Should the Bible be taught in public schools?

‘Should the Bible be taught in public schools?’ was a question that appeared  on CNN this Sunday morning. My blog, called ‘The peaceful Revolution” is dedicated to a “Thinking Revolution” in society, and the “Clarification of Values” for the American public. What a better subject than that? I will clear up this constitutional amendment issue ones and for all, so the Courts (a miracle?) or someone in government (another miracle?) will read about it and learn how not screw it up, as they usually do with important issues in society. The justification for teaching about the New Testament (Christianity), Old Testament (Judaism), Koran (Islam), Upanishad and Bhagavad Gita (Hinduism), or the Veda (Buddhism),  holy books of the  5  major religions on earth, is justified because these religions affect your life every day, just as much, if not more, than the study of Chemistry, Mathematics, or Political Science.

Thirty years ago my college asked me to develop a course in Parapsychology because “psychic phenomena is out there in the world and it affects lives.”. I had to convinced the curriculum committee that there was a profound difference between “Teaching about Tarot cards” and  “Playing parlor games in a college classroom.” I did. Translating this to CNN concerns about teaching about the holy books of humanity in public schools, let me assure you that such knowledge will cut religious conflict for our next generation, as long as you teach only the history of the religion, as written in the holy books, and the religious rules and practices as written in the holy books. You let the students do their own interpretation and explanation of scriptures. The Supreme court of the United States should form a Judicial commission to go through each holy book and mark in pen the passages that will be allowed to be taught in public school. The students and Deans should  rate the instructor on one question only, “Did the instructor taught the class about the history and religious rule and practices as written in the holy book, or did he teach how to become a member of that religion?”

A society that knows the difference between teaching how to do something and actually doing it – is a winning society in history!

This one is for Noach about RQA.

Noach, you have an inquiring mind and a good grasp of concepts, so let’s clear up the issue of RQAs. There are many Right Questions to Ask (RQA) in philosophy, psychology, politics and economics. Many are liked or disliked by people. Most create arguments.  That is interesting, but these RQA are in my Beta domain of RQAs. My Alpha domain of RQAs are dichotomous – true or false, black or white, nothing  in between. Kapish?

Alpha domain of RQAs are only BEHAVIORAL questions that can have high probability answers, “Yes, you will make money,” or “No, you will not make money,” or “Yes, your health will improve,” or “No, your health will not improve,” or “Yes, you will feel happy,” or “No, you will not feel happy.” Kapish?

The psychology of naming kids.

Her parents took one look at the new baby and named her Bonita, subconsciously because she wasn’t pretty, or, consciously because she was a cute baby, who knows?  She could have been named Bonita after an aunt who had died, or just because they liked the name. A baby naming ritual is repeated million times per week all over the world. A Catholic kid named “Israel” will grow up in Haiti. Last week his parents named the baby “Israel,” delivered by an Israeli medical team after the earthquake. Thirty years ago, a baby who survived an El-Al crash was named –  El-Al. Two thousand years ago, the State of Israel was wiped out by Rome. Most new-born Jewish names in the diaspora became – Biblical: Moses, Joshua (not the one who blew the trumpets), Joshua (Jesus), Abe, Izik, Ruth, Simon, etc. In 1948, the State of Israel was re-established. Most  Jewish names became non-Biblical, land oriented: Nir (Joy), Sela (Rock), Doron (present), Israel (the land), Golan (an area), Tzur (strength), Tsion (Zion), etc.  How many one year old girls named ‘Nada’ live in the world today, reminding us to seek freedom? How many were named Sputnick after 1957, reminding the Russians that they were first in Space? I once knew a German  Jew who would not name his baby Adolf after grandpa, for obvious reasons. My cousin was named “Shilgit,” born in Tel Aviv in 1950 during a snow storm. Lucky woman, they call her “Shelly”, which means  “mine” in Hebrew and is great in English too. I, myself, was named Elior (Godlight) in 1936 when my parents were still observant and idealistic. Later on they nick named me “Larry” for whatever reason. Today, I am very spiritual.

The important thing to know from all these psychobabble is that your PERSONALITY is influenced by your FIRST name, anything from about 5% to 50%.  Go find out the good characteristics associated with your first name and ‘polish’ your identity and make it ‘germane’ (no pun intended). 🙂

Understand language and be free.

Twenty four hundred years ago Plato and Aristotle argued language. Aristotle said that language means the use of words in a community to convey the community’s culture. Plato said that language is the soul of humanity that expresses itself in successive layers of love.

You are free to the extent that you know the difference. If you are happy to feel the way you feel the rest of your life, you probably use words the way Plato did. If you don’t want to feel that way the rest of your life, you  probably use words the way Aristotle did. If you have the courage to test  yourself, define love. I’ll respond to the first ten.

Why is there hope?

We get up in the morning, doing all the things that we do every day. In Florida we start the day with orange juice, in Hawaii with Pineapple juice, in Haiti with nothing, and in Vancouver with coffee. Throughout the day, we have thoughts of what the world needs now, as the famous song says… you are reading my thoughts this minute – and guess what? These thoughts, for the first time in history, are read in the world.

At no other time in human history, we, ordinary people, were able to organize into groups and take action to end hunger, wars, and stupid beliefs, like today. This worthy goals were always  left to the UN, USA, EU, and the greedy charities. Why is there hope? There is hope because a man in Nigeria organized a food co-up, a woman in Haiti started a school for girls, a blogger psychologist in Victoria spends hours  every day to give out guidance to the perplexed, a blogger in Tehran tells the world the truth, a website called natural cures tells about complementary treatments for cancer, and God tells everyone to stop talking so much, and start building the Earth again.

There is hope because you are powerful. You can start today by only getting close to people in your life who treat you and others with respect. There is hope because you can stop from this moment interacting with abusive people. Think! You are powerful! Reward good acts and punish bad acts, in yourself and in others. You can do it. You have self-control. There is hope because you are powerful – if you are only willing! 🙂

My response to Tracy Farley on Facebook.

This is the first time that what I put on Facebook beats my ‘stuff’ on this blog. My response to Tracy about how  young people can find themselves, was good. The inspiration to remember a real story about a Mexican mutt came from her, Tracy is inspiring, a fine human being. We connected originally on Facebook because we both believe in – UFOs.

Hey, everyone, join real discussions for a change. Life is to explore.

This time I’ll ‘toot my own horn’ to make a point.

If you think that I am ‘bragging’ about my looks by asking you to visit my website http://www.thepsychologyofinvesting.com and stare at my portrait at age 73, you miss the point my daughter Deena made in a conversation.

“I want to start taking vitamins, dad.”

“Why?”

“I want to look my best and feel great.”

You can see that she is also good-looking, on my http://www.cancer-vcrc.org, the website I created after curing my prostate cancer, and if you think that I am  ‘bragging’ again,  you miss the point twice. I just want to let you know dramatically that taking vitamins helps your looks – a lot!

As a health psychologist and a writer, I will give you my healing tips laced with riddles, in ‘widgets’ to keep you interested, because many young people today ‘jump’ ship the moment they hear the command ‘Take your vitamins.”

Omega-3, vitamin E, cod liver oil and shark liver oil got together to protect an artery from the bad ‘sticky’ guys. They lined up on the insides of the walls waiting for their saturated fat enemy. They didn’t have to wait very long. The bacon, steak, and donuts released their bad cholesterol on the way to the heart and the brain, looking for a spot to land. The defenders were waiting. The saturated oils couldn’t get a hold of the slippery slopes  –  kicked out of the blood vessel. The girl lost weight, her arteries got cleared and she felt good. 🙂

“Then why did she quit?”

“It didn’t make sense to her. She thought all oil was bad.”

Commentaries on life by a maverick psychologist.

At the rate of responses to my blog, it would take me a 1000 years to create a peaceful revolution in relationships, let alone a thinking revolution in you! I have 50 years of maverick knowledge that can make an amazing difference in the lives of people who live with the wrong person on this planet. It is easy to find the perfect wife or the perfect husband! People have become cynical, they don’t believe what I say, but E-Harmony.com  could design a questionnaire with 20 right questions to ask (RQA)  that would do the job. If you can write me an example of a RQA, and explain why people avoid them at a terrible cost,  your insight and  fortitude will encourage me to continue dissemination true information in my Value Clarification, the Thinking Revolution, or even the Peaceful Revolution classification. 😛

Do You Have the Right to Tattoo Your Children or Pierce Their Ears?

I was born in 1936. My experience teaching child development in college goes back to 1973. For 10 years since I cured my prostate cancer, I start my day by watching CNN while making myself a hot cereal that keeps me young, healthy and happy, but it’s becoming difficult for me to let go of what callers say on various issues, not just health issues, that come up in society. My blog, eliorkinarthy.wordpress.com started in order to clarify behavioral finance issues. My blog drelior.wordpress.com started in order to clarify relationships issues. My blog drelk.blogspot.com started in order to clarify psychic phenomena issues. I did not have a blog to shed light on all other life’s issues – until this moment, yes, right now!  I have decided to make my half a century of profound knowledge and experience available to you free. I want people to get a new education, the kind of valuable education they should have had in high school or college and never did!

Let’s start with today’s issue on CNN: Do you have the right to tattoo your kids and pierce their ears?

The perfect answer goes back to the foundation of societies. Throughout history human beings got together and formed governing bodies to protect themselves and regulate their economies. The original purpose of government was only to provide a safe environment, free health care, and regulate the economy in such a way that everyone had equal employment opportunity.  That’s it!

You have the right to tattoo your kids, pierce their ears, impart your culture to them, as long as your behavior does not compromise their health, happiness or employment opportunities. You can’t use the same needle for both kids. You can’t tattoo them if you live in a community where employers don’t hire boys with earrings, men with tattoos, women with purple color hair, or foreign women who cover their faces. You have the right to impart your culture to your kids only if it does not interfere with their greater right to personal freedom, health and prosperity where they live.

The same goes in reverse. If your teenager who lives at home wants to wear purple hair, paint your white poodle purple, or tattoo her arm, you have the right as a parent to say, “As long as you live in my home, you have to abide by my rules.” my home is my Castle, as bugs bunny used to say in the famous cartoon. The bottom line is, freedom of self expression is sacred only as long as it does not interfere with physical health, mental health, financial health, or with a person’s right to persue happiness, ingrained in the Bill of Rights of the US Constitution!

The Psychology of Naming Cars II

This second posting on car names is for Anton, who was the first person to like my first posting:

Among executives who don’t understand how to name products or services to have impact on sales, car executives are the best.  They actually undermine sales by screwing up the psychology behind naming cars. Boardroom executives think that Chevy Malibu would sell well in Boise, Idaho; Chevy Impala would sell among deer hunters and venison eaters in the mid-west; or that Ford Pinto would sell well with Mexican beans. If place, animal or food were that powerful for sales; Volvo meatballs, Chrysler Frankfurter (nicknamed the ‘the long hot rod’), or Volkswagen Hamburger, would top them all during this recession, not to mention Dodge Ram among the nostalgic fans of the LA football club. The truth is that those executives who decide car names are not creative enough to tap ‘juicy’ categories, including the vegetable kingdom or religion to name a few. Imagine the sales of Ford Pope Classic among Catholics, or the Pigeot Catchup in French flying circles.  I, for one, would like to expand the field of car names to include Chevy Banana (good sales in any south American republic, but not in slippery Canada), Mercedes Las Vegas, and GM Gambling 150.

Enough of this nonsense. Seriously speaking, the truth of the matter is that the best car sales in the world would be the UK’s Sterling Anglia, Tokyo’s Nisan Yentel, Ford Dollarama, Toyota Indy 5000, Honda Paradise, Fiat Cardinal, or simply any respectable car named  after a King, God, or 500 mpg. I rest my case against the lack of imagination in the broadroom! 😛