THERE IS THE LAW, AND THERE IS THE HIGHER LAW. TO SURVIVE WE MUST OBEY THE LAW. TO FLOURISH WE MUST OBEY THE HIGHER LAW, THE ETHICAL LAW: THE LAW OF SPIRIT. RELIGIONS HAVE ALWAYS TRIED TO TELL US THIS, AND THEN WE HAVE SYSTEMATISED OUR RELIGIONS UNTIL THEY INVARIABLY BECOME MANIFESTATIONS OF MERE LOWER LAWS. WE CAN WHEEL AND DEAL AND MANOEUVRE OURSELVES THROUGH ALL THE INTRICACIES OF THE LAW SO THAT WE REMAIN ON THE ‘RIGHT’ SIDE OF THE LAW IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE OUR NEEDS AND AMBITIONS THAT ARE ONLY CENTRED UPON OURSELVES. BUT IF WE ARE TO TRULY FLOURISH, IF WE ARE TO TRULY KNOW LOVE AND HONOUR AND RESPECT, AND INDEED IF WE ARE TO TRULY KNOW SELF-RESPECT, THEN WE MUST BE HONOURABLE AND COMPASSIONATE, WE MUST HAVE TRUE INTEGRITY. THESE ARE SPIRITUAL MATTERS. IF WE LIVE OUR LIVES IN FULL AWARENESS OF THE FACT THAT WE ARE INDEED DEEP-SET ON OUR SACRED AND SPIRITUAL QUEST AND PILGRIMAGE, IF WE LIVE OUR LIVES IN TRUE INCLUSIVITY WITH EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING; IF, FOR EXAMPLE, WE CARE FOR OUR MOTHER EARTH, OUR HOLY GAIA, NOT BECAUSE WE WILL SUFFER IF OUR MOTHER EARTH BECOMES SICKLY, BUT BECAUSE WE LOVE OUR MOTHER EARTH, AND CARE FOR ALL THE FLORA AND FAUNA OF OUR HOLY PLANET, THEN WE SHALL BE ABIDING BY THE HIGHER LAW, AND ALL SHALL FLOURISH, AND WE WITHIN THE EMBRACE OF INCLUSIVITY SHALL FLOURISH TOO. AND AS WE AWAKEN AT LAST TO THIS, SO SHALL COME OUR SPIRITUAL HEALING OF OURSELVES, OF EACH OTHER, OF OUR COMMUNITIES AND OF OUR MOTHER EARTH, OUR HOLY GAIA.THERE IS THE LAW, AND THERE IS THE HIGHER LAW.
The United States Supreme Court stands before us. It could be any country’s highest court. Here is where the law is decided. But there is also the face of a bearded old man, the face of a prophet. This wise old man, with his white hair and beard, as if he is God Himself, reminds us of the HIGHER LAW. The laws of countries might change. But the HIGHER LAW is changeless. All must accept the laws of their respective country’s highest courts. But we ignore that wise old man’s HIGHER LAW, at our peril.
The laws of our lands are clear, and in order to survive in our lands we do well to obey the laws of our lands. But that is essentially all about survival, about just getting by. It is not about flourishing in terms of ourselves as members of societies and families. We must never lose sight of the fact that there is always the Higher Law, the law that relates to matters spiritual, that relates to our sacred pilgrimage, our quest, our spiritual journey whilst we are here on our Mother Earth our Gaia. Our relationships, our friendships are founded on spiritual matters such as honesty and integrity, such as love and care; or our friendships and relationships are but nothing. The prophets of old knew this, and in ancient times tried to tell us this: that we are forever deep-set in moral and spiritual matters, that we are forever answerable in our souls to the Higher Law of Spirit. Religions have always tried to tell us this, and then we have systematised our religions until they invariably become manifestations of mere lower laws. We can wheel and deal and manoeuvre ourselves through all the intricacies of the law so that we remain on the ‘right’ side of the law in order to achieve our needs and ambitions that are only centred upon ourselves. But if we are to truly flourish, if we are to truly know love and honour and respect, and indeed if we are to truly know self-respect, then we must be honourable and compassionate, we must have true integrity. These are spiritual matters. If we live our lives in full awareness of the fact that we are indeed deep-set on our sacred and spiritual quest and pilgrimage, if we live our lives in true inclusivity with everyone and everything; if, for example, we care for our Mother Earth, our Holy Gaia, not because we will suffer if our Mother Earth becomes sickly, but because we love our Mother Earth, and care for all the flora and fauna of our Holy planet, then we shall be abiding by the Higher Law, and ALL shall flourish, and we within the embrace of inclusivity shall flourish too. To only find meaning in our own ends, is to fail, and is to reap an ultimate ‘doom’. Now that we have achieved undreamt of wealth in terms of what we can produce, we can even afford to abide by the Higher Law. Our Time awaits us. The spiritual awakening of humanity properly into the Higher Law can be upon us. The choice is ours. It is a spiritual choice, and this is a sacred moment in our spiritual evolution. Inclusivity is the key, embracing the ALL in terms of ALL our fellow humans, and ALL of our planet is all that we need to do in order to spiritually flourish here on Earth.
To survive we must obey the law.
To flourish we must obey the HIGHER LAW,
The ethical law:
The Law of Spirit.
***
BUILD FOR THE SOUL; ALLOW OUR PRACTICAL LIVES TO TAKE WING.
A beautiful flower-filled meadow stretches before us. Beyond are hills, and beyond the hills is the infinity of the heavens. In the foreground we see a number of high-rise tower blocks. They do not belong. We build them, but they do not belong; and indeed, they despoil our beautiful planet Earth, our Gaia. But a little further away is a small house: a homely home. It is part of the landscape, it is part of the spiritual integrity of our Earth, of our Gaia. Which will we choose?
One of the great ironies of our modern times is that at the very time that we are able to fly and thereby see our world from above, we have been erecting buildings that invariably look ugly from above. In the past, our buildings might have often been insanitary and dark, but they looked glorious from the outside, had a human scale to them that did not dehumanise us, and even if it was only God who could look down on them, we now know that with their spires and pitched roofs – in inclement lands at least – they look intricate, mysterious and beautiful. That is all a little ‘tongue-in-cheek’, but there is an important point to be made here. To many of our buildings and cityscapes lack a human dimension, lack aesthetic beauty and do not ‘speak’ to our souls. If we are to evolve spiritually, if we are to achieve spiritual harmony in our individual and collective lives, then we must create buildings and cities that are beautiful, and that do not overpower us with their immensity. All of humanity is on a sacred soul journey, a sacred pilgrimage, that centres both on ourselves as spiritual entities, and on us collectively as souls sharing in our spiritual lives. We will not achieve harmony and inner peace, we will not achieve the manifestation of spiritual meaning in our individual and collective lives if we do not create an environment for ourselves that resonates peace and harmony, that in its very pattern and shape fosters healing within our souls. We have become so aware now – thankfully – of our responsibilities towards the natural environment, and indeed of our need to enhance our natural environment. But there is always, and also, the environment of our dwelling places. Indeed, our urban environments are more likely to promote spiritual and mental and emotional sickness in us, than they are to foster peace in our souls, a sense of healing and sacredness in our lives. Does love, any more, figure in how we plan and construct our cities. Does the human dimension, that must take account of our deep-set sacredness and spirituality, figure in how our cities are planned? We are spiritual pilgrims in search of our sacred meaning, and we are offered utilitarian machines as our dwelling places. We will never restore health and peace to our natural environment, to our other earth, to our Holy Gaia, if we pepper the environment with dehumanized and despiritualized dwelling machines for ourselves. We owe it to our planet, to all the flora and fauna of our natural environment to create for ourselves dwelling places that are as rich and beautiful and spiritually profound as those we would hope to restore for the natural world. Inclusivity also means US!
We build for practical use,
So we are limited and constrained.
We must build for the soul,
To allow our practical lives to take wing.
***
THE FIRST COMING WAS ONE MAN. THE SECOND COMING IS US ALL
We see a path that leads through beautiful fields and woodlands. There are people on this path. All are pilgrims; all are seeking their way. Rising above the fields is an outline of the risen Christ. Christ, and all such spiritual Masters, are the inspiration for all who travel the path. We see that the path continues beyond the risen Christ. Our pilgrims are Christ touched already. They are the heralds of the new times: every single one of them.
These are extraordinary and profound times we live in: extraordinary and profound because of the spiritual significance of these times. For millennia we have seen our role as mere petitioners of God. Now we are entering into our spiritual adolescence, which is a stage in the sacred pilgrimage that humanity has been deep-set in throughout its existence. At last we are entering into a sacred and even mystical partnership with God, with all the holy orders of the heavens, with the ALL of the cosmos, with the universal unfoldment of ALL creation. We stand at last upon the great spiritual fault line that marks that coming of age. It is the fault line between the dreadful, and at times murderous, exclusivity of the past, and the inclusivity of our spiritual and sacred – our mystical and healing – future. In the past the embodiment of spiritual inclusivity and wisdom, that pointed humanity’s way forward towards its sacred and mystical destiny, was given unto us by the great spiritual teachers of the time – mostly in the guise of men, though not always. It has always been these great spiritual teachers that we have attempted to follow and have attempted to reverence through how we lived our lives. But now, at last, it is US, ALL of US, who can embody and make manifest the next vital stages or phases in humanity’s great spiritual and mystical quest. This is our present day purpose, this is what will give to our time its spiritual meaning. In the past, the great spiritual wisdom came embodied for us in just one man – or woman. Now the great spiritual wisdom, the great sacred leap forward will come embodied in EVERY man and EVERY woman. This is our sacred glory, this is our sacred purpose and this is our sacred test. Humanity’s seemingly eternal spiritual quest has reached its great turning point, even its greatest test, and if we can truly embody inclusivity with regard to ourselves, our cultures, our races, our nations, our religions, our environment, our entire flora and fauna, of our entire planet our entire Mother Earth, our Holy Gaia, it will be our greatest glory to date.
The First Coming was revealed in one man.
The Second Coming is US:
ALL of US who accept ALL ways:
Beyond separation and beyond exclusivity.
***
SEX IS NOT A MORAL ISSUE. HOW WE HANDLE OUR RELATIONSHIPS IS.
A man and a woman stand silhouetted on a hilltop. They embrace in a kiss. We are reminded that physical, emotional and spiritual love bring us together into ONENESS with each other: indeed, into the ecstasy of ONENESS. We are reminded too, that when two people love – physically, emotionally and spiritually – they also achieve a ONENESS with the very heavens, with God, with all of creation, with the universe entire. As the couple embrace, darkness is falling, but the radiance of the sun, as it slips beyond the horizon, silhouettes them, and encapsulates them in the radiant divine. We might imagine that we are very ordinary people. But we are not. Our entire life is a deeply and profoundly spiritual life. Our life is our own mystical and sacred quest that will one day, beyond the eternal infinity of the cosmos see us achieve ONENESS with all the Cosmos, ONENESS with the ALL. Our seemingly mundane lives could not be more special, or more important. Very few days go by when we are not involved in all those moral dilemmas of life, all those moral and thereby spiritual decisions that have to be made day by day, hour by hour and almost minute by minute. We will forever be aware of this greater dimension when we care for our children: the offspring of our LOVE. We know instinctively that we are morally responsible for them, and we guide them and cherish them as deeply loving experiences. We are the Gandalfs of our own worlds, guiding our children with love as they enter their own spiritual and sacred pilgrimages through life. With each year, almost with each day, we guide them on their quest into adulthood, into moral and spiritual adulthood. Their destiny becomes our destiny. Their lives and their sacred and spiritual unfolding and awakening become our sacred and spiritual unfolding and awakening, become our destinies too. And when we enter into procreation by which we bring into being these children of ours, we enter – if we are lucky – into feelings of deep love, experiences of deeply spiritual ecstasies. We become ONE with he or she with whom we generate these new lives. We become ONE with them. In the seemingly most basic of our physical instincts we experience and enhance the highest and most perfect experiences of love for another, and in that experience we become ONE with that other. This seemingly basic act of sex, is sacred and profound; is spiritual in its intensity. And at those most sacred of moments, in the ONENESS we experience we KNOW the other in ONENESS, and together we generate new life, we create new life. We might imagine that our lives are mundane and of very little significance. But our lives are not mundane. Our lives are suffused with God, as we take the spiritual and sacred pilgrimage of ONENESS that is us, that is our seemingly mundane lives. Never think, for one moment, that our lives are without meaning. Our lives are forever our spiritual pilgrimage.
Sex is not a moral issue.
How we handle our relationships:
IS
***
OUR INNER GUIDANCE MUST ALWAYS TRANSCEND MERE SCRIPTURE.
A silhouetted figure stares into the night sky. The Milky Way is radiant with spiritual beauty. Beyond the figure we see a vast military graveyard. The white crosses stretch to the horizon, indeed they stretch to the stars. It is in the star-studded heavens that the souls and spirits, the hopes and dreams of these fallen soldiers belong, and where we can sense that they reside. An image of war can bring spiritual angst and despair. But this scene reminds us that the heavens await us, that peace and sanctuary await us. Yes, the heavens await us, and this is known here not through words, but through the opening of our spirit and soul to the spiritual sanctuary, the sacred and transcendent peace of the eternal infinity of the ALL. The words of our scriptures can guide us and inspire us, but we must never let them be the prison guards of our souls. When we say to someone, ‘I love you’, or someone says, ‘I love you’, to us, we are not engaging in any sort of instruction or command, we are engaged in the opening up of our souls to OTHER. Words can be, and so often are, powerful; but in the end we must be the spiritual entities that retain control. Our sacred spiritual journey is forever oursacred spiritual journey, our sacred and spiritual pilgrimage. The mystical unfoldment of our inner spiritual life is not lived through command or instruction: it is LIVED. The words of our scriptures that command, break the fundamental spiritual Truth of the eternal infinity to which we belong. Words that command separate us from that which commands. Words that inspire, words that offer guidance and nurture our spiritual and mental integrity, are words that are inclusive and in their inclusivity are Holy. We are not the people we were when our scriptures were first laid down. We have moved on, we have learnt, we have evolved mentally and spiritually. Within a few hundred years of our scriptures being laid down, we were actually assuming that God required of us the slaughter of those who followed other ways. We have evolved! Mentally and spiritually. We have become pilgrims on a sacred way on a sacred Mother Earth; spiritual pilgrims who at last recognise and rejoice in the fundamental spirituality of our planet, of our environment of our Holy Gaia. We no longer find our meaning in ancient texts, we find our true meaning in our own spiritual pilgrimage that recognises and rejoices in everyone else’s spiritual pilgrimage. We are ONE; ONE with ALL. And that is our spiritual purpose and our sacred and spiritual destiny.
If scripture told us to hate and kill,
Would we obey?
If not:
Then we own an inner guidance
That forever transcends scripture.
***