The Pagan Path

Those who wonder are not lost; they are trying to awaken! 'The Sleeper must awaken!'

Friday, September 30, 2022

The Matter of Spirit, or, 'The Spirit of the Matter'

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin  

In the spirit of things, does matter really matter, or is it, after all, JUST a 'skinsuit', as some have termed it, 'a prison for the soul'? The author of the quote above assured us, along with what can be called Celtic Christianity, that Matter does indeed matter! Matter is intertwined with Spirit in this Journey we call Life; to say otherwise is to agree with 'escapism' which says, in other words, that we must strive to break free of the natural bonds that have ensnared us on this earthly plane of existence.  Underlying this escapist theology is the ridiculous notion that Nature Herself has been corrupted. Our only real Hope, according to this paradigm, is the salvation of our souls, which ensures that we'll receive a new body in the so-called 'Resurrection', an incorruptible body. In a purely scientific sense, "yes", Matter CAN be corrupted, for instance, certain elements can be added to an otherwise strong metal, such as steel, that make it brittle, more susceptible to corruption. In the same vein, when we ingest certain foods/drinks, our bodies tend to become more susceptible to corruption. It should not be said, however, that just because it is corruptible, it is something to be shunned, to escape from. It is, after all a necessary part of the human experience!

In the Eastern paradigm, at least in our Western understanding of it, the focus seems to be largely on transcending Matter. If we can simply ignore ( for lack of a better term ) the needs of our physical body, we can attain a greater spirituality. By then becoming more spiritual, we may achieve nirvana ( as the Buddhists term it ), thus negating human emotions or feelings such as suffering & desire. My Christian mother used to employ the phrase, "so heavenly minded, they're of no earthly good", in relation to her experience with certain Christians who seemed to be more concerned with saving souls then with redeeming matter. There is a kind of wisdom to be sought in leaving such thoughts & emotions as suffering & desire behind ( attachment is the issue here ) & though we should not ignore these feelings, neither should we allow ourselves to be captivated by them. Again, in the same vein, we need to exercise greater care in releasing these sort of toxic attachments, lest we are found to have 'thrown out the baby with the bathwater'!

"Balance", as in all of Life, "is key here!" The Western, Christian in particular, mindset that has underscored this debate leans most heavily, as we have noted, toward escaping this world of Matter, admittedly corruptible as it is. I say 'corruptible', not 'corrupted', for though it has, in some sense become corrupted; it is a corruption that is not so much in need of salvation as transmutation; in other words, we need to ( re ) turn it to good, redeeming its purpose, not flee from it, as if to escape it. If we can learn to use our body, as was intended, in the service of Matter, including all living things, from the lowest mineral to the highest sentient being, then we will have learned to balance our divine & human natures. Then we can begin to fulfill our Purpose, to show others the Way, that neither the spiritual or the natural is more important than the other, but both are necessary as constituent elements in this thing we call 'Life'!

Life, as we have explored before in these pages, means Balance! No Balance, no Life! The requirements for Life to exist can be very intricate, from microcosmic to macro-cosmic & vice versa; as it is said, "as above, so below", "as within, so without", etc. The perfect balance, for instance of light & dark; if the Earth, for example, was any closer to the Sun; we would simply burn to a crisp: on the other hand, if we were any farther away from Its warmth, Life would eventually cease to exist; it would be too cold. In the same vein, if the Earth did not rotate perfectly as it does, we would not have periods of light & dark; therefore we would not get the rest that is necessary to existence. There are many other such examples of the intricate balance necessary to life, but these will suffice for the purpose of this post!

"Matter matters!" To be quite succinct, "if It didn't, It wouldn't ( BE)!" Matter, as one can easily ascertain, is simply Energy. The Universe is made up of Energy that vibrates at certain frequencies, doing everything from giving mass to certain particles to enabling the planets & other heavenly bodies to defy Gravity! Again, we run into the property of Balance, because, speaking of Gravity; too much or too little causes issues & without the correct Balance, the planets would not be able to remain in their assigned orbits & the stars would fall from the skies! In the same vein, here on on Earth, we run into similar problems when it comes to Gravity. Too much or too little & we tend to fall apart! We might call this 'Vibrational Frequency',

"Love is what holds us together!" In some sense, it could be said that Love is that intangible force, like Gravity, that binds the Universe together! To bring It down to Earth, it is the choices we make, as individuals, whether of self-love or self-loathing that determine how well our physical bodies hold together: the same is true in a collective sense as well; that's why we see a world on the brink, it seems, of falling apart, or in colloquial terms, 'going to hell in a hand-basket'.

It is without doubt that there is Intelligence in the design of the Universe! Both micro-cosmically & macro-cosmically speaking, It is too perfectly ordered to simply have happened, by chance, so to speak. 'Chance' is a purely human convention! As part & parcel of this Intelligence, call it 'Energy' or what you will, we have the Power, indeed the Responsibility, to return Matter to the forefront of the Great Debate! We must use both the Spirit & Matter if we are to turn this world back around! If we, individually & collectively, are to survive this experience that we call Life, if we are to bring the Earth back from the Brink of Disaster, we must employ the Greatest Force humankind has ever known; Love of each other & love of the Earth! Both of these, by the way, stem from love of oneself.

"Are you saying that Gravity is Love?!! one might well ask. Well, yes; put simply, I guess that IS what I'm saying. From an article I wrote several years ago, I proffer this quote concerning Gravity; "Einstein, many years later, with his theory of General Relativity, figured that gravity, rather than being a Force of Nature, was instead a curvature of space-time! According to this very interesting ( mind-blowing ) article, 'it occurred to Einstein that the sensation of riding in an ascending elevator is similar to the sensation of gravity.' Shortly after, He came to understand that Gravity & acceleration were not just similar; they were the same!" According to this surprising, but natural conclusion; if, as I have posited, Love is Gravity & we are indeed Love in motion, or 'Energy in Motion', as a dear friend likes to put it, when we operate at a low frequency, the gravitational force holding us together falls apart! As we've seen, 'as goes the individual, so goes the collective', or, 'as above, so below'!

"Love matters!" In the same vein, then, "Matter is Love"! Love is what makes Matter what It is, for without Love, Matter would not exist. "Wow", you might be thinking, "That's a strong statement!" Yes, yes it is! The Intelligence that knitted these 'skinsuits' together is the same undeniable Force that holds the heavenly bodies in their particular & peculiar orbits. "What makes a heavenly body fall from the sky?" "Gravity", obviously, is the answer. Why would Gravity cause something to fall from the Sky, since Gravity is what keeps it up there in the first place? Well, just like when we were kids swinging a bucket of water around, as long as we kept up the motion, the water remained in the bucket, but as soon as we stopped, or even slowed the motion, depending on the position of the bucket, the water didn't stay where we wanted it very long! So it is with those heavenly bodies; when they stop moving in their assigned orbit, Gravity takes an adverse effect & they tend to come crashing down. So it is with our physical bodies; when our vibrational frequencies are lowered, our physicality is affected accordingly.

As "spiritual beings having a human experience", then we should know, that if we are to enjoy & fulfill whatever Purpose we might have incarnated on this Earth for, we must take especial care of these "skinsuits". More than that & contingent on that as well; we must take especial care of our Mother Earth! If only for this reason, "Matter", as  Chardin put it so eloquently & simply, "matters!" "Why?" you may ask. Because Life is Sacred!

Namaste' & Blessed Be!

Sage Charles

 

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