Selma Singer wrote: > One of the most important cultural values that is essential, in my > view and as a result of my sociological studies, is a spiritual element that > is always present in societies in which individuals are allowed to develop > their potential in an atmosphere of respect and intimate community > relationships.
As with Keith's "Handel macht frei", the big question with "Spiritualität macht frei" is the direction of causality, and IF there's a causality at all. Your formulation already seems to suggest a causality "freedom->spirituality" rather than the other way 'round. Indeed, like Keith, you'd have a very hard time making a case for a causality in the opposite direction. E.g.: Last time I checked, cults offer pretty much spirituality but leave very little room to develop individuals' potential and an atmosphere with very little (genuine!) respect. As for societies, Israel is probably one of the most spiritual countries (with holy sites of 3 world religions, religious parties in the gov't, etc.), but targeted killings, house demolitions, crop destructions, deadly curfews and being blown up in buses is not exactly developing individuals' potential and an atmosphere of respect either... > The fact that meditation is now being seen by the most respected components > of the scientific community as a realistic and fruitful practice for general > health spoke to me of the hope that we might introduce such a practice into > our schools, yes, at a very early age, and from that many, many good things > could follow. In the arena of health (or rather, illness), most of the scientific community (especially in corporate science) is not really interested in addressing/ removing the causes, but only in tinkering with symptoms without curing them (because only this ensures "sustainable" profit maximization). Promoting meditation fits very well in this mindset. > To ignore such evidence, and/or dismiss it as silly, seems to me the height > of ignorance. I don't "ignore such evidence, and/or dismiss it as silly," but I point to the (mis)uses of it. The height of ignorance would be to take the corporate PR in the NYT or FT at face value. Chris _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
