A CONTRIBUTION FROM THE UNIVERSAL ALLIANCE TO THE 15th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE on CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA MAY 5th-13th 2007
As presented by Ph. D. Leo Semashko, U.A. Servitor-contact for Russia & coordinator of the related network Peace From Harmony Email: leo44442006@yandex.ruWebsite – See below!
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS BY David Allen Stringer
International Coordinator – The Universal Alliance
Email: universalalliance.org@tinyworld.co.ukWeb: http://www.universalalliance.org.uk
See also the Universal Alliance web pages on http://peacefromharmony.org
The theme of the above title was originally inspired by a television programme about the “dirty methods” used by that much feared Israeli Intelligence Agency Moshadin kidnapping and imprisoning the Israeli Nuclear Scientist, Mordechai Vananu for blowing the whistle on the secret Israeli Nuclear Weapons programme, many years ago now, as a threat to Middle East Peace, the thought arising from this being that such “dirty” methods are more the rule than the exception in our contemporary world of power-fixated political leaders. I leave you to compile the encyclopaedic list of such examples yourselves.
This would prompt a definite “No” to my first question, “Is a Totally Spiritually Ethical Politics Possible – in our current world?” as it stands out as blatantly apparent, from our usual TV “catastrophe News” (who needs Disaster Movies?) that, with some exceptions, the conduct, by ‘those in power’ of so many of our situations of conflict & crisis world-wide, is based on the very opposite of our Universal Alliance ethic of universal cooperation, mutual consideration, compassion & non-violence/ ahimsa, the cynical values of universal competition, individual & collective selfishness, callousness & willingness to use destructive methods so clearly expressed in the Medieval Italian Macchiavelli’s commentary on the politics of the time – The Prince (except, of course, that Secret Services have updated Lucretia Borgia’s methods of poisoning political opponents). Does this mean that many conflicts are as inevitable as the inexorable karmic logic of an ancient Greek Tragedy from which there can be no escape, however much dharma or wisdom we apply to ameliorate the many consequences of suffering they perpetuate, as by the Jordan?
Thus, our call is for a Spiritual-Ethical Revolution in the hearts and minds of all humans to overturn these harmful values and replace them with values & attitudes that are conducive to ahimsa worldwide. We see this as the vital inner precondition for the success of the practical aspects of conflict resolution that deal with the outward material problems (which often arise from our inward attitudes & feelings).
To give a simple example (from a TV serial set in Africa) – there is a spring by the disputed frontier between two landowners who both have need of it. They can either fight over & compete for it or agree amicably to share it, according to the other deeper aspects of their mutual relationship.
The Masters of War (whatever be their motivations, ‘idealistically’ religious, ideological, or ‘cynically’ materialistic, expansionist or paranoid or a mixture of several of these) seek to control our world by setting in motion a karma of social violence off which they can feed so as to increase this controlling power and so seem to make conflict inevitable – so how can we, with forces of Dharma set up against this a karma of peace-making that will make peace as inevitable as conflict now seems to have become!
Is a Totally Spiritually Ethical politics possible in a transformed world?If so how to transform its values?
I begin with my following two poems:
“War & Peace Are Self-Fulfilling Prophecies” “Every Moment A Moment Of Choice”
If we see life as a constant struggle If you feel like you want to kill
we will ever turn it into a battle; your own mouth will fire its own bullets;
If we see it as a gentle Taoist flow but if you feel instead, an urge to heal,
much more easily on our way we’ll go thence sweet ointment inevitably flows!
for how things are from our own actions springs A very thought can be as a poisoned dart
and how we act depends on how we are thinking to penetrate and paralyse a fellow’s heart,
from our in-borne emotions and beliefs but every thought benign, like a prayer, has wings
that, thus, self-perpetuate, without relief and upliftment, even, at a distance brings!
in the downward spirals of our cycles and thus we, at every moment, must choose
when how we things made, our belief defines! between the left-hand and right-hand paths
In counter-upward spiral, from peacefulness flows Peace/ each smallest feeling, thought or action
whose blessings shall wax greater without cease will affect, alter, our evolving karmic pattern
even as a river, from source to estuary In this lies our Spiritual+ Pantocracy*
from a small spring, a highway wide will be whereby we make each other slaves or each other free!
for everyone to life’s river contributes+ We could here use pneumatocracy – ‘rule by the Spirit’
taking into themselves its beneficent attributes! *Pantocracy = “rule by all”, the ultimate ‘democracy.
As every dramatist knows (I have been a playwright as well as being a poet) one of the essential aspects of every conflict situation in need of resolution so to avoid further tragedy and give the final ‘twist’ of a happy ending to a distressing plot lies in the inner motivations of every single one of the people therein involved. How often it appears that while the majority ‘on all sides’ (false divisions of our one humanity generated by our own subjective identities) might desire Peace above all other things, those who desire war (whether for personal power or other gain) will insist on perpetuating confrontation so blocking the problem’s resolution, a phenomenon that, in personal relationships & business, we call ‘bloody mindedness’! As “Peace people” we can seek to win this majority to our cause, and undertake a great deal of humanitarian work for the healing & amelioration of War-generated sufferings & prejudices –but, all this while, the extremist participants in the drama continue to regenerate further conflict & its consequent suffering (what better example than the decades of the “Peace Process” in Israel-Palestine!)
This “tug of war” is not a recently created phenomenon.In the C11th, so-called aggressive military “Christians” (many with dubious power-seeking motives) invaded the, then, Muslim-ruled Holy Land and adjacent areas, ‘to reclaim them for Christendom’ and inflicted, in consequence, on all its inhabitants, of all faiths, a level of misery comparable to that of the current situation in US-occupied Iraq; at the very same time, another group of, this time, truly spiritual Christians (dedicated to the altruistic service of others even as was Christ, as is our Universal Alliance) the Franciscan monks led by St Francis went out to the Holy Land to set up hospitals and heal the sick and wounded of ‘all sides’ and seek, by negotiation, to bring to an end this destructive conflict, almost succeeding, but alas, not quite, as they might have held the greater spiritual sway but were not the ones with the worldly political power!
This raises another question –How are we peace-people who, motivated to non-self-seeking service, do not seek and compete for worldly power, to control the outcome of such ‘tug-of-war’ situations between “good and evil or the beneficial & the destructive?
It becomes, then, apparent, that we very much need alternative socio-economic & political systems of regional and world administration that are not centralised as now, but both pneumatocratic & pantocratic!
“Most who take part in a game come to accept its received rules. It takes courage to change them”
The practical solutions to any problem situation become easy given a willingness to cooperate between all parties therein engaged; however, the practical answers to these perplexing conflict dramas are never enough, in themselves, to ensure a “happy ending”. Somehow we must seek to cleanse of all sins of violence, the inner feelings, thoughts and motivations of every single individual & humanity as a whole, as how we are within defines how we manifest without. This would, in itself, be a major improvement even without a major change in our political systems, for example, the Russian leader Gorbachev ending the cold war and opening the way for greater democracy in the Soviet Union, the Israeli leader Yzhaq Rabin almost succeeding in peace-talks with Yasser Arafat prior to his assassination, or the enlightened, Buddhist Mogul Indian Emperor, Ashoka, ruler in a centralised system, who accomplished many beneficial social & economic reforms throughout India! We need, however, fundamentally different infra & super-structures to ensure that any benefits brought by such truly altruistic leaders will actually last without being undone by those who cause further harm, afterwards!
“As long as militarism remains an intrinsic part of State structures, however ‘democratic’, it will be as difficult
to be a ‘saint’ in current, corrupt Power Politics as for someone to retain their virginity in a brothel”
Our Universal Alliance aspires to such a spiritually-guided ethical revolution in the hearts & minds of all humans, as one family (unity in diversity) in harmony with each other and our one shared Divine Creation. This revolution needs to take place within us both as individuals & collectively, in tandem, as our collective politics is simply the aggregate of all our individual contributions to our collective karma, even as the quality of concrete in building construction depends on that of the sand, cement & aggregate – there are no forces for good or ill/evil outside of our own selves! We are, since Adam & Eve in Eden ate of the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge the only sources of all such good and evil – which gives us hope, as it is we, ourselves, who control the steering wheel of our destinies, not any abstract “gods” or “devils” (or ‘systems’) outside of ourselves, either by our positive choices or passive compliance!
However, this said, many of the prevalent career-structures of world administration tend to encourage our potentials for mutual destructiveness, especially when most of those involved are behaving so simply because they have accepted their received rules of conduct in which most appear to have acquiesced. on a comical note, an illustration of this is an old TV sketch by a now deceased British comedian, Charlie Drake who appears to be the only one in the tribe of Cannibals who insists “but eating people is wrong” until he ends up, in turn, put in the stew-pot! Our Universal Alliance places a great emphasis on that key questioning power of conscience which in one man (as in Prince Gauttama become Buddha) be the catalyst for transforming the consciousness of whole worlds and generations. It is with joy that we can re-affirm that, now, in the emerging New Millenium, we who assert the values of non-violence vastly outnumber those who accept the cannibals’ “Law of the Jungle and the Stew-pot”!
However, we still inherit paradigms of political structures based on values of violence we now reject!
Rival Power blocks, each based on their own internal competition for positions of power over others, with the final control of how situations are dealt with, are in the hands of leaders corrupted by such worldly power, which, as the opposite of our own peaceful and humble service of others can lead us into the trap of allowing such aggressive people to push in and grab the power, while in our “pacifism”, we can, being more gentle, be too passive. In the USA, 50% of Americans might well have voted for Bush’s “War on Terror Agenda” (though now regretting it!) but in the UK 90% of the electorate(as the leaders all religions) were totally opposed to “bloody-minded” Tony Blair joining in with Bush’s invasion of Iraq.
If this were a school, with bullies, it would be a big mistake, to enable such bullies to have such elite positions of power as “school prefects” over their fellow students by creating such positions!
Each and every one of us involved in a conflict situation (be it as protagonists or victims caught up in the cross-fire and so potentially likewise involved) needs, first, to look within ourselves and become critically aware of how we feel and think about others, and why with a view to transforming our received attitudes & feelings to those conducive to mutual compassion, consideration & cooperation – a transformation beginning with ourselves.
This underlines the vital importance of the teachings of Jesus Christ of self-and mutual forgiveness if sins (on the precondition that having repented, we sin no more) that enables our Vision of a Eutopian (harmonious) world to come in which all can play a new part, whatever their past deeds. Somehow we must all get beyond that old “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” mentality that mistakes revenge & retribution for justice and causes conflicts to get worse at every twist of their downward spiral!
Only a transcendent spiritual guidance can help us to keep in control our more primitive emotions!
This leads me to another question:
How much is humanity’s mutually destructive conduct rooted in our supposed ‘basic human nature’?
I will, here, give a simple, personal example:
Since my childhood, I have been psychologically incapable of fighting or competing with any of my fellows which may be down to my primal, innate innocence, pure-born from Spirit (even as we all are, as babies) plus my nurture by similar Christian parents from such a family background, but have known boys at school and elsewhere who seem to just love the adrenalin buzz of aggressive competition, which raises the further question of how to nurture such feelings and values in all of our fellows. This suggests to me a critique of current Educational systems that encourage such competitiveness (potentially manifest-able as violence in fighting, as witnessed in world-cup football) as a form of achievement. I do not reject “achievement” as such, but feel that this should be strictly personal, as for the man who seeks, in himself, to climb to the top of a mountain, for its own sake, rather than to gain the status of “being first to reach the top” as in an hierarchical society. This indicates how we can best achieve total world peace, if we each of us set out our own personal goals to achieve as being the attainment of Spiritual Self-Realisation, as the Vedic scriptures express it, or, as in the Zoroastrian path of virtue, of Self-Purification & Self-perfection, as far more important than material status, even as my own father saw his service of Christ as far more important than any social position as a school-teacher from a family of miners.
My personal scenario above (I am not claiming Sainthood!) would indicate, that, as in the original early Christian doctrine of “original innocence” such aggressive boys had been corrupted by the manmade flaws of their social background – which also gives us hope, as, if, we all are, at source, clean (Salvation comes from the Latin to cleanse) then, given a chance to establish peaceful nurturing conditions, the intrinsic sensitive natures of our generations to come, un-calloused by suffering, will be able to ensure the perpetuation of a karma of true, lasting Peace worldwide as ruled by the Light of dharma!
In the ancient pasts, Saints stood out as those who had either never been corrupted by the material world or those who, like St Augustine or St Francis of Assissi had been tempted by lesser worldly wealth & power, and being redeemed by Visions from Spirit from making these their gods, returned to purity. Such a person, also, was the Great Russian writer & philosopher Leo Tolstoi, like Augustine, a repentant libertine of rich Romanov aristocratic lineage who came to see the robbing & exploitation of the poor as a crime against our common Divine Creator who loves all souls equally as equals, be they czar or moujik!
We need to aspire to evolve towards a time when the standards of our conduct become so uplifted that Saints no longer stand out because we have not yet achieved our own full moral stature.
In such Times that we can start to create now, a Spiritually ethical politics will prevail without effort!
For this we need the broadest possible social education that nurtures the spiritual ethics of gentleness and sensitive in all generations, young and old. This requires a purification, notably from gratuitous* or ennobled* violence, of all medias that influence especially young and impressionable psyches, including those of “entertainment” (Arts/Music/TV etc) or any formal form of indoctrination including religion.Then, there would be better chance that we remain clean of those inner motivations that manifest in outward, harmful actions. *i.e. killing & dying seen as an heroic sacrifice of any kind as also films focussed on murder etc.
Our Universal Alliance for Human Unity is a movement in the bosom of which persons can unite around fundamental values, founders of a global union (with one common currency) where all human beings will find themselves to be respected, esteemed and served for what they are.
THE FUNDAMENTAL MAXIM “Let us adore the Creator in serving all creatures and creation”
which comes to mean (1) to admire & love the Universe, all humans, all living beings, their habitat, their environment, so as to contribute to a peaceful and harmonious world and to make to grow the Soul which enables us to love truly in the awareness of Universal Unity.
BASIC GOAL
The global union of all those of Good Will for fraternisation between people and peace between peoples by the concretisation of human unity in one sole communion; the human race, with one language that of the heart.
The Fundamental Values & Ideals to which those allied adhere are as follows:
“Mondialism” – The establishment of a Universal Ethic, the announcing of rights and duties, the regulation of commerce, the administration of natural resources, that of wealth, the international judicial code etc. must be raised up to a supra-federal level. The diversity of the specific values of each region must be safeguarded – any proposed structures or infrastructures for this purpose must be non-hierarchical, decentralist, egalitarian & grass-roots democratic and cleansed of all egoisms and desires for personal power over others.
Sharing – That which generations have succeeded in inventing for the progress of humanity must profit the whole world and be shared between all individuals, for the general well-being goes before self-interest. A social, distributive economy has for its objective to realise this sharing and to put an end to the regime of dependence and exclusions so as to give individuals autonomy and social responsibility.
Spirituality – This is the interior dimension which makes it that a person seeks to transcend the contingencies and conditionings of the society in which he or she has seen the light of day. Spirituality cannot be subservient to this or that obedience. one can, therefore, consider it to be “lay” in the sense that it is independent of all institutional religious obedience. It is the interior life that animates the person and makes him/her grow towards more autonomy and sovereignty while causing him/her to be aware of their responsibilities towards those to come after, society, the world and nature. It is translated into life by an art of living which is living-and-more: to love the Universe, to respect and to serve all creatures. To carry in this spirit one’s regard for creation implies, already, certainly the contemplation and adoration of its Author.
Universal Love – This supposes the recognition of the Unity of the Living World and the Interdependence of all the realms of nature and of all creatures, that is to say, The Mineral Realm, The Realm of Flora & The Realm of Fauna.
Universal Love implies that all which lives, that all which is, be respected and utilised wisely without bringing any harm to the processes of life in their generality. To occupy our place in the great creative work implies to construct, to unite, to contribute, to share, to sympathise and to relieve and ease. Love does not exist if it is not translated into action. By the practice of love, the human being truly accedes to the stature of Man to which we are all called.
The allies of the Universal Alliance for the Unity of Humanity introduce this ideal to those around them, to society and into the world community. They contribute to the concretisation of Human Unity by a natural & spiritual attitude: love for all creatures and for the Creator, that is to say the Cosmic Energy that maintains the movement & the order of the Universe.
THE ORGANISED NETWORK OF THE UNIVERSAL ALLIANCE
All of Goodwill may belong to the Universal Alliance, membership of which consists in signing the, membership application form/Oath of Service to and non-violence towards creation, as above, as available from the Global H.Q. as above, whatever may be their religious or philosophical connections, without having to abandon such and without fear of subordination, and who, thanks to their truly Universal Spirit, wish to participate in the most rapid & effective realisation possible of its ideals of which the final aim is to transform our chaotic world into one big, harmonious and mutually caring family.
The Universal Alliance has member-contacts & branches in the following countries: Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Canada, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Cuba, France, Ghana, Greece, India, Israel-Palestine, Jordan, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, Tanzania, Ukraine & the U.S.A. as well as here, in the U.K., as, also, allied networks in most countries & continents. Coordinating contacts are known as Servitors, as ordinary members or Adepts and to become such you must contact either our GHQ, here, by mail or email or the listed regional contact for your area. on our website, there is also an extensive & comprehensive Links Page with many wide & diverse networks, associations and organisations, both global & regional & all Continents, in many other countries than those above listed. We operate an often daily news, views & ideas email networking service with participation by our members and linked associations etc. called the Vision Quester News Agency.
I, here, follow, with other contributions to this discussion by other servitors in our movement!
RE IS TOWARDS A TOTALLY SPIRITUALLY ETHICAL POLITICS POSSIBLE?
by Livia Varju Universal Alliance Servitor for Switzerland.
4 Chemin du Repos, 1213 Petit-Lancy, Geneva, Switerland Tel/fax: 41 022 793 0771
I have spent over 15 years working for two UN Agencies in Geneva where the staff represent a microcosm of humanity. There are dozens of nationalities, some had come to work toward the creation of a better world, some to make a career and earn good salaries. Too many merely did the work allotted to them and did not consider the whole of the organisation and it’s activities, and the impact on those it was supposed to help. When one tried to engage them in a discussion, they were not interested. When one insisted on meaningful conversations about reform, they would say, “there’s nothing I can do”. The UN and its Agencies had been reducing staff for some time, and consequently human nature at its worst was manifested, e.g. jealousy, intrigues, undermining those who seemed to threaten people’s position and career prospects. Unfortunately, there is evil in the world, and there are evil people who have never learned to think of the well-being of others. They may be a minority, but their nefarious activities are pervasive. During those years I felt ever more strongly that a new mind-set, a change of heart, a new spirituality, were of prime importance.
The answer to the question at the beginning of this paper is: Yes, a totally spiritually ethical politics is possible and necessary in our world. It is possible provided all people of goodwill contribute to its realisation. The solutions lie in doing our very best to reach even those people who do not give a thought to the welfare of their fellow human beings, their country, or the world at large. We must try to reach those who prefer to engage in escapist activities, like drinking, or reading fiction or amassing material goods, etc. We must try to influence and show a good example to all including those who live for power and money. It is easy to have satisfying conversations with like-minded people, but we must get away from merely “preaching to the converted”. But our best hope lies in educating children to be caring, compassionate, sensitive beings, who will learh to cooperate instead of competing and, most important of all, we must train them to solve conflicts by debate and discussion instead of physical violence. This is the urgent task of parents, teachers, and school authorities. In addition, a spiritual-religious Education, for example, that led by Christian teaching will give them a line of conduct and a conscience, even though they may dismiss later on some of the dogmas”
The media are to blame for much of the violence, with endless films and video games that pollute minds especially of impressionable younger people.
There is an organisation in Geneva, “Reagir”, which fights against violence, drugs and pornography. When members see something in the papers, or on screens, or in decisions by the authorities, which are against the best interests of young people and society as a whole, they write letters and start petitions. This is just one small way to make a difference.
Brother David writes, “Love does not exist if it is not translated into action”. I would like to take this idea further by sharing a quotation I have read somewhere: “He who knows the need for action knows the need for prayer. He who knows the need for prayer knows the need for action.” The spiritual dimension must include courageous action.
To conclude, I offer a poem.
A New Page for New Millennium
Let us break the chains that atrophy
Hate generates hateheart and soul and liberty
revenge takes its tollrelease the spirit which longs to soar
on our children and theirs*above division, border, war
as the years and decades roll
on in a vicious violent circle
Let us dare to clean our slate
shed the burden of revenge and hate
may we begin a fresh, clear page
to create a new peaceful age.
*NB- Is not this verse reminiscent of a karmic truth expressed in the Jewish Old Testament of the Bible that goes:
“And the sins of the fathers shall be visited on the fourth generation” which is not so much like a Divine Judgemental Judge “passing sentence” on wayward humanity, so much as a simple warning of the Karmic consequences of our harmful actions on those who follow on after us, even after we have passed to Spirit? – David
The above text has been networked by David Allen Stringer
International Coordinator – The Universal Alliance
universalalliance.org@tinyworld.co.uk
14/03/07
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THE INVISIBLE SPIRITUAL ROOTS OF MANIFEST MATERIAL HARMONY
Towards a Total (R)evolution in Body, Mind-Soul & Spirit
by David Allen Stringer International Coordinator The Universal Alliance
“How we manifest in our lives to the good or ill of our fellow beings & creatures as Creation in generaldepends on how we see our place & relationships in the overall Cosmic scheme of Creation”
In my late teens, I discovered, as a primal fount of my inspiration, in an obscure second hand bookshop, a 150 page text in French entitled “The Black Bible” that was an anthropologist’s recorded account of an ancient Central African religion from the remote forests of the Congo/Zaire, as published by Synthesis, the journal of the Belgian branch of ICI in Katanga, in 1947, not the likeliest of places to discover the ancient ‘Ageless Wisdom’ except that it been left there by a local sea-captain who had been given it as a gift by a plantation owner in Senegal (obviously pre-destined by fate to end up with me!).
The essence of this African Cosmology ran as follows, in the form of a pyramid of balancing forces:
At the summit of the Pyramid was the Creator-Spirit manifest, in earthly Creation, as the God-Goddess, Maweja-Nanjela (which can be roughly interpreted on the Earth-plane, as Fire-Electricity and Maternal Waters or Yang & Yin). Below this, on opposite sides were the disembodied forces/Spirits/Angels responsible as agents for the Godhead for the various aspects of Creation, next down was the level of “mind”, “concepts” or “names” that we give to these forces in the awareness of human intellect & intuition and the base line was that of “body”, of physical manifestation of all life-forms, flora and fauna etc. Every force or manifestation on one side had a complementary opposite in the other with which it needed to be in balance or Creation would break-down in catastrophe and chaos (echoes of modern climate eco-crises!) and every organic life-form, all flora and fauna, had their own intelligent souls or spirits as emanated from the Cosmic Creator Spirit or consciousness. Every action on every level, be it a physical act or thought-form or emotion affected every other level, with which it had “correspondences” in this pyramid of emanation and manifestation. There are, in this complex lost religion, of course, many other aspects such as a belief in reincarnation, the transmigration of souls between species & other questions which resonate, in a familiar way, with the better known teachings of the ancient Egyptian Book of The Dead, Theosophy, Zoroastrianism, The Vedic Scriptures, Buddhism & the Hebrew Ha-Qabalah. This “Black Bible” was written as spoken by the tribal Shaman of a remote forest tribe, verbatim.
My concern, in this article, is not however to go any deeper into the esoteric aspects of this fascinating Cosmology, so much as to explore its exoteric implications for the current state of our world and our shared dream of a different one that is far more harmonious. Amongst the many pernicious consequences of the current prevailing “secular scientific materialism” (whether of the Western Capitalist or old ‘Communist’ variety), in its behaving as if the lower levels of existence were the only ones, are the abuse through exploitation of man-by-man, by man of our fellow creatures to the ultimate disintegration of the wholeness of life & its eco-systems, in apparently de-sensitising the awareness of so many of the affect of their feelings, thoughts & actions on everything else around and the other levels of belief & being. The “acceptance” of physical violence & killing not only immediately brutalises those who commit it but corrupts our higher levels of morality and religion, of ideas and Spirit till some forms of religion positively advocate it as a path to salvation or Paradise (e.g. concepts of crucifixion, sacrifice & martyrdom). These concepts, in the “mind” level of the pyramid, then automatically, affect our conduct in the physical & bodily spheres – and endless self-perpetuating wars leads us into their downward karmic spiral. The Congolese devotees of Maweja-Nanjela are ever mindful of how their every single thought & action might impact on the greater Creation and take no more than they absolutely need from their forest habitat lest they disturb the delicate balance of Creation and “anger the animal & tree spirits” and thus can live in harmony with their environment, their fellow creatures and each other.
Another lesson to be learnt from this Black Bible is that action or change on one level alone is not enough to affect the transformation towards a harmonious World that we desire in our ideals. Socio-economic changes or attempts to change life-style at the grass-roots or body level will not succeed or last for long, without structural or ideological changes in the administrative/mental levels of society, as in that of our ethics & attitudes, and that neither of these, even together, are sufficient to ensure total transformation without that “invisible Spirit of Peacefulness & oneness with the Creator” at the soul-spirit level. Yet, at the same time, the teaching, in this “doctrine of correspondences between levels of being” gives us the hope that, in whatever level our initiative for change is launched, lifestyle, ideological, administrative or religious or spiritual, it will automatically alter how we are and behave on the other levels, even if initially, such a radical change at one level comes up against old obstacles in other levels.
For instance, one might be politically persuaded of the merits of “non-violence” in politics, only to come up against and become aware of such contradictions, in one’s own self and involvements as following a lifestyle that is harmful to the global environment (e.g. high in greenhouse gas emissions) or one’s fellow animals (killing to eat them or employment in industries that damage their habitats), working in an administration that has a built-in aspect of military force etc. on the other hand, one might become spiritually inspired and transformed and become aware that one is not living up to one’s new spiritually-inspired ethics. With all awareness and subsequent change, we all have to start somewhere, usually according to the role and situation we find ourselves in the current world, so long as we each do not get stuck in the dimension from which we set out, often confronting aspects of ourselves and our own lives at the same time as the world around, even as Prince Gauttama who became Buddha when moved by conscience to feeling compassion for poverty, came to question his own values and riches. This is the “pain” of the birthing of a “New-Age” from an old and sick one, even as all birthing can be painful. once we each have gone through all the dimensions of our lives so that they all harmonise with each other, then, we can enter into the joy of rebirth as individuals or of “renaissance” as cultures & societies. In our present times of conflicting Darkness and Light, we are still on our way out through the “birth-canal. Of course, any transformation, collective or personal, comes much harmoniously if we can progress, simultaneously, at the levels of body (e.g. lifestyle habits), mind (ideas) and Spirit (spiritual awareness).
I was drawn to participating in the Universal Alliance in the early 1990’s by the very fact with its “Three pillars”, material (a sharing economy equally distributing resources, work and wealth), ideological (a grass roots democratic one-world, one-humanity federation and Spiritual (a lived, lay spirituality or ethics of non-violence inspired by guidance from Spirit manifest in daily living), it approached the transformations we all need on all three levels of Earth & Body, Mind-Soul & Spirit at the same time, Being a very practical person (a worker with the land) as well as a poet and philosopher, it had often struck me that some people – or movements can only envisage change on one of these levels only, be it material or ethereal, for example, e.g., at one extreme, Trade Unionists, at the other, EsotericMystics. Thus, it might be said that our Universal Alliance seeks to bring together people from all these different levels and aspects of life back into a re-integrated pyramid of mutually interactive “correspondences” (like that of this ancient Congolese Cosmology of Maweja-Nanjela), according to what each has to give. By bringing together all these, sometimes divided, aspects of our personal and social lives and beings; we can, thus, ensure the spreading of Harmony from within us as out through our societies, as first of all these three levels of life and being need to be “harmonised” with each other, in ourselves.
There are three words from Greek, for our ideal worlds. The first is Utopia or “nowhere place” which carries the connotation that this must remain an impossible dream in our sinful and corrupted world; the second, which I prefer is Eutopia- or “Harmonious Place”, which indicates an achievable state of society, with social justice in ecological harmony with the rest of Creation, the priority focus of our current times being on “green issues” such as wild flora & fauna conservation and organic food production etc. This is not, however, in my Vision, the final goal, as, rather, it is simply a preliminary stage to creating a world in which all can be nourished and progress further, spiritually, into Etopia, or “the Perfect Place”, (a Vision of the recently deceased Greek writer & painter, Arion Nasiokios) in which humanity, at one in its consciousness with that of the Cosmic Creator whence it emanated, could become so purified of non-altruistic lusts & ulterior motives that never again could we fall from Eden, from Harmony & cause harm!
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BEOWULF & THE ELEMENTAL FORCES
Or Man & Other-Natural-Worldly Religions
Many humans ever fear close interaction
with Mother Nature’s forces, primal, elemental,
Earth, Air, Fire & Water unbridled reviled as pagan
even though we to these forces owe our earthly
beings Natal
with all our most ancient and primordial lusts,
Sea-Serpents, Fire-Dragons and those eternal
Water-Sirens
& the most ancient giants of Earth’s primeval dust!
Many seek, instead, to cleave, to transcendent,
ethereal religions
in our vain cravings to rule or for immortality
in which deceived in our powers we shall ever
deluded be!
Yes, we all love gentle breezes but ever tremble
faced with storms
even though the ocean’s nature is ever turbulent,
never calm
from which we seek, in our enclaves, a tower’s
sanctuary
even though the Cosmic Spirit is in all things
eternally!
No! No Human Prowess can ever win the battle
to control of ‘slay’ those inchoate forces of Nature,
those primal, formative giants of Fire & Water
whence we ourselves wereborn with all our lusts &
will!
We have to learn to live in harmony with these
elementals
and not set up our human kingdom’s against them
for ‘tis they not we that make our Earth’s rules
and define the seasonal rhythms of Creation’s hymn,
Water-Serpents and Fire-Dragons are living in our
blood
in all our loves & lusts – let that by all be understood,
these pro-genitive divinities of all procreation
that have sway over our every emotion
and no Warrior-Hero can these, in the end
them slay or confine, to secure our own illusory
Power’s ends!
All Cosmic & Earth-forces may seem to be benign
when the oceans are calm and weather clear & find
and, in Creation, do not but us all bless
with a sweet fertility’s abundant caress
but become “ugly & dreaded” whenever ferocious,
appearing to our frail lives, as “Evil Monsters”,
as Earthquakes & Hurricanes, ship-wrecking storms
their full powers revealed, unleashed from ‘neath
surface calms!
This comes through in our ancient mythology
of Sea-Serpents & Fire-Dragons, the Cosmic Giants
we see
whenever their turbulence lays waste our lands,
threatens those fragile threads of security in which
we stand:
yet there behold our parental Gods & Goddesses
which can be Destroyers as much as Creators!
THE BIRTH OF GODS & GODDESSES
on Their ‘Anthropomorphisation’ in our psyches
Were ‘Human-image’ Gods and Goddesses born
out of metaphors from human ‘humours’ *for
natural forces,
those ancient bearded giants from stormy skies’
clouds torn,
masculine energies manifest in fiery clouds,
and the gentler goddesses, energies feminine
depicted by the graces and beauty of women,
their emotions understood by how we ourselves felt
when the first homo sapiens upon Earth dwelt,
poetic metaphors then transmuted into myth
far more meaningful than a simple stone monolith,
our concept of God or Goddess nought but our
image-ination
transmuted into the set literal creeds of every Nation
who beheld in these Natural phenomena
the handiwork of beings, like themselves, similar?
THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SPIRITS
as revealed in Shamanic pre-BC Celtic Images
First the Cosmic Spirit was in sea, rock and sand,
then, in the first plants and trees taking root, growing
from the land,
moved into birds and animals, interchangeable
migrations of souls,
form shape-shifting, images changing, in Creation’s
One, magical whole,
raw Earth, Air, Fire & Water – to know oneself in
them all
when the vibrations of Natureupon our psyches fall,
caves in these cliffs, like skulls, our first home
bidding the walkabout seeker-of-visions welcome!
The Spirit in all things to all living forms gives wings
in surging of oceans & ancient bard’s songs sings
there, all to be experienced as we elemental forces
feel
whose powers flow through us, those Sacred Serpents
that heal
with them, as human, alone, one is never yet alone
sensing all Nature’s devas their timeless vibes intone!
GO – BO (Walk/Act – See) (An actual dream)
I dreamt a surreal, creedless ‘Zen’ Religion
(which seemed to have come from Japan)
in which one walked silently everywhere
with one’s hands perpetually in a position of prayer
through meals in restaurants where no one did speak
except with their eyes, offering all that one did seek,
through surging tides upon the shore
in crowded places I had oft been before,
beyond all words, all simply to see
and like a Spirit afloat in eternity to be
for the Invisible Power aye is everywhere,
with it to commune, all one need do, to stare,
no talk, just walk, gestures to make
to indicate any paths we must together take!
David Allen Stringer (26/11/07)
