However, this writer would emphasize that drastically reducing military spending about 90 percent, and creating a new era of peace-making diplomacy and transparency in government would be the best solution, as we close the 700 U.S. military bases around the world and bring our troops home to just protect our borders. U.S. imperialism must end, and as a nation we can urge a time of national mourning as we ask forgiveness of every nation we have harmed. And for every other national sin or wrongdoing we can apologize and seek forgiveness.
The greatest threat to world peace is the increasing discrepancy between the rich and poor within a nation and the increasing discrepancy between rich and poor nations. Radical egalitarianism is needed. People throughout the world need to be paid fair wages. What is needed is a progressive income tax, even more progressive than what we had under Eisenhower, a Republican.
But how do we create a spiritual revival? The study of yoga, Hinduism, and Buddhism, the practice of meditation, and the reexamination of progressive Christian theologian Paul Tillich could be a step in the right direction.
Former Episcopal Bishop and progressive Christian John Shelby Spong, author of Why Christianity Must Change of Die, and "Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism," said that the faculty where he attended seminary was under the influence of Karl Barth and the neo-orthodox revival of WWI. Karl Barth was their hero, not Paul Tillich. But God for Paul Tillich was "being itself" or the "Ground of Being." To say it another way, God was that in which everything that is, is rooted and grounded.
Bishop Spong also argues that there was never a "Fall," therefore, there is no need for a savior to rescue us from a fall that never happened. Spong argues that the way we had learned over the centuries to tell the Jesus story has fallen into being pious nonsense. One cannot be saved from a fall that never happened, and one cannot be restored to a status one has never possessed. Bishop Spong wrote an article written on November 27, 2014, entitled "Do Our Seminaries Prepare Clergy for Today's World?" http://johnshelbyspong.com/2014/11/27/do-our-seminaries-prepare-clergy-for-todays-world/
Theological professor and former United Methodist pastor Ernie Bringas, author of Jesusgate: A History of Concealment Unraveled argues that what scholars have learned about the Bible in the last 300 years has not made its way into the minds of average Christians, who have a Pre-Enlightenment understanding of the Bible: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/positively-incorrect/2012/12/14/jesusgate--ernie-bringas-on-scott-cluthes-p-i-radio
I believe we should teach our children about the Bible, but we should add the Bhagavad Gita, and other writings too. Each one of us must strive to have a good mind and a good heart.
In this plan for posterity, the legalization of marijuana-hemp-cannabis is advocated in the belief that it has many medical benefits, and its recreational use might reduce alcohol and cigarette consumption, which would be a good thing. Biodegradable hemp is the most versatile plant on earth, and it should be cultivated for its countless technological uses, as an ecologically friendly alternative. Solar technology must be promoted as an alternative to fossil fuels and climate change. Employee ownership and workplace democracy must be promoted as an alternative to the tyrannical hierarchy that is found in the average workplace.
With an emerging spiritual revival that fosters making a transpersonal shift in awareness to the consciousness of the One Mind, we may be able to create a spiritual and political revolution in a way that everyone welcomes.
I'm not sure how many spiritual and political progressives would agree that Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Dennis Kucinich, Noam Chomsky, Michael Parenti, Richard D. Wolff, Kshama Sawant, Cornel West, Ralph Nader, Ron Paul, and Cynthia McKinney are the top eleven leaders that can help change our nation and the world, starting with the 2016 presidential election. But the composite of their ideas would be a plan for posterity.
We must start planning for the presidential race in 2016. It is urgent right now that we put our best minds and hearts together, as never before, or we may not be able to prevent World War III, or Armageddon, the end of the world, but we can do better than that.
Having a lot of personal debt is not a good thing. Therefore, no one can convince me that national deficit spending is a long term solution because it is not. It would be nice if there was a fair way to cancel all national debts and start all over? The Bible in the book of Leviticus describes the Year of Jubilee, occurring every seven times seven weeks, or every 49 years. It was a time when land was returned to original owners, debts forgiven, and prisoners freed. I don't think these are feasible solutions in today's society, but I know there is power in forgiveness.
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