The World Today

It's always difficult to tell if one's impressions are purely subjective or if there is an objective element to them too, but at the moment it really does seem as though the vice of materialism (pun intended) is growing ever tighter in our world.

The environment is actually becoming what it is stated to be by science. Inner quality is withdrawing and consciousness is being constricted. The world is becoming harder and more solid. Don't you feel that?

At the same time, space is contracting and time is speeding up. And distinctions are being erased. Differences between male and female, human and animal and even good and evil are all being diluted and broken down and though there are corresponding reactions to this, reactions are what they are. The general direction is towards a sort of uniformity. Everything is being ground down to the undifferentiated state of prime matter.

It can never get to that state, of course, because that would be extinction but it can approach it and this is what spells the end of an age. Quality is replaced by quantity and the digitalisation of information is a good example of that. This is clearly the most spiritually destructive thing there could be but it is happening and the speed at which it happens in all areas of life is increasing. What can we as individuals do about it?

To begin with, we can recognise that outwardly it is inevitable. That will save us a lot of grief. But then we must understand that inwardly it need not,  I won't say affect, but it need not contaminate us.  We can stay detached or at least relatively so. We don't have to be swamped by the spiritual ignorance of our time. Indeed we don't have to be and we should not be for it is precisely this that is the test of our time. We are summoned to remain faithful to the truth even when the truth is trampled underfoot. And this is not just an intellectual matter. It's an affair of the heart. There are many people who adopt a spiritual worldview but don’t make that primary in their life. It's an add on to ordinary existence which remains their basic focus. Don't be one of them.

I am not talking about a religion. Lots of people do make their religion central but is it the outer form that is important to them or the real inner truth behind that form? Perhaps it's a mixture of the two but we must make sure that the real motivation behind all we are and do is dedication to the inner truth. I doubt religion as we know it will exist in the higher worlds because it will not be necessary and we must try to have a mind that lives as though we were in those worlds now because in a  certain sense we can only gain entry to them when we have the corresponding mental state. Like attracts like in the spiritual world absolutely not just in the general sort of way it does here.  I am certainly not dismissing religion but ultimately it is a tool not the real heart of the spiritual exercise.

If God does not exist there is no point to anything.  That is not put forward as a reason to believe but it's a big indication that he does exist.  The reality of meaning and purpose is demonstrated by the fact that their lack is so keenly felt. Not by everyone. The majority of people live in a state of distraction. But some people always, and most people sometimes, stand back from the superficialities of daily life to ponder on why, where and what. This is the voice of God calling you home. You should listen to it and seek to retrace that thread to its source.

We have to understand that our world is sunk in illusion partly as a result of the increasing materialisation of the environment as time moves along from the beginning of an age to its conclusion, but this process is accentuated when our passive submission to the illusion reinforces it. We do partially create our own environment. If we (the collective we) imagine the world to be nothing but matter then nothing but matter is what it starts to become. The environment actually becomes denser to our perception and more spiritually impenetrable. But we are not obliged to accept this and we must stand against it if we wish to be amongst the seeds that actually sprout and grow rather than those that fail to reach up towards the sun and so die.

The world today is in a parlous state because human beings have denied the fullness of their humanity, seeing themselves as animals ascended rather than spirits descended. This has led them to reject the hierarchy of being and replace that with various false ideologies based on mistaken metaphysical concepts. If you don't know where you have come from you won't know where you should be going. If you don't know what you are you won't understand what you should be. But first the intellectuals of the world, seduced by the cleverness of their own minds, and then, following on from them, the ordinary people have closed their hearts to what they are and where they come from. The thoughtform they have built up has become a powerful elemental being which is actually turning this world into what they have imagined it to be. A hard material world with nothing behind that.

Nevertheless, as dark as this world might become, God is always there and he will triumph. This we have been promised and it is impossible for it not to be the case anyway. Therefore all we have to do is stand firm and hold the line. Manifest the truth and be a light in the darkness for those who may be looking for one even if they don't know it. There will be many such, souls born into the spiritual ignorance of this contemporary world who in their hearts cannot find any joy in it. They sense its falseness but cannot see in which direction lies truth because all their education and all their culture has denied it to them. Be ready for them when they come your way and know that in helping them you help the world because you are helping in the fight against the hardening of the mind and the darkening of consciousness. 

Perhaps you think this all sounds rather vague but it really boils down to the most unvague and concrete thing there could be. God is real and our task is to know him.