INSIGHT 35: HAVE FAITH IN WHO WE ARE AND IN WHAT WE DO, SO LONG AS WHAT WE DO IS GOOD. FAITH ITSELF DOES NOT OPEN THE DOORS TO HEAVEN. ONLY BEING ONE WITH EVERYTHING AND WITH EVERYONE CAN DO THAT FOR US.

These insights, that were begun by Richard Dell right back in the early 1990s, touch on all the most meaningful and indeed important religious and spiritual issues of our times. They are the same now as they were then. These Insights see religion just as firmly grounded in the Earth and in the stars as it is in the spirit and in the heavens. Richard sees no distinction between the material and spiritual realms. ALL is ONE. This comes through so clearly in these Insights, and that is why the environmental movement – our awakening at last to the needs of Gaia, of our planet – is as important as any spiritual quest, as important as all our need for healing, and is and must be an integral part of that holistic oneness that we must achieve in all that we do. It is also why issues such as Black Lives Matter are deeply spiritual. Richard sees inclusivity as being at the core of all our spiritual and religious endeavours. ALL is indeed ONE. And that mantra is the key to humanity’s future evolution: spiritual, social and political.

Within Christianity, we have, for all but two thousand years, been bound to some extent by the story of St Thomas the doubter. After Thomas put his hands in Christ’s wounds, Christ said ‘have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’ With these words, faith was raised onto its pedestal and, as a consequence, faith became the litmus test of the true believer. But we need to note that Christ did not condemn Thomas. We need to note that Thomas was not thrown into the abyss. And we need to note that scepticism is not a ‘sin’. We also need to note that blind faith can never be a spiritual virtue, and that the sceptic who seeks actually does have faith: faith that there is something to seek. Most important of all, we need to be aware that it is not faith or belief that is spiritually important; it is how we conduct ourselves, how we behave and think, how we care for others and for our world (‘we shall know them by their fruits’ Matthew 7:16). Must we condemn the most virtuous possible Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, atheists etc etc, because they do not have the sort of faith that some Christians might claim as being essential for salvation? We might also want to note that the doubting Thomases of our world have probably done more for us than those who act by faith alone.

Image, courtesy of Greg Rakozy, of someone gazing upwards, silhouetted by the light of stars and especially by the Milky Way