Dear Editor – Science thinking and religious thinking has changed over the centuries concerning origins of the universe, evolution of human and other species, the solar system’s size and other profound matters.
Just think! Women and men were created by an all loving God to engage in bringing forward an ever advancing civilization.
If one were asked to define a woman and a man one would probably first reach for the dictionary to see what is written.
However, what we should understand about all dictionaries is they are history books; they define or teach us how to understand what we see, think, and as we walk through our world, the manner in which something may be experienced.
Current, rather, advanced 21st Century definitions of humans is more along the following lines of thought. Women and men are complex thinking, feeling, self-moving, electro-chemical organisms, existing in an ever evolving space-time environment, having a historical past, and a projected-future; both are endowed with a divinely ordained everlasting soul, currently experiencing a material existence as a development enhancing process for spiritual existence in the other worlds of God.
Also, however, the world of action has taught us a thought system of judgement, defensiveness, attack, and condemnation. And it is that way of thinking and acting which needs to change.
Women and men are like two wings of a bird, both wings must function together in order to serve its purpose for being from the beginning of recorded history men have and are still making the same mistake of advocating the inferiority of women and all that pertains thereto.
The dawn for enlightenment has emerged out of the shadow of darkness where both women and men are like a mirror that is capable of reflecting the sun’s brilliance in equal proportions.
Spiritual growth is about learning and unlearning. As we meditate we unlearn a destructive point of view.
We have been given a Centre where it has been continually stated, over the ions of human existence, that there is more than we think there is to our being. In other words we are spiritual beings.
There are millions of people in the western, eastern and pacific island world who wish to discover through common sense the underlying mystical unity that is the love of God but to achieve that end they have to unlearn religion as it currently is taught.
Our supreme, greatest challenge is to move toward practicing the religion of our FOUNDERS instead of the religion about the Founders.
Some people are brought up to define faith as adherence to a set of beliefs; some now see faith as openness to truth, whatever truth may turn out to be but, I would dare say, under all circumstances, it excludes killing our fellow girls, women, boys and men with bombs, bullets, blades, or, as in some cultures, by any other so called necessary means to regain a man’s honour. The moment comes when one is obliged to jettison old beliefs.
Someone once made a snide remark ‘’in the case of most belief systems they are very material because you can’t even get them going without eating, drinking and swimming.”
Yesteryear worshiping the faith of one’s ancestors, people were instructed to pray, pay and obey and if you acted contrarily to that pattern of thinking you may have signed your death warrant, as in past politically inspired religious inquisitions.
Today, it should be clear that knowledge is as wings to women’s and men’s life, and a ladder for their ascent. Its organisation is incumbent upon everyone; I’m disturbed when I see primary school-age children not in school when I know that it is the time of the day when they should be.
In truth, formal education is a veritable treasure for all people, whether in the bush, or an island or continent, and a source of glory, of bounty, of joy, of exaltation, of cheer and gladness to people; Happy are they who have it and to one’s consternation who doesn’t “through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you” 11 Peter 2:3.
Every school, especially primary, should have a library overflowing with useful books and *magazines to name a few categories such as music, *National Geographic, *Scientific American, *Mechanics Illustrated, science, geography, photography, *Popular Science, art, architecture, philosophy, sociology, world and local history, and sculpture to successfully expose children to creative and analytic thinking as described by Piaget, Montessori and Steiner as opposed to being excessively engaged in sports and the use of games media as an agent for social development.
One observer of the way children in kindergarten and lower grades are being educated in current government religious, and private sponsored institutions, and, unfortunately with parental consent, noted “I fear (due to the excessive use of social IT gadgets) we soon will have a world of dysfunctional idiots,” incapable of maintaining logical conversation or writing comprehensible presentations of information.
For instance, the international language for finance is English, the world’s business community is moving towards English as the international auxiliary language to one’s mother tongue, at one time in England the system for measuring items was based on the physiognomy of the monarchs and kings and eventually Western Europe adopted the inch and pound system, but now although the United States of America slowly is making the change over the adopted universal system of weights and measures will be the metric system.
Given all of the changes over the past centuries, no person should leave home without having experienced formal education at least through form 7 to be able to functionally cope with economic conditions in today’s world, the writer is open for discussions on this matter.
Don Boykin
Tasahe
