I have long hoped to turn this website into both a spiritual place and an educational one; no matter the topic. I have asked for help in this regards and am learning through faith, that it will be in his time and in his way, not in mine. With that said, I wanted to share with you a few things that have appeared in my life in the last few days. Hopefully, I can bring to you what my desire has been all along, an education in facts, and in, and with spirituality. The Fourth of July had me thinking about America, so today’s topic will be her.
I will begin by letting you know that in nearly every face to face, and personal conversation, that drifts towards politics, or need for change in today’s society, I ask what I think to be a very important question. Before I tell you what that question is, I will let you know that I have not received one yes, to this point. I find it very sad, that in a year of conversations of freedoms, of need for change, of laws and policies, not one person has said yes to “Have you ever read the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States of America, or the Federalist Papers?”.
I find it even sadder to think how these individuals are forming their opinions, or where they are getting their information from. I myself have found several articles stating that a popular social media website, banned on the Fourth of July, all or part of one of our founding documents as hate speech. I wonder why. I came across another website or article, in which the author, uses bits of text, without context, to try to prove that our founders were either not religious, or did not want religion attached to government. They went so far as to say, that our founders made sure to not mention God in our founding documents. I am finding in the re-reading of our founding documents, and in the reading of letters back and forth between the founders, that this could not be farther from the truth.
I recently watched a learning video with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a well-known spiritual leader. In this video, he was asked what this world needs, he responded as follows: “We need to spiritualize the politics, socialize the business, and secularize the religion”. He goes on to further explain what he means by this statement. He says that in the secularizing of religion, we need to not think that our religion is the right and only one. That all religions have in common the existence, and faithfulness to God. He goes on to say that in socializing business he only means that every business should have an aspect in which they are giving back, in which they are doing something of benefit for humanity and the planet. And well, I think we can all understand putting the spiritual (the Spirit of Love, of morality, and of the Divine) back into politics.
I wholeheartedly agree with his statement above, and believe that our founders attempted this in the founding of our nation. We see the spiritual in the politics in the mention of Nature’s God and Divine Providence in our founding documents, we see the socializing in the business when they pledge to each other their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honors, and lastly, we see the secularization of religion in the first amendment “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. It was not that our founders were not religious, it was that they knew better than to have a national religion, or to stop people of any religion from worshiping God. I hope in future posts to delve into more of our founding, as I think it important to truly know where we came from before we make decisions on where we are going.
I am attaching a link to a website for all to read the Declaration of Independence. My first hope is that you all take a few minutes and read it, especially if you have never read it before. My second hope is that you will not only see that Nature’s God is mentioned in the first paragraph, but also that “Divine Providence” is mentioned near the end. By the way, Wikipedia says this about Divine Providence “In theology, divine providence, or just providence is God’s intervention in the universe. The term “Divine Providence” is also used as a title of God”. My third and last hope is that if there are questions in what we are reading, that a discussion can start about context. We may find we need to go to other documents to find complete context. Here is the link: http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/ please enjoy.
As always I am here waiting for you to join in. I only ask that when you join in, you do it with love in your heart and in a positive, constructive way. For if we are to ever heal we must begin “to love our neighbors as ourselves”, only then will we find our way to compromise.