I started working on a post a few days ago, reacting on an article, with a title that caught my attention (in French):
Meditation in schools worries associations and unions
After writing a post that sounded a little bit too overheated, I decided to delete everything as it was missing the point. Then I "meditated" on it 😌, and tried to understand the ramifications of such a witch hunt, what it implies.
The article made me realize that there was an ongoing silent war against spirituality, under the false pretense of fighting cult-like behavior and communitarianism.
If you aren't familiar with the term "communitarianism", it has been thrown around a lot in recent years in France, it has been used as a way to denounce small groups, small pockets of citizen, minding their own business a little bit too much I guess 😁, and the Police state needs to control every single citizen.
You can pretty encompasses the gypsies, free spirits, certain religious groups, people out of society, homeless people (300 000 in France), and few other sub cultures as people living in within their own community and rules, and this is a big nono for the frenchies.
Again, it's hard not to be incendiary, the fact of the matter is that it would be pointless to criticize the need for a government to control all his subjects, and instead I thought it would be more interesting to have an open conversation on the subject of "Laïcité" and why it's at the core of the debate.
The English equivalent would be "secularism", though Laicité encompasses all form of spirituality as an enemy of free thinking & modern democracy, has been sold as a overruling ideology during the last century up until now, with a remarkably rapid adoption, as it took roughly 100 years for it to become a nation not under god, but under the square and the compass.
Actually, secularism is the very foundation of the Republic, and takes birth during the enlightenment period of the 18th century, heavily influenced by the masonic hidden hand, that always had a particular interest in freeing the minds from the shackles of religions, for your own good of course. 🙂
Truth is, The French republic needs its citizen to be devout to the republic only, and that's why the separation of the state and the church was so important. In other word, it was necessary for the state to "kill god", and become the father figure (or big brother if you're an Orwellian).
It's interesting, because I've lived in nations where spirituality was the cornerstone of the culture and beliefs, and I never felt that citizens had a diminished sense of patriotism, or were less interested in the embetterment of society.
It's hard to tell why France has embraced secularism in such a way, knowingly destroying hundred and hundred of years of heritage, in the name of democracy, but this is how kids are being raised in the country of Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité.
The term of "Fraternité" was never making reference to the way we say "my brother" in Africa, but more a reference to the brotherhood that shaped history.
Now while we're being told that "mindful meditation" can cause harm to children, can induce schizophrenia, can create isolation, we must just accept these claims without flinching and it makes me wonder what is the real agenda here.
The other main argument, is that meditation can prevent young minds to differentiate fiction from reality, which I find particularly ironic knowing how many fabricated lies are being taught in schools.
Now, today was an interesting day for France's "laicité". Christiane Taubira being now the main candidate for the socialist party, the election will be this year in June, and she made an interesting declaration after being elected as the primary candidate, as she wants a "secularism that does not crush but emancipates".
She of course is trying to rally the French Muslim community for the next election, and perhaps attempting to rally all "minorities" in a fragmented country, but the split, the fracture in within the nation might be too wide to heal, and the extremes (far right/far left) are now stronger and louder than ever.
It's certain that a division like never seen before will be at the epicenter of this election, with another candidate called Eric Zemmour, that will probably try to steal the show, using tactics very similar to Trump (by this I mean having an apolitical outsider captivating the news like in 2016). Only time will tell if he will be used as a proxy, a tool to funnel the vote for Macron, or will become a disruptor.
Of course, I can go on and on about this election, but it's probably a longer conversation for another time.
Of all thing, I would believe that spirituality is more needed than ever.
The right for people to love their religion, their god(s), to love their spirituality or pagans traditions, or to be free to believe in nothing or anything for that matter, could maybe be the only way to extinguish the ongoing fire, this is probably a scary thought for a lot of the world leaders, as they can't have sovereign people taking charge of their own destiny and spirituality.
sources of what I am talking about:
Le poids de l'histoire : le Grand Orient de France et la question de la laïcité (1848-1905)
French Article on bad psychological aspects of meditation
Mindful Meditation shouldn't be taught in school