Spirit And My Earth

THURS., JULY 18, 1991, 6:53 AM
FARM, STUDY

You took a day of “vacation,” which was good for your spirit, but not so good for the assignments that lie ahead. It is urgent, say I, that you be well prepared, and you can be thus only if you are hearing Me and following upon My suggestions… the ones you choose to use. Today I shall speak again to your class, obviously, and tomorrow We must consider, again, your sermon.

Another good activity would be the adaptation of the one where two people decide on their best place to live, considering human/spiritual interacting and ecological balancing. This means you need to take along and utilize those handouts from the seminar this week, emphasizing the relationship between spirit and environment. That will offer an appropriate way of thinking about your theme.

Another early contribution you must make is a summary of where we are in relation to humans and their activities and the environment. You need not do the whole lecture, but be sure and emphasize the positive first, as you do in the Survival class. Take copies of that lecture outline, and stress that the earth will continue to adapt to human actions. The earth is My creation, and I made it as an interacting living planet, even before human spirit was added. There is a spirit to the earth and its other forms of life, simply because it is all My creation. What I create must have spirit. So you see that the Gaia concept has a Christian analog… for I do present it as Christian.

Aha! Grasp now that you can introduce, early again, the “bubble concept,” with the emphasis on how important nature and Things are as a part of the H/S I picture. Make a sheet of several diagrams, as a basis for discussion of how different this facet can be valued. Then, at the end have each draw their own “self”, in “bubble” form, and display these, have them observed, and have time for some discussion.

I would suggest that part of a class session be given over to descriptions of personal experiences relating spirit with environment. Jot down a sample of ones you have had, and offer these throughout the week. Advise the group early that they shall have to write up one of these to be shared with one another. Yes, it would be good for you to take the typewriter along so you can prepare materials for distribution to the group. Wow! Am I overdoing it?!

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you had done all of this preparation last month, or even earlier, being ready for the whole week. Well, you didn’t and therefore you are in more need of My assistance. You were ready for your two main summer classes, and these went well. You waited till the last minute and used a lot of what I suggested for the Rutgers seminar, and it went well, too. I shall never argue with the affirmation that there is merit both in preparation and in spontaneity.

Consider two other activities: one would be an actual walk around the campus, probably as an out-of-class assignment, in pairs, comparing what each sees, hears, smells, and feels. The other would be an eyes-closed meditation – like exercise where each envisions some beautiful aspect of the environment, then creates something that would harm the scene, and then resolution. A sharing of these could be fun and worthwhile.

Emphasize early that there shall be more focus on spirit than on environment. It will not be an essentially cognitive experience in the threats to the environment. Instead, while it will have some cognitive value, you will be trying for a balance with the affective and the actual spiritual… not just the “talking about” spirit.