Human/Spiritual Interaction, Yet Again

SUNDAY., SEPT. 27, 1981, 5:52 AM
FARM, STUDY

Listen, o son, for you do want to hear this last teaching about your important concept. You are experiencing a spiritual truth: while it is comfortable to know what the meditation will be about, you do miss the excitement of coming “blank” and writing on an entirely unexpected theme. Never fear. That shall be the case again, even tomorrow as you complete your commitment.

Human/spiritual interaction takes several forms, which are interrelated but ultimately separate and not appropriate to a continuum. An individual thus may exhibit combinations of these forms, and one who is active in all of them could be judged healthiest… except for the fact of quantity plus quality.

Starting with the strictly human, one person may relate actively to a relatively few people, while another is truly gregarious. Then the quality of that relating is important, with the key factor being concern for self vs. concern for the others. Two people may seem to relate about equally in numbers, but one does it out of honest interest in these others, while the other is more of a “user” of others for her own purposes.

Interacting with others in spiritual ways is pretty much a reflection of spiritual development, though, again, that development comes with practice and exercise of one’s spirit. One person may feel love and responsibility toward many people, in a very natural way. Another may be able to interact this way with only a few, but with these the quality is intense and genuine. You see the myriad combinations possible. I know. The fullest spiritual health, in this form, is to look for and discern the spirit in each person you meet and strive to relate to that spirit, rather than just to the “human” being. And the “striving” is largely unconscious and natural.

The same principles apply, of course, to relations with the spirit of the natural and created world. Those who feel little or no spirit in places, things, music, animals… tend to argue that it doesn’t exist… that others are just “making it up”. Some of what you feel about Peter’s Park, the pine grove of his burial, is a reflection of your own spirit, projected into that place. But there also is spirit in that place because of all that happened there during a few days in 1976. This is a factor in the growth of the trees… even the return to growth of those cut down. A scientific agriculturalist might scoff at such an affirmation, but know that it is true. There is much of spirit to be discerned and discovered in this earth, if you will be but aware and appreciative.

Disembodied spirits… a tremendous realm, and the principle We are considering applies here as well. One other factor needs emphasis… the balance of relations that are positive and upbuilding with those that are more destructive… those that damage full functioning.