When I was a child, my grandmother would say “this world is going to hell in a handbasket”. The significance of these words never became fully clear, until now.
In a diverse planetary garden of exquisite and abundant life, human beings are stuffing their handbaskets with weeds of evil, rather than joy-filled flowers. Just imagine a human world devoid of flowers.
In so many consequential ways, human beings are mimicking kindergarteners in a playground; rather than relevant adults contributing to evolving global Life. We understand so little; yet, pride ourselves on knowing so much. When presented with genuine opportunities to step boldly into Light, we slink backwards into darkness.
Avarice, and lust for control, far outweigh our love of each other. Striving for domination has become a normalized measure of daily behavior. Perhaps, human beings are just a higher grade of animal, equipped with creative processing units running AI applications?
Perhaps the mere suggestion is a grave insult to the animals who know much more about sharing than we humans. Tik Tok, U-Tube, and Facebook are replete with tales of interspecies sharing.
Have you heard the story about the penguins who raised a white fox? Have you seen the video of the rottweiler raised by cats who mimics kitten behavior? What does this capacity to relate and bond within the animal kingdom reveal about Humanity’s shameful inability to share, except when convenient?
“Violence in any form is never the answer” was another of my grandmother’s favorite sayings. To appreciate the full measure of these words, you need to know that she was speaking literally. Emotional and mental violence are just as deadly and destructive as physical violence; and often leave behind deeply festering wounds.
A third favorite saying of my grandmother’s, “Highest Good serves Greatest Need” is the starting place of Being Human. Albert Einstein believed that to understand any problem rightly, thought must be elevated to a higher plane of reasoning. A perceptual shift which would invite unthought of possibilities to enter consciousness. This is the creative essence of finding Highest Good.
Being human requires a higher vision and a longer reach than a twenty-four-hour news cycle, a quarterly report, or alternate year elections. Being human requires vulnerability, a misunderstood word that many people abhor and dismiss as weakness.
Yet, being vulnerable is an intrinsic quality of our very humanness. It is that something which allows us to understand and to discover within ourselves great courage in expression.
Essentially, being vulnerable means being exposed. When we are transparent within ourselves, fully present in the experience, and available to others with clear beingness then exposure no longer represents a threat. Darkness harbors weakness; Light reveals courage.
All the world’s religions advocate a hereafter bathed in Transcendent Light. The instrument of this light is living soul; and the means of expression lies within our human form. Each human carries a spark of living Light. Catholics, Muslims, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, all and each expressing outward through their inner faith. All and each are bound into a unifying global brotherhood of Light called Humanity. Earth is one religious house with many diverse rooms.
Being human demands empathy, a quality which connects us to every other human being. When John Donne penned the words, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main” was he not speaking directly to this reality of interconnectedness? Any brother’s joy is my joy; any brother’s pain is my pain. No one stands alone, no one creates alone, no one achieves alone. We all and each fulfill our destinies through others. Without the other we would not exist.
The third and greatest quality which Being Human insists upon is Love, the most redemptive force available to the entirety of planetary life.
In the esoteric tradition, Love is understood as a quality of Soul expressing through the human form and carrying a dual purpose: redemption of earthly matter and freedom for all prisoners of the planet. As human beings, we are all and each a prisoner until released.
Within a spiritual context, release is measured by steps towards perfection in consciousness. Redemption of matter can be appreciated through expression. Witness the transformation of a cold slab of marble into a living statement of life found in Michelangelo’s David. Ponder the upliftment of millions of lives by vaccines preventing disease; or the salvaging of dying coral reefs through human innovation and intervention.
In the early passages of Discipleship in the New Age, DK speaks of Love with frankness and a challenge for all of Humanity. “Love is not a sentiment or an emotion nor is it desire or a selfish motive for right action in daily life. Love is the wielding of the force which guides the worlds and leads to the integration, unity and inclusiveness which impels Deity itself to action. Love is a hard thing to cultivate – such is the inherent selfishness of human nature; it is a difficult thing to apply to all conditions of life and its expression will demand of you the utmost you have to give and the stamping out of your selfish personal activities.”
Further on, in the same section, he reminds each of us: “It is perhaps wise to remember here that, as a general rule, no one believes what others may tell him – no matter how apparent the truth or how much the person may protest that he accepts that truth. Only those truths which are wrought out individually in the crucible of experience really penetrate the living consciousness and bear fruit.”
This is the higher plane of human livingness which we are all and each called upon to reach. An elevated plane of consciousness where the Will-to-Good enriches and empowers all Life through the reality of living Soul.
When we open and stretch our minds to the plane of Soul a miraculous transformation takes place. Thought becomes imbued with the equilibrium of Light, speech heals with redemptive words, and human action is the natural outflow of Love. All of Life moves within the spatial synchronicity of Divine Truth. Being Human is finding Joy.