The year is certainly racing by. I begin to feel I understand the
prophecy about time speeding up!
Now at last we have the Indian summer it was suggested we might,
when the real summer was so wet. We have had many days of almost
cloudless sun. The longer light of autumn, more gold in its touch,
is to me the most beautiful of all. There is something in the quality
of it that makes even relatively ordinary things reveal their magic:
the twisting of a vine, a cluster of scarlet berries in a hedge,
a spray of bramble leaves, each one perfect, or the seed heads in
a clump of weeds.
The harvest fields are gold, umber and bronze in the shadows when
the sun is low, burnished to a sheen on the stooks.1
The sea has been so blue it dazzles the eye. Here and there the
leaves are turning. There are sudden flares of scarlet and crimson
in the green. Everything smells of damp leaves, earth, woodsmoke.
The wild geese are going over, wings creaking; the swallows have
gone. In some places, early in the morning, the valleys are swathed
in a fine mist as if someone had carelessly let trail a silk chiffon
scarf. Soon we may have the first dusting of snow on the higher
hills, although at the moment it is far too warm.
All the seasons are beautiful, and necessary, and I love them all,
but this moves me as no other can.
It has also been a good time for some provoking thoughts, both
from Sunday School lessons, and from my own personal reading. Another
source is my writing work. You cannot write fiction well if you
do not make as deep a study as you are able to of human nature,
starting with your own.
All good writing includes a journey of self-discovery, which is
naturally going to be endless, because we never stop growing ? unless
we are dead ? whether we realize it or not. To be alive is to change,
adapt, and we hope, to grow. We are constantly learning new things,
aspiring higher, understanding more, and we hope strengthening that
which is good in us, and moderating, controlling or even eradicating
that which is not good.
I have been reading some philosophy lately, not specifically Christian.
In fact, it includes the thoughts and leaps forward in perception
of all the great thinkers of whom we know. There may have been others
who saw and understood the same principles, but did not teach them
to others, so therefore we in the world in general are unaware of
them.
Considering this led me to wonder how many of us are conscious
of the great and beautiful truths about the nature, identity and
possibilities of man, but because we say little outside our own
immediate circle, we do not share it in any way that affects the
world?
Are we holding the light as high as we could do? And of course
our lives need to reflect these things. I think perhaps our lives
do reflect what we really believe, whatever we say in
words.
A person wakens in the night. The room is very hot. He sees flickering
lights through the space beneath the door, hears crackling and smells
smoke. He says, "I believe the house is on fire." Then
he turns over and goes back to sleep!
Another person has the same experience on waking, but he gets up,
calls Emergency for the fire brigade, tells his family to get out,
gets his pets out, and whatever he can carry of documents, then
starts using the fire extinguishers.
Which person really believes the house is on fire?
We say we believe in Christ, that we love our neighbours ? "neighbours"
by His definition, which means everybody on earth. We love the earth
itself and believe that God made it, and it is unique and infinitely
precious.
If we are telling the truth, and that is really what we are reaching
towards, then we may tell others so, but our words should be largely
unnecessary. The way we behave makes very clear what we actually
believe.
It would be wonderful to say, "I love my fellow man. I care
for his happiness, his welfare, his spiritual growth, and that he
should fulfill the ‘measure of his creation.' I am interested in
his concerns and wish to help and encourage." And then receive
the reply, "Yes, of course you do. I can see that!"
How much worse would it be to hear, "Really? You amaze me.
I would never have thought so."
Thoughts on Agency
Going back to this book on philosophy. So many great thinkers are
spoken of and quoted, from all sorts of cultures, starting in legend
before the beginning of recorded history, going through the Jews,
the Persians, the Egyptians, the Middle and Near East, the Indians,
the Chinese, the Greeks, the Romans, North Africans, and all Europe.
Until very recently, the past hundred and fifty years or so, all
have believed that God created the cosmos, for the blessing and
benefit of mankind, so that we may grow, develop, learn, become
more intelligent in all ways, develop wisdom ? and exercise
agency ! It is all there so that we may make the long journey
from spiritual infancy to eventually reaching a fullness of becoming
like God in that we have knowledge, freedom to choose and understanding
sufficient to make those choices the best ones, not only for ourselves,
but for all the universe. And above all it is that we shall be able
to live, freely and totally generously, without fear of selfishness.
These are the great thinkers, the people who have each added some
magnificent insight, some new dimension to the ideas and perceptions
and gifts that the Creator has given us, so that we may grow! Only
recently in human history have we forgotten this.
And yet we are growing in ways all the time, we just need to look
back at the past and realize we are not alone and certainly not
unique in our beliefs. We are part of the great human family, and
a very blessed part, because we have the gift of coming after so
many others, and are able to reap the benefit of their teaching
? if only we will.
But that also gives us the burden to leave something of our own
light so that others may be blessed after us. What can we preserve,
to pass on? What can we add?
And yet, interestingly, all these thinkers and dreamers, achievers
of the mind and the spirit, seem To have realized that Christ was
at the centre of time, and the greatest of all! Regrettably this
is not necessarily to realize that He is the Redeemer of the world
(they all seem to have known there is a life after death). But they
did see Him as the greatest teacher of the philosophy of living.
He was one who extended the barrier of thought to take in the understanding
that there is a life within the mind and the spirit just as great
as the entire cosmos beyond ? and we know that that is presently
immeasurable. The best radio telescopes we have cannot find its
boundaries. Perhaps it has none?
Family Love is Not Enough
The second great thought He gave mankind is the concept that family
love, tribal love, even national loyalty is not enough. Most people
can hope to manage that. He taught us to love all people
? the whole world, without any exception at all.
He gave us the opportunity to love not because of ties, blood,
or duty, but because we have progressed to the point where it is
within us to do it because we wish to. We choose to love.
He also gave us the gift of empathizing with people. Apparently
that had never been before! We did not truly reach out to imagine
our hearts and minds in the position of another, in the way He did.
Was there ever an exercise of passionate empathy ? sharing another's
burdens ? equal to Gethsemane? That was what he did! He shared all
the griefs, pains, losses, failures, loneliness of every being on
earth ? past or future. All human acts of empathy pale before that.
If we do not try to empathize, surely we have misunderstood the
soul of the message? "Though I speak with the tongues of men
and of angels, and have not charity, I am nothing "!
Isn't that staggering? The interior life ? the freely given love
that transcends kinship and becomes universal and the feeling with
another, not just for , but with , is the true
compassion. And this is before we even consider the redeeming of
mankind from physical death, and the resurrection so if we do all
that we can, He will do what we cannot, and we will have eternal
life.
We don't understand Him enough, we don't read His words, grasp
after His meaning, even begin to see His glory enough.
Every great discovery, invention, creation of art, music or literature,
is inspired by the God who made us, who is trying to teach us all
that is glorious to the mind, the heart, the soul, and very often
to the sensibilities of the flesh as well. He made the world beautiful
for us! He made it so we could grow within it to our full stature,
therefore at times it is hard. But without pain, work, trial, we
would be soft and our strength unused. Without loneliness we cannot
have the separateness which creates the freedom necessary for agency.
How is it that so many of the ancient philosophers knew all this,
and we seem to have forgotten it?
As I read this book, I kept seeing passages where the author said
more or less, "This is not Christianity, but ?." And I
kept saying to myself, "Yes it is! It is! You just don't understand
that that is what Christ meant!"
It is very exciting to realize that we are an important part of
all the great sweep of the history of mankind. We need to hold our
heads higher, believe in such a way that people can see the fire
of our understanding in what we say and do more clearly.
A light under a bushel is no use to anyone. The world is a little
tired, a little disillusioned. They have heard too many cheap words.
Now perhaps it is only actions that will speak loudly enough. Everyday
actions, compassion, empathy, patience, gentleness and slowness
to anger, quickness to forgive, faith and hope based in the reality
that we are children of God ? all of us !
Have a good month, and when we need someone, I pray for all of
us that there will be someone there. If there is not a human someone,
there is always someone in spirit. We just need to be better able
to feel that presence. 
