INDIVIDUAL PERSPECTIVE AND THE WAY OF SPIRITUAL LOVE
by
Aaron Anthem
Spiritual Love is the criteria that determines all wisdom, Spiritual Love is important because all living creatures, both plant and animal, are benefited individually by it, and all living things can sense its presence or absence. This fact will never end in life consciousness any more than will the fear of death or injury. Spiritual Love is an essential and elemental force among all life and the aim of sentient evolution. We are evolving toward Spiritual Love. Thus, all activities and goals of mankind that promotes this tendency will be met with success, as all actions contrary to the logic of Spiritual Love will fail. Evolution is as unstoppable as the wind or the currents of the sea. Gandhi has proven with his life that peaceful and enlightened change is not only possible but also the only possibility for any successful improvement in a cultural equation involving class struggle. Gandhi proved that power is dependent upon obedience. The Bolshevik revolution illustrates by contrast that a violent social molting only replaces one tyranny with another.
It is an act of Spiritual Love to share wealth. Since the beginning, artists, writers, and holy men have addressed the issue of the disproportion of wealth in a myriad of ways. Whether by allegory by metaphor or by prosaic account, the human condition has been depicted as an unfair struggle between the rich and the poor. Even Christ was tortured and killed because he posed a potential threat to the status quo. If the goal of art or religion is to improve or refine the lot of the human race, how could any such commentary exclude this obvious and universal dilemma? Yet, the situation has classically only been a problem for the poor. As for the rich and powerful, everything has always been well.They have depended upon “divine right” or righteous providence or their own effort to account for their privilege. Before the host is destroyed, the virus thrives. However, the poor upon this planet outnumber the rich by billions. The loop of power is tightening around the throats of the masses, and this fact, combined with other unique and newborn problems posed by modern society, has increased the urgency to eliminate for the first time this ancient injustice.
In the same way the first concept of money trumped brute force at the beginning of society, spiritual love will trump money and become the dominant motive of human effort. It is inevitable that sentient evolution shall effect enlightenment about a world distribution of wealth that includes the most destitute among us. We shall see the reason in not allowing human beings, thus endowed with this expanded consciousness, to be left to suffer and experience the trauma and torture of poverty. It has been said, "a penny book of matches can burn a million dollars". Why inflame the wrath of the multitudes when a simple act of generosity on the part of the powerful could put an end to it. Those of privilege are insulated from the daily struggle of the masses and erroneously equate their state of consciousness with that of the poor. Their lives are not the same. This condition of humanity is ancient and unjust and will be ended not by the kindness of human nature but by economic necessity.
Wealth is the blood of human society. Blood must circulate for a healthy body, and wealth must circulate for a healthy society. When such a large portion of the wealth is hoarded by such a small percentage of the population, it is tantamount to a body being hung upside-down thus causing too much blood to collect in the head. The vast seas of stored wealth horded by the few must be peacefully shared. Furthermore, unless the multitudes are so empowered to purchase the goods and services provided by the privileged, all classes will be disadvantaged. Our usual and present course is unsustainable in a modern enlightened society. By governments increasing wages on a global scale and even giving generously to the very poor, all classes would exponentially improve their perspective lots.
In such a scenario, the status quo would in no way be altered. A few are so wealthy that the standard of living of the entire planet could be doubled or even tripled without those few even noticing the change- but only if it happens everywhere at once and only if the change is peaceful. Hoarded wealth on such a massive scale clots trade and creates injustice among the vast majority of our species. Were this situation to change, no class would be left out of the resulting increase of prosperity. The rich would become richer because of increased economic activity generating even more wealth than had originally existed, and the poor too would be finally benefited on a fundamental level for the first time in human history.
Furthermore, a billionaire eats no more bread than a pauper yet a thousandth of his worth would buy a million loaves of bread, and a million people thus empowered will buy a million loves of bread per day. The snowballing benefit of peacefully shared wealth is obvious.
The countries of the world should unite in this massive effort for the benefit of the entire earth not only for moral reasons but for practical reasons as well. Our differences define the human situation. Every harmony, every conflict is driven and is resolved by the fact of our individual differences. We must turn away from group thinking and find the peace and accord, which will only come when we discover that each of us is sublimely unique. This discovery of ourselves in no way negates the doctrine of any spiritual teacher. In fact, sharing the wealth is in harmony with the basic tenets of all the world religions. The enlightenment to the fact of one's singularity can only enhance and advance spiritual growth and deepen faith within ones own religion. Because we agree verbally on the subject of religion does not mean that we agree essentially. Each person has a hidden vision and definition of God (or His absence), which is totally exclusive to that individual. These visions of God are hidden because of the profound limitations on accurate communication. Therefore, group thinking is a shared illusion based upon verbal logic and does not account for the vastly various definitions of the words upon which such reason is premised. One who knows these things would still attend the church, synagogue, mosque or temple to share with others the worship of his faith. However, he would only know that those around him were each thinking differently, and thus, the dangerous exclusiveness and divisiveness of group mentality would be mitigated because he would know that adherents of other faiths were also each particular in his understanding and interpretation of that religion. This knowledge that all faiths must deal with individual perspective would soften the walls that separate us and link all of humanity in a category of common dilemma. We would then be free to love and forgive people their differences from us without hostility- the goal of all the saints.
We must reach out to one another with empathy, spiritual love and forgiveness. We must forgive our enemies as Jesus has instructed us. We must forgive ourselves and know our human limitations. We cannot see into the future, and we could never anticipate the consequences of our words and deeds. Therefore, we can only operate by increasing the odds that those consequences are utilitarian, i.e. expediting the greatest good for the greatest number. What other motivation could any lawmaking body or spiritual leader embrace ethically? We increase the odds that our actions will be successful (utilitarian) only through Spiritual Love. Even forgiveness and empathy are only attained through Spiritual Love. Spiritual Love is the sole premise upon which all wisdom is reasoned. It is Spiritual Love such as that of a mother for a child or a doctor for a patient or a lawmaker for his people that has given our precious planet its only relief from the timeless suffering of tyranny. It is the same for all seven billion of us. We must each focus upon practicing Spiritual Love to the greatest extent of our abilities at all times and without exception.
Only through Spiritual Love may we save the air and the water for our progeny that they too may witness the miracle and blessing that is our human existence. Heaven is heaven because of love, and hell is hell because there is no love. Would one be admitted to heaven therefore had he no love, and would one be welcomed in hell were he to possess it? The power of love moves heaven and earth, and its quiet practice touches the lives of everyone. In these modern times, we no longer have the luxury of omitting love from our affairs. Justice is born of love; fairness is born of love; freedom is shared only when Spiritual Love is among us. All things deserve Spiritual Love at all times from each of us and the world is always the better for it. It is only when Spiritual Love is absent that wars and suffering rage unchecked.
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| Bethie and Scoot |
We must acquire the fulfilling and sublime happiness that results from practicing Spiritual Love, carry these feelings to all around us, and inspire others to do the same. We have the blessings of all the saints from around the world and of all times to do so. We would lose nothing but our suffering. All one’s knowledge and skill is retained when Spiritual Love is practiced.
