We have such a strict taboo on discussing politics and religion in our country. In fact many funding agencies for non-profits restrict these conversations with threat of loss of nonprofit status. In fact, churches are not allowed to endorse candidates for that reason.. Schools are not allowed to have prayer, and even talk of God had been looked on with terror.
I remember when I entered into the arena of education. I had already sucessfully completed a PhD in Neuroscience, but was appalled at the mania around medicating children for ADHD. A focus of my research as a scientist was on how the attention systems in the brain operate and how they develop. I have written on this subject in other forums, and so won't spend time on it now. One of my first classes I took when I entered education, included field work, where we would act as assistants in a classroom. This was early childhood, and so I was in a preschool class. There was one boy who was very curious, and somewhat excluded from the rest of the group. He liked to follow me around while I took notes. He had a little clipboard, and would copy everything I did. I was formally trained as a scientist, and so we know about observation without interference, but of course, this is education, so I would think I should interact with this kid. One day before class, I happened to be walking into the building and found a little notebook. Being a total cheapskate that I am, I picked it up and thought it would be perfect to take notes. I had some writing in it in a childs hand. It said, "The Bibel was made by God." I made my way into the class, and my little assistant showed up right away. He was curious about my new notebook and asked, "What does that say?" I told him, making sure to pronounce the word "Bibel" as it was spelled. "Bib" "El" Nothing else happened in the conversation relating to God or the Bible, but the next day I was called in for a little "talking to". Apparently someone had been watching me from behind the two way mirror and was horrified that I had been teaching about God. Sharing this story now, we have only become more hysterical and restrictive about conversations around God and politics in schools and social society. This is not right. If we are to assist our youth in making sense of the world around them, these are the two most important topics we could possibly discuss. There is a difference between honoring differing perspectives and promoting a particular view point. We should allow more conversation, more discussion, more ideas. Isn't that the definition of Diversity and Inclusion? When we silence everyone, isn't that fascism? The purpose of this post it to date the time when Consciousness Explorations is no longer tied to the Non-profit The Community House Network. This is critical because one of the funding sources that I have been utilizing is called Benevity. This source has you sign a lengthy statement that you will not break any of the acceptable standards of inclusion, that you will not affiliate with politics or religion, and if you do these things you will have to give back any monies you were donated. I don't know if they would ever come after me. but I don't want to take the chance. The reality is that I want the freedom to share whatever is on my heart in these posts, and right now I am feeling called to delve more deeply into politics and religion. In "The Teachings of Buddha" by Bukko Dendo Kyokai, he states there are 7 teachings which lead a country to prosperity: First, people shoudl assemble often to discuss political affairs... Whether Buddhism is a religion or a philosophy of life, we must start to allow these discussions to take place in our public forums. We have to increase communication, not silence conversations, or label them as misinformation. For this reason I am in the process of formally disassociating my non-profit with this Consciousness Explorations project. This will lead to freer expression, which is critical for spiritual development. These aspects of oneself are so deeply intertwined, I expect there will be dozens of entries on why this is the case, and it is my hope that these conversations will begin to open doors to others who have focused solely on their spirit, keeping them disconnected from the social order and therefore likely disconnected from their earthly purpose.
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