The Healing of the World Dec 31, 2021  New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2021
The internal world brings us to the question of a Source. Is there a God behind it all, or are we just lumps of matter fired by electrical synapses randomly organized by an unthinking void? What does a “healed world” look like? If we were able to ask every person in the world, it is safe to assume that a majority would agree that the virtues of love, compassion, kindness, courage, truth, integrity, and freedom would be high on the list. I include freedom in the list of virtues, even though it’s not exactly a “virtue,” because freedom is both a cause and effect that is intertwined with love. We can love because we have the freedom to love—it is not just an outgrowth of instinct. But also, love circles around and engenders more freedom. If we truly love others, we want them to enjoy their own sacred, God-given rights of freedom. This also highlights the virtue of courage: the ability to stand up for others and for the truth no matter what the personal cost. Unselfish love is not weak. It is, in fact, the strongest force in the universe—the force that birthed the universe and every human being. All of the many virtues spring from the mind and heart, and if one assumes that God created everything, the virtues of goodness must also find their source in God. Thus, one could say:
However, today, many people are not particularly spiritually inclined. There is no judgment implied in this: it is simply a reality that some individuals may have a basic belief in God but not spend their days reflecting on what God’s existence might actually mean in their daily life. Of course, there are also significant numbers of truly faithful people who love God and work hard to include God in everything they do. While most people are not actively hostile toward the reality of God, their lives don’t necessarily reflect an intense awareness of God’s continuous presence. From this point of view, God is functionally absent from the affairs of a great majority of very decent people. When that reality is combined with the attitudes of the hard-hearted, who are sometimes atheists, and the attitudes of agnostics and less religious people, it becomes apparent that in today’s society, God is not that important in the affairs of human beings. Yet, with the world in severe crisis, to the point where multitudes of people are panic-stricken and collapsing with anxiety, the paramount solution for humanity is the development and heightening of an awareness of the presence of God, followed by the establishment of a personal relationship of love with God. This can be described as a “mystical” relationship of love that goes beyond faith and doctrine. It is more than knowing that something is true: it is an experiential love that utterly transforms a person and grows deeper with time. This is not something that can be mandated. The freedom to love God must also include the freedom to not love God. Love cannot be forced by religious diktats, for then it would not be love. Why is a relationship of love with God the solution? It is because the mechanics of life are all connected to the reality of God’s presence. On a mechanical level, God runs everything and allows everything to exist. On a spiritual level, God is the source of love, much like the sun is the source of light for human beings. When humans, having been given free will, consciously or unconsciously separate themselves from God, their souls rebel. Their minds and hearts and bodies rebel because separation from the source of love and life creates an atmosphere of darkness and of emotional death. Separation is an unnatural state. We are not designed to live separately from God, even though we have the free will to do so. Separation from God creates an undercurrent of anxiety and pain that humans try to bury and ignore. But it will not go away until our separation is removed. Consider: if there really is no God, then everything is meaningless. The absence of God would imply that the source of life and all existence is an unfeeling void, an uncaring, cold, and sterile universe in which love is an illusion. Why live—and why try to love—in that kind of harsh and mechanistic world? An ultimate purpose would not exist. Of course, the world is not like that. The universe has a designer, and meaning does exist. The internal solution to the tribulations of life is ultimately quite simple. Not easy, but simple. Every individual must find a way to fall passionately in love with the God who made each human being with active and personal consideration, affection, and love. The troubles of the world can only be solved on the deepest level by the spiritual awakening of humanity to the reality that a God of love is fully present in every person’s life, without exception. That realization will produce a radical transformation in society, in politics, in government affairs, in the business world, in education, and in family life. The experiential knowledge that a loving God is present with every individual will engender respect and love for all human beings as equal and honored members of an intimate and treasured family. That goal will come closer to fruition with the individual awakening of every person, one soul at a time. How can that be achieved? Each person must search, sometimes quietly, sometimes desperately, for a new awareness of God’s loving presence. That search takes many forms: standing outside in nature in prayer and reflection, searching through books about life and love, talking with friends about the reality of a God of love who transcends religious doctrines, listening to beautiful music, or attending classes and religious services. The key is the word “search.” As Jesus stated in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:7-8:
The crisis in the world is primarily caused by the separation that has developed between humans and the indwelling God. God did not go anywhere, but many humans have stopped searching for God. Over years of neglect and attrition, sensitivity to God has declined to the point where much of the human race is wandering—confused and alone in misery—when the reality is that God has never left at all. To find God again, it is useful to imagine how we might feel as an infant, pressed against the warmth of our mother. Jesus stated in Matthew 18:30 that we should “turn and become like children.” Children are open-hearted and are able to receive an embrace of love. They are highly sensitive to love when it is given and generally don’t have layers of pain that get in the way. Using imagination to visualize how God is embracing “me”—right now—can break down the spiritual and emotional barriers that have damaged our awareness. It may happen quickly, or it might take many, many attempts, but living in God’s embrace is every person’s destiny. The healing of the world will advance exponentially as each person turns within and embraces the God who has all along been embracing them.
For more information about the mystical love of God, I recommend my books: = = = Image: “Virgin of the Angels,” by Adolphe-William Bouguereau, 1881.
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Peter Falkenberg Brown is passionate about writing, publishing, public speaking and film. He hopes that someday he can live up to one of his favorite mottos: “Expressing God’s kind and compassionate love in all directions, every second of every day, creates an infinitely expanding sphere of heart.”
