tim,

those are good thoughts and i broadly agree with you. I often think of how much better my spiritual practice will be once i'm feral in the woods - listening to the binaural beats of nature.

Quote Originally Posted by Tutor
yet, with all the water dispersed around the earth, we can see the oceans connective of Ocean, and we've only begun to investigate this body of water as something other than an obstacle requiring a crossing. i read a few days ago a headline that said, "we know more about the moon than we know about the Ocean....in an odd way, i think this unknowing of our Ocean is synonymous with our unknowing of Spirit, despite all the philosophy/religious oral/written 'language' given toward it......personally, i think that neanderthal man was one with spirit. that native american, aboriginal australian....etc, all these were one with spirit, and that when met by religion, like spirit as obstacle, were in the way.
I believe that our society's failure to notice what's happening all around us while staring at the cosmos is a racial problem. I think it's due to an over-abundance of Caucasian people (i'm Caucasian by the way) in power. white people seem to have a propensity towards hyper-intellectualism at the expense of their planet, their family, their health, etc. and they tend to intellectualize religion and spirituality (look at Ken Wilbur, for example).

so I often wonder whether aboriginal peoples were somewhat more spiritual because of how they lived, who they are, or because of the interconnection between the two things. the reason i bring this up is because i wonder whether I have a problem with religion, or a problem with the way that white people do religion.

Either way, for me, it comes down to a question of values. What do you value? what do i value? what does society value?

I value the subtle and delicate relationships in nature and in us people. I value human potential and hard work. i value rest and relationships.

That means that i value Grandparents and little children; strong men and supportive women; religion and spirituality, everyone coming together in the evenings to rest and to share their stories. I look forward to a day that society values those same things as well.

But every day, our production-based society cares more for the economy, for transportation, for law, for space exploration, for public services. and so many people are for abortion, euthanasia, inmate labor camps, dormitories and broken home families. our society fears strength and virtue; loves energy drinks and hates rest; and rarely spends time together without a TV or sports game involved.

so my opinion is that the problems we face are myriad, but they are problems that we can easily overcome with effort.

~dale