Having (almost) completed the course, I would like to give you the opportunity - in addition to the formal evaluations you should complete for all courses - to give me immediate feedback.
What have you found most interesting in the course of our study so far?
Since the focus of my education is addressing spiritual trauma and helping people find healing of their spirits through discovering what really works for them, I have spent some time evaluating what I have learned in terms of spirituality and the way it has developed through the civilizations we have studied. My observations come from my own struggles to find spirituality that is real and to come to terms with my own Christian upbringing and the devastating effects it has had on my life. I am seeing the issues of spirituality as part of the encompassing issues facing our world today. I am acutely aware that my views on religion and my experience on religion are mine. Anyone who is thinking I am “selling” something couldn’t be farther from the truth. It is the “selling” of religion to others that is another part of the problem. I am learning so much that confirms what I have suspected all along and I am also coming to terms with the whole idea of looking at history. At my age you would think I had already addressed these things, but I have not. It is difficult to look at the history of human beings and not wonder what happened to common sense. I wonder what they were thinking in a lot of what was happening. What happened to the wisdom they had acquired from the ancients? I also wonder why we are facing the issues we are facing when we have such vivid examples of what not to do. If I can figure it out, why can’t our leaders? I see the positives and they are great. But, I also see what should be changed, especially when it leads to the suffering of other beings. I am not ignoring the wonder and beauty of our world; I am looking at what can be done to make the bad better. I am discussing it, looking at it and trying to understand what the problems are so they can be solved. How to integrate solutions is also a challenge. Study is necessary, too. I think that is probably my main goal in my studies and my chosen vocation. To help heal our world in whatever way I can.
The most interesting things I learned in this course are the ways that humankind has evolved spiritually and how we have developed religions to give form to our beliefs. It is most interesting how we managed to diverge from the truth and simplicity of our understanding that we are of the earth and of the spirit. The essence of this knowledge is captured in ancient traditions and in many sacred books before the time of religion came to be. A return to the simple truths are necessary for us to start healing our world because if we do not respect and reverence her, the Earth our Mother, as a living being who supports our lives and gives us life, we will not care what we do to her and that endangers all life. Turning back to a simpler spirituality and taking care of our Earth, we will heal and once again begin to treat all life with respect. This course has convinced me that my beliefs are right on. Love is the point and being loving is the purpose. Anything less, is, well you can plainly see the results, as our history shows, of what happens when we depart from the fundamental truths of life here.
Finishing chapter 9 and 10, I would add that I was profoundly moved and saddened to find out about the “creation” of Christianity. I was so indoctrinated to believe that Christianity was original and the one true religion and that all things Jesus were exactly as were stated in the Bible, that it was almost impossible to consider any other alternative to it as valid for my life. It took a total burnout for me to consider breaking from it and when I did, I discovered the dupe I had been sold. These chapters bring home the dupe very clearly. I know the whole thing is a hoax and the extent of this hoax has had absolutely devastating results on the entire world. The deification of an avatar or to make factual things that are not based in reality a law or a tenet that must be believed by “a leap of faith” causes many mentally unstable reactions in the psyche.
For instance, believing that Jesus was born of a virgin, is not logical and does not fit with what we know are the natural laws. I do not believe that such a thing happened. To believe that Jesus was the Son of God, although it sounds really incredible and wonderful, is not based in the reality of what we understand about Spirit and what Spirit can do in the temporal plane. It is true that praying to Spirit by any name is praying and a return of same measure comes back to you by the spiritual principle of our relationship to Spirit as spirits, but to understand prayer, spell-working, meditation, etc. in terms of spirit is more congruent with how Spirit works with us. No matter who you address as God, your heart is still addressing the supreme energy of Love. That is what gets answered. I figured that out when I began to ask the Goddess, St Frances and other named Spiritual figures for help in their perspective areas of expertise. I think it is not possible for the created dogma of religious thought to be congruent with reality and thus, it creates a pseudo reality that, according to quantum thinking, you have because you believe it. You miss out on the peace, balance, love and possibility of being simple, and connected to nature and to Spirit in that reality. Learning how Spirit works without religious trappings is extremely challenging when you have been indoctrinated so intensely like I was. It has taken years for me to detoxify from Christianity. It is taking me much time to dig deeply into the inner places and root out the fallacies and wrong thinking and to discard it, replacing it with the true Earthly/Spiritual understanding. The religious thinking, since it was actually a government, is also integrated into Western Civilization. How the thinking operates in the lives of its participants is like a spider that looks for specific information in the Internet. Its tentacles reach into every corner looking for the specific address needed and it is integrated into the fabric of the Internet. So it is with religion in Western thought. The whole thing is woven into our culture and so much of the Roman way is also working with it, like it was in the beginning. I am detoxifying from it as well. In my opinion this education has brought me into an understanding that all that we live by is part of the dupe and we have lost the meaning and beauty of our world. I want it back and I am going to do my part to influence positive change in the flawed thinking that most of us don’t realize we are living in, toward truth and to heal. We must realize how much we need to develop global community and a serious program of preservation for our living planet.
The departure from Earth/Spirit centered living to the fabricated formation of religious dogma and its resulting separation of humankind from nature has cost us so much. In the name of the religions and their created gods, the holocausts of species, races, female persons, cultures and more have left us with the troubles we face each day. I know nothing is perfect. Mankind has had many issues with how he deals with his brothers and sisters and how he deals with his world. I am saying we are intelligent beings and are fully capable of realizing where change needs to occur. Our religions are probably the most important influence on our laws and what we do to participate in destruction or our world on multiple levels. Not including the population that just doesn’t care and is not religious, who act out unacceptable activities, greed is a human condition, but to consider what influence the religious dogma has had on the thinking of its people and what that has caused as a result upon our world is quite intense. We see our world suffering, the people, the animals and the land being devastated by false primacies and beliefs about reality and the fundamental acceptance of greed as the under garment of life. Religions, from what I can see in these discussions in our text, are unhealthy, cause mental instability and are destructive constructs created to control and take from the people and the land. Under their precepts, tremendous crimes against most life-forms have been perpetrated. By religious degree, certain of mankind believe that they have the right to do their will without regard for the future or other’s rights to exist, too. I can’t imagine what the world would be like if the women had been able to take their place as the holders of the traditions, the keepers of the land and the respected counselors of the men. What would it be like if all humankind still reverenced the Earth and kept her strong for the future of all life? I am sure there will always be problems, but maybe the destruction and greed that are considered “acceptable” today would not have been condoned.
Power, control, greed and other negative mindsets are intoxicating and I think we are all vulnerable to the same bad decisions we see our corporate, government and other leaders making. I believe it is a conscious choice to make the right decisions and that the each of us must decide what we will accept in ourselves, given any temptation. It is interesting that the choices made by the Church leaders have had such a profoundly negative impact on our world. Although there are many good things, I think they are tainted with wrong thinking, fallacies and untruths. I think a simple truthful, honest, real response to life in the context of reality is the best we could have and I think we have lost that in many ways through these religious constructs we think are true and real when they are not.
What have you found least interesting in the course of our study so far?
The least interesting thing I have learned is not possible to say. I find all the things I studied and learned about to be essential to my education. I value the fact that I am of a mind to receive this knowledge because when I was younger, I had no interest in any kind of history at all. I avoided it. Now, I see how important it is to look at mankind’s history so each of us can see how and why it went the way it did. Maybe we can learn to be better as we see how we failed and maybe we could keep the good we achieved, delete the bad or change it for the better and to continue to develop more good. It is sure that humankind is fallible, but it is also sure that some of us really try to make sense of things and to do what is the loving thing to do to help our world heal. We are a growing minority and I hope we will become a vast majority before it is too late.
Was this a rewarding learning experience? Yes.
What made it a good experience?
The subject matter was informative. It was rich in facts and not wordy. The books used were wonderful. The assignments were very interesting and fun to do. The discussions, the essays and the portfolio were all great. I enjoyed a subject I didn’t expect to like and came away from this course much more open to learning in this area of academia. The focus on the humanities, arts etc, was just right for me to learn the history presented. I liked the way I got lots of information about the peoples of ancient times along with the wonderful contributions they made to the humanistic tradition.
The experience in writing was exceptional as the exercises gave me opportunity to improve my writing skill as well as my knowledge of the material. Great critiques!
Was this not a rewarding learning experience?
Certainly, there is nothing not rewarding about it! It was a very positive and good experience and has inspired me to be open to other opportunities to explore the humanities as my education progresses. Maybe in Psychology, the humanities will play a role in looking at the past to make the future better. I believe it will.
Personally, for me, the amount of work in this course was much more than I usually have for courses like this. But, it was much richer than other courses, too. So, the amount of work verses time did cause me some difficulty, but because I felt it was worth it, I did everything I could to give it my best. It was, however, a lot of work!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment