The World of the Dreamers and the Wise

"'Tis not too late to seek a newer world."

It is as though we live in two separate worlds, two parallel universes simultaneously. One is the world of mortal goings on, the other a realm of eternal spirit. The first is perceived with the physical senses, while the other is not.

No one needs to be told that the former is discombobulating quickly, from climate change to collapse of social and political systems, to international tensions and more. It is a realm of increasing hardship for many, and staggering collective challenges.

The spiritual world is known with the heart yet not perceived with the senses. It beckons us, like an ancient melody which we hear although we can’t hear, that never completely goes away. We long for it as though for a home to which we all long to return. The source of all our existential angst is this spiritual longing to go home.

Photo: Chinnapong

Today, the world is so tired and weary. There is an exhaustion that permeates not only our civilization but seemingly others as well. We have so descacralized our planet that is hard to find meaning here. Too many don’t remember where we came from, who we are, or what we’re doing here. And without a sense of higher purpose, it’s impossible to achieve inner peace.

Our biggest problem, perceived by many, is that this cannot continue. The situation is untenable. It’s as though our global civilization is having a collective nervous breakdown, an identity crisis, as humanity as a whole seems to have lost its connection to a moral universe. Created in love, we have become masters at lovelessness. Those standing for the most sacred values are trampled on by soulless powers. The most basic principles of right living are treated like they don’t even matter.

Hey, who has time to think about the Ten Commandments while we’re pursuing drone warfare? Who has time to think about the Golden Rule when there’s so much money to be made ignoring it? Who has time to consider God’s will for us, when there are so many desires of our own to fulfill?

So now, we are where we are…living on the most beautiful planet but recklessly destroying it; created as brothers and sisters but treating each other like enemies; gifted with the most amazing powers of science and technology but using them more often for personal gain and destructive purposes than for universal good.

That we are on a self-destructive path, is clear. And I think enough of us understand that. The question of our time becomes this: are we ready to consider that there might be another way? “Heaven and Earth shall be as one” means they will no longer exist as two separate states. Heaven - or the awareness of our oneness - can be the consciousness that guides our lives right here, right now. We can live on the earth but think only the thoughts of heaven. We can allow love, and humanitarian values, to order our hearts and to order our societies. It is possible, and it will happen, if and when enough of us are ready to say so and make it real.

We can, and in fact we must. Many, of course, say such talk is naive. But what is actually naive is to think humanity will survive another hundred years on this planet if we don’t at least try. Those who argue that changing the world in any fundamental way is undesirable, or impossible, tend to be those who have taken us to where we are. Listening to those who drove us into a ditch as though they’re the only ones who know how to drive us out of it, at this point is preposterous.

Perhaps the dreamers and the wise will rise up now, saying, “It must mean something that I was born at this time. Perhaps it is to be used for something important. Perhaps it’s because I’m supposed to be part of the effort to save the world...”

Dear God,
Please use me for Your purposes.
Use my hands and use my feet,
guide my thoughts and expand my heart,
that I might serve Love best.
Remove the veil that hides from me
the other world that’s possible.
Help me imagine what I have not yet imagined
and help me to make it real.
Amen

If you have a nagging feeling that you could have sworn you were born for something important, I think you are absolutely right. In the words of Alfred Lord Tennyson, “Come, my friends. ‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.”