From Channel 4, NBC, in Washington, D.C.:
PBS Nightly Business Report:
Glad tidings! I finished my course yesterday. It was about Vastu, um, Sthapatya Ved — er, Fortune-Creating ® Buildings.
I’m going to let the videos explain. They feature Jeffrey Abramson, whom I know as a long-time acquaintance, discussing the application of the principles of ancient Vedic architecture and modern Green approaches in the design and construction of his family’s newest office building, 2000 Tower Oaks, in Bethesda, Maryland, which opened in 2008.
In the 1990’s, Margaret and I attended a fundraiser in Jeffrey’s mansion in Maryland, which was among the very first Fortune-Creating ® homes built in the United States, to raise money to build the first office building in the U.S. built according to the ancient principles for Fortune-Creating ® buildings to house the activities for teaching the Transcendental Meditation program in Bethesda, Maryland. Margaret and I were founding donors.
Anyway, Jeffrey’s a good man who acts and speaks from entirely positive intentions. I know that conservatives are wary of the Green movement because parts of it have been hijacked in order to destroy capitalism. However, there are people and groups who support Green ideals and programs while being entirely supportive of capitalism — Jeffrey and the people behind the Fortune-Creating ® buildings are among them. I am saying this from knowing them for 30-ish years and the fact that their capitalistic can-do spirit and creativity have made Fairfield, Iowa, the entrepreneurial hotbed for the state. (ABC’s “Nightline” was going to run a story on Fairfield and Fortune-Creating ® buildings tonight, but they bumped it. They don’t post the video and embed code until after they run the story, so I’ll write about it when they do.)
By the way, I’ve attended meetings in 2000 Tower Oaks, Jeffrey’s Fortune-Creating ® building featured above, and was on one of the first tours he led. It really is a delightful place to be — nourishing, kind, joyful. I really felt like I sparkled inside when I was there. I absolutely believe him when he says his employees are eager to come to work in that environment.
Update, 1/9/10, Sat.: When Jeffrey refers to something being “in accordance with natural law,” or “laws of Nature,” he is talking about actual laws of science — such as spherical harmonics, Super String Theory, Grand Unification Theory, and so on — and phenomena observed by science, such as research showing the firing of the neurons in the hypothalamus of the human brain is affected by the direction the person is facing. He is NOT alluding to the concept of “natural law” invoked by various religions, philosophies, monarchies or totalisms to create the illusion that their authority is divine and people must do what they say.