As a human being I am more than my skin color. If you were to look at me, however, many would make an instant value judgment as to the nature of my beliefs and experience based solely on what they see--a white man. In a way then, each person would create me or re-create me through the lens of their particular beliefs of the world. That creation may or may not be accurate.
Few though will stop to question the nature of their own beliefs and will accept their own judgments uncritically as reality itself. When it comes to the question of race, none of us can escape our own ideas, but those ideas can be examined and changed in the light of new information. This article is the first in a series of essays that is devoted to that change, and although I hold no special claims of scholastic expertise in this subject, the source of this knowledge comes through those inscrutable aspects of the mind and soul that speak to us through the language of inspiration, personal revelation, creativity and intuition.
Racism is a touchy subject to be sure, but in order to heal deeply felt wounds we all must be completely honest with ourselves and be willing to not only show understanding and compassion, but even to risk hurting the feelings of those we want to help. Racism can be likened to a virus of beliefs whose ill effects have been long-standing in the world. And although ii has weakened over time in many parts of the world and in many cultures, its poison still undermines the integrity of the minds of so many, limiting the growth and fulfillment of both individuals and nations alike.
So, like a scientist searching for a remedy to a long-standing and deadly virus, I realized that in order to undermine the power of racist thinking, the prescription had to be something that weakened and ultimately destroyed the hypnotic hold of a superior mindset. In order to do this one has to go back to the original ideas that produced such a mentality, show those ideas to be false truths, and then insert new patterns of thinking that unburden the mind and free it to fulfill those potentials of greatness that are within every soul.
In my second essay to follow, I will discuss how it is ultimately every individual's responsibility to examine his or her own ideas on this topic, but in particular, the onus of responsibility for righting the wrong of racism has to be a prescription from the mind of a white man.
Few though will stop to question the nature of their own beliefs and will accept their own judgments uncritically as reality itself. When it comes to the question of race, none of us can escape our own ideas, but those ideas can be examined and changed in the light of new information. This article is the first in a series of essays that is devoted to that change, and although I hold no special claims of scholastic expertise in this subject, the source of this knowledge comes through those inscrutable aspects of the mind and soul that speak to us through the language of inspiration, personal revelation, creativity and intuition.
Racism is a touchy subject to be sure, but in order to heal deeply felt wounds we all must be completely honest with ourselves and be willing to not only show understanding and compassion, but even to risk hurting the feelings of those we want to help. Racism can be likened to a virus of beliefs whose ill effects have been long-standing in the world. And although ii has weakened over time in many parts of the world and in many cultures, its poison still undermines the integrity of the minds of so many, limiting the growth and fulfillment of both individuals and nations alike.
So, like a scientist searching for a remedy to a long-standing and deadly virus, I realized that in order to undermine the power of racist thinking, the prescription had to be something that weakened and ultimately destroyed the hypnotic hold of a superior mindset. In order to do this one has to go back to the original ideas that produced such a mentality, show those ideas to be false truths, and then insert new patterns of thinking that unburden the mind and free it to fulfill those potentials of greatness that are within every soul.
In my second essay to follow, I will discuss how it is ultimately every individual's responsibility to examine his or her own ideas on this topic, but in particular, the onus of responsibility for righting the wrong of racism has to be a prescription from the mind of a white man.
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