Charities

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[jimtzu]

i thought i'd start a thread on charities..  who knows good ones and which are quality, reputable organizations. maybe get a list going to "walk the walk" and give to those in need.

i donated some of my cd's to nativeprogress who helps out the Lakota indians on the pine ridge reservation. they're putting them on ebay with %100 of the proceeds going to help the cause.
it can be found at http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?cgiurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2Fws%2F&fkr=1&from=R8&satitle=Native+American+Indian+Music+CD+Jim+Cook+Spiritdancer&category0=&submitSearch=Search
for those interested.

apparently they're putting them up one by one so the way to find them is to go to ebay and search for

Native American Indian Music CD Jim Cook Spiritdancer

that should take you right there, for those interested.

thanks,

jim

[Daniel]

Jimtzu,

   Thank you. It's an outrage that the Amerindian is in this state these days. This culture and race should be elevated to the status that our forefathers have.

You know "Charity begins at home", but this country fails this principle miserably.

As a side note, perhaps you should get a brain scan before you give a donation! (and it would be interesting to see the brains of all those politicians who supposedly care when they attend fundraisers. Truth be known, most of them actually would show up negative on the brain scan!).

Are you a giver? Brain scan finds the truth

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
Sun Jan 21, 1:02 PM ET
 


Altruism, one of the most difficult human behaviors to define, can be detected in brain scans, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday.

They found activity in a specific area of the brain could predict altruistic behavior -- and people's own reports of how selfish or giving they are.

"Although understanding the function of this brain region may not necessarily identify what drives people like Mother Theresa, it may give clues to the origins of important social behaviors like altruism," said Scott Huettel, a neuroscientist at Duke University in North Carolina who led the study.

They set up an experiment in which they put 45 college students into a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner, which can take real-time images of brain activity.

They gave the students various games to play, and told them that winning earned cash for either themselves or for a charity. The students had chosen the charities beforehand from a list, the researchers report in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

The students reacted differently depending on whether they won for themselves or for charity with the ones who described themselves as altruistic responding more strongly.

"The game involved reacting as fast as one can to the appearance of a target; if one responds fast enough, then money was earned," Huettel said.

The task was fairly simple, and the students did not give up any payments to themselves to give to the charities. But it cost enough effort that Huettel believes it did represent altruistic intent.

"It's challenging and requires them to focus," Huettel said in a telephone interview. "They are lying in a tube, and it is a little tiring for them. Even though it doesn't cost them anything monetarily, it costs them their effort."

And the researchers were surprised by their findings. Some other studies had predicted that giving would activate the reward systems in the brain.

SURPRISE DISCOVERY

In fact, another center was activated when the students either won money for charity, or watched the computer win money for charity.

"This area we saw was the posterior superior temporal cortex," Huettel said. "It's part of the parietal lobe. What this brain area seems to be involved in is extracting meaning from things you see."

"If you see a rock move because someone picked it up, you can recognize that they have a goal. That would activate this region. If you saw a leaf fluttering in the wind, there is no intention in that leaf." And this brain region would not activate.

"We think altruism might help others understand the intentions of others," Huettel said.

His team asked the students how altruistic they were, and found the test strongly correlated with their own reports of unselfish activity, such as helping a stranger or comforting a friend.

He admits it is very difficult to measure altruism.

"If done in the laboratory, it would be difficult to know whether subjects were trying to impress the experimenter with their actions, and thus one could not be sure of the validity of any measurements," Huettel said.

"Conversely, trying to watch people in their daily lives would make data collection nearly impossible. So, we settled on self-reports as a good, albeit imperfect, measure."

Huettel believes it is valid to try to assess altruism scientifically.

"It is hardly the case that all altruistic acts come from people who are religiously faithful; there are undoubtedly many altruistic atheists," He said.

"And, a religious explanation would have considerable difficulty explaining why some animals help others of their species at significant cost or danger to themselves."

Next his team hopes to test children, and find out how and when altruism develops.

[henry]

thanks gym sioux. what happened in europe is known as the holocaust,but here across the pond was "manifest destiny" . i will make a modest contribution to one spirit/native progress and am a little puzzled why the mailing address is virginia  , not pine ridge...henry

[jimtzu]

hey Henry, thanks for checking things out.  i'm a little curious too about the Virginia address since the contact i sent the cd's to live in Illinois.  he sells items on ebay for nativeprogress and sends %100 of the money to the reservation. Pine Ridge is one of the poorer "sovereign nations" set up by the US gvmt., not having cashed in on the whole casino craze.

[marshall]

Who is still a subscriber to IN? R.K. is The Man when it comes to charitable contributions, I miss his presence. If anyone can or would, please send greetings to him from elementstew.

On matters of "charities", I find an "integral orientation" helpful. Support; local, regional, national, and global efforts in matters concerning nature, culture and society. Everyone must research their own local and regional concerns, but I'm fond of WWF, the Environmental Defense Fund and Human Rights Watch for the greater contexts.

One of my new favorite catch-phrases these days is "on-purpose". There's a lot of lip service paid to things like "higher-purpose" and "higher-consciousness", but what does that mean?

Conscious? Conscious of what?

And there is the problem. No matter how "highly" a consciousness is evolved, it can still be ignorant and uninformed. Here's a little thought experiment that most of you have likely already run; contrast the consciousness and behaviors of Ken Wilber and Al Gore.

Environmental changes are likely the most significant issue of the times. Global warming may cause the greatest harm and suffering within the biosphere since the dawn of civilization. Hell, we are in the middle of a mass-extinction event, the sixth in the history of this planet, to the best of our knowledge. It is my contention that a consciousness that does not acknowledge global warming as at least one of the most significant concerns of humanity, is an ignorant consciousness.

Al Gore is very well informed regarding this. It gnaws at his conscience and he is properly motivated. Ken Wilber on the other hand is too busy trying to create a legacy that will be more immortal than his physical self. Who is more selfless? Who is more selfish? Who has a more evolved and informed consciousness?

[marshall]

When it comes to matters of altruism, morality and ethics, I highly recommend reading The Science of Good and Evil. Sorry I cant recall the author at the moment.....I believe the afore mentioned work is important as it provides good argument that helps to elevate this (moral/ethical) domain from the mythic to the more rational.

In Buddhism, a couple of the folds on the 8-fold path to enlightenment include right (proper) action and right (proper) concentration. To properly assess what is prudent and proper, one must be aware of as many aspects of one's being and context. At this point, it's pretty much a no-brainer for the well informed to realize that environmental issues are the most significant matter facing the animal kingdom. Animal Kingdom. Yep, that's a whole fucking kingdom that we're talking about.....pretty significant, imo.

Yeah, there are other areas of concern, but most of them are substrates of environmental issues.  For example; fundamentalist beliefs (cultural) about The Rapture and having dominion over the rest of life on the planet are contributing factors to the problems at hand. The doctrine of corporate personhood is key to resolving problems of profits over people and environment. Tiki, Dan, you should know what I mean.

Another piece of the puzzle can be illuminated by reading Jerremy Riffkin's The End of Work. I think it is a significant work as helps to contextualize economy and labor. He outlines the historical trends and we can better (or for the first time) understand the history and trajectory of economy and labor.

FDR's New Deal ushered in the emergence of the Public Sector of the economy. Prior to that, economy and labor were mainly Private Sector. Private industry was unable and/or unwilling to meet labors needs. Population continues to rise at alarming rates while technology continues to displace human labor. People bitch about manufacturing jobs going to places like China, but the reality of the situation is that China looses more than one million manufacturing jobs per year - better machines and software programs are doing the jobs more cheaply.

For most of human history, labor was a private affair, from hunting/gathering to horticulture to agriculture. When the first modern democracy emerged, about 90% of the population was agrarian. The industrial revolution came to be and shifted economy and labor to predominantly manufacturing. Technological displacement outpaced labor demands and the service industry was created to provide those all important jobs. It wasn't until the New Deal that government became a significant employer. Only about 50 years ago did we see the emergence of a Third Sector of economy. This Third Sector is the Non-profit sector, which despite it's name, employs a significant amount of people. In fact, non-profits now employ 9% of the population and contribute 6% to the GDP hear in the USA.

What does all of that have to do with this thread? Because nonprofits or the Third Sector are significant contributors to economy and provide vital services that Private and Public sectors of the economy are unable or unwilling to provide.

The bottom line is: SUPPORT NGO's.

Higher consciousness isn't worth shit unless it is properly in-formed.

[jimtzu]

and i would simply and that higher conciousness ain't worth shit if there's no action that comes from it (i think that's part of what you were driving at)

[Daniel]

I have many things to respond to here, but for a quickie, here is a report on "Aflunenza". The world is getting more and more wrapped up in self gratification...charity is one of things that is lost when so many are fixated on I-ME-MINE.

Affluenza: Rampant consumerism erodes us

By Paul Majendie
Thu Jan 25, 10:37 AM ET
 


Beware the Affluenza Virus. An epidemic of mindless consumerism is sweeping the world with the compulsive pursuit of money and possessions making people richer but sadder.

That is the stark warning issued by best-selling British psychologist Oliver James after a "mind tour" of seven countries chronicling how depression envelopes the affluent.

"We have become addicted to having rather than being and confusing our needs with our wants," he told Reuters in an interview to mark publication on Thursday of "Affluenza."

Globe-trotting from New York to Sydney, Singapore and Shanghai via Copenhagen, Moscow and Auckland, he concluded after interviewing 240 people that "selfish capitalism" has run riot.

Bigger houses, more cars, larger televisions, younger faces -- these goals are frenetically pursued by middle-class workaholics afflicted by "Affluenza."

"Studies in lots of different nations show that if you place high value on those things, you are more likely to suffer depression, anxiety, addictions and personality disorders," he said.

James concluded, "People in English-speaking nations are twice as likely to be mentally ill as people living in mainland western European nations."

Always wanting bigger and better is an emotional cul de sac, argues the 53-year-old psychologist, broadcaster and author.

What makes "Affluenza" so readable and differentiates his eloquent polemic from the legion of self-help books that offer trite short-cuts to happiness are the potted biographies of the subjects he interviews.

Take New York.

Compare and contrast Sam, the miserable millionaire and sex-addicted atheist who treats women as commodities for fleeting satisfaction, with Chet the Nigerian taxi driver who is contented, optimistic, sexually faithful and religious.

James freely admits that interviewing the affluent in Sydney was a depressing job, calling it "the Dolly Parton of cities in Australia, the most vacuous."

Singapore, where he found shopping to be the national obsession, suffered from "sad, unplayful deadness." Denmark was commendable, worthy but not exactly "a barrel of laughs."

But not all was doom and gloom for the peripatetic psychologist.

He admired the Chinese for their "best is good enough" stoicism and said "I most liked the Muscovites as they still have an interest in the life of the mind."

James the optimistic believes the backlash has begun.

"We are at a turning point. My argument dovetails with the ecological argument -- we cannot carry on consuming in this manner and feel confident our great grandchildren have any future. This inevitably leads us to question consumerism."

"People are sick to the back teeth of this stuff. They don't want any more selfish capitalism."

[jimtzu]

there was a book and i think a tv special with the same name a few years ago.  a fun read. thanks for sharing.  what is the one thing the prez said we should do to help the war effort... shop/consume!

[R.K.]

Hey Marshall (Thanks for the kind words), Jimtzu and Daniel,

It is interesting this thread attracted me, as my professional work has led me in the direction of the Third Sector (the history of which and the other two sectors, Marshall has summarized).  There is a huge shift going on right now with great growth in the past 10-15 years in the philanthropic and non profit sectors..........in total assets, annual revenues/expenditures, and numbers of organizations.

IMO this is because as the two other sectors increasingly fail to meet the needs of the people, the third sector is having to step in to fill the void.  I am developing work here in our state to examine the relative size, assets and activities of each sector........because it is only through understanding all three collectively.......that we will integrally be able to understand the problems that each sector (and our entire society) is facing.

I believe that people will be surprised by how large the third sector has become here in the state (as marshall shows has happened in the overall U.S. economy), but also that, given their immense wealth advantages.........the for profit and public sectors have performed so poorly in solving our current crises and meeting the real needs of members of our society.

I believe Rifkin perceives correctly that labor (even mental labor) will be an increasingly smaller component of meeting people's needs in the future.........so we will have to find a new way to allocate and distribute wealth and work..........and NGO's can/will play a great role here!!

All for now,

R.K.   

[jimtzu]

i heard about this organization over on Shift in Action. it's a P2P microlending group set up for peoples outside the US.

http://www.kiva.org/app.php

right now they have a cap of $25 for each time you contribute because their resources are stretched as they build.  a year ago they had about 1 million as their capital, now they have over 16.  as the money is paid back it gets recycled into more loans, or if the donar wants, can be paid back.