1 mo time spirituality, religion and the government

Fri Jan 9 16:29:12 CST 2009

I would suggest that people take a look at the most recent version of
Zeitgeist the movie which I have recommended in the past
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/  the new version is on the left and I find it
much more accessible to folks and not so offputting as the former. However,
a short look at the old one to the right on this site is worth the trouble
as after about 10 minutes you get to George Carlin's brilliant piece about
God. They also do a fine job of showing you the natural phenomenon out of
which all religions based on the Christ-like deity are based.

The latest version from this Fall includes much of the Venus Project which
puts the lie to the lies about scarcity.  Most religion depends on
maintaining the myth of scarcity in this world and tend to play off or
emphasize the rich vs the poor without any recourse to the reality of how to
end this struggle other than the promise of the other world.

What if there was really enough to go around basically at no cost of food,
shelter, transportation, and communication and education all easily
available ? What if there was no need for work and at the same time, people
could choose some form of service or creative venture as they wish? What
then. Paradise here on Earth. No crime, as with abundance, no one wants for
anything.

We have already developed technologies that can be the magic wand or the
sword with which we cut our mortal bonds to this earth.  There has never
been a time like this with so much available to so many.

Buckminster Fuller spoke about this back in the late 50s early 60s and most
of his work was about demonstrating this. His world game which is still
conducted annually is all about this. The only thing which prevents this
paradise is the awakening of people to who we are and what we already have
and what we are capable of when we work together. Those who continue to
project the false notion of scarcity think they are protecting us and
themselves at the best. At the worst, they deliberately hover guardedly over
their hordes and go to their graves rich in things and impoverished in
spirit. There really is no money at all that means anything other than a
version of debt and so the entire world is working on trust anyway with no
real basis for the main means of exchange, money. So what would happen if we
told the truth? Who Shall Survive? The truth shall set us free.

Blessings, all, Bud

On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 11:38 AM, Ivo Banaco <ibanaco at gmail.com> wrote:

> Great material Regina. Our discussing is evolving to something I think (by
> the way I think the discussions should always lead to something, but as we
> all know...mostly they don't...).
> If I would make such a statement as (this is not mine originally...but I
> don't know from who it is...if someone knows...): "We are not human beings
> living spiritual lives, but spiritual lives living an human being
> experience". If we were to assume that we are a universe being or a Cosmic
> being (nothing special after all, as we are I think in the Universe/Cosmos),
> may I ask how would you re-frame your latest post Regina (and others as
> well)?
>
> On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 3:38 PM, REGINA SEWELL <sewell.2 at osu.edu> wrote:
>
>> After Cynthia's discussion of the youtube video
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTb2kp9Y4Is
>> I forced myself to watch it.  and I had to force myself to watch it. I
>> know that place of what Cynthia dubbed spiritual hunger.  I know that place
>> of resistance.  But we've reframed resistance in our psychodrama world, no?
>> Haven't we decided perhaps that resistance is just lack of warm up.  and
>> might there be valid reasons for lack of warm up?  Like we, or someone else,
>> is pushing us into a role that we don't want or that we don't have adequate
>> skills or tools to occupy, or we think we don't have adequate skills or
>> tools, but we try to do it anyway because we think we "should" and then - to
>> steal for Ellis - we end up "shoulding all over ourselves."
>>
>> So the political consequences of spirituality - or lack there of - I think
>> are dependent on the tenets or myths or misunderstandings that one
>> subscribes to.  Not just the leaders - though they certainly have incredible
>> power to shape social rhetoric - but the peeps as well...  I personally lost
>> at least $10,000 in a break-up because a majority of people in Ohio felt
>> moved by their spiritual convictions to deny the rights of marriage to
>> unmarried people and denied marriage to same sex couples.
>>
>> As Ivo notes - truth is a slippery thing.
>>
>> And yet, most if not all spiritual traditions, talk about love,
>> compassion, cooperation and sharing, the significance of forgiveness and the
>> importance of living and being in community - acknowleding one's connection
>> to something greater than oneself, even though leaders, preachers, imams,
>> rabbis, etc may use different vocabulary.  Even the ego that they talk about
>> in the video - Eckart Tolle drones on about ego for pages - which is very
>> similar to the idea that yogi gurus talk about and that the buddists talk
>> about in terms of attachment and aversion and very similar to what Reinhold
>> Neibuhr (a lutheran minister/existentialist philosopher) talked about when
>> he talked about sin - of "missing the mark"
>>
>> So, perhaps, as Rebecca and Cynthia suggest - the catch is how do we help
>> people feel connected to self and other - not just to the people who look
>> like them and smell like them - but to others in a broader net?  and how do
>> we provide and maintain a sense of community in a post industrial world
>> where it's easier and easier to connect (I can log on to Facebook and tell
>> people what I'm doing right now) but harder to connect in a deeper
>> meaningful way (there is a limit to the number of words I can use, and most
>> people lie or write something trite, goofy or something "wittty" - ie Regina
>> is imaginig that she's sailing on the caspian sea).  Most of us are simply
>> so busy coming and going that we don't have a chance to "be" where we are.
>> If we mandate it, then is it real?  If I'm praying to a god that demands
>> that I pray to when that government tells me to pray, am I really connecting
>> to the divine?  And if I'm a true believer but live the lower ranks of the
>> economic system in a capitalist country and my perceived need to earn a
>> living precludes my desire to practice my spiritual ritual, how do I keep my
>> practice going?
>>
>> peace,
>>
>> regina sewell, ph.d.
>>
>>
>> regina sewell, Ph.D.
>>
>>
>
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