“We define meditation as thinking about one thing continuously. Therefore, many people mistake it for concentration. But meditation is not concentration. Concentration is forceful, while meditation is effortless, involving no force at all.”
“This presence is like a passport to greater life. It is our connection to that Greater Being to which we belong, but which is often buried beneath mundane concerns, bodily desires, emotional disturbances, and mental distractions. Through knowledge, practice, and understanding, this presence can be awakened. Eventually, we will not be without it – whether in speaking or moving, whether in thinking or feeling. Awakening this presence is the most reliable and direct means of cultivating our essential human qualities, of activating everything that we need to meet the conditions of our lives. Presence is the point of intersection between the world of the senses and the world of the Spirit. May we never cease to discover its beauty and power.”
Source: Living Presence: A Sufi Way to Mindfulness & the Essential Self
“The Spirit of Berlin was embodied in two principles. First, colonial powers, whatever else they did, had a responsibility to improve the lives of native populations.”
Source: In Defense of German Colonialism: And How Its Critics Empowered Nazis, Communists, and the Enemies of the West
“The Spirit of Berlin was embodied in two principles. First, colonial powers, whatever else they did, had a responsibility to improve the lives of native populations. The second principle insisted that any colonial claim needed to be backed up by “the existence of an authority sufficient to cause acquired rights to be respected.”
Source: In Defense of German Colonialism: And How Its Critics Empowered Nazis, Communists, and the Enemies of the West
“I do not want to miss a good chance of getting us a slice of this magnificent African cake.”
“The labours which we are about to undertake to regulate and develop the commercial relations of our countrymen with that Continent, and to render a service alike to the cause of peace and humanity. (Berlin Conference)”
Source: Correspondance Diplomatique De M. De Bismarck (1851-1859)
“The powers of the time had first rushed to the city of the most powerful man in the world, the German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck. But five years later, they came to Leopold II. In 1890, Brussels became the capital of colonizing Europe. The city held an anti-slavery conference, to strengthen Berlin-1885 and "to put an end to the Negro Slave Trade by land as well as by sea, and to improve the moral and material conditions of the natives". It was, in accordance with the mentalities of the time, a proclamation of "fundamental rights of populations", starting with the most basic: the right to life. Berlin-1885 had already expressed similar rights in the search for " the preservation of the native tribes, and to care for the improvement of the conditions of their moral and material well-being, and to help in suppressing slavery, and especially the slave trade". The Treaty of Brussels-1890 was also contracted "in the name of God Almighty". It ordered to put an end to the crimes and devastation of the slavers and to provide the benefits of peace and civilization on the continent.”
Source: The Greatest Fake News of All Time: Leopold II, The Genius and Builder King of Lumumba
“The present condition of Central Africa reminds one much of that of America when that continent was first opened up to the European world. How are we to avoid a repetition of the unfortunate events, to which I have just alluded, amongst the numerous African tribes? How are we to guard against exposing our merchants, our colonies and their goods to these dangers? How shall we defend the lives of our missionaries and religion itself against the outburst of savage customs and barbarous passions? Finding ourselves in the presence of those whom we are urging to undertake the work of civilization in Africa, it is our duty to save them from such regrettable experiences as marked the corresponding phase in America.”
Source: Acte général de la conférence de Berlin de 1885
“Modern international law follows closely a line which leads to the recognition of the right of native tribes to dispose freely of themselves and of their hereditary territory. In conformity with this principle, my Government would gladly adhere to a more extended rule, to be based on a principle which should aim at the voluntary consent of the natives whose country is taken possession of, in all cases where they had not provoked the aggression.”
Source: Acte général de la conférence de Berlin de 1885
“The Conference, should draw up a separate convention, applicable throughout the world, and destined to form a complement of the international law on this subject.”
Source: Acte général de la conférence de Berlin de 1885