Thursday, September 1, 2011

Governance and the Mystical Realm

I am all in favor of the mystical. I love people who have unusual insights and who receive information by inspiration. Some of my favorite artists are people who have had visions and heard voices. I love to read mystical writings and ancient wisdom. I love inspired music that comes from a divine source. I love books like "The Alchemist" by Paulo Cuelho that tell us about magic and wonder.

I believe our world has become far too left-brained and masculine. I believe it is wrong for education to function purely on a data driven basis and not look at the magical things that happen as a result of relationships formed between teachers and students, students and students and so forth.

I believe that science is limited and there is vastly more to the universe than we know. The universe itself may be an illusion, for all we know. I love to think like this, talk philosophy like this.

I have had a myriad of experiences in my life that I cannot explain in terms of the laws of physics.

The world without they mystical realm would be predictable, expected and boring.

All that being said, there are people on the planet for whom this left-brain, data-driven, science driven approach is important:

If I call an ambulance, I want the paramedics to zap me and shoot me up and cast me and get me to a hospital, or whatever they need to do to save my life. I don't want them to spend time praying for me or telling me the world is a hallucination. I want the contractor who works on my house to apply the laws of gravity, physics, engineering and good craftsmanship to the very best of his ability so that the work he does lasts longer than I am alive. And I want the people in positions to make, enforce and judge laws that affect me to do so from a purely real-world, science, research-based perspective.

When people get hit by a hurricane, these political leaders need to spare no expense to send help to every citizen in need and help them stay safe, find shelter, get food, rebuild their communities, and so forth. There is no room for people to debate when and if they will pay for hurricane relief and play games with people in time of need.

Further, in what way is it beneficial to anyone when people hear voices in their heads telling them that hurricanes are punishment for having too many gays (Oral Roberts after Hurricane Katrina) or that God is trying to tell us to decrease spending (Michele Bachman after Hurricane Irene, a graduate of the Oral Roberts law school aka Liberty University... the lowest ranked US law school, but the law school that has a huge number of graduates sitting on benches and working in the US Justice Department per the Bush Justice Department scandal...)

Several of the GOP candidates currently running claim to regularly speak to God and hear his commands directly. When statements by these candidates are fact-checked, they are found far too often to makeup statistics, flip-flop on positions, depending upon who they are talking to, fabricate, deceive and outright lie. People who don't go to the effort to research the statements by these candidates accept their lies, and soon, they become part of the political discourse.

Voices people hear in their heads should not be part of the political discourse.

Even more frightening is that already elected members of congress are making decisions based on their religious dogma:

Senator Jon Kyle sits on the subcommittee on the environment. He does not believe in climate change. His reason? he read from the bible on the floor of the senate that God had promised never again to destroy the earth after the Noah's Arc fiasco. And now he is creating policy based on this bible passage, and not on the evidence, research and vast scientific agreement that climate change presents an imminent threat to the very survival of all living things on earth. Senator Kyl also made the comment that 90% of what Planned Parenthood does is perform abortions. Abortions account for less than 3% of Planned Parenthood's services. This is an inaccuracy of 87%.

Rep. Peter King sits on the committe for homeland security. He has stated that he will only pay attention to threats from Muslims. Evidence has been presented to him that there are many other groups and individuals who pose a security threat to our nation. He has put us at risk by refusing to pay attention to threats posed by these groups, and continues his witch-hunt in the Somalian communities in the midwest. Policy in our country is being based on the hateful delusions of this individual.

And there many others who are doing similar things, and our country is suffering as a result.

The elected GOP members of congress have stated that their most important mission is to make President Obama a one term president. This is their most important goal - more important than serving their constituents, keeping the country safe, fixing the economy, trying to cope with extreme climate change, take care of citizens who are victims of disaster, protecting the most vulnerable citizens, providing for the future of our children and our country...

People at these levels need to be able to make informed decisions that protect the physical world reality we live in based on evidence, empirical information, research, listening to experts, citizens, books, newspapers and other real-world based information sources, not voices in their heads.

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