Peace is the substance of collective maturity. It is the inevitable outcome of sufficient ripened souls. Hundreds of years may be required before humanity attains the cultural capacity for pervasive peace, because of all the entrenched bureaucracies and theologies which trend toward something different. Governments all claim that they desire peace, but their actions say otherwise, for the differing priorities of other governments are often perceived as existential threats, unwelcome nuisances, and the tensions which result from this will occasionally lead to war. Religions are almost universally advocates for peace, but the unspoken ultimatum here is that each religion insists that the world converts to its own ideology before peace becomes viable. There was a time when governments and religions developed in relative isolation from one another, and this explains the present diversity of each. The paragon of this phenomenon is observable in the great diversity of languages present on the Earth. Combine all of this together, and there results a fantastic array of established cultures, each quite certain of its own transcendence, and herein resides the many roadblocks to consensus which will be required for there to be collective peace.
It is quite possible for divergent cultures each to be transcendent, yet pervading peace would only be possible here if there developed an established tolerance for one another. This would require the hard boundaries of culture to be softened somewhat, allowing for a kind of osmotic communication, which would tend to neutralize what is false in a culture while yet preserving, or even enhancing, its validity. This is applicable to the realm of individuals as well. We have reached the place where even individuals are convinced of the supremacy of their own perspectives, and this is fine so long as each is tolerant of the perspectives of others. Individuals ought to have unique orientations to the universe, and there are myriad reasons why. Our destinies are not perfectly aligned, though there is much in common; and though our genomes are largely in harmony with one another, genomes are almost universally unique. Even identical twins must have separate souls, else they could never live apart from one another; and research shows that mutations in the womb can cause identical twins to be slightly different genetically. And, of course, each person’s set of experiences is unique.
Problems arise when we do not allow for these differences in perspective, and this is usually founded in some self-centered ambition, such as in the illusion of cultural supremacy. Were ever a culture truly to be supreme, it would be tolerant of others, confident that the rest would eventually catch up, and not forcibly. Individuals need to be grounded in something greater than themselves. Governments need to be guided by something greater than themselves. Religions need to be founded in something greater than themselves. Unfortunately, self-will permeates all of these, though presumably less in the realm of religion. Here is the source of most of our problems: the legitimization of self-will, becoming finally the institutionalization of self-will. This is often manifest in unjust legislation, in the presumptive tyranny of an individual, or in religious coercion…culturally mandated assertions of authority, designed to favor many to the exclusion of some, based not on intrinsic superiority but rather founded in cultural convenience.
The common ground of all religions is the Holy Spirit, though some religions barely acknowledge the Spirit’s relevance. The Holy Spirit has the capacity to bind everything together, shifting and adjusting everything as well, so that harmony results, the kind of harmony which we might recognize as peace. But it needs to be valued for this potential before the potential can be realized. Religions which value the contributions of personalities without crediting the Holy Spirit are either ignorant of the contributions of the Spirit, or they prefer emphasizing personalities, thinking this may win over more hearts. But the Holy Spirit in our lives is a function of the soul, in that the soul is the vessel through which the Holy Spirit flows into our being; and if a religion is more concerned with winning souls than seducing hearts, then it needs to emphasize the Holy Spirit.
To assert, however, that every culture is intrinsically equal means denying the validity of the divine, and the distinction between self and Spirit. Self-centered cultures typically impose themselves on the world around them, addicted to self-will like the Nazis in World War Two. It requires a great arrogance to assume that we know best, though a Spirit-filled life is certain to be more accurate, universally speaking, than one driven solely by instinct. It can be argued that the sun imposes itself on the world, but where would we be without it? A Spirit-centered life delivers profit to the universe, but a self-centered life consumes more than it returns. A heart surrendered to the divine discerns the oases of profitability, and it is these places which will motivate the future of the Earth.
It is an illusion to believe that we are in control of our own lives, and left to itself the human genome will leave us wandering desperately in the wilderness. We need the wisdom of divine intelligence, manifest through the sway of the Holy Spirit, in order to emerge productively from the wilderness of our own tendencies. This intelligence in fact created us, and must surely know where it is that we ought to be headed. The cornerstone to living this kind of life is the unconditional surrender of the heart, not to Mr. Destructo down the street, but to the irrepressible dominance of divinity, manifest in the sway of the Holy Spirit resonating in our heart, showing us the path to productive living. It is the inexplicable enhancement of our genome, once it is surrendered to the heart of God, which will construct the portal to our future, a future immersed in the irresistible ambience of peace. It is not about winning some dubious competition, but rather it is about healthy spiritual relationships, resulting in the spontaneous urge to cooperate with one another, now that we are founded on a legitimate basis of trust. A surrendered heart and fidelity to the Spirit render us trustworthy people, satisfied, travelling on the self-sustaining highway of destiny.
The spiritual life is self-correcting, for there is nothing to be gained in remaining false. Once we have discovered what is false in our varied cultures, in our individual perspectives, and in our religions, then we will want to replace that with what we have discovered to be true. We need to take a long, long look at legislation, to discover the biases we have hidden there, and to replace them with the permeating wisdom of the divine. The voice of the Holy Spirit is a dynamic voice, and we cannot assume that as we progress the Spirit will not evolve alongside us, luring us onward with the scintillating mystery of it all. What is appropriate today may not be appropriate in the future, and vice versa. Thus, we need legislators who are capable of discerning the heart of God as it is being expressed today; and, we need an electorate which is capable of installing these legislators.
We need to stop waiting for others to take the initiative, and we need to commit to thinking for ourselves. It is a solemn responsibility, assuming the presidency of our own existence, knowing there are forces resisting us no matter what we do. Being president of my own life means I am no dictator, yet there are influences which can help me to make healthy and productive decisions. My being does not want a president who will willfully and self-righteously assert authority over me, yet is pleased with the idea of a president who will submit to the voice of the divine, in the form of the Holy Spirit. Here is a president I can trust, knowing that mistakes will be corrected, and that God is largely in control of my existence.
The skirmishes of the ages might be seen as the chisel of a great sculptor being wielded, which is still being wielded today. Occasionally, we get a glimpse of what the sculptor is aiming toward, and for a sojourn we are content. Then the chips begin flying again, and it may feel as if our life is in peril once more; but when the chips finally stop flying around, and the polishing begins, then we will have entered into an era of peace, the era which we have striven toward, for there will be nothing left for us to be fighting about.
Leave a Reply