People Can Think For Themselves

Valerie J. Steimle

This past weekend I went to a conference about being prepared.  Not just physically prepared for natural disasters but emotionally prepared for what could be difficult times ahead. One of the speakers quoted the French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (born 1881) who said: “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.  We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”  I found that quote to be very interesting.

Regardless of your religious background, the fact still remains that we, as humans are sentient beings who have the capacity to communicate love and give unto others. We have been given a brain to think and ponder our life and solve the challenges we face. We each have a certain amount of spirituality which helps us cope with our trials.

 The world (and those in power of the world) might try to convince us that we are to follow along as sheep to alluring whims presented in the media and not think for ourselves, but we can think for ourselves.  We can conclude to act according to the dictates of our own conscience without the government breathing down our necks.  We can make good choices for our own families by searching for the answers on our own and following through on our plan.

For example, we have all heard about the population control in China and Japan. Back in the 70’s and 80’s, these governments were under the impression that there were too many couples having children which they thought would be unsupportable in modern times.  What they are now learning as the new decade moves on is that because of their past practice of family control to one child per family, they are now short on people in their population to take care of the elderly and have enough women to marry all their men.

Those countries are now reaping the penalty of an unwise decision from long ago. News reports of a shortage of women and people in general have become very common from the East.  I have read reports of families who wanted more than one child and either had to leave the country to have them or went into hiding.  Those who were caught with more than one child were in grave danger of losing the extra child.

When given the chance, most human beings will ponder their challenges and make good choices to overcome their troubles.  The natural cycle of life can continue peaceably. But when forced upon by dictator governments into decisions we don’t want to make, we are forced to live beneath our own standard of living.

We naturally want the best we can work for in our own lives.  We don’t want the intrusion of governments telling us what to do and how to do it.  For the most part, we are self-thinking, resourceful people who believe that a life on earth is more important than preventing someone from being born.

So as spiritual beings, let’s take a minute each day to think about what is important in our life and follow through on those thoughts. It can mean the difference between a wise or a foolish decision.