Populie: Education is the Answer… August 6, 2014

 

 Jonathots Daily Blog

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“Knowledge is the doorway to understanding.”

It is a popular belief.

It moves on the premise that the more we know about any given subject, the better our chance of participating or being tolerant. Here’s another statement:

Pursuing knowledge is the way to achieve understanding.

It sounds right, doesn’t it? Matter of fact, might even sound the same. But it is a populie.

It’s based on the notion that human beings are mind and body creatures, and therefore, if we learn, we can do.

Truth is, if our race consisted of a brain that learns and a body that enacts the information acquired, then spreading the gospel of education would truly save the world.

Unfortunately, we aren’t just mind and body. We are heart, soul, mind and body. And if you’ll notice, the list begins with heart.

Yes, the human emotions are the doorway to our sanctuary and also the exit to the world around us. Everything comes through the emotions and everything departs the same way.

The question is, what do we do with the education, knowledge and discoveries which come our way when they try to gain entrance to the door of our emotions? For if I could actually hear something be convinced of its veracity, accept it without contradiction and apply it into my life in purity, then I would never need to consult my emotions and I could be Mr. Spock from Star Trek, floating on the peaceful Sea of Tranquility.

But I do have emotions and because they are often at war with my thinking, I require a Spirit–a soulful part of my being–to act as a buffer between my fluctuating feelings and my logical thinking.

What we want to do is renew the mind–update old-fashioned concepts with more enlightened and scientifically viable alternatives. The reason there is a reluctance with the ideas which come our way, desiring to take flight is that we’re often grounded by emotions which are uncertain, and we’ve deadened our spirits, thus generating a battle between heart and brain.

By no means am I suggesting that education is not important. I’m just saying that if you want education to be effective, you must plow the field, purify the emotions and use your spirit to soften the fear of transition, allowing the mind to be renewed.

Mind over matter not work. Likewise, mind over emotions is equally as futile.

So even though politics wants to pursue a path of promoting ideas, thinking that will be sufficient to overcome difficulty, and entertainment contends that the more variety of lifestyles they present to the human brain, the more open-minded we will become and even religion purports that “studying the Bible” makes good disciples, we must understand that as emotional creatures, if we do not learn to take what we feel, be truthful about it, allow our spirit to soften our hearts and then welcome the new information to change our minds, we will never be able to enact a plan that makes us more creative and gentle to each other.

Education is essential.

But we must allow people to purify their emotions by spiritually opening up to the possibility of newness of life.

As long as we contend that we are mind and body and have somehow or another overcome our emotions, and do not really have a soul, we will be conflicted in our decisions, overly cautious in our adventures and will end up with stalemate and gridlock.

Thus the American culture.

“Out of the abundance of the mind the mouth speaks?” Absolutely not.

Long before the brain has the chance to filter anything, the emotions are yapping away.

So it is a spiritual issue: the brain is transformed as the Spirit becomes the mediator with our emotions.

 

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Populie: God Bless America… July 2, 2014

Jonathots Daily Blog

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God is still pretty popular.

America, too.

Yet there are many people who believe the two are synonymous–practically inseparable.

Thus the populie: “God bless America.”

Politics loves this slogan because it enables them to incorporate just enough religion to get the evangelical vote and just enough patriotism to acquire the libertarians.

Entertainment plays off the idea by producing both tear-jerking war movies and also flicks that question the authenticity and purpose of nationalism.

And of course, religion is partial to this idiom simply due to the fact that if we are convinced that we are favored by God, we might be able to get by with a few more inconsistencies before Daddy calls a time-out.

Yet as we near Independence Day, I am focused in on the power and veracity of the statement, “To he who much is given, much is expected.”

So because I love my country, respect our attempts at democracy and favor our liberty, I would like to deny the populie of “God bless America” and replace it with, “God challenge America.”

I know that God chastises those He loves–to make us sharper and more powerful. Yet we are losing our authority, presence and respectability due to the belief in our exceptionalism.

• When it comes to women, we should be world leaders in equality, but we trail behind others.
• We should take it seriously to stop killing. After all, when we discover a few packages of tainted ground beef in a grocery store, every package is recalled. Yet if twenty-two children are killed in a school, we continue to taint our lives with guns.
• We should expand ourselves in equality by including others we do not agree with, honoring their right to freedom. God respects free will above all else, even purity.
• We should be a nation that excels in productivity. For instance, I think we’re taking the wrong approach to the minimum wage. To give people more money for what they’re already doing is not only foolish, but actually a slothful business practice. But by the same token, if we can encourage productivity in our work force while passing along the dividends by increasing paychecks retroactively or offering bonuses, then we’re making our workers part of the solution instead of tying them in with the problem.
• Why aren’t we leaders in morality?
• How about civility?
• Instead of arguing about the climate of the Earth, why don’t we at least see if there’s something we could do and then surprise ourselves by doing it?
• Why don’t we take our young generation and encourage them to be respectful, industrious and creative instead of working to legalize more drugs, to dull their senses?
• Why do we allow our older citizens to become bitter and calloused instead of demanding they use their journey to become wise and merciful?
• If we truly do have the best medical care in the world, why aren’t we healthier?

Hiding your talent and refusing to use it is considered to be the definition of a sluggard.

Knowing what to do and not doing it is the best example of sin.

And living beneath your privilege only generates self-pity.

The populie is, “God bless America”–a way to live off the past by pretending that the present is sufficient because a Divine Presence controls our future.

My hope in this season is that we will allow God to challenge America to live up to our ideals, abilities and dreams.

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A Sign for the Times … June 1, 2013

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This is my last night in Shreveport. I had fun this week, not only interacting with new folks, but also walking down Memory Lane, as it were, without tripping up too many times with my veracity or recollections.

But one thing that tickled my soul earlier today was recalling when we made a decision thirty-two years ago, to take our little Artist’s Haven, which was meeting at the museum, and place it in a more centrally located building in town. We decided to rent an H&R Block store, which was on hiatus since tax time was all finished and there was no more need to drain finance off the common man.

It was a small place. They said it was 750 square feet, but I’m sure that included the roof. I jokingly told the real estate agent that we were a fellowship of creative Christian musicians and writers, so we thought it was quite apropos to have our gathering place in a building of tax collectors. I don’t know whether the joke escaped his Biblical purview or if he thought it was in poor taste, but I moved on quickly, signed the lease and set up shop with our little entourage in the enclosure.

We were young and adventurous, so we decided we wanted a really cool sign outside to advertise that something different was happening in town–and it was happening right here. We got permission to remove the H&R Block logo from the lighted pole, and we purchased some white, shiny plywood that was the perfect width to slide into the slot for illumination. Little did we know that cutting out the letters to spell “The Haven” was going to be an arduous task, demanding several different kinds of saws (of which I had no acquaintance).

After about four or five days of being in a perpetual state of disappointment and exhaustion, we actually completed the sign, climbed up on two rickety ladders and were delighted beyond our wildest dreams when it slid down through the gap, into its place of rest.

That evening when we turned on the light, the sign was so bright that you could see it for blocks. Matter of fact, we had hoped to get recognition in the Shreveport Times for having such an attractive sign–but unfortunately, only received a story in the Gazette about people complaining because they nearly crashed from being blinded by the light.

It was so audacious that some of the religious folk thought we were a Satanic cult because they mistook the word “Haven” for coven. (As you may have heard, there is no IQ test involved in church membership.)

We didn’t care. The first night the sign was lit, I drove by it at least thirty-five times, reveling in the beauty of the symbolism of being a “city set on a hill for all to see.” After a while, as things often do, all the furor about the sign disappeared and it was just another message in the night.

But I was always thrilled when I saw it–partly because it was so difficult to make that it reminded me of the Pyramids, but mostly because a handful of simple, young people got together and did something in unity–for no other reason than just trying to bless and enlighten their world.

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Never Worship Where You Vote… January 5, 2013

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Yes, the snowman always votes for more snow–just as the surfer casts his ballot for bigger waves. Politics is the selfish game of pursuing our own ends while insisting it’s for the good of the country and relegating our dissenters as unpatriotic opponents.

It is not suited for children like you and me.

Now a worse thing has happened: political parties are being worshipped. Indeed, it seems to be a godly mission to advance the platform of your party while invoking the name of the Most High as your major contributor. So we’ve moved from the necessary to the ridiculous to the nasty, ending up in abominable. It is time to hide the children from such mayhem.

Here’s why: children need to learn to tell the truth. We insist on it. There is no greater punishment for a youngster than lying and covering up an iniquity that is usually easily exposed. If the truth “makes us free,” it is simply because we are relieved of the burden of maintaining an ever-expanding, ongoing fable about misdeeds. It is exhausting to be politically correct instead of forthcoming.

Yes, all parents want their children to be considered top-notch, but to achieve that status it is also necessary that each child of the household learn that there are seasons for setbacks and disappointments in order for us to grow more fully into completeness.

Children can’t be involved in politics because they need to tell the truth, and obviously, veracity is optional “amongst them who seek votes.” By the time we get done spinning, expanding, promoting, advertising and sowing disinformation about reality, it is often difficult to attain a clarity of thought.

Children should also stay away from politics because children must hear the truth before they can tell the truth. There you go. Lying parents bring forth lying offspring:

Parents who keep alcohol in their refrigerator should not be surprised when their fifteen-year-old comes home drunk from a party that was supposed to feature pizza and root beer.

Parents who fib on the phone to creditors should not feign shock when their dear little ones lie about their grades.

To tell the truth you have to hear the truth. There is a very intelligent word that says “faith comes by hearing.” We build up the confidence to say our individual situation aloud because we’ve heard other people do it without fear.

What is the worst atrocity about our political system? The lies of the Republicans and the Democrats will come down and crash on us for two or three generations to come. We have made it acceptable to be misleading. It is not suitable for children. It is the R-rated movie of government.

And finally, concerning those who desire a childlike faith, we must comprehend that to hear the truth, one must be willing to be wrong. Politicians are never wrong. If you don’t believe me, just listen to them. They are often misquoted, misunderstood, caught on a bad day, taken out of context, targeted by the other party’s kill committee, or they are just victims of a vicious news cycle.

It is rather doubtful in our present political climate if we will ever hear anything that resembles the truth.

Such a gift demands that someone be wrong. Until you are willing to say you are wrong, you can’t hear the truth. If you can’t hear the truth, you can’t tell the truth. And if you can’t tell the truth, you can’t be made free.

The combination of self-righteousness, combined with an unwillingness to negotiate, culminating in a worship of political ideals, has rendered our society crippled of the change which only occurs by the real truth convincing us of the error of our ways … and making us free.

I will not participate.  I have never participated, but in 2013, with my desire to have a childlike faith, I must avoid the bad boys and girls of the political system, who require that I worship where I vote–but won’t give me the freedom of truth.

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