Excerpts from the Spring 2014 Newsletter
by Thomas Greco

I do some of my best thinking when I’m on the move—in a bus, a train, a plane (though perhaps not in a Thai minivan). I can’t help but wonder if this might be due to a physical phenomenon of “induced creativity” akin to the electromagnet induction of electricity that occurs when a coil of wire is moved through a magnetic field. Could it be that “creative energy” is induced when an idle brain is moved through the Earth’s magnetic field or through a monotonous landscape? Far out, eh? Full Newsletter here.

Positive Steps

The NGO, Koru Kenya, headed by American social entrepreneur and aid worker, Will Ruddick, which I’ve written about before, is now undertaking, with support from the Kenyan government, a program to replicate their successful Bangla-Pesa community currency program in other poor areas around Mumbasa and Nairobi.
Our friend and associate, Michel Bauwens, who is founder and director of the Peer to Peer Foundation, has been engaged by the government of Ecuador to head an effort to plan the transition to a commons based peer-to-peer economy and shared-knowledge society.
In 2012, Professor Jem Bendell was appointed to head the newly formed Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS) at Cumbria University in the U.K. His inaugural lecture, Exploring Sustainability, given in April of this year was both interesting and enlightening. It is well worth watching at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-Opqi-2UgY.

Upcoming Conference

Chong Kee Tan and his Bay Bucks team are in the process of organizing a major “new economy convergence” titled, Living the New Economy, to be held in San Francisco October 23—26. I will be one of the keynote speakers, along with Charles Eisenstein and Ian MacKenzie. For details and to register, visit this site.

The Buddhist Way—Principles to Live By

I often receive useful input from my correspondents via email. One that came to me recently was a list of life principles referred to as “The Buddhist Way.” I immediately posted it on my blog here, and intend to tack it up on my wall so that I may keep the principles always in mind.

Psychiatry Running Amok

A few nights ago I went to a showing of a documentary film titled, The Hidden Enemy: Inside Psychiatry’s Covert Agenda, a film of the Citizen’s Commission on Human Rights. I was astounded to learn, among other things, the extent of suicides and domestic violence amongst our military personnel, and the scale and scope of the their drugging by psychiatric staff both during and after their active duty service. Our troops have been virtual guinea pigs for psychiatric drugs that have questionable benefit and horrendous side effects.

Flight MH 370

While news of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 has faded from the headlines the mystery remains, and the failure to find one shred of physical evidence that the plane crashed into the ocean, adds to the plausibility of explanations other than the official ones. No less a figure than Mahathir bin Mohamad, who served for 22 years as Malaysia’s Prime Minister, has accused the CIA and the Boeing Company of hiding key information. Ref. the May 19 edition of the Sydney Morning Herald.