- Stanley K. Lacy Executive Leadership Diversity Forum – December 2007; [speech]
- Inter-Faith Thanksgiving Prayer Service, Saints Peter & Paul Cathedral, Indianapolis – November 2007; [speech]
- Inter-Faith Prayer Service, St. Paul’s Catholic Center, Bloomington – October 2007
- Guest Speaker, IUPUI Freshman Class – October 2007
- Keynote Speaker, Marion County Council on Youth (MCCOY) – September 2007; [speech]
- Guest Speaker, USDA/INRC, for Asian-Pacific Heritage Month – May 2007; [speech]
K.P. Singh regularly contributes essays to Sikhpoint.com.
Many of his articles can also be viewed under the heading "At Home in the Heartland," at NRIinternet.com. More information about K.P. can been found in the Who's Who section of the NRIinternet website.
In the past, K.P. authored essays in the IN Touch section of the Indianapolis Star (March 2004 - November 2005).
Over the past 30 years, a center of Tibetan culture has been taking shape on an 80-acre wooded site amidst the rolling hills of Southern Indiana near I.U. Bloomington. This dream to preserve and introduce Tibetan Buddhist spirituality and culture to the West has been in no small part due to the tireless efforts, dedication, and inspired vision of the late Professor Thubten Jigme Norbu (Tagtser Rinpoche), the elder brother of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Dr. Norbu migrated to the U.S. in 1950 and later settled in Bloomington, Indiana.
The Tibetan Cultural Center in Bloomington, re-named The Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center (TMBCC) in 2006 by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso) who has visited Indiana five times since 1987. Dalai Lama is the Spiritual Leader of the Tibetan Buddhism and is the former Ruler of Tibet who has been living in exile in India since 1959 when he fled his Homeland in the face of Chinese invasion and occupation of his country. While the world has looked the other way, the brutal suppression of Tibetan people in their Homeland and destruction of their ancient culture has continued to this day.
Celebrating the Asian Presence (January 31, 2009)
CELEBRATING THE ASIAN PRESENCE
The last five decades have seen an unprecedented influx of people from around the world and a large number of them from countries in the vast Asian Continent that today houses nearly half of the world’s population of over six billion people and two emerging superpowers, China and India, into the United States of America. We have witnessed a significant share of these Asian immigrants converging into the American Heartland in search of their dreams and opportunities. These immigrants represent many unique talents, rich cultural heritage and, a strong will to strive and excel in lands and places that are their new home.
These newcomers, until recently, remained unusually quiet; the full measure of their talents untapped. They are finally coming into the community mainstream and national spotlight as a population, exploring the power and potential of their ideas, passions, and proudly affirming their deep commitment to American ideals. At the same time, these recent arrivals to our shores remain excited about the deeply enshrined cultural associations and ancient traditions of their native lands, and are passionately engaged in creating private, public, and cross-cultural activities, opportunities, and environment for their preservation and continuation to benefit the future generations of Americans. Cities are promoting diversity as an attraction, a destination. Media, internet, and inter-continental travel is frequently spotlighting and introducing us to Asia as a Continent of incredible richness, diversity, and wonderful surprises.
Exploring Imagination: A Gateway to Wonder and the Unknowns (August 14, 2008)
The 2008 Spirit & Place Festival theme: “Exploring Imagination” is truly thought provoking. As I see it, the theme invites and celebrates our efforts and resolve in transforming ordinary and extraordinary, imagined and perceived ideas, and cherished hopes and dreams into visions of reality.
First, we must define and understand imagination, its significance, and important place in human affairs. It is in exploring that we set forth new markers in human advancement and test the power and limits of our imagination, skills, experience, and great ideas. Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, a former President of India, reminds us, “ideas move the world, and thought precedes action.” Someone else made another brilliant call: “great ideas are wonderful but something has to be done about them.”
SEEING IMAGINATION AS A LIVING PRISM
As living-breathing and thinking beings, we carry special hopes, dreams, and expectations that best reflect our times, interests, talents, and commitments to improve our personal and collective human condition. We wonder, examine, and interpret the meaning, intricate mysteries and interrelationships, and the boundless promise of life. We see life as a colorful and complex tapestry of thoughts, emotions, ideas, and raw images of dreams and possibilities. We see life as a many-faceted living prism, teeming with and unfolding many ideas and images that dazzle our mind and attention. Our study, meditations, and reflections inspire us to give shape to ideas that capture our imagination.
Celebrating Our Divine Spiritual Mosaic (December 25, 2007)
We see God as an Immaculate Reality, Eternal Truth as something of an omnipresence that carries a halo of awe, mystery, and unimagined power that is beyond description, measure, and dimensions as we know or understand them. This inherent knowledge, divinely-inspired memory and passion seeking a spiritual connection with the Spirit within and all around, has been part of human yearning and prayer from the earliest beginnings of time and life. Our search for this Eternal Truth, affirmed by much testimony and evidence throughout the history of human civilization, has introduced us to many spiritual philosophies, interpretations, and revelations. Much like the ever-expanding, unfathomable universe, human spirituality has an aura of awesome mystery, growing fascination for all living beings, and continuous evolution and illumination. Different faiths seem to affirm similar images and understanding about the Supreme Nature and Spirit of the Divine and yet offer new Light and distinct perspectives.
Exploring Our Racial and Cultural Diversity (December 13, 2007)
A presentation made by K.P. Singh for the Stanley K. Lacy Executive Leadership Series
CLASS XXXII DIVERSITY DAY
The Indianapolis Urban League
December 13, 2007
Kanwal Prakash “KP” Singh
(Notes, Comments, Reflections)
BY LAND, BY SEA, BY AIR, BY INTERNET
The human universe is in an unprecedented flux. People, cultures, ideas, talents, hopes and dreams are on the move as never before in search of something different, better, safe, exciting and impossible driven by imagined or real opportunities to better their lives. They are traversing into known and unknown places, across established geographic, national, and cultural boundaries, creating new frontiers of hope and promise with an amazing pioneering spirit. The United States of America has been one of their favorite destinations for reasons that we all know and that they have come to believe as the best place for their skills and future or to start a new life. In recent years, we have begun to see this movement of people in many directions, and that reasons for this cross-continental adventures by modern-day pioneers are increasingly multi-dimensional.
This trend and influx is irreversible; this confluence of nations on this blessed land and other Continents are nothing short of providential. We want to make certain that this transition must be a smooth, orderly, and mutually-rewarding experience for cultures, communities, and individuals relocating their hopes and dreams in new lands; willing to face entrenched ideas in place that are unfamiliar and that their receptions that at times may be less sympathetic. These newcomers are equally challenging to the established order and the existing populations; many feel invaded and threatened by new cultures, faiths, traditions, experiences, and sudden expectations and uninvited fierce competition.
Being a leader means: dispelling the fear factor, unfounded stereotype, indifference, or hostility towards newcomers and getting to the task of highlighting the positives of this global phenomenon and its relevance to our community and interests.