The Diamond Cutter: Buddhist Sucess ModelWritten by Janet Ilacqua
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Money should be made honestly and with absolute integrity. How we make money matters more than anything else does. It determines our ability to keep making money as nobody can indefinitely run a business built on dishonesty or deception. It also significantly affects our ability to enjoy money we make. Nothing is good or bad in and of itself; everything has a hidden potential. This is what Buddhists call emptiness. What is bad news for you may be good news for someone else, and vice versa. We must not leap to conclusions about events, but must stop to consider what potential they really have for us. Even competitors can be seen as fairy godmothers challenging us to find correct path to greater accomplishment. It is a matter of perception. With right state of mind, we can turn our problems into opportunities. We should look ahead to inevitable end of our days in business, and put ourselves in a position where we can honestly say our years in business had some meaning. The idea here is to anticipate our future, and move in a direction that will allow us to look back on our past with total joy and satisfaction. The Diamond Cutter: The Buddha on Strategies for Managing Your Business and Your Life by Geshe Michael Roach (Author) List Price: $23.95 through Barnes and Noble Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours
Janet Ilacqua is a freelance writer specializing in prosperity, spirituality, and home-based business issues. She lives with her husband and sister in Tracy, California. She can be reached at jilacqua@aol.com. Also, check her websites: http://www. writeupon.com
| | Silicon Valley: a parableWritten by Janet K. Ilacqua
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Beneath high-tech sparkle laid a hidden underbelly of inequality, environmental devastation, and exploitation. A recent study of Silicon Valley economy found that hourly wages of 75 percent of Silicon Valley workers were actually lower in 1996 than in 1989. Meanwhile, between 1992 and 1997, income for top 20 percent has increased by 32 percent. The diverse workplace does not necessarily mean equality of opportunity. You see very few Hispanics or blacks in hi-tech crystal palaces. Silicon Valley has 29 Superfund sites--toxic sites slated for cleanup by federal government. This is more than any other area in country. High-tech manufacturing created 24 of 29 sites; 18 are tied to computer chip industry. At one time, largest mercury mine in U.S. was located in New Alma den hills in back of San Jose. Mercury, which is used to separate silver from base ore, seeps from this 100-year year old open sore and poisons Guadalupe River and San Francisco Bay. The Hispanic hamlet of Alison lies partly on a landfill created by dumping of asbestos-lined pipes in 1950’s by Certainteed Corporation. Will Silicon Valley ever regain its prosperity? Alternatively, it is like some new Atlantis being destroyed by its greed while its inhabitant scatter to four winds. No one knows. Maybe, a large no strings attached investment, such as Leland Stanford’s bequest that help found Stanford University, would help jump-start economy. However, maybe, problems faced by Silicon Valley are those, which cannot be solved by money alone. The entrepreneurial individualism, which has made unnatural growth of Valley possible, had, in process, destroyed social fabric that holds a society together. The issues facing Silicon Valley today are social ones—pollution, growing income inequality, ethnic tension, unemployment, high housing costs, and a limited state budget. These problems had always been there, but were ignored and have worsened during most rapid increase in wealth in history. Maybe, one day, people of Silicon Valley and California will wake up and have political will to spend money needed to fix these problems. However, no one really knows.
Bio: Janet Ilacqua is a freelance writer living in Tracy. She specializes in spirituality, business, and prosperity issues. She can be reached at jilacqua@aol.com. Also, check out her website at http://www.writeupondemand.com
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