“Who Is Feeding Our Spirits?”


     Presenter: Dick Stetler – August 2021

 

    Someone asked Leo Tolstoy what his best guidance would be if the leaders of their country sought his thinking.   He responded, “I would simply say: ‘In the name of God, stop for a moment, cease your work and look around.’”

    Today’s leaders in the United States want to legislate what is most useful in helping its citizens to find equality with everyone else.  Somehow, they have managed to enslave countless Americans by trying to do the impossible.  No one, no government, no amount of wealth can create equality among all people.

    Human beings are not the same.  We only have bodies that appear to be the same.  However, even though we start life by the same creative process as everyone else, growing up into mature adults is totally each person’s responsibility. 

    The body must be exercised, receive wholesome nutrition, and engaged in the development of habitual patterns that serve it.  No one has discovered a way to give all people attitudes that serve the body, mind, and spirit. This is but one example.

    The Bible contains the Book of Proverbs.  It has been said that gathering wisdom from all over the world was the hobby of King Solomon of the Hebrews.  One has to read his Book of Ecclesiastes to discover what collecting wisdom did for the good king. 

    He ruled successfully for 40 years. He reportedly accumulated obscene amounts of wealth.  He supported a haram of over one thousand women. He developed a military that was highly disciplined and so well equipped that no enemy would ever try to defeat the Hebrews. He was also the son of King David. One thing escaped his grasp.  He never found the source of happiness, a sense of fulfillment, and moments of peace.  He did not know how to live what most of his collected wisdom was pointing to.

    Human beings are not short on what successful living looks like. Spiritual teachers like Jesus taught how to put to use The Golden Rule as a platform for living patterns that produce successful results.  His teachings were centered on how each person can choose attitudes that develop the kind of spirit that can be recognized anywhere in the world.  Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament, offered this summary of results that are easily recognized even when people do not speak the same language. 

The Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control.  There are no laws that govern such as these.

    It does not take much imagination to see how easily these adjectives and others like them are among the various levels of spiritual skills that can be developed by living The Golden Rule. They are attitudes of being that give to others their loving spiritual energy.  Variations of this Rule can be found in every religion in the world.  Historically, wise spiritual teachers knew this would promote a successful life. 

    Spiritual freedom is abundantly available to everyone.  No religion exclusively owns this understanding.  It does not matter what teachers have said or what has been taught by the sacred books handed down through the centuries, Loving others the way we want to be loved belongs to every man, woman, and child.  We are the only authors of such an autobiography.

    Governments want control over everyone’s freedom of choices.  To level the playing field for everyone, their brand of equality is like one shoe fits everyone. This gives everyone a free pass while holding back the energies of those who have much to give the world in areas unknown to governments.   

    Big governments like the Communist Central Committee of China believes they have the answer.  They have no tolerance for individual thinking that may run counter to the common way everyone must think.  Human freedom frightens them. If everyone is free to create a life that they want for themselves, big governments fear that they will lose control.

    It is believed that this form of a regimented lifestyle, grants everyone the same opportunities.  However, is this true?  No!  If this were true, why does the CCC of China stoop to theft in order to increase the pace of their competition with the nations who believe in free will? 

    The CCC of China will remain unsuccessful in controlling the internal working of any individual’s mind, heart, and spirit.  When we meet the Chinese people, we often find that they are warm, loving, tolerant, and patient.  Those who are free in their spiritual journey are behaving like Jesus who lived under the iron thump of the powerful Roman Empire.  He overcame the handicapping conditions and the military occupation of the most powerful government of his era.

    He was teaching others how to live in The Kingdom of God.  He was helping people to gain control over their inner world where such a kingdom exists.  He was free from committing treason against Rome.  No one could point to him and claim that he is sowing seeds of rebellion against big government.

    Yes, there were high taxes.  Yes, the members of the Roman military routinely pleasured themselves with Hebrew women against their will.  Yes, there were statues erected to Roman deities.  Yes, there were restrictive laws over which the Hebrews had no power to change.  Jesus taught people how to live in an environment that the Hebrews literally hated. He kept teaching, “My Kingdom is not of this world.”

    Think of it. . . He saved a woman’s life by ignoring a teaching of Moses who wrote that a woman caught in adultery should be stoned to death. He ignored “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” in favor of a spirit filled with an unlimited ability to forgive everyone all the time.  He never taught anything about justice in the material world.  He seldom varied from his core message, The Golden Rule.  He taught, “Do not judge anyone.”

    We can admonish the Chinese Government for their tight grip on their people’s behavior and what they say, but the Church historically has duplicated their behavior throughout its history. Free thinkers were branded as heretics who were often punished by being burned at the stake, or beheaded because they refused to respond favorably to being baptized. The Church has felt the need to control the thinking of Christians.  It has even branded the Bible as being God’s Word making Christianity quite exclusive from the rest of humanity. 

    The Kingdom of God is within each person on earth whether they realize it or not. All that those ancient books and sacred manuscripts can do is point to it.  All other teachings may be dogma from another day even when well-meaning people pass them on as the Gospel Truth. 

    Our mission in life is not to legislate what people must be or do, rather it is to give freedom to everyone to manifest the spirit they choose. Who is feeding our spirits?  We are.  We nourish ourselves by what we allow to take up residence in our minds, hearts, and spirit that helps us to love one another the way our Creator loves us.  We are ones who enter Heaven on earth because we choose to do so.