“In
contemplation of created things...”
Today I was sitting in the beautiful Company Gardens in the
centre of Cape Town, gazing in wonder at the lovely foliage, listening to the
birds and watching the cute squirrels running around trying to persuade me to
give them some nuts, when these wonderful words of the poet John Milton popped
into my head. He wrote them many years
ago but in this age, so besotted by all that is materialistic, they are even more
relevant. In full, he wrote, “In
contemplation of created things, by steps we may ascend to God.”
We seem to have become inured to the average scientist or
atheist describing everything in material terms and refusing even to consider
that life is more than just what registers on our five, very limited, physical
senses. We also seem to have accepted
that war and conflict are inescapable factors of our lives on Earth. Politicians seem powerless to resist the
siren voices of the armaments industry, the military and the power mongers, who
tell them, “Ours is the only way”. Hatred
is once again replacing tolerance and understanding. We are so wrapped up in our day to day
physical existences and in thrall to the ubiquitous and insidious news channels
on TV, that even as Spiritualists we find it difficult to be still and do
exactly what John Milton urges.
What would happen if we decided more often to contemplate
created things? For a start, we would
find ourselves being much calmer because contemplation requires stillness on
our part. Next we would discover that in
the stillness of contemplation, our auras would expand and consequently we
would become more and more aware of what I like to call “the secret life of
nature”. That is the essential, spiritual
side of the natural world. As
Spiritualists, we should know that everything in the physical universe is a
poor duplicate of what exists in the spiritual universe. Nothing physical exists that does not already
have a spiritual counterpart.
Why when our auras extend, do we become more aware of the
spiritual side of nature? Simply because
our aura is part of our own spirit and expanding it automatically increases our
awareness of hidden things. This is why
mediums need to practice extending their aura in order to link with those in
the spiritual world wishing to communicate with loved ones remaining on
Earth. As our awareness grows, so we
become conscious of the true beauty of the natural world. We come to recognise the spiritual light
which is an integral part of all living things, a light that only disappears at
death. This light interacts with the
light of our own spirit and true spiritual love and light are exchanged between
the natural object you are contemplating and you. Thus can we be re-energised when feeling low
or inspired to say and do things we previously considered were beyond us.
However, whilst such spiritual contemplation, is fine for we
Spiritualists, John Milton’s words can and should be followed by the more
materialistic and if they were, amazing transformations could take place. Compare the creations of nature with those of
humanity. In nature one cannot escape the
sense of wonder that, no matter what there is; beauty and order are present
always. Could the human mind, whilst in
a physical body, design a leaf that is half as beautiful or as incredible as
the real thing? Not only do leaves
possess beauty but they perform a vital task for the tree. That they convert sun light to nutrients for
the tree, through the action of chlorophyll borders on the magical. Everything designed by nature, not only
performs essential tasks impeccably but possesses an innate beauty. Nowhere in nature does utility exist without
beauty: Even when leaves die and are
discarded, their colours are so beautiful, they have inspired poets and lead
each year to thousands of “leaf peepers” driving hundreds of miles to see the
autumn colours: If only that were so in
the creations of humanity.
Scientists congratulate themselves on being able to clone
sheep for instance. They portray it as
creating life in the test tube or laboratory.
Nonsense! All they have done is
to use their limited understanding of the laws of nature, designed by beings
far superior to us, to create an offspring of the sheep in a different
way. The development process is no
different from that which occurs in the womb.
If instead of trying to “play God”, scientists would seek to understand
the spiritual basis of all life by examining the human mind more critically,
their efforts would be of much greater long term benefit to us all. They could make a start by accepting that the
mind is not a physical part of the brain but is the reasoning part of our
eternal, spirit selves.
Scientists are taking reluctant, but hesitant steps in the
right direction at last, through the vehicle of quantum physics. The trouble is their training precludes them
from reaching the right conclusions. I
can’t help feeling, even when they establish through their quantum experiments,
that several non-physical dimensions exist beyond the four physical ones we
acknowledge, they will jump to the wrong conclusions. Science has become far too specialised. Consequently, we really do know more and more
about less and less. The secret of
unravelling the spiritual nature of all life is to be found in generalism not
specialism.
Originally, science, art and religion were all part of “philosophy”,
as they were in Milton’s day. Thus a holistic
approach was then the norm and although religion in particular, fell prey to
the corrupting influence of power, there was a much greater acceptance then of
the true fatherhood of God than there is today.
Many of us luxuriate in the physical benefits provided for us by
scientific specialisation, whilst being uniquely ignorant of the presence of
the power of the spirit in all things.
Nothing is more destructive.
Increasingly in our pampered luxury, so many of us unwittingly add fuel
to the negative, all-consuming power of consumerism. Consequently, generations can and are denied
the opportunity to develop their spiritual natures properly whilst on Earth.
Instead money and power become twin gods.
By persisting in the wrong-headed notion that life occurred
by accident in the primordial mud, we blind ourselves to the facts. Even were it true that the primordial mud
gave rise to the first single celled examples of sentient life on Earth, this
begs the question that inanimate life (mud for instance) is an aspect of life
also. It is similar to the arguments put
forward for the “big bang” by astronomers.
They claim everything began with the big bang. If that is the case, how come there was
anything to go “bang” in the first place?
Far safer and more sensible to conclude as did that great philosopher
from the spiritual world, Silver Birch, “I know of no beginnings, I know of no
endings”. As we examine the wonders of
nature (or as William Cowper advised, “Go mark the matchless working of the
power that shuts within the seed the future flower”) we cannot fail to be
convinced of the power, majesty and ingenuity of the mind or minds that
“planned this scale of beings.” Accident
indeed! Rubbish!
Spiritualists accept the truism that nothing dies, especially
human beings. What happens on death is a
change of form. Scientists accept this
in regard to matter but because to most of them, mind and spirit are figments
of the imagination, they cannot and will not accept it in regard to life
itself. How sad, and in relation to the growth in intolerance that seems to be
an inescapable corollary of materialism, how deadly. Give me Milton’s enlightened philosophy any
day.
© Lionel Owen 2016
