RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL INSIGHTS 14 – 18. THE HIGHER PLANES, THE HEAVENS – CALL THEM WHAT WE WILL – ARE ALWAYS INTERWOVEN WITH OURSELVES, THAT IS THE GREAT SPIRITUAL TRUTH THAT WE MUST UNDERSTAND AND EMBRACE. WE ARE ALWAYS AND FOREVER CONNECTED. THAT IS THE MYSTICAL AND INDEED SACRED TRUTH OF OURSELVES AND OF ALL THAT IS. AND SO IT IS THAT WE WAX AND WANE WITH ALL THE RHYTHMIC SEASONS OF FEELING, IMPORT AND PURPOSE – SEASONS THAT ARE NOT PHYSICAL, BUT ARE OF FEELING AND MIND, AND ARE OF THE HEART OF SOUL. WE ARE FOREVER AFFECTED BY THESE SEASONS, FOREVER LINKED AND PART OF THESE SEASONS. THE GREATER PART OF US IS, IF WE ONLY KNEW IT, DEEP IN INFINITY. AND WHEN WE BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND THAT, THEN WE TRULY EMBRACE THE SACRED AND INDEED MYSTICAL PILGRIMAGE TOWARDS ONENESS WITH THE ALL, WHICH IS WHAT WE CALL GOD.
These insights, that were begun by Richard Dell back in the early 1990s, touch on all the most meaningful and indeed important religious and spiritual issues of our times. They 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. 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.
14
So many of our overly utilitarian buildings are a true reflection of our present view of ourselves. All that matters with so many of these buildings is that our physical needs are met. The spirit is of no consequence. This might appear to be an inconsequential point. But it most certainly is not. Our buildings, our townscapes, our various environments, invariably reflect us, reflect what we are, and perhaps more importantly reflect what we think we are, what we feel about ourselves. We are not worthless and inconsequential, yet too often the environments that we create for ourselves would suggest that we are. We need to understand that we cannot hope to become spiritually fulfilled within ourselves, and just as importantly spiritually at peace with each other, until the buildings we create, and the towns and cities we live in, and the rural locations we breathe in, reflect that harmony and spirit. Only then might they reflect what we ourselves, at our best, can be.
15
The prophets of Israel continually made the point that if the people of Israel lived by the Law, in other words, in their terms lived ethically, then they would prosper under God. If they did not, then there would ultimately be calamity. When it comes to right thinking and right acting, this had to be so, because of the karma that would inevitably be generated if the thinking and acting was not ‘right’. Now we are in the same situation as was ancient Israel on so many occasions. We, here and now, so often do not behave ethically. Oh, we do not always break the law, but we always hear people boasting about how they pulled off this deal or other by in some way ‘shafting’ their opponents. So often now we do not live honourably. Hence the decline of our nations. Until we restore honour and ethics to our everyday dealings, we shall not come out of our present-day misfortunes. In the 19th century there were undoubtedly unscrupulous people, but nonetheless people were expected to be honourable, and indeed there was a code of ethics that most people tried to operate by. Deals were made, but when made, one did not go back on one’s word. That was the code, even if it was not always adhered to. Do we have any sort of underlying code of ethics these days?
16
It is not just the physical environment that has to be redressed. It is the ethical as well. The physical environment is the world in which we live and upon which we depend. The ethical arena is actually us ourselves. At the same time, everything we do and feel and think, is a reflection of ourselves, and in a poignantly meaningful way, is ourselves. When we look upon the wasted areas of our world, be they our blighted urban landscapes, or our scarred and despoiled wildernesses, we are looking at ourselves. When the abuser stares into the frightened and wrecked eyes of the abused, he or she is looking at him or herself. So is it the case with the world that we live in and have created. When we gaze at polluted streams, at razed forests, at denatured pastures, at … We gaze upon the truth about ourselves.
17
The fundamentalist notion that only Christianity is correct, is a latter-day aspect of the notion that only the white European’s culture etc is any good. It is a lingering manifestation of that corrosive superiority complex that has contaminated the world for so long. And this is not unique to the Western world. It is a notion that at various times has infected nearly all the various peoples of our planet. Perhaps it is responsible for most of our ills. Certainly it is an attitude that our religions, be they of the west or the east, the south or the north, must overcome within themselves. Likewise all our various races and all our various colours of our skins.
18
The higher planes, the heavens – call them what we will – are always interwoven with ourselves. We are always and forever connected. And so it is that we wax and wane with all the rhythmic seasons of feeling, import and purpose – seasons that are not physical, but are of feeling and mind, and are of the heart of soul. We are forever affected by these seasons, forever linked and part of these seasons. The greater part of us is, if we only knew it, deep in infinity.
14
So many of our overly utilitarian buildings are a true reflection of our present view of ourselves. All that matters with so many of these buildings is that our physical needs are met. The spirit is of no consequence. This might appear to be an inconsequential point. But it most certainly is not. Our buildings, our townscapes, our various environments, invariably reflect us, reflect what we are, and perhaps more importantly reflect what we think we are, what we feel about ourselves. We are not worthless and inconsequential, yet too often the environments that we create for ourselves would suggest that we are. We need to understand that we cannot hope to become spiritually fulfilled within ourselves, and just as importantly spiritually at peace with each other, until the buildings we create, and the towns and cities we live in, and the rural locations we breathe in, reflect that harmony and spirit. Only then might they reflect what we ourselves, at our best, can be.
15
The prophets of Israel continually made the point that if the people of Israel lived by the Law, in other words, in their terms lived ethically, then they would prosper under God. If they did not, then there would ultimately be calamity. When it comes to right thinking and right acting, this had to be so, because of the karma that would inevitably be generated if the thinking and acting was not ‘right’. Now we are in the same situation as was ancient Israel on so many occasions. We, here and now, so often do not behave ethically. Oh, we do not always break the law, but we always hear people boasting about how they pulled off this deal or other by in some way ‘shafting’ their opponents. So often now we do not live honourably. Hence the decline of our nations. Until we restore honour and ethics to our everyday dealings, we shall not come out of our present-day misfortunes. In the 19th century there were undoubtedly unscrupulous people, but nonetheless people were expected to be honourable, and indeed there was a code of ethics that most people tried to operate by. Deals were made, but when made, one did not go back on one’s word. That was the code, even if it was not always adhered to. Do we have any sort of underlying code of ethics these days?
16
It is not just the physical environment that has to be redressed. It is the ethical as well. The physical environment is the world in which we live and upon which we depend. The ethical arena is actually us ourselves. At the same time, everything we do and feel and think, is a reflection of ourselves, and in a poignantly meaningful way, is ourselves. When we look upon the wasted areas of our world, be they our blighted urban landscapes, or our scarred and despoiled wildernesses, we are looking at ourselves. When the abuser stares into the frightened and wrecked eyes of the abused, he or she is looking at him or herself. So is it the case with the world that we live in and have created. When we gaze at polluted streams, at razed forests, at denatured pastures, at … We gaze upon the truth about ourselves.
17
The fundamentalist notion that only Christianity is correct, is a latter-day aspect of the notion that only the white European’s culture etc is any good. It is a lingering manifestation of that corrosive superiority complex that has contaminated the world for so long. And this is not unique to the Western world. It is a notion that at various times has infected nearly all the various peoples of our planet. Perhaps it is responsible for most of our ills. Certainly it is an attitude that our religions, be they of the west or the east, the south or the north, must overcome within themselves. Likewise all our various races and all our various colours of our skins.
18
The higher planes, the heavens – call them what we will – are always interwoven with ourselves. We are always and forever connected. And so it is that we wax and wane with all the rhythmic seasons of feeling, import and purpose – seasons that are not physical, but are of feeling and mind, and are of the heart of soul. We are forever affected by these seasons, forever linked and part of these seasons. The greater part of us is, if we only knew it, deep in infinity.
