Signs of the Times

Have you ever taken time to reflect on how society and attitudes have changed in the last 30 years? Now that I am approaching 40, I can begin to look back with a certain perspective on many changes evident particularly in my own country, but I feel sure that similar changes have taken place in the US and the UK.

Attitudes have undergone a complete revolution since the early 1980s. One area in particular is in the realm of the nuclear threat. This has not of course completely gone away, but I remember growing up feeling like it could happen at any time. Russia, which was then much larger and known as the U.S.S.R., was seen as the great enemy of the West. And they, of course, saw us as the great enemy! For a period of over 50 years, from 1947 to 1989, the tension between these two great power blocs was at a dangerously heightened level. Students in American schools in the 50s and 60s were actually trained what to do in the event of a nuclear strike – basically to crouch under their desks and brace for impact (and a fat lot of good that would have done). Hence the 1985 song “Russians”, by Sting, in which he directly confronts the issue, questioning the insanity of the powers, with their fingers poised over their respective buttons, and asking – don’t the Russians love their children too?

Strange as it may seem to today’s Gen Y, this truly was the situation in the early 80s. I can remember asking myself the same question – if the Russians are people like us (and the media strove to convince us that indeed they were not!), wouldn’t they want a peaceful solution for the sake of their children?

This all culminated in the “false-alarm” incident of 1983, which was itself part of a larger pattern of events that convinced Russia that America was preparing for an actual strike. If it were not for one man working within the Russian nuclear installation who correctly surmised that their missile detection instruments were malfunctioning, the unthinkable may have actually occurred at that time. Of course now, we are much closer to Russia, with tourism a growing industry whereas once it would have been unthinkable to travel to the Soviet bloc country. Certain tensions, unfortunately, still exist, especially over the Middle East.

This is one example of how things have changed over the years. Another example, in Australia at least, is so-called multiculturalism. The divisions between Anglo-Australian culture and the various other immigrant cultures are much less evident these days, particularly in metropolitan areas. It used to be that the main sources of non-Anglo immigration to Australia were from Greece and Italy. Despite the historical kinship that exists between those nations, most “Aussies” were pretty hard on these immigrants. This despite the fact that most of the people were beautiful, peaceful and law-abiding citizens! But Aussies had come up doing the hard yards of establishing a nation out of the raw rock and desert soil of this nation, and as a result of this experience they had perhaps become hardened. Also, as a new nation forging a new path away from the mother continent of Europe, most “Aussies” were probably sceptical of anything European. Still, the treatment of those waves of immigrants was thoroughly undeserved. Today, we see immigrants from all over the world – from places as far afield as Croatia, the Sudan, Lebanon, Iran, etc. This has become normal. And miraculously, all these cultures are somehow (for the most part) living side by side in relative peace (knock on wood!).

Naturally there is of course a regrettable element of conservative, intolerant “Aussies” – but I for one never really hear much about them, and they certainly don’t get much (if any) press.

Yet another area of change is in the status of women. Now this is a curious area of social study – after the feminist wave of the 70s and 80s, many women would say things have not improved but in fact have perhaps backslid. (Is that a word?) Certainly there are a much higher proportion of women in positions of management, especially in the public service where I work. Women no longer have to prove they belong in the workforce as they once did. Yet there are still men who feel the need to over-control their women – and regrettably, I have discovered that this tendency still obtains within me.

This has been a rather rambling blog so I hope you will bear with me, but lately I have heard stories of women who have left their partners because they insist on trying to control. I myself had a meltdown recently when I felt my partner was becoming too independent (gasp!) and some inner, wounded part of me – inaccessible to my powers of reason! – was convinced I was being left. It wasn’t as if she was even doing anything that threatening – it was more that I could just sense a pattern emerging and this was reinforced by things she had been saying lately.

Now in my right mind this would not have been a problem. But I had let myself and my self-care slide in recent times, and as a result the inner wounded-self was festering. The abandonment complex I had carried since before conscious memory was really acting up – and acting out. Fortunately we have been able to smooth things over together but I am still disturbed by what happened.

Without trying to sound too righteous about it, I really feel that the whole world’s problems stem from men trying to control. I am sure many women reading this would agree. All the things I have mentioned – the nuclear threat, intolerance of other peoples – are not perpetrated by women, but by angry men. As the Goddess returns, balance is restored among the sexes and women rise to new levels of empowerment and independence, men are possibly feeling a little hurt and confused. We aren’t sure what our place is anymore – having been in control for so long, having been the ruling paradigm for several thousand years, and having soothed our savage beasts by keeping women at our beck and call, we are possibly entering this new age feeling a little shaken and shaky.

For myself, the answer is to take time out for me. Many men have possibly already cottoned on to this solution! But for me certainly, taking time out for myself at the end of each day, to pause, to reflect, and just to let my inner voice be heard, is one small step to allowing myself to self-nurture. Burning out my brain with distraction after distraction is not the way to go. And after all, I do have a contemplative and spiritual side, I am interested in positive change for the world. I guess it’s a matter of acting in accord with what I want to see in the world!

Or as the Mahatma once said, Be the change you want to see in the world. But to the blokes out there – take heart, gentlemen. We all want a safer, more peaceful world to live in, and that is what is trying to come to birth. The old ways are no longer working for us, guys. Time to relax and let the changes in!

Be well

Anthony

Christianity

This evening I find myself musing over what it means to be a Christian.

As a bit of personal background, I was raised Roman Catholic, but I am no longer a church goer. This is a familiar story in this time period! I have my own personal reasons why I no longer attend a faith gathering, but suffice to say that although the road was initially rough, for the time being I am satisfied to be a lone seeker.

I think that being a Christian, or at least being someone who lives with Christianity within his or her being, is a wonderful thing. I believe that if one is truly in tune with what it means to be Christian, then that person is filled with an enthusiasm for living. This enthusiasm comes from knowing that there is a powerful force acting in our lives, and in creation itself, to move things in a certain direction. Knowing this helps alleviate the basic existential fear of being that all humans suffer at some point and at some level.

We are lucky as Christians to have our faith built not only on the words of the Master, but also on what came before, namely, the morality of Judaism. I respect Judaism very much for the depth of its discourse on its own beliefs. In fact unlike Church-based Christianity, which has often been loath even to examine itself, Judaism never rests, but is always reexamining itself which I believe is an admirable quality.

Islam has the virtue of not needing to rest on any kind of supernatural "wonder". (I will get to what I mean by this in relation to Christianity in a moment). Mohammed when asked to prove his words by a miracle simply said that this world is evidence enough of the Creator's power, and that these "things" were enough. I like the elegance and simplicity of such a statement, and Christianity could actually learn from this core tenet instead of needing to prop itself up with false beliefs.

Getting to what I mean by "wonder", I think Christianity suffers by its insistence on certain "wonders" such as the virgin birth, the turning of water into wine, and the feeding of the five thousand. None of these things are necessary to accept the core Christian message, which is: God is real, God is loving, and God is watching over and caring for humankind. Let me explain more what I mean.

At the Council of Nicea in 325, the early Church of Rome sought to strengthen the new religion of Christianity by codifying its beliefs. Namely, it sought to fix the date of Easter and more importantly, to decide on the exact nature of Jesus. Was he truly the Son of God, or was he simply a man, as the Arian heretics of the time believed. This decision was of course pivotal in setting the course that Christianity would take over the next 1,700 years.

The Church sough to emphasise that Jesus was a being of Light, of Spirit, that he had truly come from the Divine Father. Therefore, as the custodians of the truth of that Light, the Church was the organisation to whom all Christians should look for salvation. The problem today of course is that the Church is being seen publicly to fail on many counts. Protection of children, popular dismissal of its wonders in the face of secular materialism, and failing to provide comfort for its congregation are the most common charges.

The core problem I believe is this: that the Christian faith has accustomed itself to propping up its valid and vital message with unnecessary structures of belief. The Church Fathers of old naturally did this to protect the precious truths that they felt were in danger of being lost. They no doubt felt that to survive in a civilisation such as Rome, with its incredible diversity of beliefs, but also to compete with the existing state religion of sun worship, that wonders were needed. To give the Christian message any validity, it had to be seen to work, to have tangible effects on creation, and to demonstrate the power of the divine. Therfore, at the First Council and then later, beliefs such as the virgin birth and the divinity of Christ as Son of God were promulgated.

But herein lies the main issue - a great lie was perpetuated in order to protect a great truth. This is the decision the early church took and that it has had to defend ever since. That is why, in this modern era, that some feel that God is simply the "God of the gaps"; that is, the gaps left in reality after science has supposedly filled in all the blanks with so-called "facts" (and it has, of course, done no such thing).

So what is the great truth of Christianity? I believe every religion has a great truth; in Judaism, it is that God is moral. In Islam, that God is pure. In Christianity, it is that God is love - powerful love!

Cna you see how each religion offers one form of tribute to God? Each religion describes a particular aspect or quality of God; put 'em all side by side and you begin to build up a picture of what God is. There's no need to believe in silly magic tricks; we can see, as Mohammed did, just by looking around us, by listening to the air at sunrise, by watching the mighty ocean, by observing how animals operate with awareness and intelligence, that something must be behind all this. And indeed there is! We know him as God.

But too much simplicity can be a bad thing. There must be depth in our understanding of God, not just surface beliefs and mindless platitudes. We need depth both in time and in space; historical depth, to know where we have come from and how we got here; and present depth, depth in our understanding, our thinking, and in our feeling. We must engage intelligently, as in Judaism, with our faith, not just - God forbid! - accept without question what we have been told. Think for yourself! Read! Search. Look. The Master says that they who ask, seek and knock will be rewarded.

In the end I believe something which would shock many Christians but it again goes to the core problem we face today and it is this: was Jesus the Son of God? Yes. But are we also sons and daughters of God? Yes I say we are. That's why the early Church was right - but the Arians were also correct. Jesus truly is a great Master, but he is no more a son or child of God than me or than you. The being that is Jesus may be a greater adept than you or me, more advanced in spiritual development. But there are others. And truly God has created each one of us, has he not? Therefore, we do not need a Church to intervene for us. Does a child need to seek a third party to ask its parents for what she needs? Of course not.

In the real world naturally it helps that we have an institution that can minister to us, baptise our babies, marry us, bury our dead. All that is fine but I guess I've always been an inward looking seeker. If the Church that does all these things cannot even give a decent account of itself in terms of its beliefs then it becomes very hard for me to be a part of such a thing.

For this is the age where humanity is awakening. We are learning to use our own abilities, finally, after centuries of being mollycoddled by the Church. Like an overprotectivve, smothering parent, the Church's hold over our lives is finally broken. But again there is this dichotomy that some of what the Church says and does is plainly wrong, but the basic morality it espouses is sound. Today as we see people like Charlie Sheen seeing nothing amiss in having porn stars around his small children, morality is needed now just as much as ever. As a new parent myself I consider it a disgrace that this man even considers himself a proper father. So there remain elements of Christianity that we sorely need, but there are other things frankly that we could do without.

The "wonders" of the early Church were introduced to ensure the survival of the message. Perhaps now, to ensure its survival, these are the very things we need to jettison to preserve the truth?

Site refresh ~ Journey through Spirit

From being a simple journal I have now devoted this blog to writing about my main passion in life - which is expanding our knowledge of that which is spiritual.

As you can see I have added a widget that links to www.insideoutthinking.co.uk, the online journal of Jonathan Black. Black is the author of my favourite book of the moment, The Secret History of the World.

For a relative novice seeker like me, Black's book was what I had yearned for; a straight-forward, yet complex look into the teachings of secret societies throughout history. What I love is that it's not a dry, dusty, and detached look at history; no, Black's history is alive with passion, intrigue, strange beings and stranger historical figures. Some obviously deride his approach but I for one celebrate it; today's attitudes of materialism can't hold a candle to this wonderful book.

This is a book for people who have passion; passion for history, for spirituality, and for seeking truth. Not that Black's book is the last word; in true opposite-thinking it is more like a primer for those seeking, as Black says, "the real thing". It's the most excellent starting point for those on the quest for knowledge.

And so I have finally nailed my colours to the mast and re-dedicated this blog to my own seeking; hopefully others can share the journey and enjoy what I have to offer, while contributing their own views as well. Can I be very clear though ~ I prefer to connect with genuine seekers, people who examine their own beliefs as well as everything they encounter. I don't appreciate people whom I term "nutjobs" ~ conspiracy theorists, people with some agenda or political axe to grind. In short, those with a doomsday or other negative attitude, keep away, please. Lively and positive contributors only!

Having said that, please enjoy this Journey through Spirit.