Jack’s Winning Words 10/26/07
“Faith is much better than belief. Belief is when someone else does the thinking.” (R. Buckminster Fuller) I believe that this is true. 100 years ago, Bucky, the visionary, was concerned as to whether or not mankind could survive on planet earth. What goes around comes around. BTW, no Winning Words ‘til after Halloween. Scarey! ;-) Jack

FROM B.G. IN MICHIGAN: This is a very good WW. I am focusing on faith as trust, rather than saying what we "believe". Radical concept, eh?!?

FROM BB IN ILL: I saw Bucky at Harper College in the late 70's or early 80's. He was amazing. Humorous, brilliant, humble. The children have done different projects for school on his inventions over the years. Perhaps one day they'll read him too! Happy Halloween!

FROM MOLINER, C.F.: Belief is faith.

FROM E.D. IN AZ: I have not heard that name "R. Buckminster Fuller" since my mineralogy class in college. Chemists named these really cool spherical carbon structures "Buckyballs" after him - im guessing because of his architectural obsession with geodesic spheres ( i.e. Epcot)... Just a random thought,

FROM F.M. IN WISCONSIN: Beliefs are conclusions of the mind - faith is the action of the person - what we sometimes call the heart.

FROM GOOD DEBT JON: I never met the man, but many people I admire have. This quote is from Futurist Magazine http://www.gooddebt.com/bucky.pdf Oct 2006. Even years after his death he still inspires and teaches. I quoted him often in my MBA papers on Leadership. For leaders striving to “make the world work for 100% of humanity,” there is no better model of leadership than that of “comprehensive thinker” R. Buckminster Fuller.

FROM MOLINER, G.S.: Mr. Fuller once designed a transparent dome to cover East St. Louis.

FROM R.I. IN BOSTON: Bucky did indeed talk about developing a huge dome to cover the heart of a city. I don't recall which city, but i doubt that it was East St. Louis. He was at St. Louis several times, participating on projects with the students at Washington University. He was there for several weeks when I was in the School of Architecture, and a small dome was designed and built by the students on the grounds of our School. (There's little reason to believe he wanted to cover East St. Louis, because it was already in decline back in the 50's, and it had no balanced urban life. It was mostly an area of dirty industry.) Doing it over St. Louis itself is more likely. Bucky was remarkable. He was in (I would guess) his 60's then, but had the spirit of being 30. He was gregarious, loving to talk with everyone, for any length of time. Not only did he have the determination to make practical use of dome technology, but he was always thinking and positing about new, simple solutions to common problems of our society. I attended a couple evening lectures, which were crowded with the public because so many had heard about him. After going on and on with facts, inventive ideas, and humor, he stopped about 11 pm. He considerately suggested that anyone who had enough might want to leave, and then he started up again (with about half the crowd) and talked until midnight. He was quite unforgettable.

FROM J.L. IN MICHIGAN: That is definitely true.....I don't get caught up in belief....just faith. I have my own faith, I don't use someone else's belief!