The Earth… As It is To You

TUES., JUNE 8, 1993, 6:24 AM
FARM, STUDY

The earth is your home, the only one you remember. Each human can have only a partial view of this setting for life… your perception of life as you have lived it, as you are living it now, and some notions of the future. I have told you often that the life you lead now is one that you helped choose, one that I have helped you develop, and one in which the development of your spirit was not easy… even as it seems so now.

You have lived in a time when there has been much technological development, with, it is predicted, much more to come. You are basically satisfied with the technology you have and do not yearn for more. You can agree that there would be much more efficiency to these Teachings of Ours if they were all on computer discs, particularly if you took them down while sitting at such a machine, rather than writing them by hand in this ritualistic way. Just know that if I should want such a move to modernity I will surely tell you this, and repeatedly. I still am satisfied with this paper and this red and silver pen.

You rightly wonder why so much money and effort go into new and improved products, when the ones you have and enjoy now are incredibly more advanced than what most of the world’s peoples have, with little choice. Oh, I have to agree that the brain capacity to envision and achieve what is coming forth from technology is, fundamentally a gift from Me. Yet you know that many comparable gifts, throughout human history, have been misused.

Actually, however, it is not just the technical developers who are responsible. The basic push of your culture is toward change and toward new technologies to make those changes more efficient and pleasant. Rightly you resist this somewhat, which is partly due to your age and partly to your personal view of life, influenced considerably by Me over these last 14 years. Remember that I see this “progress” of your culture as a mere blip in human history, over many years in which there has been much spiritual development… and, as I implied earlier, I see it in contrast to life in villages all over this earth on this very day.

You voiced a view of Mine on Sunday evening, even as you did not pursue it forcefully when there was not much avid reception of it. Much of modern development encourages selfishness and self-centeredness. It encourages the use of money for “things’, rather than for more important causes. The encouragement, from advertising and from those who profit from the sale of new products, is toward idolatry. And this idolatry can be quite as soul damaging as that of golden calves, described in the Holy Scriptures. One problem with holding to these “original” Scriptures as the only Guide to present day life is that it is difficult to know what the modern equivalents of the golden calf are. I can tell you, and even if you tell others, it has little effect on your culture.

Your question, “How is God involved in all of this?” is a very relevant one. Modern devices are not bad in themselves. They become good when you see Me in their development and in their use. Idolatry is in not seeing Me as involved and in valuing these “things” more than you value Me, on a day-to-day basis. You listened to 3 tapes yesterday and watched a videotape last evening. Each of these touched your spirit in some ways, and this wouldn’t have been possible without present technologies. Therefore if you accept that the use of these may be of advantage to your spirit, in which I am constantly involved, then you are moving away from idolatry.