We watch, hear and read every day about breathtaking manifestations of affluence, alongside deaths due to starvation, poverty, malnutrition, and preventable or curable diseases. Shouldn’t we ask ourselves whether something is wrong with our choice of goals or our motivation, or both? I believe we have to find ways of bringing compassion to bear in our economic activity.

As we face the challenge of ever-expanding populations, increasing demands for energy and food, as well as huge disparities in wealth, we have to embrace globalisation and accept people from all countries as neighbours and collaborators, not rivals. In this interdependent world, war is outdated

When we focus only on our own requirements and disregard the needs and interests of others, we are likely to provoke hostility. This is especially true when we view our own happiness and needs predominantly in terms of material wealth and power.