24 January 1957 – The Tower of Babel
Man speaks of a “material” world and a “spiritual” world as though these words were opposites. For every irritant there is a counter irritant. We are like “Jim” and “Joe”. “Jim” we could call the “spiritual” world and Joe the “material” world. Aren’t we actually talking about a process?
(Dictionary definition of process): an “act of going on or forward” in a continuous chain of events along the path of life? On our way, we are affected by our particular existence in a particular space and time. We are affected by the “natural” or “physical” conditions of our time of existence. The human cell lodged in its mother’s womb seems far removed from our physical world, only in the human world. It does not grow out of the ground, we think. It does not come out of the air, we think. The human cell comes from a long ancestry of “mothers”. It is a very natural phenomenon of nature – the physical world. But, we humans think there is something mysterious and glorious about the “human” growth cell. But that’s typical of the human race. We are always fascinated by our own belly buttons. We are learning though! We are learning the “secrets of creation”, we humans. We are slowly taking our eyes off our own “bellybutton”, our own umbilical cord of creation. It is slowly dawning upon us that we are not the beginning and end of creation and that we are God’s” chosen people”. And by that we mean we are the only part of creation God has made that is of any importance. As a class of humans, we are aware.
The physical scientists of the 20th century, more than any class of the human species, is aware of the fact we are monkeys holding mirrors to our faces while investigating our belly buttons when we believe we are the “chosen people” in His many creations.
Creation is a whole: containing all the parts; complete; entire; not defective or broken; intact; not fractional; all the parts of something taken together.
Perhaps over the thousands of years man had to become conscious of his own awareness. We are such a puzzle to ourselves, singly, in a group, or in a mass. Perhaps we have been concentrating so hard on the human species place in the whole of creation [that] we have lost our way, in a sense; sometimes thinking nothing existed but ourselves. Then we become conscious of others. So, then we concentrate on the other humans around us, until finally the 20th century scientists are opening the door to something else to concentrate on – other facets of creation. With this unfolding, many of our concentrations will change. All the old ones will be with us, but they will change. They are changing all the time. Religion, as we know it, will not give lip service to recognition of “all of creation” as against full concentration on human behaviors. It will tend to give more thought to all of creation, with man as a part of it. We will have to grow up to the fact that we are not the beginning and end of creation. Even if we are, there will be some serious doubts about it. The wheel will turn.
Of course, the preachers will scream God is turning his back upon us because we are wicked. Not so. We will simply concentrate less upon ourselves and our human behavior as “chosen people” – perhaps that is already taking place, while we turn to other concentrations.
As Billy quoted Preuss: “Einstein is dead, there is plenty of room at the top.”
Zell Canker at 40-odd is only now coming to realize that not only does marriage as an institution exist but also that there might be some character to it which might bear a closer scrutiny.
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Whether one is aware of it consciously or not, there is a close tie between the “spiritual” and “material” or “physical” world. In fact, when the two join – and become a straight line: we only separate one from the other so we can examine the two components more closely when we are puzzled by some aspect of the skein.
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We talk about atomic bombs, nuclear and guided missiles! These are the big material, the big physical bombs we desire to hurl at each other when we are at opposing poles. There are material expressions and ingenuities created as symbols of our differing views. Yet we are totally ignorant we are children playing with toys, cannons perhaps, lethal weapons. And we think that’s all there is to it. If we are ingenious enough, we can physically destroy our enemies.
There is a better way. I have presented it in the “Joe” and “Jim” argument. It is the unseen way – the spoken or written way – with “words”, “ideas”. This ties in with our perceptions, our ability to see and hear – and to listen closely – and to understand each other. When you threaten each other with A-bombs, and nuclear and guided missiles, posing each in his own way as though we had all God’s power on our side, we are generally making such a racket, we can’t see or hear each other very well. We are too conscious of self. In the past it had generally ended up in war. It’s “kid” stuff. We just haven’t been smart enough to develop highly enough techniques of understanding each other better on a person-to-person basis. And, one mistake keeps compounding into another until all is a confusion of recrimination, anger, hurt feelings, hatred for each other, and revenge.
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The world of music, playwriting, art and books is a mirrored expression of our condition and state of affairs: personal, community wise, national and international. We should know more about each in all the alleyways and skyways of life.
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We can only guess what the Celestial Designer will do with humans – we don’t know – until he makes a decision and sends people on their errands of life.
