tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30374409082154105512024-03-05T01:09:55.965-08:00Diversity, Inclusion & SpiritualityCSL Diversityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068226487250929089noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3037440908215410551.post-53962719352390193152015-08-13T16:42:00.004-07:002015-08-13T16:42:39.203-07:00Unity Does not Mean Uniformity<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In
</span><a href="http://csldiversityinclusion.blogspot.com/2015/08/what-is-water.html" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;" target="_blank">Part 1</a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> of this series on cultural diversity we introduced and generally defined the topic of cultural diversity and in this post we’ll
explore its practical implications for CSL as an organization. Part 3 will
place all of this in the context of the Global Vision. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The question we’re
exploring today is:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>If we believe in
Oneness, should we even be </i>noticing <i>differences,
much less </i>celebrating<i> them?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Context</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As
a practical matter, the Leadership Council of CSL has created the Diversity
Commission in direct response to a failure to notice difference in the form of
marketing materials for the 2011 Gathering in San Diego that showed a picture
of “us” that included only white people. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This raised a variety of concerns
regarding how the organization sees and seeks to portray itself and how it in
turn is being perceived. Clearly the decision has been made that we wish to
project images of ourselves that portray diversity and inclusivity; but how
does that fit in with our belief in Oneness?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Unity is Not Uniformity </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Unity does not
mean uniformity</i>,
Ernest Holmes repeatedly affirmed.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjir8get80_ql6mL6EoPDlfW78kj-iPTKSyALcFC8262Ehy2n4jmS1BwkJ6M3oCWjY268AlkOtMI8QMn7YWb917a_85zrR0S7RVn1mDkiS9pjdFGAPturmGJDSl8DLdgjHQjibudh73SSRk/s1600/unity-is-not-uniformity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjir8get80_ql6mL6EoPDlfW78kj-iPTKSyALcFC8262Ehy2n4jmS1BwkJ6M3oCWjY268AlkOtMI8QMn7YWb917a_85zrR0S7RVn1mDkiS9pjdFGAPturmGJDSl8DLdgjHQjibudh73SSRk/s1600/unity-is-not-uniformity.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjir8get80_ql6mL6EoPDlfW78kj-iPTKSyALcFC8262Ehy2n4jmS1BwkJ6M3oCWjY268AlkOtMI8QMn7YWb917a_85zrR0S7RVn1mDkiS9pjdFGAPturmGJDSl8DLdgjHQjibudh73SSRk/s1600/unity-is-not-uniformity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"></span></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We know that our being all One does not mean
we are all the same. We are each unique expressions of the Divine, just as the
entire manifest Universe is made up of a multiplicity of expressions of the
One. In this way we are simultaneously All like EVERYONE else AND like NO ONE
else. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Culture
is the arena of expression in which we are all like SOME others. Race, gender,
ethnicity, national identity, sexual orientation, class, physical ability, and
religion are all expressions of the way we are like SOME people. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What Unites </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In fact,
cultural expression occurs across the entire spectrum of human relationships.
Your family of origin has a culture. Centers for Spiritual Living has a
culture. Your Center has a culture. Perhaps your Vision Statement articulates
it. In any event, something has knitted you together and become the water that
sustains you as community. The possibilities for how we express as like some
people are endless.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI74gNGw0I2F9910seLVmt2xEW50FTbDJDHqT494pFossCE6-qxI80owlE7YzDDKuYkcZ88eIKL_vx6SiJm7Nd8auQnA-UagKiI4BeL6J5ABwoCQ-GlD5SGiyk1em6TsE0_7VPU8DUbsUM/s1600/what+is+culture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI74gNGw0I2F9910seLVmt2xEW50FTbDJDHqT494pFossCE6-qxI80owlE7YzDDKuYkcZ88eIKL_vx6SiJm7Nd8auQnA-UagKiI4BeL6J5ABwoCQ-GlD5SGiyk1em6TsE0_7VPU8DUbsUM/s640/what+is+culture.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Where Do We Go From Here?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This
brings us back to Dr. Holmes explanation in the Textbook regarding objective
and subjective mental activity:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">“The
objective, or <i>conscious</i>, mind is the <i>spiritual mind</i>…”(SOM 112:3) “When we
think, we think from conscious intelligence, or Spirit. The thought then
becomes subjectified; it goes into the subconscious mind” (SOM 124L4).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The
question for us, then, becomes </span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">“Is our culture reflective of who we intend to
be in the world?” </span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Does it match our Vision, Mission and Values? Who else might
need to be here in order for us to fully manifest God’s highest idea of who we
are called to be? These questions become particularly important as we consider
how they – and we – relate to the Global Vision. That is the topic of our third
and final installment of this series.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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CSL Diversityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068226487250929089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3037440908215410551.post-71363846705983698732015-08-06T15:35:00.002-07:002015-08-06T16:18:50.767-07:00What is Water?<div style="border-bottom: solid #4F81BD 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 4.0pt 0in;">
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Introduction to
Cultural Diversity</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>by Rev. C.Michael Woodstock</b></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“To
see what is in front of one’s nose requires a constant struggle”</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">George Orwell</span></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Story of the Fish</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">One
day as a group of young fish were swimming along they encountered an older fish
swimming in the opposite direction. Passing by, the older fish greeted them
saying “Hello there; how’s the water?” After the younger fish had gone some
ways farther one of them piped up, “What the heck is water?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI5OaWAbXpMXX1QauTUVydUDKY56FsNj_ONJ_shaMAXYFrm4KQrF2tj6QkhN9I3kVj8JdgEbMQ9nE5OMRtwrO_39WZhDZwMC5b3iwXrG-7RlQ74orpNW9MGaynQmfSJQ5M2R36ZMMcaNpK/s1600/This-is-water.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI5OaWAbXpMXX1QauTUVydUDKY56FsNj_ONJ_shaMAXYFrm4KQrF2tj6QkhN9I3kVj8JdgEbMQ9nE5OMRtwrO_39WZhDZwMC5b3iwXrG-7RlQ74orpNW9MGaynQmfSJQ5M2R36ZMMcaNpK/s1600/This-is-water.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Photo Courtesy of UnitedYAM</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This
story is meant to illustrate that, just as fish don’t see water because it is
so ubiquitous it is taken for granted, so too are we surrounded and immersed in
a context that is typically <i>invisible to us</i>. We live and breathe in a sea of
assumptions that operate like default settings in a software program to govern
our responses to our environment. We are constantly making choices and
responses throughout each day based on these default settings as we navigate
our environment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is Water</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">How
do we acquire these default settings? From our early childhood upbringing,
schooling and socialization and ongoing relationships with family, friends,
neighbors and the rules, regulations and values of the community and society in
which we live, written and unwritten, explicit or implicit. In these and
countless other ways we are getting feedback from our environment about how
successfully we are meeting the expectations of our parents, teachers, and
others in our community and society.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Another
word for this is<b> culture</b>. It is the learned behavior people acquire that makes
it easier for them to know what to expect from each other as they live, work,
play, worship and engage in countless other human activities together. It is
the collective understanding of common sense.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Or
as Albert Einstein once famously put it:</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">“Culture is the collection of prejudices
acquired by age eighteen.”</span></i></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Blink of an Eye</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">None
of this is good or bad, per se. It is how human beings are wired to quickly
make decisions based on information stored in our subconscious (past training)
plus minimal new information. In short, we literally pre-judge in order to make
rapid decisions. This has given us a distinct evolutionary advantage, AND it
get us into trouble as Malcolm Gladwell points out in his book, Blink:</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGCbRDjjl-goKb-Q5GlPlAJKrADnTqHeFR4nSebkjTOAKFaLkbGGbQAlY0UX3XrDdegFGqZYSBw_SyHV3QfBQVjz2fEC1vedcTHYOvC84-OwuzzHfHTb8S-wGroZaaqTSGy7pQCu8JgLI5/s1600/1152627_stock-photo-goldfish-jumping-out-of-the-water.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGCbRDjjl-goKb-Q5GlPlAJKrADnTqHeFR4nSebkjTOAKFaLkbGGbQAlY0UX3XrDdegFGqZYSBw_SyHV3QfBQVjz2fEC1vedcTHYOvC84-OwuzzHfHTb8S-wGroZaaqTSGy7pQCu8JgLI5/s320/1152627_stock-photo-goldfish-jumping-out-of-the-water.jpg" width="220" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfsUqD_V4_P_O1VbTnaafsS8AZ0j1-GFZ-wZMXnmgpYd2OWh3k7cjw9BvaQLqiDB6fblCAAD9exd94T_U4solr2NicC0UrKZU3HfrE0Q2QYjqa2GDr3LmqiAvLB2SXa3y2dXNpqCLfA_8N/s1600/blink.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"></span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><i>“[Research] suggests that what we think of as free will is largely an illusion: </i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><i>Much of the time, we are simply operating on automatic pilot, and the way we think and act – and how well we think and act on the spur of the moment – are a lot more susceptible to outside influences than we realize. </i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><i>The answer is that we are not helpless in the face of our first impressions. They may bubble up from the unconscious - from behind a locked door inside of our brain.</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><i>But just because something is outside of awareness doesn't mean it's outside of control."</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Though our biases are nearly automatic, we have the opportunity to change the patterns that have formed...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">... if we can become conscious of the water we have been swimming in. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">COMING UP - Does Unity mean Uniformity?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Next week, we'll continue the series on Cultural Diversity. The practical spiritual implications of this will be explored in Part II of this series, "Culture, Diversity and
Inclusivity."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>About the Author</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ZKc3qZNpY16iRxlxbjCPoM5t6qPPPpQUqr8BDm2x1UwURpKEvM3tCVGebG7wv2Jjgw7n8MKvEDjdEQ3GoI2E6rLhSth4rJYTg1Q_aWL0vJb5gKrJBV1vXwRUIv-n8llqD2d0xvmeFerZ/s1600/c.michael.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ZKc3qZNpY16iRxlxbjCPoM5t6qPPPpQUqr8BDm2x1UwURpKEvM3tCVGebG7wv2Jjgw7n8MKvEDjdEQ3GoI2E6rLhSth4rJYTg1Q_aWL0vJb5gKrJBV1vXwRUIv-n8llqD2d0xvmeFerZ/s200/c.michael.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Rev.
C. Michael Woodstock is an ordained minister of the United Centers for
Spiritual Living and a graduate of the Holmes Institute for Consciousness
Studies with a M.A. in Consciousness Studies. He also holds a B.A. in Business
Law, and Office Administration from Michigan State University. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Rev.
C. Michael is a cultural diversity trainer and has facilitated trainings both in
the corporate world and in CSL. He is currently a member of the CSL Diversity
Commission.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"Rev.
C." as he is known to those working closely with him, currently lives in
Hercules, CA with his wife Rob</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 15.0pt;">in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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CSL Diversityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13068226487250929089noreply@blogger.com0