Showing posts with label values. Show all posts
Showing posts with label values. Show all posts

Friday, April 16, 2010

A night out

Lucas was having a rare night out. He was going to the theater with his wife. The play they were going to see had got good critics, which was the reason why Lucas had agreed to go in a first place – he wasn’t much for the cultural things. Nevertheless, tonight he was going with an open mind and would enjoy the night.

As they were sipping wine at the interval, Lucas was trying to decide how he felt about the first part. The topic was well chosen and the characters were credible. The play made him think about the nature of people – what did they think was important, what were their values and what impact they actions had. How often do we adapt viewpoint of others and somehow hide our own wishes and hopes but also fears under a surface of artificial coating. Lucas wondered how much art, and especially today’s art, could influence on people’s behavior and their way of thinking. Could it make a difference and what would it take in order to do so?

Friday, November 20, 2009

Sampo of sustainability

Everyone is talking about innovations and new deals in the midst of different crisis. In many cases we forget that we can learn much from the history. In Finnish mythology, the Sampo was a magical artifact of indeterminate type that brought good fortune to its holder. The Sampo was something worth fighting for.

Several historians have tried to identify what the Sampo really was. According to Matti Klinge, finnish historian, the Sampo could have been a pole about mechantile law in Samppalinna, in the city of Turku, Finland. If we interpret this into current day - we could claim that still we are all looking for this Sampo - Sampo of sustainability. And it just happens to be that in year 2011 we will gather in Turku to share it.

For me Sampo of sustainability is the best that our societies could offer. Ingredients of this are shared values, active networks and joint efforts for everyones benefit. Are we able to act now so that we could spread the Sampo in January 2011?

The Sampo was a pivotal element of the plot of the Finnish epic poem Kalevala, compiled in 1835 (and expanded in 1849) by Elias Lönnrot based on earlier Finnish oral tradition. More from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampo