Family Spiritual Responsibility

Your first spiritual responsibility is to know God and know yourself. If you are dense on the inside due to the accumulation of emotional baggage that we all manage to pack inside ourselves as a result of outside pressures and projections on us from family, society, mentors, educational institutions etc. We have to begin with Meditation and spiritual initiation when we want to know our own selves. That means incorporating a discipline into your life that allows to schedule time to meditate. I recently heard that one Spiritual Master instructed his followers to meditate for at least two and a half hours daily.  Once we are clear of all the past debris we are able to hear and see God on the inside.  My Teacher teaches us Light and Sound Meditation.  The clearer you become the more you will experience God.  The density could be represented in the Beatitudes when Christ said that with out Love we are but a langing bell!  That is what happens with our own light and sound vibrations when God's power enters it doesn't resonate at the highest freqencies with our own vibrations which makes it a clang rather that a heavenly bell.  Learn to give love and listen to God in Meditation.



I recommend that you start in small increments and be patient with yourselves. Don’t think all is lost because you slip from your daily practice from time to time. Being part of a group that is practicing is a good thing and this can be done via web. I emphasize that you need to be initiated by a Spiritual Master to begin the real work of Spiritual Enlightenment. The initiate is then under the Divine guidance of the Master to enable their spiritual advancement to be tailored to their individual needs. I will make certain that you understand that I am not here to recruit anyone to follow my path or the way I have approached spirituality. I encourage all to find their own path. Spiritual Masters do not recommend that people leave their religion. In fact you will find the true meaning of your religion once you become spiritually awakened and love your God with all your heart.



Many people of different cultures and nationalities come to the United States because we have been a nation that has given all equal opportunity. The first step and sign of enculturation into the dominant culture is English language acquisition. It is vital that parents of children coming to the US speak English in the home so that the children will naturally identify with the dominant culture. I realize now why children of immigrants from Europe quite often didn’t speak their native language because their parents and grandparents realized that being assimilated into the culture was more important for their personal, educational and career success. I am English so I didn’t have a language barrier coming to the US however there were cultural barriers. Things were done in a different way that made me feel uncomfortable. I used to belong to one English group but always thought that it is the individual whom I am interested in knowing and I don’t seek friendships purely because of a common English heritage.




Religion and spirituality are taught in the home and children learn certain behaviors that are influenced by the dominant culture. One such behavior is meat eating. I never liked meat as a child and once I was on the spiritual path I had an experience of one of the Masters speaking to me inside during Meditation in an intensive, giving me fatherly instructions on what I was to wear and the food I was to avoid and that left vegetarianism as the path for my health. It has been a proactive measure on my part because my father died of cancer of the colon at age forty-eight and this has a high correlation with genes that are passed down.  I have never eaten meat or fish since. It wasn't something I struggled with because I didn't have the desire for meat eating anyway. Now I rarely eat eggs but have always eaten free-range eggs. With the options for soy products on the market it makes it easier to choose. My first Teacher did not emphasize vegetarianism directly that I can recall however vegetarian meals where always served in her spiritual home/retreat. A close friend and reliable source once said that she had witnessed our Teacher telling a woman that she should eat red meat for her particular body type and needs. With the higher ethical standards and behavioral expectations toward others and creatures the spiritual path would ask you whether you to find a source that doesn’t involve violence toward the animals that are slaughtered and their lives before that should be as free as possible. These are considerations for your development and only for your to decide. You will know inside how it feels without meat. My Teacher asks people, “Why make your body into a grave-yard?”



Meat eating is a part of American culture and I live in the Midwest that has a big cattle industry. It wasn’t until 2005 that I identified the trailer trucks that ship animals on our highways. During a break as a rest area on the way to Wichita to open a Meditation program at a state prison, I happened to notice the nose and mouth of a cow trying to catch some air and discern where she was in the outside summer air. I realized that I could not just go up to the back of the trailer and open the door and let them loose as my first impulse was to do. I could only pray and repeat the Mantra my Teacher had given us to use to invoke the power of the Teacher and God. I still feel the same struggle when I pass these evil entities on the highways and feel for the animals who are being taken to slaughter houses. In France a few years ago the press followed two pigs who had escaped from being taken into the slaughter house they had been delivered to by one such vehicle. The pigs ran around in the country side and everyone followed the story hoping that they wouldn’t get caught and taken back. I follow animal rescue mission work on http://www.Twitter.com/Langata145 if you would like to join me and link with them too. The work is important and the more people who spread the word and find homes for these animals who are great characters and individuals just like our house pets. I taught at a junior college in Kansas and was called “Wacco” by a faculty member because she knew about my spiritual beliefs and by another I was told in a very abrasive way, “You are in the Midwest and we eat meat!” I found other work and have found that people who work in the medical field are sometimes the most rigid and in the box thinkers.



Children who are from homes where meat is not part of their diet should have vegetarian meals in schools. They can be role models for their peers on humane practices and healthy lifestyles. They will feel the difference during the afternoon activities when they are not trying to digest meats but rather have proteins in the form of i.e. soy dog as a substitute for hotdogs. My daughter used to say that she didn’t feel good after her father used to encourage her to eat steak as opposed to how she felt when she ate vegetarian meals with me. Sometimes children will just have to experiment and it’s not the undermining of the system or a particular parent who will win but the child’s innate intelligence and body feedback. Spirituality means empowerment. Can you imagine a world without Mahatma Gandhi? He worked on changing things that were corrupt and unjust in his society while focusing on God and being a Spiritual Leader to many. As a parent you know that you have a responsibility to speak up for your children’s needs. Meet with parent groups and school officials. Send letters to the school district administrative offices and send a carbon copy to the School Dietician. Nothing changes by itself and your children’s health and spiritual wellness is at risk due to the ignorance of others. It’s up to you as parents to take responsibility for the lives of your children.



Another area of contention for parents, particularly from cultures where sexuality and dating are taboo until the person is married. So an Indian family may have children who are in an American school system who is exposed to the same mores as the rest of the kids that includes sexually revealing school clothes and make up for girls and rap music and jeans that are worn below the hips for boys. It is just not socially acceptable. American children may not have spiritual or religious guidance in the home because some families have been led to believe that there is no God. Now we have a dummying of America in the school with lower standards of morality and educational expectations. Be aware that this movement has been alive for many years and the more people who move away from God the faster and greater the influence and power they hold over our society and culture. There are organizations and studies that support teaching high school children about sexual abstinence. Go to the following below link for more information. Take a stance and you will find that the power that you have been given will support and guide your words. Take a stand for what is right for your children.
http://www.heritage.org/Issues/Sex-Education-and-Abstinence

This is a White Paper On Sex Education and Abstinence

Teenage Sexual Abstinence and Academic Achievement

Published on October 27, 2005 by Robert Rector and Kirk Johnson, Ph.D.


I will discuss more about rearing children in a cross-cultural context and the importance of US citizenship in my next blog.


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