007 FOUNDATION BLOCKS OF INTEGRATIONAL SPIRITAN MOVEMENT CHAPTER 6; OF BECOMING A GREAT SOUL

007 FOUNDATION BLOCKS OF INTEGRATIONAL SPIRITAN MOVEMENT

CHAPTER 6; OF BECOMING A GREAT SOUL

i.                   Everything that lives and possesses immanent motion has a soul! Do you want a debate on that? Simple, tell me any invention of man that is self- propelled? The nearest we have come to that, is the novel solar system whereby some prototypes of electrical machines are energised by the power of the sun. This would definitely benefit those living in the tropics and that explains why European scientists are dragging their feet over their mass production!

ii.                 But what are our so-called professors in engineering waiting for? When shall all those warming academic stools in our glorified universities in the tropics compete with their counterparts? In order not to derail, let’s focus on how one can aspire to and eventually become a great soul worthy of mention after one's lifespan on earth!

iii.              What or who is a great soul? To answer that question let us consider some great statements that have changed the course of man's history and identify those who made them; - “The moment the slave resolves that he will no longer be a slave, his fetters fall. He frees himself and shows the way to others. Freedom and slavery are mental states.” Guess who made that everlasting statement!

iv.             “ If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognise the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.”  I hope you will get this very easily, can you?

v.                 “ I submit that an individual who breaks an unjust law that his conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.”

vi.              Have you attempted to find the Great Souls that made those watersheds of eternal truths? If not, you need the services of a historian of repute to unravel their identities! Let me give you some more clues.

vii.            Add this to the first quotation; --– A diminutive man possessed of an indomitable will, who not only secured national independence for his native land, but also introduced to world politics a concept of active, nonviolent civil disobedience an idea whose myriad applications have only begun to be explored. Have you remembered him by now?

viii.         Add this to the second quotation; --As an anthropologist, she advocated progressive social action, as is evident in one of her most famous quotes: “ Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”

ix.              Add this to the third quotation; -- When he was in jail, he wrote, “ I am in Birmingham because injustice is here”, and then added this to his fellow clergymen… “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

x.                If by now you have not guessed anyone of the three Great Souls correctly, then stop reading this Kenezian Ethics, for it will do you no good! You need to refine your thoughts, enlarge your heart, begin to learn new ideas about humanitarian principles and a little more from history books!

xi.              Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, also known as Mahatma (Great Soul) wrote the first one in 1949, in his book: NON-VIOLENCE IN PEACE AND WAR. He is today regarded as the greatest revolutionary of the century. He has many disciples, to date, including this author!

xii.           Margaret Mead, while popularising anthropology through her field studies on the cultures of New Guinea and Samoa, wrote the second quotation in 1935, in her classic: “SEX AND TEMPERAMENT IN THREE PRIMITIVE SOCIETIES.” She argued that culture and society, not biological inheritance, determine individual character. The idea disarmed theorists who asserted that personality and intelligence, like the color of skin, stemmed from biology, and it discredited arguments that supported race-based policies of segregation.

xiii.         Martin Luther King, Jnr. wrote the third quotation in a book compiled from the letters he wrote on scraps of paper and smuggled out from prison cell in 1963, entitled:  “ LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL.” The letters were mainly addressed to his critics in the clergy who opposed his civil rights marches.

xiv.         King credited Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi for the non-violent methods of civil disobedience he used against unjust laws. In subsequent years before his assassination in 1968, King – against much resistance – led the drive toward civil rights legislation while promoting peaceful civil disobedience as a universal method of demanding social and economic justice.

xv.           Have you learnt any veritable lessons from those quotes of Great Souls? I deliberately chose from three different cultures and from both sexes, to assert that great minds exist in most men and women of great repute! You too, can become a beacon of light in this present life and a source of inspiration after death!

xvi.         A single voice can change the world! Whether the voice describes a new scientific theory, tells the stories of a culture, or speaks for a previously voiceless group of people! It can reach across national borders and across time to influence a wider world and transform the world that follows.

xvii.      That voice could be yours. Start today to have universal thoughts that will benefit the whole humanity. Yes, that’s the way all Great Souls began! Influential thinkers perform such feats! You too, can become a Great Soul!!

xviii.    The twentieth century is nearing an end. Powerful ideas in physical and medical sciences, arts and humanities, politics and religion have changed our social relationships for better or for worse! Don’t sit on the fence. Choose a role model today and begin to emulate him or her!

xix.        Some great minds have altered humanity, increased understanding between individuals and cultures, and helped to define our present world for good or for bad. Nothing ever remains the same always. Change is a natural law that we all must obey at all times!

xx.           Do you want to make history? Today is your genesis! Seize the opportunity of this moment. Let this meditation on becoming a Great Soul be the impetus that you have been waiting for! Don’t procrastinate! It is a lazy man’s excuse!