What is Our Excuse?

It would be difficult to find any person who disagreed that the world is in a mess, politically, economically, morally and spiritually. Why is this? Is it really much worse than say at the time of the Roman Empire and its collapse? Have human beings really learned nothing, other than how to exploit the Earth, during the millennia we have been here? Could it have been avoided? What are the likely consequences if it continues and can we ‘stop the rot’?

A long list of questions which I will endeavour to answer: I am certainly numbered amongst those who consider the world to be in a mess but I am also convinced that whilst this is true of human world society, most individual human beings are good, kind people. Good people who are desperately confused and frightened by what they see happening all around them. I am firmly of the belief that the vast majority of human beings when they come to review their earthly lives on arrival in the spirit world will be pleasantly surprised. They will discover that their lives in relation to others were much better than they feared and certainly better than many ‘religious extremists’ would have them think. Most people are good and do not deliberately bring harm to others, so morally and spiritually are by no means a lost cause.

If this is the case, surely the world should be a better place than I have claimed? How can people be good but society and its institutions be so corrupt and ineffective? The answer I suppose lies as so much does, in the way in which humanity has progressively divorced itself from the natural world and from one another over the years. We have diminished our spiritual awareness and sensitivity to the point where it is hardly noticeable. Add to this the way we have been increasingly bewitched by the goddess of materialism and I think we have an answer.

Materialism has brought so many creature comforts in its train, it is difficult sometimes to remember at what cost these have been bought. It is natural to want to make our physical lives more comfortable but when it is taken to extremes, as seems to be the case in modern “advanced economies”, we need to examine our priorities with great care. Materialism leads to exploitation of the earth, its resources, animals and people for the ultimate and I feel sole purpose of creating wealth, monetary wealth. To this end cultural, artistic and spiritual wealth receive little or no consideration. This is chiefly because materialism recognises only what is physical and discounts or ignores anything intangible. Conversely, those who are ‘cultured’ choose often not to ‘dirty their hands’ with the sordid world of commerce, whilst happily consuming its products. Not a particularly responsible attitude you may feel.

To this extent, humanity has learned nothing over the centuries and, because of what we have forgotten, our collective journey through time has been in many respects a failure that may yet result in our destruction or at least a dramatic fall in our physical numbers: Speaking of which the continual rise in world population is a not inconsiderable factor in bringing about the separation and its consequences. It is at least a partial excuse for us I believe. To recall what we have forgotten, we need to be reminded more often of those immortal words of Wordsworth,

“Our birth is but a sleeping and a forgetting,
The soul that rises with us, our life’s star,
Hath had elsewhere it’s setting,
And cometh from afar;
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, which is our home;"

We have certainly slept and forgotten but, “not in entire forgetfulness.” In other words, it is not impossible to recall that home from which we came. If we can do that, we can also discover what we are meant to do with this earthly life in order to fulfil the destiny that made us choose it. By ‘going within’ in quiet contemplation and meditation, our innermost reality is gradually revealed. We begin to wake to the realisation that we are inseparable from all other forms of life, animal, vegetable, mineral and human. With the dawn of this realisation comes understanding of the real meaning of “Personal Responsibility.” That exploitation for our own selfish ends, even when most of us realise little about what is involved, is untenable. Untenable, for it is only achievable at the expense of the interests of the other life that we share our planet and universe with.

What can we do? Is it too late? Those who interpret the Mayan calendar in a certain way believe it is already too late and that the end of 2012 will also see the end of the world. I do not share their pessimism. However, that doesn’t mean sitting back and doing nothing. It means accepting our individual responsibility as living, breathing, eternal human beings within whom shines the pure light of the Creator. It means emerging from our collective cocoon and taking notice of what is being perpetrated in our names by those who have no conception of their own spiritual inheritance. It means standing up and being counted. It means saying, ”NO”. It means asking for help from within and without through earnest prayer, recognising there are millions of past inhabitants of this Earth who are just waiting for us to ask before lending their considerable strength and love to our efforts.

All is not lost my friends but time is short and it is up to us!