Prout (PROgressive Utilisation Theory) is a visionary socio-economic system to encourage a cooperative society. A new short story competition has been announced for writers to open a window on a future, Proutistic society. From the press release:

IMAGINE A SOCIETY IN WHICH…
…food, clothing, housing, education and medical care are guaranteed to everyone.

…most farms, banks, industries and services are run as cooperatives owned by the workers.

…there are no multinational corporations.

…different voices, languages and cultures are respected.

…there is self-sufficiency in food, medicines, clothing, housing, and local transport.

…the environment is protected and restored, all agriculture is organic, waste is recycled and renewable energy is used.

…universal spirituality is valued, not religious dogmas or conflicts.

…leaders are selfless servants of the people. Read more…

Black morning.
Clouds, muggy and moody,
Smother the mouth
of the city.

Thousands of bodies
Slide to the grind,
Underground.
Faces straight and indifferent.
Lost
in folds of paper
and fatigue.

Walls plastered with
Where to go
What to wear
What to buy

Thousands of bodies,
Thousands of faces.

Each a different form
of an endless You.

You’ll often hear about the life-changing benefits of meditation and how it can release a deep, lasting contentment. But did they tell you how it can throw a spanner in the works of day-to-day life?…

‘Lotus Date’ by Anadi.

Have you ever been to a meditation class where you can’t concentrate for the deep-breathing of the new boy? Film-maker, Anadi, certainly has…

‘Breathe’ Movie

I had an unwritten contract with my mother. She gave me a physical body and a home in which to nourish it, and in return I went to Sunday school every Sunday till I was confirmed into the school of religion of her choice.This was 1980’s South Africa. We lived in Durban, often termed “The Last British Outpost” - a pure WASP bubble where even white Afrikaners were considered foreigners. So my mother’s choice of religions for me was really between different flavours of Anglican Christianity. Even Catholicism was considered a little too “out there” to be a viable religion.

Mom had opted in her late twenties to join the Methodists. Not because of their superior ideology or any previous affiliation to this “tearaway” Anglican rebellion, but rather because she liked the singing. I guess secretly she wanted me to like it too. Behind my youthful posturing at Sunday school once a week, I now confess that I did actually kind of like a few of those melodies. Not that I would let on in front of the blushing pubescent girls in my class though, when you came from an all boys’ (all shiny white and all English) school, it was important to make a cool impression in your only mixed class in the week.

Read more…