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Why Spiritual Thinking?
By
Shaun Michael Samaroo
Ideas
make up the building blocks of this world civilization. The
foundation of this world system constitutes ideas. Human society stands on
this foundation of ideas, erect like a strong building that houses every
human being in humane living. Some
of these ideas in our generation include human rights, material progress,
happiness, liberty, meritocracy, social justice, peaceful co-existence, and
democratic economic and social opportunity for every person. And I
believe that every person should strive to live to understand these ideas,
and all the important ideas that define humanity. I call
this quest for understanding powerful ideas, Spiritual Thinking. The
concept comes from the Bible, where history records that the wisest man known
in history, Solomon, sought understanding as his way of life. If we
can understand why certain ideas define our space and time, then I believe we
can live more passionate and fruitful lives. We see
these powerful underlying ideas - that so define our lives - projected
through popular culture, mass economy, social ethics, moral behaviour and
normal lifestyles. We see the ideas at work in the definition of our space
and time. The
average person born in this world lives concerned only with his or her little
circle. But we need to widen our perspective. We need to teach our children
to broaden their thinking, to look beyond their own small world, to take in
history and question the definitions of life handed to them by the previous
generation, and by history. This
way, we can guard ourselves against building an artificial civilization,
while mistaking it for ‘progress’. We
need to understand these ideas that erect the foundation and hold up the
structures that make up this world system. Of the
six and a half billion people in the world today, more than five billion live
dogged lives. These people, these individual persons who are our kith and kin
in the human family, live suffering lives. Why? I
believe masses of human beings live wasted lives because some of the ideas
that hold up world civilization contribute to inhumane living. World
civilization seems to be an artificial civilization. The
ideas that have become our cornerstone - our presuppositions of life - have
built an artificial civilization that destroys the natural wonder of
creation. Machines
like cars and computers; landscaped environments that conform to by-laws;
concrete and iron roadways; brick houses and glass offices; air polluted with
industrial waste; chemicals in our water and food – all these make up a
civilization that mirrors an artificial abstract painting. Thus,
nature has been transformed from a vibrant, alive creation into a sterile, monolithic
and monochromatic artificial monument. We
gaze at this - our world - in wonder, but get back to our technology to make
more artificial stuff, living without wonder or joy or love or kindness for
each other. This artificial
civilization encourages dualism, or anti-thesis thinking: it is either this
or that – make your choice. But
Spiritual Thinking tells us that every human being born on this earth can
live fruitful lives of passion and joy and love, knowing kindness and the
embrace of their fellow humans. Spiritual
Thinking asks us to understand why these popular ideas define us and our
space and our time. Should
we work hard to foster and nurture Spiritual Thinking alongside emotional and
rational thinking, the world would be a better place, indeed. The
concept of Spiritual Intelligence is taking root in this artificial world
civilization, following a thesis published by Dr Danah Zonar in the year
2000. But we
have to be careful that we define Spiritual Thinking in a way that is
historically proven. I
believe that historical records have proven that the Judeo-Christian
teachings best embody Spiritual Thinking. In the
Bible, and in small communities of Judeo-Christian believers all over the
world today, we can see the beauty, joy, love, kindness and living vibrancy -
the passion - of Spiritual Thinking being lived out in fruitful lives. Let us
embark on a journey of questioning these ideas that define us in this
generation. Let us
ask ‘why’ and seek sincere answers. If we
understand the power of the ideas that define our humanity, then this
spiritual thinking would help us to design our space and time for fruitful
living. Then
every human being can embrace his or her created divine passion. Copyright @2006 Shaun Michael Samaroo |
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