CULTURES – Soul of a Nation

 

3,000 years on, China’s oracle bones shed new light on evolution of script

 

“Character is the backbone of our human culture. Music is the flowering of character.” – Confucius

“What is God-given is called nature; to follow nature is called Tao (the Way); to cultivate the way is called culture. Before joy, anger, sadness and happiness are expressed, they are called the inner self; when they are expressed to the proper degree, they are called harmony. The inner self is the correct foundation of the world, and the harmony is the illustrious Way. When a man has achieved the inner self and harmony, the heaven and earth are orderly and the myriad of things are nourished and grow thereby.” – Confucius

The Importance of Culture
http://presidentxiandpresidentputinwillsavetheworld.com/the-importance-of-culture/

CULTURES – Soul of a nation

CGTN
Oct 20, 2019

Culture is the soul of a nation. The power of culture is deeply embedded in the vitality, creativity, and cohesion of a nation. The resilience of Chinese culture is forged with blood, fire and pain; its spirit is dyed red with the blood of countless martyrs. Today Chinese culture is becoming increasingly influential, and the world is seeing a real, multi-dimensional and comprehensive image of China.

 

Impacts of globalization on China’s cultural heritage and cultural identity
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201901/09/WS5c354bfda31068606745f9e4.html

Through four decades of economic opening and global connectivity, economic prosperity has come to China. Starvation is no longer a problem in most Chinese cities, but Chinese people are not happier than before. With the accumulation of wealth, their anxiety level rises instead. It’s not just China, but all countries of the world. You need materialism, but materialism alone is not enough. You also need spirituality, you need culture. Way back when the reforms began, in the 80s, Deng Xiaoping talked about something. He said that you need material civilization, you also need spiritual civilization. Right now, many Chinese have acquired a degree of comfort, and many have acquired wealth.

“We have to understand that culture is something that is essential to a people’s development. If people understand the roots of their heritage and culture, if the roots of the tree are deep, regardless of how big the storm, that tree will not fall; however, if the roots are shallow, the wind will knock the tree down.”

My late mother Lim Soon Hing said that if we don’t have culture we are cutting off our roots. We cannot live just for money, there are much more in life then just chasing money for money sake. My mother was sad that no one was willing to sacrifice to chase for a higher ideal, and hence this was how my journey had began searching for the unknown. I was and still is curious of the spiritual sphere or power.

My high ideal is to come out with a revolution universal spiritual education to give us the balance so that it will enrich our life. This special education will encompass the vary religions human values, like the little book Color of Harmony Circle which is a collection of stories and fables from various religions in Singapore.

We are not starting a new religion but what we need for the future generation is for them to have a foundation of the spiritual food. China foundation is Confucianism = social values and the world need something similar base on human values if not the evil Zionists through their Hollywood culture and Pope Francis will push for One World Religion worshiping SATAN!!!

The World must Dismantle the VATICAN, period!!!
http://sunflowerchongsunwah.com/the-world-must-dismantle-the-vatican-period/

 

WHY IS CHINA SOLID AS A ROCK?

The foundation of China stability is CONFUCIANISM.

The Relation of China’s Dream and the Human Dream https://www.learningfromchina.net/the-relation-of-china’s-dream-and-the-human-dream/

China is unique in that it is the only one of the powerful civilizations that is not founded on a religion. All the others – Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism – are religions. Confucianism is not. It is a system of social values.

Confucianism is a system of social values. I strongly believe the solution for the humanity to bring the world in Oneness is by creating a Universal Spiritual Education base on human values. Simply by incorporating the common human values of the vary religions like what the Singapore government had done for the book Color of Harmony.

This idea to explore spirituality did not come out of thin air but it was during a class discussion with our teacher. At that time in Singapore we have all kinds of schools for example the Christian schools, the Madrasah and the Buddhist schools. We asked our teacher were we learn spirituality like the other schools. But my teacher told us in a secular government they cut religions off from the main stream education hence religions were swiped under the carpet. But we believed it was very not wise because there will be a disconnect and in time to come there will be clashes of minds something like that….

Teacher said, “How can we work on such idealism when to open our mouth we are not allowed and if we dare to speak out we might get ourselves in hot soup. Moreover, racial, religious and politics are taboos subjects this mean the soul and consciousness are not the topics for discussion. So how can we built better understanding among all races?” I felt my teacher was very discouraged and they kind of surrendered to the system and just live for the pay cheque because they felt trapped in such a one way system. What I cannot forget was, teacher said that because we were not allowed talk on such matters one day people will explode.

I did not give up this dream because believe strongly we need a balance and spirituality is missing in the main stream education! When I presented the Butterfly Story to the teachers in Ngee Ann Poly were so excited and Mr Tan told Ms Kaur, “We can use it to teach the children on Harmony.” Here is a very long story to tell but I would rather leave it as it is instead I would like to share with you a section of my book on the importance to develop universal education in spirituality then maybe you will not think I am a crazy woman like most Singaporeans. Many people believe I am trying to create a new religion but far from it I am like Sandhguru working for the betterment of all humanity.

 

From part of my yet to be published book “My Spiritual Journey”

Thank goodness, I have anchored onto God’s love to save my good and loving soul and not the system to give me myself worth because I know my own worth. Life is not just about making money and more money. Success is not about what we have but what we have contributed to our family and society. It should not be linked to our materialize wealth, but rather to personal excellence and fulfillment.

Similarly our self-worth is not measured by money or who we know but ‘Who We Are’. I’m a soul, I’m God child; my existence is His gift of life to me. My direction is towards God. He is my strength and He is my love. I don’t need to worry if nobody loves me because God will always love me for who I am, for God love is unconditional. I promised God as a young child that if He helps me escaped from my childhood misery when I grow up I would not fail Him, instead, He will shine through my good deeds and I will carry His name wherever I go.

Therefore, I carry No doubt of His presence; instead I’m filled with hope and great faith as I follow His path. He has helped me to see that in the struggle of my life, there are also a lot of rewards and surprises. Most importantly, He has helped me to see that the struggle in life is a great challenge and this challenge creates excitement in my existence.

Being with God is to strive for greater humanity to make this world a better place for all. It is not by holding the Bible, Quran or great religious books that will make you a better person, but what you have learned and knows how to apply in life that will make you a better person. Don’t you realize a lot of intellectuals do not know how to apply what they have learned or read? What is the point to study when after studying you do not know how to use your brain to think with common sense, just like what had happened to the Swiss Air 111 incident in 1998? Instead of going straight for the landing as smoke was detected from the cockpit, the pilot went to the manual for guidance and because of that he got to turn back to dump the fuel as spelt out in the manual and before he could dump the fuel the whole plane went on fire and obviously the plane exploit and almost 250 people went down with it. Common sense tells us that once smoke is detected this means the sign of fire and fire spread very quickly and has no mercy for anyone. This is what I meant by after learning does not know how to apply his or her common sense to ratify the matter.

If you believe in God, you embrace goodness as your foundation and by wanting to strive to be a good human being you are already a successful being. By believing in God, He will instill wisdom and maturity in us with a deep understanding of the human needs. I strongly believe it is not too far fetch to bring out the idea that we got to work on ‘Universal Education in Spirituality’, especially after Sept 11 or do we need another Sept 11 with many more deaths before we are ready to act as one united force for the sake of humanity? Or we prefer to have more cult leaders sprouting from nowhere to take to the state of the minds of the future generation as the World bodies are so helpless and ignorance in regards to the people spiritual needs?

Look at Sai Baba followers; the people revered him even though he was known to be pedophiles. There are many examples we could relate to all these cult leaders. The World bodies must come together to gain back the respect and find the best way to feed the souls of the people as this is the food that the people are crying out loud for and it is highly needed in the mainstream education and not just outside the education system!

I like to touch on the subject of introducing religion to school by the Government. All these years the Government made sure race and religion will not be a topic of discussion because it is too sensitive as we are not yet a nation. Moreover, there are so many religions and for the Government to be fair to the people which religion are they going to implement or recommend to be followed if it is going to be introduced in school? Don’t you think we are looking for trouble when our multi-racial roots have not reached maturity and we have an IDENTITY image problem? Don’t the civil servants have other things better else to do or more important things to focus rather than playing with this New Fire or to stir the hornet nest? In a country like Indonesia, it is different because the majority believe in one religion. People with the same religion control the government body. That makes life easier to implement the new policy. But let us imagine if half of them have different religions, what will the consequences be? I dare not imagine that far because what I see is a catastrophe!! “Heaven and Hell in trouble” as the Chinese saying goes.

We cannot apply the method of other countries into our society or into the education system like religion because instead of creating a spiritual country we are creating more confusion for our children. The religious issue is not the role for the Government to lead neither should be with the Chinese language; it should be the role of the respective community or religious organizations.

The Government role is to govern and most important govern with a fair mind and hand to keep the country in harmony. We must not rush into it to introduce religious study in school provided it is a universal one that embraces human values teaching as its core of learning because it involves human feelings and human feelings are sensitive and unpredictable. I strongly believed the minds of the young Singaporeans are not ready and mature enough to absorb such complexity till we define and refine it as we go along to suit our present society.

We must not forget, in the course of history it has been proven to us that religion has caused a lot of unhappiness.

As long as we have a set of strong values for them to follow, I don’t think we need to go back to old roots, instead, we should be creative to come out with a unique universal education in spirituality to bond our body mind and soul. If the Government had not taken the Ethics lesson from the curriculum in the early 60’s I believed we will not be in this dilemma as this lesson will be the best opportunity to inculcate values, civic mindedness and last but not least imparting life experiences through sharing the teachers’ experiences with the youth. (And once a week lesson is good enough to share and impart all these precious teachings to them.) Therefore, instead of solving the degeneration problems of our youths, by introducing religious study we might without our knowledge be creating a bigger problem we could not handle that would affect the future stability of our country just like the 2 children policy!

In order for us to touch on this issue of religious study in school, we have to wait for our next generation to mature. They will be able to handle it better because they have one thing in common – they are born in Singapore speaking one common language. They live together as a community and have gone through the same education. By the time our arts reach maturity their hearts and minds will be closer to each other. They will then be able to handle and understand the more complex issue. Meanwhile, my advice to the Government is not to rush and do so many things at one time. We are not sure about our main language which direction we got to take and by introducing religious study don’t you think the Government will get their hands full!

 

Let me share with you what had happened to the religious dialogue that I had attended and the comments on Straits Times 13 August 1989.

Keep Religion Out

Several participants made it plain that they thought religion had no place in the school curriculum. For many of them, it was better to teach civics.

Businesswoman Chong Sun Wah, a single parent, said it was not yet time for Singaporeans to focus on religion when they had not yet fostered a sense of nationhood. It was important to bridge racial differences and learn each other’s values first, she said.

Roman Catholic priest and moral education specialist Robert Balhetchet, who has long been against the teaching of religion in schools said that religious teaching was the job of parents and religious organizations.

Agreeing, educationist Zaibun Siraj said it was unfair to leave some religious out, as was the case with the present religious knowledge course. She felt that civics, on the other hand, was better way of promoting good citizenship.

Proposal to Scrap RK Welcomed

I read with interest the Government parliamentary Committee for Education’s proposal to scrap Religious knowledge as a compulsory subject in secondary schools.

As an atheist, I welcome the proposal. I would like to draw your readers’ attention to what Bertrand Russell said about teaching religious knowledge and civics in school he ran in the United States in the late 1920s.

He said: “With regards to religion there is no religious teaching of any sort or kind. The children learn about the various religious of the world as historical facts, but no one religion is treated differently from any other.”

“As for teaching the brotherhood of man, I have the same objections that I have to explicit moral instruction in that it tends to produce either hypocrisy or rebellion. Morality must grow, it cannot be implanted by precept.”

R. ASOKAN

 

Make Religious Studies Part of ECA

I STRONGLY disagree with Madam Chong Sun Wah’s comment that it is not yet time for Singaporeans to focus on religion when they had not yet fostered a sense of nationhood (Sunday Times, 13 August 1989).

If now is not the time to focus on religion, when will the time be?

Students have been taught civics from primary 1 to secondary 2 and I think that they have learned enough. School is not just a place where students just study but also a place where they can learn to be better. Religious studies serve this purpose.

Living in this modern world, I think that it is essential to learn to be tolerant of other faiths and to live in harmony with other races. For example, Buddhism teaches us to live in harmony with all, regardless of race or religion, while Confucian Ethics teaches filial piety. Both have practical relevance in our daily lives.

Wouldn’t it be better to make Religious Knowledge an ECA rather than take it off the curriculum?

ALLEN KOO TECK CHYE

 

My Reply to Mr Koo Teck Chye

Dear Allen Koo Teck Chye,

Allow me to take the liberty of introducing myself. My name is Chong Sun Wah. I am an ordinary Singaporean of Chinese origin, without any paper qualification except born with lot of Common Sense, gut, confidence and determination to voice out my concerned for Singapore’s future.

I believe our leaders are going to create disaster not now but for our future generation if they go overboard by introducing religion as a study in all schools.

Past experiences had told us that they solved one problem but on the other hand they created another bigger one for the future generation, like the two children policy and the Chinese language. These two mistakes were still all right as it would not break the nation just slow us down. But for religious study we better watch where we are going as a people and nation for our children’s sake. If you are a visionary like me, I know that you will definitely agree with me?

My love and respect for country and our leaders are known by my friends that are closed to me, therefore when I voiced out my opinion it does not meant that I didn’t like the Government or I disapproved of the Government? I had taken great courage to speak up with feeling of love and concern for our children’s future. To be sure my aim is not misunderstood I want you to know that I believe in God. I just do not want the Government to introduce religious studies in Singapore to create more confusion or unnecessary problems where the presence of racial problems still existed. We Singaporeans are quiet lots not because we chose to be but more so because the environment is not conducive for us to speak our mind. Who wants to go to jail just for speaking out loud? But maybe it is good in a way that it forces us to be creative in our approach when we want to be heard by the Government. Do we have a choice?

It is my belief that the way to lasting happiness, stability and unity in our people is to search within us to find out where our true values lie? Do we really understand the significant of our existence in this world? What we really want our future to be as Singaporean? What is our proper function as a citizen?

It seems that Singaporeans never care to give a thought even how fleeting it may be, to such an important matter. Can it possibly be explained that we are too busy chasing after gain and success that we have almost lost our sense of consciousness. In my naked eyes since the 60s, 70s and early 80s all I can gather was that the Government only try to reach the goal of making money and more money instead of nurturing the souls of the nation. But didn’t the Government realize that money couldn’t buy everything, especially the goodness in a human? It needs to be nurture with the right kind of education.

Therefore to say that Singapore had succeeded I can’t fully agree with this statement. When Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yuan has stepped down (I mean really step down) and the PAP party still united and stick together than I believe Singapore don’t need any religious studies which will complicate our stability? I believe what we really need is to work on developing a comprehensive and concise Universal Spiritual Education by transforming Singapore pragmatic society into an art society, thus the Government must make art part of living.

Without doubt, political stability and economic prosperity do lead us to the heights of success, but the defeat is that they are also fraught with attendant social problems and imperfection because heartless Singaporeans are there-by produced. They show no concern for others except for personal advancement and greed. Besides, their avarice desire know no bounds, should this unhealthy behaviors become our life style for the next 25 years, just imagine what will the behaviors and metal outlook of our children, I won’t dare imagine!

Can’t we do something in time to put the matter right, instead of complicating it by introducing religious studies in all schools? Is it by introducing religious knowledge then we can have beautiful children? If we have a ‘Universal Religion’ then I would encourage the Government to implement it. Maybe we should look into such a possibility. What is going to be the universal religion to hold as together as One People, One Nation and One World? Singapore is not China whereby Confucianism is the foundation of the country or in short is like a religion!!

MY BELIEF

There is one religion
The religion of Love

There is one caste
The caste of HUMANITY

There is one language
The language of the HEART

There is one God
He is OMNIPRESENT

Yours sincerely,

Chong Sun Wah

 

Why Is Spirituality an Important Part of Life?

“What I believe is now essential for all those who are aware both of the danger and of the potential of the time is to plunge into the work of serious transformation that will fuse together profound inner work with passionate external radical action …It is crystal clear I think to anyone who sees the depth of the global predicament that we are in, that there can be only one way out now—the way of ‘mystical activism’. An activism that is not fed by mystical wisdom and stamina will wither in the fire of persistent and persistently exhausting disappointment and defeat and tend to create as many new problems as it tries to solve. A mysticism that is not committed to action within the world on behalf of the poor, of the oppressed and of nature itself condemns itself to futility at a time in which so much is at stake. Only the highest spiritual wisdom and tireless sacred passion for all of life united with pragmatic, radical action on all possible fronts can now help us preserve the planet.”

By Andrew Harvey

I had asked my teacher what is the solution for the world so that peace and harmony will prevail but instead of giving me an answer she said that men had failed God; so God was upset with humanity and therefore Prophet Mohammad would be the last messenger He will send to save our souls. I answered back, “So does this means that there is no hope for all of us?” I told my teacher that there is still hope for humanity because we would be the new messengers for God by being a ‘Modern Buddha’ – preached goodness, give kindness, conducted in fairness, strive for inner happiness, just like in the Buddhism teaching – live a simple life but with high ideal for humanity.

At those times my teachers could not understand what I was trying to say at that young age that for the world to be better we should work on universal education in spirituality because only then could peace and harmony prevail as I see all religions as one, striving for greater humanity and loving God thus wanting goodness in our heart, so why not put our heads together to come out with the right formula for peaceful souls to prevail?

If the secular Government got all the power in their hand why don’t they use it wisely instead of trying to control the minds of the people? They should LISTEN to the people by allowing us to speak up and the world will be a better place for all. What I am afraid most is that the cults seem to be appearing more and more and they are drawing the people’s attention. Have we asked ourselves why such a phenomena? If spirituality is what the people need why couldn’t the Government provide this spiritual food to them instead of letting the cult cultures take center stage? It can be dangerous if we do not pay attention in this area.

The Great Spirit in our soul will help us reach happiness for the world. My teacher and the whole class will just laugh at me when I talked with such belief and conviction for the world. They never took me seriously but I always take myself seriously. (Am I a sad human being reaching for the impossible? Sometimes I do wonder but fortunately only sometimes.) My teacher warned me that human can’t play God and Buddhism is different from Islam. What did she mean by it? I was more confused than ever? She continued to say that the world would go from bad to worst; what she really meant was that the future society will be a cold and heartless one without compassion for our fellowmen, except for themselves as the ‘Me’ factor will be a very strong influence in our life especially when the whole world embraced Capitalism as a newfound ‘Religion’. Capitalism just goes to the bottom line without any rule and thus lost the compassion, this means there is no hope for people especially the ordinary folk.

Do We Need to Redefine Spirituality At This Time And Age?

We must adopt a positive attitude and this means we must be proactive for the sake of the future generation. My gut feeling tells me that we need to draw more and more on this essence of ‘The Consciousness’. When you talk of Spirituality at this time and age, it is about the spirit of the people’s soul. Unfortunately, there are many people who seem to fear the very mention of the word ‘spirituality’ when it is no more than connecting with the God within us and connecting with each other from the heart. It’s the people spiritual connection, heart to heart and soul-to-soul drawn together by a strong belief and passion that will resonate the spiritual soul to reach ‘The Consciousness’.

I believe strongly that there is a need to redefine spirituality at this troubled time. Spirituality is not about religious teaching, it is all about the spirit of the people and WHD was born because the spirits were calling for one another through the collective consciousness.

World harmony is about a spirit, a spirit of willingness from each and every one of us to understand to respect and to uplift the others around us… humans, animals, plants…a spirit which makes choices based on the harmony of the whole [planet].

It is a spirit of peace, gratitude, righteousness…the spirit of loving-kindness and to bring blessing to our people. As we continue to do that, we tend to merge with more of Life, and more of ‘The Consciousness’ becomes present. This expands the potential for other possibilities.

All these beliefs and human values could be inculcated through a new way of education spiritual education and this is World Harmony Day goal to work on Universal Education in Spirituality. Do you think it is too tall an order that we have set for ourselves? Is it not time that we must explore in this area of spirituality as we are living in the era of the new renaissance.

Cosmo Offers Sex, Shopping and ‘Spirituality’

London – Is this a sign of the times? The British edition of Cosmopolitan, the glossy bible of sex and shopping for singles girls, has launched a new monthly column on ‘spirituality’.

“I’ve come to the painful realization that men and shoes are not enough to make me happy,” Ms Hannah Borno, the magazine’s new spirituality editor, wrote in the March edition.

“The key to true contentment lies elsewhere.” God and guidance would hardly seem to suit the “Cosmo Girl”. British media have mocked the magazine for asking what happens now after years of breathless stories about dressing sexy, finding men and having multiple orgasms. But Ms Borno, 32, said reader feedback that many young women longed for something more than the material life.

“Lots of women say, “I have a great job, I have a great relationship, so why am I unhappy?” “We already cover the mind and the body but we needed the spirit as well,” she told Reuters.

In the first spirituality section, Cosmo readers get advice on how to tap their dreams to hear their inner voice and make use of ancient Chinese meditation

techniques to think clearly.

“We’re looking at spirituality rather than organized religion because that’s where there seems to be a demand from our readers,” the editor said. That included reviewing books and examining if traditions such as Kabbalah, an esoteric Jewish mysticism embraced by Madonna, would help readers lead happier lives. However, the trend towards ‘supermarket spirituality’ has unnerved traditional churches.

Last year, the Vatican issued a long study arguing that the spread of new Age spirituality was an alarm bell for the Roman Catholic Church. With people taking an increasingly individualistic approach to faith, celebrities are seen as driving some of the latest spiritual trends, said Mr. Steven Waldman, editor-in-chief of the New York-based Belief net, a website on faith and spirituality. “They see that Madonna goes for Kabbalah, so they check it out. They see the Dalai Lama has a new book on how to ease stress, so they try it.”

Subject: Do It For Yourself

Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 11:14:39 -0000

Hi Greta and Sunflower,

I wish you every success with your project. I just wanted to say that whilst what you are doing is wonderful I think it is important that you are doing for yourself and not to try and change other people. Then you are evangelizing and it becomes a religion. We all know religions are more about control and power than about God. But that’s ok. It’s just another role than people pick in this game called life. That probably sounds selfish and it should be for everything we do, we do for ourselves.

I figure that everything is perfect and as it should be and if God wanted to change everything he would do so in an instance. I don’t doubt that she has the power to do so. What I am suggesting is to see the perfection in everything. Could our God have created anything other than pure perfection? It’s easier to do this when you see the illusion for what it is – As an opportunity. An exercise in living both sides of the coin in order to appreciate who we really are. So that we may know experientially what we already know conceptually. It’s pure genius. There is no other way to do this. However, if you choose to have these experiences of a united religion under the ONE God, that’s fine, but make that your experience and do that for you.

There is no such thing as objective reality. You make everything up as you go along and create whatever it is that choose. But, all of it is subjective. For as you choose, so shall it be. You might consider that the whole point of our lives here is to experience all kinds of things and it’s our differences that make this possible. Heaven is not somewhere we go. It’s here and now depending on our point of view. This is perhaps why not much has changed in thousands of years. Yes, we have evolved a bit and technology has made all sorts of things possible but in the main, we are primitive. We seem to have a huge need for power and control and most of us, live in fear. As a race of people, we are inhumane and kill each other with all manner of weapons. We have not understood spirituality and what it means. We think we are separate from God and from each other. The beauty of this exercise however, is that it’s just a game that we can play for as long as we need to.

When we reach a certain level of understanding and think we’ve had enough, there are countless other games to play. We keep playing them and then moving on. Then one day we may come right back to this game of ignorance and ‘not knowing’ in order to do it all over again. So we submit voluntarily to amnesia and start over. There really is nothing to do other than to live as we feel and to do the things that excite us whatever that may be. Or to live lives of quiet desperation depending on what we choose in this birth. Eventually, life teaches us all the lessons we need to learn.

In truth, there is nothing to learn for we know everything. We merely need remember. And in the remembering, lies the joy. All of us are blessed for we are gods and all of us are saved. Not one will be lost, as God never judges us for the parts we choose in this drama. To do so would be to judge her for we are one and the feeling of separation is an illusion. A useful one as it happens. Therefore, in this game, everyone’s a winner. God bless you.

Much love

Mo

 

Let’s Work On a Universal Education in Spirituality

Recently the Acting Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam talked about the need for holistic education? Why?

“It seem that we are nearing the point where we have exhausted the information that is available at this level of awareness. Humanity seems to have plumbed the depths of separation. We have already experienced seemingly every way there is to be selfish, isolated, violent, and divisive. My feeling is that humanity is on the verge of an evolutionary leap, transcending the experience of separation. At some point all the people with the same belief will merge and we will realize. Well, wasn’t that an interesting multi-experience we have had! I hope we can come closer to the apex point of merger that Life is becoming less and less divided for the sake of the future generation”.

“Humanity seems to have plumbed the depths of separation” –

The rule and divide is old paradigm and for the world to be united we got to shift to the new paradigm of sharing and caring by understanding the people’s needs. Therefore, firstly we got to understand that we have to share this One World for peace and harmony to prevail. (this one teacher often remind us.)

“At some point all the people with the same belief will merge and we will realize” –

This will happen when the collective consciousness take over.

“I hope we can come closer to the apex point of merger that Life is becoming less and less divided for the sake of the future generation” –

Provided the World communities work on ‘Universal Education in Spirituality’ with a core belief and value system embrace by the entire world.

 

Subject: Spiritual Education in Schools

Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2004 04:37:02 -0800

Yes, Sunflower,

I too have had that vision, as many of us that work for greater unity, beauty, harmony, love and spiritual clarity with the masses. It only takes for some of us to hold that vision for that ‘energy’ to become manifest in time. However, there is much dissention and ego in religion at this point in our evolution, and it is taking what in fact is taking place on many levels, for people to understand that our ways and paradigms must shift.

What you and I envision is what is indeed coming… although I can tell you with confidence that it will take much time, for the world has yet much healing to do. This is what my work is about and what I cover in my lectures. In fact, if you will check out the lecture topics (under about marcy roban at www.marcyroban.com- see lecture topics), you will see that I speak in schools trying to raise Consciousness. I feel that all of us that hold this vision must contribute what our heart’s passion – and we will see it manifest.

Blessings

Marcy

 

Sunflower,

You wrote, “I really wish there is a universal education in spirituality”. That is a great idea and I feel moved to do something with this idea. I have a lot to learn and this can help me. Maybe some other people may benefit as well but to start with, I’d do this for myself. Would you like to join me?

Love

Mo

 

Dear Sunflower,

Can education eradicate the conditions that breed hatred and antagonism around the world?

I feel that a universal spiritual education is so important and should be so integral to the educational experience. But what is most challenging is how we can eradicate poverty, desolation, racial strife, and other conditions that make people who live within those conditions powerless and thus feel the need to dream up such madness as killing people with bombs. How can we permanently impact the human mind and the human heart such that people will have the conscience to not take lives?

How can we touch our own hearts as well and transform ourselves as well. Because I believe that it is our lives, which is our true message not what we say but what we do. Our lives are our message. It is through us that God expresses himself in all his forms and shapes. It is us ultimately that will touch other lives and change them for better or for worse depending on what our example to them is.

Love

Royce

 

How to Teach Spirituality to Children?

“Metaphors, in the form of fairytales, parables and anecdotes, are consciously and unconsciously used by therapists in order to assist a client in making the changes he wants to make,” – David Gordon

“It is all too easy to dismiss fairy-tales, parables and anecdotes as flights of fancy, whimsical stories to worship local gods or laugh themselves to health or for a thousand and one purposes.

As individuals we are driven by the need both to express ourselves, to communicate what we know, feel and believe, and to explain to ourselves what the world means. The truth is out there and the imperative is to make sense of it.

Heinrich Zimmer has said of stories:

They are the everlasting oracles of life. They have to be questioned and consulted anew, in every age, each age approaching them with its own variety of ignorance and understanding, its own set of problems, and its own inevitable questions.

In other words, we each take the essential themes of life and embroider them into our own personal design. Traditional storytellers recognize a hierarchy of story types called ‘The Ladder to the Moon’, ranging from jokes, personal anecdotes and ‘shaggy dog stories’ through folk tales and historically-based legends to epics, sacred stories and creation myths. That ladder still links us to the cosmos.”

“Today I listen to the everlasting oracles of life” – Stephen Bowkett

There are so many ways where we could start to introduce the presence of spirituality to the children. The environment is a good start. Share with them the knowledge of the Creator and tell them why He had created this beautiful one world for humanity. From here you bring in the word ‘relationship’ to help them understand why we need one another. No man is an island. Ask them why the relationship is so important? Bring in the Asian values and family consciousness, then the community spirit and a nation pride and tell them why we need to be united so on and so fore. We also need to teach them how to share, care and love this one world through drama. Get one big ball, paint it into the color of the Globe; divided it into different continents and let them play with this big ball. Half way through this ball will break into many pieces and here is when you teach them how to share the world by getting each kid to put the pieces back together like a jigsaw puzzle or Legos. There are so many ways to reach out to the children and the best way to start is to bring the presence of the spirit to connect with their soul.

Another interesting way is through parable by creating an animation to reach out to the young ones. Tell them a successful person is one who strives to be a good human being. If they want goodness in their heart they are closed to God. If they want to reach God all they got to do is to cultivate a good heart. God is spelled with one O and good is spelled with two O. The double ‘O’ means the physical and spiritual self and when you put the two ‘O’s together the spelling of ‘Good’ become ‘God’. So this means God means Good and good means you are reaching God. Does it make sense to you? To me, it made every sense because this is the way we should introduce spirituality to the young – “The modern way of Thinking, Teaching and Talk to kindergarten children about Spirituality”.

Good is spelled with a double ‘O’ and God is spelled with one ‘O’ so draw the two ‘O’ like the eyes with long curly eyelashes. As the eyes blink the two ‘O’ will meet and within a second the word ‘God’ will appear in a sparkle and the eyelashes of the dove will gradually turn into the wings of the dove. The dove will fly to heaven and the letter of ‘God’ will appear in bright light giving hope to humanity. Then sun, wind, cloud, and rain will appear one after another and with a message as each element appear and end it with the beautiful full bright moon. Teach them the beauty of nature and we have a responsibility to take care of this one world. That was how my teacher had taught us.

This kind of education is very refreshing not only for the young mind but for the adult too. It allows them to question if their mind is inquisitive and curious about life. The whole idea is to show to the kids that in order to be with God we got to be a good human being. (It is just an idea, it is very raw but could be improved and expand on it.) To educate children we need to be very creative yet we must make it fun and interesting for them that the subject is not too heavy on their young mind.

Dear Mo,

Faiza daughter Azural is 9 years old. She came from a divorced family. She got another sister name Almira of seven years old. During the programme briefing at Fazai’s place I watched the two children, very quiet and Azure very strong will in a silent way.

Her mother insisted she should read a poem or sing a song on WHD. I saw them on one of the shows where Faiza got them to sing a song connected with the environment. I was really impressed and I can feel that these two children are really special.

On that night her sister agreed to read a poem but Azural refused to participate and when Faiza kept persisted I told her to leave Azural alone. While Lai Hock is deep in discussion with Greta and Faiza, I went in the room to talk to Azural and I talk about the need to connect to our soul.

I opened my heart to her and told her why I did World Harmony Day. I did it for love and I did it because we must be connected to the universe. I told her she didn’t have to do anything if she does not want too. But if she wanted to speak her mind and wanted to share her inner feeling on that night then WHD will be a good platform for her to do so.

I told her sometimes we are unhappy and I asked her does she knows why?

I told her there are the physical and the spiritual self and the spiritual self is the soul and when the soul is unhappy it will disturb us mentally. How are we going to connect to our soul to find out why our soul is not happy? I told her all she got to do is to take a pen and a piece of paper and pour out all her feelings in words. In this manner, we are talking to God. (That was how I came to know about myself through my poems after I escaped from my ex-husband. Oh! I can go on about the power of the human soul.)

On WHD she has written her thoughts, so touching. I will try to put it on the site so you can see her perform. Young children are just amazing if you speak to them with attention, respect and love. When I spoke to her, her two big eyes just look straight to my face very serious and attentive.

I wish the education system value the soul and the world will be a better place for all.

Love, light, peace and harmony,

Sunflower

Dear Sunflower,

Your experience with the child is wonderful. I too love children and see that they can easily be led one way or the other. In the modern world, they watch violence on TV and play bloody and cruel video games, which paints a picture of a cruel and terrible world. They are filled with aggression and fear. Then, of course, many grow up to lives of doubt and low self-esteem. Can we really offer a clear concise system of education to address these issues?

Perhaps a Universal Spiritual Education, they showed an alternative way of living and interacting with people and the outside world. Where TV and advertising do not decide one fate and way of life. It should be about ‘Nature’ and the ‘Environment’ to our real spiritual selves. That we are more than just flesh and bones that in fact, we are body, mind, and spirit. That we all have a life mission and that we are all special. We could set up a website inviting thoughts and comments from people all over the world until we create a realistic workable model that can have an impact.

Some Christians may realize that there is another way to God without conditions and that Jesus was one of many Sons of God. But it is important that this does not become another religion. Ours is not the only way. It’s just another way. There are so many paths to God and all are wonderful in their own way.

Blessings

Mo

In a way, I was a very clever girl because I know how to save my soul by inventing something so abstract that at such a young age without knowing anything about spirituality I know how to excel. In the area of spiritually, it is very simply in my eyes because once I accepted there is a God, then I need not question His existence anymore but just move on with great faith that He will take good care of me and my family. Many people asked me, “Why do you have so much faith in God? As a young child observing my mother who had only a primary three education from China, Canton province had opened my eyes that strong ‘Faith’ is a powerful medicine; people even use spirituality to cope with illness. There is no scientifically proof that God heals your illness, but that belief in God has a beneficial effect. Yes definitely, when I was young I was known as an ugly duckling but I have faith in God when I stand by Him, He will turn me into a beautiful swanJ Everyone will look old but I will look younger and youngerJ

The faith my mother had did not only heal her imagination ‘sicknesses, but it had also changed her from a foul mouth woman to a beautiful and intelligent human being. When my mother opened her mouth, it was only the four letter words that came out from her mouth in Cantonese. She gambled all her life; any kind of gambling was fine with her. Family cares to take a backstage and she could not read or write, but since she found her ‘god’ Jehovah Witness she was empowered to do so. She does not speak that kind of language anymore and she could read and write Chinese and until now I could not even read or write Chinese, I should be ashamed of myself. I watched her grew and blossomed. She even teaches others in Bible studies and read two Chinese papers every morning to compare their write up, which was for the Government and which was against. Who was saying the truth and who was not? For an uneducated woman she was really something, can you imagine if she had full education maybe she will conquer the hearts of everyone if not the world. For this reason, I had kept my political mind alive at all times because it is a very powerful tool to bring your soul out in the open.

Can you beat this, just with a Belief, your life can be turned around and don’t you think it is just magical when passion took center stage? So why don’t I embrace Faith with open arms, as it doesn’t cost me a cent to believe in God? Through this real life observation, I was sold on the idea that with strong faith, you can conquer the world? I had witnessed the power of spirituality in front of my eyes when I saw all the changes only going for the better for my mother. I realized you do not need any kind of education for you to succeed in life; all you need is to have the desire to strive to be a good human being and with the belief that God is with you constantly and loves you for who you are, you can excel as high as you want to thus be transformed into a highly spirited individual.

Therefore, without a doubt, I decided to serve Him, but this does not mean that I have embraced a religion. Far from it, in fact, I told Him I do not know which is His true house, therefore I will not embrace any religion because religions in my eyes can be very destructive. But I have great faith in Him, I told God when the day comes, when He calls me, I will surrender to Him with open arms without questioning. (When I was chased out by SAC personnel from her office and with the feedback that all I wanted was to be closed with the Government I felt so demoralized that I called, “Dear Almighty God, where you are and where your house is? On 20 March 1995, I became a Muslim when the vision of the name ‘Mariam’ came to me at around 7.00pm in January 1995.) I wanted to serve Him and by serving Him I will be contributing to society in whatever way I know how. I am looking for happiness for the people because giving others happiness it will be returned to me tenfold. I am getting back more than I could give in every sense of the word.

Thus, I hope by sharing my experiences and the motto not to give up especially in Singapore and the world will inspire the youth of tomorrow to get their strength back to believe in themselves that they got all the potentials to achieve the impossible too. The impossible are for the unreachable and that’s the belief of a true idealist. Happiness in life is to be able to reach out for the impossible, chase your dreams and even high ideals as you are expanding your thoughts with great imagination and thus push your potential beyond your wildest dream. How wonderful if everyone can think in this manner because all our problems will be gone, just like mine did. The preoccupation of the world’s problem seemed to make my problems, so irrelevant and insignificant. This I never failed to constantly remind myself when my personal life took a toll on me.

The meaning of my life is to live it meaningfully by striving for greater humanity, instead of trying to chase the material path and be what I am not, for this will add strain and stress to my life. In this pragmatic society life is already so stressful, so why should I fall into the trap set by man, instead I work hard and smart by using my brain constantly with my spiritual guidance close to me, which is ‘My Soul’ – ‘The Consciousness’, to give me confidence as I embarked on this exciting and challenging journey to search for the unknown. Only God knows where I should be heading and my job is to keep on working hard to the best of my ability or until my pocket is empty then I will stop and find a job. (When you are hardworking God will not let you die alone instead you will be rewarded plentifully.)

All we need is to learn the ‘Art of Living’. In order to achieve it, first, you must be in touch with your soul. Your soul is ‘The Consciousness’. You got to please this soul first because this soul is your spiritual partner. When you leave this world, this soul will join you and not others. With this self-realization, you will be awakened to the meaning of your true existence. When your soul is happy, you will be even happier because you will look ten years younger or even more, maybe half your age. The secret lied in understanding this philosophy, that the outward beauty is a gift from God and the inner beauty need to be cultivated by us who desire it and set a plan and work towards getting it. Once you are able to embrace love and attain your inner peace you will see a bright glow on your face and your whole aura will change – “Peace emanates from the soul, and is the sacred inner environment in which true happiness unfolds”.

Come what may or say what you like, still, I never lose interest to understand deeper into the matter of human relationship, to enhance my all round knowledge to the path of wisdom, enabling me to clear my doubts, fear and above all, cope with those who are better than me. What is important that I have learned from the experiences of my life is that I must know who I am and what I want out of life? By understanding our own values, we are seeing things in its true light, whereby we will be able to walk on the right path towards our goal. And I have chosen the spiritual path to enlighten my life to reach my goal. The spirituality that I try to live by is very simple-minded spirituality and that is by making life meaningful and wonderful not only for myself but the people around me. In short, through my spiritual pursue I will show them the way to their enlightenment -‘The Consciousness’.