Why Spiritually Oriented Education is Important?

Much of the world’s problems are rooted in the separation of people from their spiritual origin. Regardless of the religion or faith that people ascribe to, most established religions explain mankind’s history in terms of a creation scenario. The details of the creation stories may vary in different religions; however, their similarities are the point. The common thread in world religions is a supreme being who initiates the sequence of creation and completes the process by creating human kind. Regardless of the faith or religion, whether it was ancient or recent, any version of the creation story gives credence to the case for humans needing to know where they came from and gives purpose to where they are going.

Who are we then? Since we did not get here by our own volition, who or what caused us into existence must have envisioned a purpose or our lives would be meaningless. The purpose of religion has been to give meaning to our lives, which has been its mission for the last 6000 Biblical years.

Unfortunately, the last 6000 years have been a series of triumphs and calamities as humankind has experienced wars, famines as well as democratic freedom and economic prosperity on the journey to an ideal society. When we think about the current situation in the world, it’s hard to comprehend how religion can ever fulfill its mission of educating and restoring the human spirit that originated from God with the intention to live in peace and happiness. We need to ask the logical question: are 6000 years enough time to get it right or are we as created beings missing a key element to our created purpose?

Let’s imagine the time, some 2000 years ago, when Jesus Christ appeared on earth as the savior of all mankind. Whether you are a Christian or not, the words of Jesus have endured as a legacy of peace and love for our fellow humans and have paved the way for Western Civilization as imperfect as it may be. It is ironic that the effort put forth by Christian Evangelicalism in the last 20 centuries has not created a nation, town or even one person who is as perfect as Jesus was in heart and mind.

As a Unificationist, I have thought about this from the perspective of the current degree of spiritual Enlightenment of members as compared to committed Christians. Some 47 years after the first Blessed Couples were established, has anyone of the thousands blessed since then declared to have succeeded in reaching the spiritual enlightenment of Jesus or dare I say Father Moon? I am not pointing this out to be critical but to make the point of being cognizant that unlike Christians, Unificationists had the privilege and opportunity to be trained by the Master with the goal of becoming a son or daughter of God.

It becomes of greater importance now, since Father Moon has ascended, to take a critical look at the spiritual education imperatives we received and determine how they compare to our personal spiritual goals and objectives. Could there be more to understand and contemplate if the mandate of an ideal world, as proclaimed by Father Moon, is to be believed or achieved? We have not yet reached our greatest, God-given potential of spiritual enlightenment. We are still on a spiritual journey; like the Israelites at the door to Canaan, more effort is needed to gain entrance.

End of Part 1

to be continued 4/12/17