From our readers

Dear Editor:

I like your first issue. You've got good visuals, an interesting mix of columnists, and some interesting articles.

You need to create a separate section called "Parenting and Education."

For 30 years cultural creatives have ignored "parenting and education" in their media—and focused on the same categories that you have included. It was an enormous mistake. It's one of the reasons that while 50% of Americans sought out some form of holistic or alternative health care in 2005, fewer than 5% of parents have their kids in schools—or home schooling situations—that are holistic or integral.

People tend to parent their kids in the way that they were parented, unless there is some significant intervention and education. So you have a good number of cultural creatives who might buy organic food and support ecological causes and drive Priuses—and who parent their kids in punitive, authoritarian ways...and/or who send them to conventional, industrial paradigm schools that teach them to become social Darwinists. 

Please, please, please —let's develop content for a "parenting and education" section that stands on equal footing with "business," "environment," and so on. 55 million people are in schools every day, not even counting colleges. 4 million people work in schools, not counting colleges. $800 billion dollars is spent on kids' schooling. 

To a significant extent, parenting and education norms today will determine the future of the species.

Best wishes,
David Marshak

EDITOR’S NOTE: At TGI we heartily agree with everything David said. As a result of this letter, The Global Intelligencer will soon have an education and parenting section that David, who has a Ed.D in Education from Harvard for starters, will be heading up along with columnist Ron Miller, Ph.D.

Hello Cate,

I am a reader of the Bleeping Herald as well as The Global Intelligencer in which I find articles about a great variety of topics. There is one topic I've not heard or seen mentioned yet, and that is the liberation of language, of the words. For me it is very clear that the basic problem lies in the misunderstanding about the meaning of the words. The reason why there is still so much separation, also in the spiritual world, is because we still interpret our words differently. So we must find unity there too, don't you think?
Do you know of anybody who is working on this, on language consciousness? I would like to know more about this, especially since it is this subject that I have been studying for about ten years now, together with some friends here in Antwerp, Belgium, and we would like to get connected to others doing so.
Looking forward to your reply,

Stefaan Dieltjens
Antwerp

Hi Stefan – I’m not familiar with this topic aside from its importance. Perhaps some of our readers can supply some information and enlightenment? However, taking it further, please check out this link to the CNN report with 26 year-old autist Amanda Baggs "Living With Autism in a World Made for Others." Her communication via computer assisted voice synthesizer (watch the video!) makes it abundantly clear how crippled our concept of communication is.    Editor

Dear Editor:

Recently three major figures in our world died.  James Brown, Gerald Ford & Saddam Hussein.  

When I heard about James Brown, my thought was, “We’re losing our soul.”  When Ford died, I first thought about the parodies by Chevy Chase on Saturday Night Live, then about him forgiving Nixon, and then I realized Ford was a voice of integrity.  When Hussein was executed, I thought, “Judas has died again.”

As we look around at the results of the collective consciousness of humanity, it does seem like we are losing our soul. We read and hear about random shootings, senseless acts of violence, horrific things I can’t even comprehend that humanity is perpetuating upon itself. Yet in understanding our teaching we realize everything “out there” is just a big mirror. On an individual level, how many of us are more concerned with the material effects of our lives than we are with our spiritual health?

Then there are those of us who are leading quiet lives in integrity, and are doing so in the best way we know how. Yet when something out of alignment happens, we think about it but don’t speak up.  Sometimes when we’re around those that do, we feel embarrassed. 

Then there is always the one who must be the Judas – the betrayer, the one who dies to bring a greater Truth to light.  In Truth he was but our mirror .. a distorted carnival mirror, but a mirror none the less.

In my contemplations, I became even more aware that whatever I do has an effect on the whole of humanity and how important it is for me to do something.  Yes, we teach individuality and self-responsibility, yet we are responsible for our brothers and sisters.  They are us. In the book “Social Intelligence” author Daniel Goleman relates a story of a group of seminary students who were assigned the parable of the Good Samaritan to give a talk on. Every 15 minutes one of them left the room to go to another building to give their sermon. Their route took them past a doorway in which a man was slumped, moaning in pain. Over half the students ignored him, so intent were they in getting to their lecture hall. Little did they know this man was actually part of their curriculum!    

So to James Brown, Gerald Ford and Saddam Hussein, I say thank you for being part of my curriculum.  In your deaths I got the message to nurture and honor our collective soul, it truly is that part of us that celebrates Divine Life.  To speak up in integrity and to put actions to my words, and to forgive and bless those who are our mirrors. 

Each live is a Divine Life and has a Divine Purpose.  Let’s live that Purpose out loud!!

Blessings, Rev. Angelica , Celebration of Life Center ,
Langley , BC

Dear Editor:

Nice to see all the efforts you people are putting is truly a wonderful knowing & learning for all the readers. I congratulate all the people who are behind this wonderful journey. As you said we can share whatever we have I’m sending something to you which I’ve to inspire all the people who are involved in this great movement.

Here is the Quote from Swami Vivekananda: All knowledge that the world has ever received comes from the mind; the infinite library of the universe is in your own mind. The external world is simply the suggestion, the occasion, which sets you to study your own mind, but the object of your study is always your own mind. The falling of an apple gave the suggestion to Newton , and he studied his own mind; he rearranged all the previous links of thought in his mind and discovered a new link among them, which we call the law of gravitation. It was not in the apple or in anything in the centre of the earth.

With Warm Regards,
Rajesh Kher

If there is a particular global issue you want to write about, please email your editorial comments to . Please try to be appropriate to the content and tone of the Intelligencer. Editorials are run at the discretion of the Editor.