A Wider View Of Spirit

NOV. 14, 1980, 5:50 AM
W. WILLOW, STUDY

The material you worked with yesterday and last night certainly did have a widening effect on your concept of the spirit. Oh, you did know of these before, but the contrast with your middle class Christian American perception was quite vivid. So this morning, o son, I shall lead you in some reflections on that contrast.

You see more and more evidence that the way of life in which you have grown up will soon be supplanted by one of more simplicity. I do not offer you a prophesy that this will happen… and when… I just comment upon the readings that proclaim this rather firmly. The perspectives are different, but the end result or conclusion seems to be at one. Entropy focuses on the diminishing store of easily available energy, and concludes that a reorientation of life will come, of necessity… with more needed use of muscle power. The American Indian view also has an inevitability to it, though this is based more on a faith in the balancing of forces. Because many humans are not now living in harmony with other forms of life and the earth itself there will be a rebalancing that will be hard on humans.

Then the viejos have always lived a hard, simple life, and have lived long under these conditions. They seem to have achieved a working balance with the forces of life, including Me. All of this merits reflection and some comparative association with life styles most directly influenced by Me and the Holy Bible.

As you think about it the life in Bible times was much more like these you have been digesting than like your modern situation. The Sermon on the Mount is about spirituality and simplicity. It advocates a sharing… give to him who asks… if he asks for your coat, give it to him and your cloak also. Take no thought for what you shall eat, and what you shall wear. This is far from a capitalist ethic, and yet some of the staunchest conservatives laud its merit as a guide to life. Strange!

The disciples and I did little work during our time of ministry (oh, some fishing), but the story could have told of those who did labor long that we might be fed and clothed. All do not work equally, but those who do not, have a responsibility to share what they achieve, in matters spiritual, with those who have done the more mundane tasks. In principle your situation is now like this. You do not teach, while others do and carry out the other necessary duties; You have a responsibility to offer to your profession some results from this time of contemplation. And you shall, certainly, for this I purpose, also.

This venture into modernity, science, and technology has been an interesting test of the human spirit. Some have done well with its offerings, have shared more fully with others, have respected My Earth, and have humbly enjoyed the respite from the hardness of existence. Some, then, have kept their hands in Mine as they have driven cars, shopped in super markets, and watched television.