According to the great Chinese philosopher Sen Fu (late 19th Century), there was once a great Chinese emperor who had a passion for well ripened melons. And he had a problem: Even the greatest Emperor could not get ripe melons in Winter. So, each year, he was patiently waiting for the summer.

He had a very skilled gardener who had an idea: Not too far away, there was a steep hill with one side well exposed to the South. He told the Emperor: "Your revered Highness (or whatever was the proper address), let me install greenhouses on that hill. I am sure that, with the sun exposure it has, I can ripen melons in Winter." And the Emperor, who was an open mind and loved innovation and enterprise, let him do it. Let all readers of Sacred Planet learn from our Experts: glass was invented some 3,000 years ago, and the invention of green houses has been lost in the night of times, as the French say.

So it was done: the following year, the gardener, full of pride, brought ripe melons to his Majesty as early as February and told him that next year, he would get them all year round. He could not get them earlier because an order of melon seeds had been, ah, held back by Chinese red tape.

This gave the Emperor an idea: He summoned the seven hundred wisest Mandarins who formed the highest level of his Council (and who cost him a fortune in pensions, overheads, pretty girls and delicacies.) And he asked them:

"Esteemed Members of my Imperial Council, I want you to study this question: Is it possible for melons to ripen in Winter?"

The wise Mandarins immediately convened, formed various committees, initiated bibliographic researches, questioned the writings of Confucius, Lao-Tse, Chen-Yi, Dong Zhong-Shu, Sun Tsu, and many many others. They wrote notes, preliminary reports, and memorandums, and finally dissertations in eight iambs as per formal Mandarin rule which are as stringent as the Rule of the Three Units in French 17th Century dramatic art. They produced thousands of pages beautifully written in ideograms, using the most expensive peacock feathers for pens. And they still didn't have an answer.

So the Emperor told them: "You worked so hard, you deserve a rest. Come with me for a walk in the open air." And he had then driven to the Hill of the Melons, in 15 beautiful carriages. And they walked in the garden and were surrounded with nice melons smelling deliciously, but they still went on discussing and debating.

So the Emperor picked up a perfectly ripened melon and put it under the nose of the five most eminent Mandarins and asked them: "Tell me, what is this?".

And then, he had a surprise:

They could not recognize a melon.

All their lives, they had seen melons only once they were in their plates, peeled and cut in slices...

So the emperor, who had an open mind and loved innovation and enterprise, but also believed in tax cutting and in keeping overheads under control, had them all buried alive.

Morality for Sacred Planet: When planning for the Earth's survival, let us stick to facts and proven experience, and stay away from preconceived ideas, especially the ones considered as official authority by the Mand... I mean the Media.

André Teissier du Cros

In early October, the Jacques Attali Commission raised the question of the Principle of Precaution upheld in the French Constitution. Its members considered in majority that this text was a restraint to economic growth and in particular to research. Here is a true topic for debate. If it is of interest to you, your remarks interest us.

Here comes ours; They will allow you to better understand our dogma.

An English anthropologist, Roy Lewis, is the author of a book you can find in pocket edition under the title « Why I ate my father ».

It is the story of the first humans, told in a very crazy manner, but concealing lessons which deserve to be remembered.
One day an ingenious father gone down from his tree with his family and wandering about the savannah discovers how to make a fire. It’s magical, but dangerous : it burns ! His brother, a cautious and conservative man, worries about it - one could even say he panics. Suddenly, alarmed, he shouts to all his litter and to those who want to follow him : « Back to the trees ! »

For thousands of years humans have found themselves confronted in such a way with the risks of their discoveries, and are more or less putting up with them.

So was born and has developed what we call Progress. It does not come without risk. But one cannot deny it has brought better living conditions to the major part of mankind.

Therefore the concept of risk management imposed itself, and with it the Principle of Precaution.

Today, when considering damages we are causing to the planet, many think it would be safer to stick to the Principle of Precaution and reduce potential risk upfront. We would be like alpinists all of a sudden refusing to climb the mountain by fear of danger. Unable to call themselves alpinists anymore...

So goes the march of mankind, we think. It cannot progress without discoveries, and this for two reasons ; First because it takes place in an inexorable evolution of nature, as from a given order pointing towards an ever greater complexity, that might lead it to explore other universes one day. Then, because the challenge it is facing to save the planet cannot be achieved without a joint effort towards innovative solutions, and they won’t be without risk. What is anyway more risky than life itself?

And since life is short, let us live it fully and not allow the cautious and finicky ones play on our fears and make it all bleak.

Let’s not listen to fear. Let’s live!