Tidings of Hope for 2022 and Beyond

Dear Reader,

The technology of today is amazing, isn't it, compared to what I remember back in the 1950s when we were only just emerging into the world of TV and jet aircraft. Though computers were then being developed, ordinary people knew virtually nothing about them then and that was true of other technology such as lasers. The structure of DNA had still not been identified.

In the UK, quite a number of people still lived in houses with outside toilets back then. Supermarkets only began to take hold in the late 1950s while comparatively few people could afford a motor car. Travelling abroad was a mere glimmer of hope in the eyes of most.

Many people took pride in looking after their gardens and even growing their own vegetables.

A fairly ordinary garden in the UK of ca. 1960

So, today, when many people concern themselves almost entirely with their I-pads and streaming videos, it might do no harm to reflect back on how everyday life has changed so dramatically in the last 60 or 70 years, and exponentially so in the last 30 years. The advances in communications and medicine - particularly in surgery - are absolutely remarkable.

The danger now - and there seems to be a general attitude towards this - is that we might be very tempted to think that science and technology can solve everything, that the answer is to be found in a Google enquiry. Or that we can treat ourselves any old way as medicine will sort out our problems, or that further advances in medical development are around the corner to do that job.

But! While accepting that there have been fantastic medical and technological developments, we must surely remember that we have our brains and that we have the ability to look after ourselves in a much better way. In fact, we don't need all these new gadgets.

Certainly, the world's leaders have not given us a good sense of direction on how to look after ourselves, have they, judging by the litany of catastrophe that has been engendered in the same 60 or 70 years that we have been speaking of with regard to scientific and technological advancement.

Whether or not you accept the existence of a God-creator, we might all consider the following message:

God created everything and gave it to you free. Land. You take land created by God and make money of it. God does not mind; but you have started ruining land! I expected you to be a good caretaker and hand it over to the next generation in the same condition in which you found it. Similarly, you have ruined water and air, forgetting that if you pollute air, you would pay a very high price for it.

This, then, is the scenario that we have bequeathed our children. Just how can they be properly prepared to come to terms with and manage the situation that their forefathers created?

There is a crisis here, whether we want to accept it or not. No longer can parents get away with their aspiration for Charlie or Ahmad to be better qualified to simply be better paid and be socially acceptable. A little reflection here will surely make us see that the future must be a world that must have more unity and less competition, whether we like it or not.

Planet Earth is the only home we have in the physical universe. It is the only place within reach that suits our physical needs. We cannot keep spoiling it to the edge of destruction for we have nowhere else to go. We have to work together to understand ourselves and our relationship to our environment and then work in unity to achieve the proper end to our situation.

To meet that need, the education of our children surely has to be looked at from a broad view, not narrow. Hitherto, our educational system has developed into being too much geared to making the UK competitive rather than being cooperative or towards improving society as a civilisation. Do we know what the word 'civilisation' practically means?

Are we educating our children correctly, whether at home or at school? Is it essentially just reading, writing and arithmetic to enable them to get a job when they exit school or college, or should it be far more than that in terms of getting to know more about themselves and their social and environmental context? Does the basic educational system, as it is, go far enough?

In my childhood days of long ago, we could do virtually anything we liked so long as it did not violate someone else's rights. We were allowed to suffer some form of injury. We learnt from all that. Children need to know about all that.

In the beginning, children of course need to be taught elementary things: speaking, walking, rejoicing, etc. But as children grow up and evolve, parents should try to teach them many skills and make them as broad-minded as possible. They should teach them how to ride a bicycle, how to run, how to swim, how to pitch a tent, how to make a fire, how to sing, how to draw, how to play various games, and so on. 

Within reason, let them watch TV so that in the absence of living in a mixed culture they can get to know people in different parts of the planet and the diversity of different cultures - and their unity in diversity, All this will prove useful to them in the future and will allow them to solve problems of adult life, although there is no real substitute for actually mixing with other cultures. Where possible, and when older, travel to foreign climes by the simplest possible method and mixing with people in their natural surroundings is advised. And learning their language.

Parenting is a skill, as parents know from experience! The home lays as much foundation for the lives of children - if not more - than the school itself.

Above all, the family should be of the spirit that they accept everyone as one people without any differential whatsoever based on prejudice. Where neighbours come from a different cultural perspective, take time to examine their core values; it surprises some on how similar they are to their own.

With a little patience and time, we are most frequently able to find that different cultures can blend quite easily where life is based on the core values of all - the interests of the entire community. It should not be surprising to find this.

The basis of a properly working civilisation is to be found in love - in compassion. All communities originally received the same core message from various spiritual teachers. These values need to be imparted to the new generation. Not any negative influence that induces time-wasting and irresponsibility.

So, I am not saying that religion, per se, is that important. But it is more than worthwhile to find what are the essential ingredients of spirituality to enable the next generation able to succeed in their great challenge. 

In fact, true spirituality is scientifically based and the true basis of any religion should be a scientific thing. Not just a belief but something which you can apply scientifically, to help you return home once more to God. Religion means "that which binds us." Binds us to what? Binds us to Spirit, or to God. And so, religion must be something scientific, not just an idea nor any form of dogma unless experience proves that a certain thing is so - not because someone else says it is so. Hence, true spirituality is scientific.

Spirituality lies not in the power to heal others, to perform miracles, or to astound the world with our learning, but in the ability to endure with right attitude whatever crosses we have to face in our daily lives, and thus to rise above them. This spirit bestows all-conquering strength and supreme happiness. 

Our methods of education need to find ways of imparting this attitude. Learning is far more than being simply being dumped with data, or information. The future of the Earth and its occupants depends on a broad approach.

Perhaps by examining the lives and the philosophies of truly great free-thinking men like Francis Bacon, Albert Einstein, Leo Tolstoy, William James, Nikolai Telsa, Mahatma Ghandi and T.S. Eliot we will get a glimmer of the attitude that is needed. And helped by the inspired and late departed educator, Ken Robinson. These people should be hailed as the flagbearers of wisdom. For example, Einstein stated:

I was originally supposed to become an engineer but the thought of having to expend my creative energy on things that make practical everyday life even more refined, with a loathsome capital gain as the goal, was unbearable to me. 

However, Christmas time is here, and if his teachings are not always thought of, this is the special time to think of what Jesus taught. But let us not think that what he taught - which is not all in the Bible - is any different from many other teachers, whether Zoroaster, Lao Tzu, Krishna, Muhammed, Nanak, and many others.

All of them taught us that there is a place where we can all be happy. That place is deep within - in our spiritual heart.

Let us also be aware that the relationship of man, nature and God is very intimate, a fact that scientists may not yet be able to realise.

The five elements are nothing but manifestations of the Divine. Divinity has stated that man’s life will be secure only when he realises this truth and acts accordingly in order to bring himself back into balance with those elements.

Let us embrace these Truths in order to bring us in tune with our surroundings - and a peaceful planet!

Thank you for reading this, and a very Happy Christmas!