design: Rita Hipolito
Translation: Roland R. Ropers and Erhard Meyer-Galow
Editing: Richard Warrington
Copyright: Professor Dr. Erhard Meyer-Galow
This English Edition of Living in the Golden Wind is intended to guide you through Practices, Realizations and Visualizations which will promote personal revelations. It is my intention that by sharing my experiences and insights with you I can assist in promoting a state of enlightened joyfulness. From there I will guide you through practices which are structured to increase your awareness, compassion and insight into the purpose of your existence. Only as sentient humans can we experience the full meaning of our lives. You will learn to feel the Golden Wind at every stage of your life, leading you to compassionate empowerment.
In mastering various challenges of private and business life Erhard Meyer-Galow has found the optimum balance between work and recreation. The former top manager, who is still actively engaged in diverse consulting functions, describes the necessary change from outer to inner growth in his fascinating biography. This book, which combines reflections from business reality and spiritual guidance, invites readers to share the author’s process of maturation and transformation. They learn how to identify positive aspects of life’s crises and to accept them as an opportunity for rewarding growth. During the last third of life it is especially important to experience the Golden Wind and to always live in the moment; the here and now. This pathway is clearly delineated through discussions, practices and meditations which open to us a whole range of possibilities, and an incredible richness otherwise unavailable, due to the lack of receptivity which results from allowing our Ego to try to pre-determine the path of our life.
Professor Dr. Erhard Meyer-Galow, born in 1942 in Frankfurt/Main, is a chemist who has held various leading positions in the German chemical industry including CEO of the HÜLS AG and the STINNES AG. He was president of the German Chemical Society and was honoured in 1998 with the German Federal Cross of Merit. His extensive spiritual training assisted him in overcoming some serious crises. His book exemplifies how to deal with all circumstances in life without escaping into the isolation of monasteries and sacred places. In dedication to his attitude and inner guidance Erhard Meyer-Galow is a proponent of efficient and sustainable activities in order to make the world we all need to live in, just a little bit better.
“Be the change that you want to see in the world!“
(Mahatma Gandhi)
More and more people, dissatisfied with the shallowness and artificiality of daily life, are making the necessary effort to break through to the transpersonal level of recognizing their real being, and re-inventing themselves accordingly. A most fascinating aspect of Erhard Meyer-Galow’s book is that it leads us to a realization that the first step towards accomplishing personal re-invention is the recognition of the limitations, imposed by our Ego on our spiritual development. Once we recognize and accept the necessary, but limiting role of the Ego, we are able to explore experiences which lead us to a greater reality in every moment; in the here and now. It encourages us to release the person that we think we are in order to attract and encourage manifestation of the person who we really are. This book suggests specific practices which will encourage and facilitate our spiritual development, giving us the courage to risk embarking upon, or continuing along our own spiritual pathway.
Time is an illusion. It does not exist. We exist only in the present moment. The way we live each moment determines the nature of the experiences which will flow seamlessly from that moment to our next present moment. We recognize and experience the present moment in every page of this book. Even memories become the experience of the moment. We are comforted to realize that there is only the now. We learn that the art of living is to accept all events, like the death of a beloved one, the collapse of a company, a serious illness or growing old in the here and now, without the limitations of a past or the fears of a future.
We are an ageing population. Our world society is experiencing unprecedented economic and social unrest. The experience of a declining life-style as we age is not what we had hoped for in our earlier years, and may be difficult to accept. This book cannot make you younger, but it can assist you towards a comforting understanding of how you can experience great joy in every moment of your life.
Erhard Meyer-Galow guides his book with the following koan: A monk asked Master Unmon, “What if the tree will wither, and the leaves fall?” The Master replied, “Perfect manifestation of the Golden Wind!” The Golden Wind means the winds of Autumn, but here it means much more. Two older monks sitting together ask each other, “What is the nature of reality now, when we are getting old?” The answer? Reality is “a manifestation of the Golden Wind”. ZEN Master Unmon supplemented this statement with, “Even though I am old, sick, infirm and suffering, every day is a good day.”
Nothing manifests in our lives for which this timeless original wisdom does not hold true. This is often not easy to accept, but again and again people confess that they have experienced what they had considered to be disasters in their lives, and again and again they are now grateful for what happened to them. The fateful crisis has given their life a decisive turn, a decisive breakthrough to experiencing an altered reality. It is not easy to accept resistance to, or the thwarting of, your desires, collapse of your aspirations and disappointment in others when you believe yourself to be powerless. But we are not powerless, Quantum Physics has definitively demonstrated that we are inextricably linked and energetically interconnected with all of the energy forms which constitute our universe. Our power is derived from our not doing. If we have binding desires, ones which, if fulfilled, result in happiness, and if not, then sadness, we are asserting that we know what is best for ourselves, and in so doing we are limiting ourselves to only those experiences which we can imagine and over which our Ego has control. This results in setting ourselves up for repeated disappointments. But if we live compassionately in the moment, faithfully trusting in benevolent universal forces, we open ourselves to an unimaginably powerful source of previously untapped energy, energy of healing, of contentment and of success, which is measured by growth. When we allow our intuition, which is our personal link with the universe, to direct our thoughts they become our most powerfully energetic gifts which, when joined with a multitude of similar thoughts from others, are able to manifest as ‘events’ which interact in accordance with the Laws of Nature, allowing us to literally, ‘move mountains’. The energetic dimension through which we are all connected, not only one with the other but also with all knowledge and all potential that exists, has been given various names by different authors, including the Divine Matrix, the Undifferentiated Reality, the Cooperative Background Field, and the Permanent Acting Process of Life. Erhard Meyer-Galow calls it the Golden Wind. This book will empower you as you begin to accept the overwhelming peace and contentment which arises from living each and every experience in the present moment. Especially during severe life crises, one may experience the calming certainty that all manifestations are in order, in the Golden Wind.
LIVING IN THE GOLDEN WIND – I AM FINALLY HERE!”
Happy are those who can accept their lives in such a way.
I wrote this book for everyone who is still actively employed in order to earn an income and who may be asking himself, ‘is there a way to do it better?’ It is also intended for those who have retired from their primary occupation and are asking themselves, ‘what now’? It may be difficult to pause during our working lives for a quiet moment in the stillness of silence, the now of eternity to reflect upon the greater purpose of our lives, the intrinsic meaning of all life, and even more importantly to quietly, patiently and with absolute faith be open to receiving an answer through our intuitive senses. This book will assist you to chart your course in the contemporary world of unbelievably, sometimes incomprehensibly rapid changes in the structure of all aspects of society.
During the last few decades, which have witnessed a growing and increasingly wealthy economy; we have too often concentrated almost all of our thinking and acting on aspects of the ‘outer’ world. ‘Know more, do more and have more’ has been our main focus. We now recognize that we are on a dead-end street, something obvious to most everyone, even though many continue in denial. When the pressure from the outer world is increasing more and more and when we can only perform our tasks with extreme will power and extraordinary discipline, we are subtly maneuvering ourselves into a serious personal dilemma, one which will make itself known in due course! Growth within our inner world has not kept pace. We lack the necessary support in order to withstand the enormous pressures. Energy is depleted and exhaustion becomes our constant companion. We desire recreation as an escape, but it offers fleeting relief at best. Burn out, depression, psychological illnesses and a growing consumption of prescription and street drugs soon follow.
I would like to help you to create an enthusiasm for your inner growth. This book will recommend simple attitudes and some practices which follow from them, practices which will facilitate your growth towards a quieter, more relaxed and openly receptive inner state, which will in turn seamlessly and perhaps surprisingly lead towards a more effortlessly productive life. I have personally tried every suggestion which I will make, during my considerable time as a CEO in several organizations. They worked unbelievably well, better than I could ever have imagined! It is hard to imagine the magnitude of the improvements in your life until you actually make the initial effort to begin --- and experience! Once the direction of your inner growth is aligned with Universal Forces you will experience a resonance with those activities in the outer world with which you are meant to be in alignment, fostering successes which leave you fully satisfied.
As you begin to feel the effects of ageing this book will help you to safely climb the stairs of life instead of stumbling up them, only to eventually collapse in despair. Ideally the preparation for this change will begin in the middle of your life. For all younger people, please don’t hesitate, begin now, don’t wait until you are in your midlife crisis. For those of us who are older, it’s never too late!
We learn from those who have had ‘near death experiences’ that we will experience enlightenment when we die. Don’t wait until you die, begin to experience it now! Everyone you encounter will notice the change in you. They will sense that you are on a path of exploration leading to inner peace. Whatever the reason for any previous inner suffering, it will diminish. You will be rewarded with serenity, cheerfulness, gladness, humour, compassion and joyfulness. You will gain energy and the powerful guidance to master all situations in your life, which will become ones of awareness and mindfulness as you fully live each and every moment.
I sincerely hope that you will pursue the integrated, holistic personal development that this book clearly and gently promotes. It may be as important as a question of the survival of your sanity in this hectic world of Ego-centric attitudes. The first step is to understand and accept your crisis as both a challenge and as a catalyst for change. It is my sincere desire that my personal revelations contained within this book will unleash their intended effect and inspire you to the experience of a new momentum in your life!
NOW This book deals with the Now, the Here and Now. It’s not about the past or the future. The past is gone and the future is not yet here. A manager is always caught in the future. We need to be in the Moment in the Here and Now. This focus will give our life a much more important quality. This quality is not achieved when we constantly rush through the wonder of the moments.
I AM It is about Being, always being in the moment. It is not about Doing, Knowing, Ability or Possession. It is about Ego. It is about an I which can simply Be from moment to moment. It is about an I which is mindful. Awareness is the key to Being in the moment.
FINALLY Finally I do live in the moment with utmost awareness. People who have grounded their Ego in their Self without giving it considered thought have an intense desire to discover their real essence, their divine dimension. This is a longing for the “mysterium coniunctionis”.
HERE Not somewhere else, not in the past and not in the future.
FINALLY BE HERE!
FINALLY BE HERE!
FINALLY BE HERE!
Chant the above anapest, placing your right hand on your heart on ‘HERE!’ This rhythm runs throughout the book, reminding you again and again to reverse your orientation from the external to the internal. Being here means to be entirely at home within yourself; entirely present at all times. Happiness is not somewhere else. Happiness is Here. In us, around us, filling us at all times. We need only to accept it. We experience it only if we do not run away, if we can stand the being Here.
“I need to go home, to see if I’m there at all.”
(Karl Valentin, 1882 - 1948)
Write your first and last name on a blank piece of paper. Do not write it horizontally, as is customary. Instead write your last name below your first name. To highlight your surname underline it with a pencil several times.
You have now most likely illustrated your personal situation, unconsciously symbolizing it with this signature. You may not be truly happy or even truly unhappy in your life. Or you may be seriously suffering through a situation such as a depression from which you have been unable to escape. Most everyone yearns for a life of deep inner peace, one that is characterized by calmness, serenity, compassion, humor and kindness. But you may not have yet found a way to reach your inner peace.
The thick line under your last name symbolizes your dilemma. With that thick line you separate your first name from your surname. As a child you were addressed by your first name only. Once grown, you will often be addressed by your last name. The last name speaks of what you have achieved in the world. It symbolizes the place your Ego has created for itself in the world. According to Karlfried Graf Dürckheim, your first name symbolizes your Being which can also be called your Self which is of divine origin. As a child, until you reached the age of three you were completely filled by that existence of pure being. With the onset of dual thinking your growing Ego which is so important for your survival, separates from your Being. Your Ego created its own limitations. Your total suffering and unhappiness are the effects of this isolation. And yet the door is always open to your heart. This book is to assist you in the removal of the limitations imposed by your Ego, allowing your heart to open!
The great German mystic Meister Eckhart said, in the 13th Century, “You need not to look here and there for God. He is no further away than the door of your heart. He stands there and waits and waits until you’re ready. Do not call out to Him in the distance, your devotion and His coming occur in one and the same moment”.
Now is the moment in your life to break down the separation and reunite your Ego with your Being. It is a simple concept but after so many years of aberration it is not easy to achieve. I will show you how. There are small steps you can take in familiar surroundings. They require constant practice. Consistency will guarantee success. This is the content and intent of this book.
Karlfried Graf Dürckheim, my first great mentor, liked to say, “The most important task in my life was always brought into focus by the question, “How can the Karlfried permeate the Dürckheim?” He describes this Essential Breakthrough in his wonderful book, which I will introduce to you later. Another symbolism of my current mentor and Zen Master Willigis Jäger will help to clarify the purpose of this book while guiding you forward.
On another blank page write your last name again in pencil, this time using thick letters, and then draw a rectangle around it.
In the space around the rectangle, write your first name several times. Our last name is currently living in the small aquarium which our Ego has built throughout our life. Like small fish swimming around in it we continually bump our nose on the wall, firmly convinced that this little room is our world. We have lost the knowledge that a far greater and essentially limitless world lies outside the aquarium. Many people do not feel the tightness of the ego-space. They may feel such confinement only in times of crisis. They do not know that they themselves create this situation! The small aquarium is in the ocean, but we have not learned how to experience that reality. The glass panes of the aquarium do not really exist. They are part of our imagination. The separation of our Ego from its original divine source, the Self, is the reason for our suffering.
We urgently need to remove our perceived limitations. That is at the core of this book. How can we accomplish that? “Letting go is the secret. I have sometimes said that the one who can let go will not suffer the loss of anything. Whoever loses himself in God does not lose himself but only loses his limits ... letting go is not indifference, is not to be unconcerned about the fate of others. On the contrary, it is about man putting his destiny in God’s hands. “(Phil Bosmans)
A psychologist and medical practitioner in Hamburg, OM C. Parkin, described the dilemma and the redemption of the Ego in an interview with Joachim-Ernst Berendt, (Advaita Journal, first edition) with an apt metaphor. “What has become complicated unfolds itself when the tension, artificially maintained by the Ego is abandoned. If we imagine a complicated spiral which is held together by a tension, ‘letting go’ will result in the moment when this tension is naturally released once again. The Ego mind, the false ‘I’, is an artificially retained tension that delays or does not permit a natural progression. “
This analogy of the aquarium indicates our way forward. We must make all of our barriers more permeable. Erase the barriers slowly as a symbolic act in your future practices. The rigid, ego-centered ‘I’ structures in our lives must become transparent and recognized so as to disenfranchise them as the source of all our suffering.
It is not easy to explain the limitations of the ego-mind to others. Their Ego ensures that they are not in the mood to listen, to understand or to change. They have learned to follow their ego-mind blindly. Many people seem to me like spinning tops, who spin around and around with the Ego at their center keeping them from falling. “Hey STOP!” one should cry, “I want to speak to you!” But if they do stop to listen, after a short conversation they begin to spin again. Doing, Thinking, Acquiring and Hoarding more, more, more ….. is the only game they know how to play. The constant spinning gives them a feeling of stability, keeps them upright, like a gyroscope. But this is an illusion. Stability in your life begins when the spinning ends. It is not easy to stop this is why we must practice it day by day. You must practice to remain healthy. This standstill, this silent, always unique moment of emptiness is not arbitrary or voluntary. It has been dictated by your innermost being to motivate you to start the most important change in your life.
Suffering is the result of a misguided, over-represented orientation to external matters at the expense of the nurturing of an inner orientation. All healing begins within. Consider the following wisdom from Confucius:
“My God, I’m glad that I’m not being asked to only take care of my external growth, but am also to allow for my much more important inner growth, which can then heal the wounds of the external growth and prevent future wounds”.
«The sage seeks what is within, the fool that which is without”.
«All beings, who hear this bell, may experience consolation in their suffering and find peace in their life!»
Zen is neither a religion nor a philosophy. Zen is the experience of ONENESS with ALL. It has been an important part of my life since 1984, as will become evident in this book. Zen (Japanese) is derived from the Chinese Chan, which in turn comes from Chan’na, which is the Chinese translation of the Sanskrit word Dhyana, meaning “state of spiritual contemplation.” This method of spiritual contemplation exists in all religious practices, its purpose is to lead one to the experience of a particular inner contemplation. The art of listening is very often more important than that of reading. Listening is hearing from the heart. In the word “heart” you can find the words “hear” (listen), “ear” and “art”. The auditory sense of all human beings is already developed when the fetus is only 4 months old, and it is the last sense to leave us at our hour of death.
As we progress through life it is beneficial that we should learn how to embody comfort and peace in our daily consciousness. A powerful transmission of consciousness takes place during personal, cordial encounters. Not only is the spoken word a medium for conveying facts, but through it we may also convey much more through gestures, facial expressions, emotions, enthusiasm, touch and eye contact. Media (medium) means middle. All words with the prefix ”med” indicate the importance of the center.
My main motivation for writing this book is the growing, boundless egoism of many people during the second and third triad of their life. The world’s financial and economic crises, and the resulting disorientation and feeling of futility experienced by increasing numbers of people are manifestations of this egoism. I would like to try to help by relating my experiences as a CEO, and what I have learned about the true nature of success; that true success is measured by internal growth.
Each person has a different and individual expression of the Ego. In any conversation there is ‘space’ between the speaker and the listener, with the actual transfer of information across this ‘space’ depending largely upon the listener’s attitude towards the speaker, or in the case of written expression, the author.
I wrote this book to reach many more people than I can reach through personal conversations alone. It is my fervent desire that we will meet in a ‘dimension’ outside of our individual Egos. This ‘dimension’ is the true reality that connects us all, everyone to everyone else. The recognition of this dimension motivates me to reach out to the many people who, disoriented in their life identity are suffering in this world. Sadly, there is an ever-increasing number of such people in a world which seems to stumble from crisis to crisis.
Allow me to both introduce and facilitate a change in orientation which may alleviate personal suffering through the practices I will discuss with you in this book.
Everyone who reads this book with an inquisitive mind and an open heart will experience consolation in their suffering and find peace in their life.
(Source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)
The volatility of the DOW JONES INDEX, as illustrated above, has increased tremendously since 1988. The fluctuations were particularly large during the last financial crisis. Everything in our time is subject to this increased volatility. It is the uneasiness of the Zeitgeist. These fluctuations in the outer world lead to similar, personal internal volatility. This applies to each individual with the effects being clearly visible: rushing, hurrying, anxiety, nervousness, stress, anxiety, illnesses, inattention, disorientation, burnout and depression.
The Outside reflects the Inside. Everyone is longing to return to his inner center, a center in which one can escape from the artificiality and volatility of the outside world.
In this book you will read about the “Reality that has neither form nor name.” (from: “ZEN” by Daio Kokushi). This ‘reality’ cannot be described in words, such as the entity or energy which we call God in Christianity. It is as impossible for me to precisely describe it as it has been for others before me. Yet there are many authors who try again and again to find the words because of their genuine desire to help others. Everyone tries to describe their experiences in small ‘mosaic tiles’, as I am also trying to do from my experience of the mosaic formed by my arrangement of the ‘tiles’.
We are facing a global crisis, not only a financial and economic crisis, but also a multifaceted spiritual crisis, aspects of which manifest in a multitude of ways. This crisis will only be resolved when each of us, individually, commits to a change of our personal mindset, thus contributing to the manifestation of universal change. Let us consider the material side of this crisis. Presently, our most important priorities are advancing our Knowledge, our Possibilities and our Possessions. Advancing these priorities feed the Egos of the Egoists as they engage in a gigantic game, a game in which ultimately there will be no winners. Researchers at the German Institute for Economic Research have evaluated the world’s largest study (a survey of German citizens over 25 years of age) and found that “too much selfishness and pure economic growth of a society do not serve it well.” Not serving it well is putting it mildly! This one-sided, narrowly focused orientation has proven capable of destroying entire societies and the viability of its citizens. Even as a fiscal, social and personal crisis emerged worldwide, people clung to their belief that money could buy happiness. A mature, sustainable relationship between material growth and spiritual orientation was not a priority and thus had not been realized. As the party went on and on, the Tower of Babel was constructed! States undertook the borrowing of money at a previously unprecedented rate, temporarily averting the collapse of the entire financial and economic system, still in denial that we had been living beyond our means for far too long. Then, after the rescue of the banks it was business as usual, with the greed and avarice continuing as if nothing had happened. It was a foolish act of courage to combine the countries in the Euro Zone without consideration of the large differences in their productivity and competitiveness. In the past, soft-currency countries compensated for their disadvantages by devaluating their currency. This is no longer possible in the Euro Zone. Countries with weak, unstable economic policies have historically failed to impose necessary, firm legislation. Rather, politicians chose short term, opportunistic practices. Trust has now been lost. Faith in the European Union is steadily decreasing; now being as low 40% according to recent surveys. Speculators are betting on the depreciation of the Euro. While during the previous financial crisis companies were at risk, now it is entire countries. The possibility of an explosive disaster is greatly multiplied!
It was believed by some that a monetary union could be created without first ensuring at least a moderate degree of equalization between the various countries involved. This was a tragic error at the expense of individual citizens. Throughout history such an approach has never worked. It is always necessary to facilitate financial and economic adjustments before introducing a common currency. History has supplied us with plenty of warnings, but they were disregarded. The Euro was imposed on Germany by France as a concession for the re-unification of West and East Germany. The very important ‘Euro convergence criteria’ were agreed to by the participants of the Euro zone. When Germany proceeded to exceed the ratio of the annual general government deficit relative to gross domestic product (GDP) at market prices at the end of the preceding fiscal year of 3%, it opened the flood gates for numerous other countries to follow. Then followed another disastrous mistake; that of overturning the ‘No-Bail-Out’ Principle.
The result is a crisis in both our political and financial world, a crisis of political and financial leaders who, while responsible for these shortsighted actions have not yet been held accountable. They are all guilty of placing an unconscionable debt on the shoulders of future generations. This directly affects the material wellbeing of every citizen, both present and future. The reputation of our politicians and bankers has been seriously undermined. The European Union will continue to disintegrate due to the inequality of the countries in the Euro Zone. We can conclude that through the orientation of focusing exclusively upon external growth, our material world is facing a collapse of an unimaginable magnitude. The recent foundation of a new party, the Alternative for Germany Party is the reaction of concerned and knowledgeable individuals with the intent of ensuring that Europe can heal and prosper in unity through a careful reshaping of the monetary union.
Since René Descartes’s “Cogito, ergo sum,” (I think, therefore I am), we have made incredible advances in science, technology and economics by narrowly focusing upon fulfillment of the Ego, taking an ‘I-centered’ worldview. This has been at the expense of progress on humanistic, personal intrinsic values. What will be the ultimate outcome of the collapse of our materialistic world? What will we become when our most admirable human qualities are perceived as precursors of failure? There is an urgent need for change! The following quote from John Steinbeck is as relevant today as when it was first uttered: “It has always seemed strange to me...the things we admire in men; kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest; sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egoism and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the product of the second.”
In times of excessive economic growth most individuals are similarly focusing upon their external well being, diminishing their possibility of internal growth. It is difficult to convince people that external growth cannot represent the meaning of life. The harm resulting from this one - sided mind set may be ignored, but the consequences are real. They include loneliness, depression, selfishness and suicide to name but a few. In the Western industrialized countries, the Golden Years are a thing of the past; soon to be a distant memory. My generation has benefited, but our children will have to accept a lower material standard of living. People in the first third of their life can try to escape this trend through better education which can then assist them in accepting that they are responsible for the entire world as their living space. Those in the second third of their life can try to counteract the material collapse by earning more. They can work at several jobs either concurrently or consecutively; they may have primary employment and also be an entrepreneur. The Internet, which is a tool for speeding up globalization, may well be detrimental for this age group in industrialized nations.
While there are signs pointing to inflation, there are many experts who are speaking about the possibility of deflation. At the same time as the standard of living is falling, people will be living longer. There will be more elderly and fewer young people contributing to the economy, and thus less societal support for the elderly. In Germany in 2007, only 40.7% of the population was in the work force. In 2010, 16 million Germans were over 65 years of age. People will increasingly need to explore new opportunities, find new directions, to work on a new mind set; one which will serve them better for the rest of their lives. Recognition of the importance of Inner Growth is that important opportunity! But people are stubborn, it takes a huge wave of negative dimensions for us to question the validity of our obsession with external values at the expense of our mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. Be aware that the wake-up call has sounded. Mankind will have to made radical changes in order to have any assurance of a fulfilling future.
The religious philosopher Raimon Panikkar (although some believe that Karl Rahner was the author) spoke a poignant truth with the words: “The man of the future will be a mystic or he will no longer exist”. Mysticism is an inward focus upon the infinite, often in reaction to a focus upon the finiteness of external growth and its adverse consequences. In 2005 Meinhard Miegel’s book ‘Epochenwende’ was published, careful analysis of which points to a very wise vision for the future. With the current global financial and economic crisis this book gains even more importance. A sense of the book translated from the German edition follows: “The idea of growth has dominated the European Economic and Social Policy for two centuries. Without growth, there is no prosperity, no jobs, and no balanced budgets. However, the growth rates of the past are over once and for all, Europe is stagnating, we are witnessing a fundamental change of epoch.” Meinhard Miegel calls for a radical reorientation of European Economic and Social Policy, a fundamental redefinition of growth, prosperity and jobs. “The successful model of the West in the globalized world of the 21st Century cannot be more quantitative growth, but rather requires the creative, thrifty utilization of our intellectual, cultural and material resources, a smarter, more sustainable use of available forces. Not meaningless expansion, but a return to the virtues of restraint and balance is the recipe for the stagnant Western societies if they are to win the future”. In his concluding remarks Miegel writes: “Wealth can mean different things. In the era that is now over in the early industrialized countries it was materialistic wealth… This wealth which can be weighed and measured in pounds and tons, meters and kilometers, the number of homes, cars, video cameras and mobile phones… is typical for young, expanding and dynamic societies. But these are not the societies of the West. Therefore, future prosperity in our region will mean something different to them than before. Prosperity for the people of the future means more than the accumulation of material goods. Rather, the future is children who can thrive physically and mentally. It is elderly people, old but not lonely. Many while infirm and aged with dementia will still be able to live in human dignity. Prosperity is the interpersonal cohesion. But without this new quality of wealth the rapidly aging society, dwindling in numbers and decreasingly dynamic, is poor despite material wealth. For the societies of the West now is the time to preserve the great treasures accumulated over generations, not to continue their expansion, but to use them more humanly and more wisely than before. They must learn this lesson. If they do, the future will belong to them.”