“We cannot segregate the human heart from the environment outside us and say that once one of these is reformed everything will be improved. Man is organic with the world. His inner life moulds the environment and is itself also deeply affected by it. The one acts upon the other and every abiding change in the life of man is the result of these mutual reactions.”
(Letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, To an individual believer, 17 February 1933)
At the level of the market, corporate governance is viewed with growing suspicion and distrust as increasingly powerful corporations pursue narrow self-interests at the expense of broader social and ecological concerns.
— ISGP Reflections on Governance
Is there a contradiction here?
Surprise, the answer is No.
Let’s take a look at the South Sea company first. If the name sounds familiar, you might have heard of the South Sea bubble, which was an early example of a financial bubble in the company’s value which popped in… 1720.