New Consciousness and Spirituality
As we enter the new millennium we need to embrace a New Consciousness and the awareness of the Planet we live on and the Universe we share with all of Nature. In searching for answers about our future we will come to understand the value of our own religious beliefs and how these traditional teachings have always looked to the Heavens to find the answers. In its simplicity the knowledge of Spirituality directs us to a New Consciousness.
Spirituality is about the existential attitude with which a person tries to respect the will of a power superior to oneself in addition to his/her own will in making decisions. This power may be invisible, yet can be experienced. Such a religiously existential attitude assumes that the person holding it has the "certainty" that such a power exists; that this power is kindly predisposed towards humans. But this power can also hold a human responsible and exact punishment.
To attain such certainty is not a task for one's intellect. Thus, it cannot be taught. Instead it results from experience - albeit from a special kind of experience. It cannot be acquired through conscious volition, such as medical experience or gardening skills. The kind of experience that leads to spiritual certainty just happens. That it happens at all depends upon the action of an intra-psychic dynamism completely inaccessible to one's will, which theology called "grace." Even though "the granting of grace" is not under an individual's control, one can prepare the soul for "grace" to take place. In archaic times spiritual schools were created for just this purpose. Mastering spirituality consisted primarily of acquiring the knowledge of how to go about preparing one's soul for "grace" to take place.
Modern mankind has acquired empirical knowledge over the obsolete, archaic world view. Today, the question is trying to find the type of spirituality that would be right for the modern level of consciousness - or new consciousness.
The psychology of religion is an attempt to understand religious phenomena in terms of human nature and of the forces operating in it. The aim of psychology is descriptive rather than normative. That is, the psychology of religion does not try to determine the truth or falsity of religious beliefs, nor to justify religious practices, but attempts to understand how and why these beliefs and practices arise. Additionally, the psychology of religion attempts to discern the psychological components embodied and expressed. Broadly speaking, the psychology of religion is the attempt to relate religion to the rest of humankind's intellectual, volitional, and emotional economy.
The scriptures are filled with revelations which attempt to explain this phenomena. One example would be those of the Living Bible, Psalms 19.
THE HEAVENS are telling the glory of God; they are a marvelous display of his craftsmanship. Day and night they keep on telling about God. Without a sound or word, silent in the skies, their message reaches out to all the world. The sun lives in the skies as radiant as a bridegroom going to his wedding, or as joyous as an athlete looking forward to a race! The sun crosses the heavens from end to end, and nothing can hide from its heat.God's laws are perfect. They protect us, make us wise, and give us joy and light. God's laws are pure, eternal, just. They are more desirable than gold. They are sweeter than honey dripping from a honey-comb. For they warn us away from harm and give success to those who obey them.
The philosophy of religion is the history, criticism, and evaluation of religious ideas. It is closely related both to metaphysics and to theology. In common with both these studies, it inquires into the validity of the ideas of God and immortality from the standpoint of natural experience and reason alone. Its interests do not extend as far as those of metaphysics - into problems of cosmology and the theory of knowledge, but it includes the whole range of ideas with which theology is concerned. Philosophy of religion limits its inquiries to what can be said about these matters without relying upon the reality of any historic revelation.
There are many great philosophers and poets who have published thousands of literary documents on the issues pertaining to the philosophy of religion. One philosophical example is the Age of Reason by Thomas Paine.
When studying theology it is necessary that we refer to the Bible of Creation. The principles we discover there are eternal and of divine origin; they are the foundation of all the science that exists in the world.We can know God only through His works. We cannot have a conception of any one attribute but by following some principle, that leads to it. We have only a confused idea of His power, if we have not the means of comprehending something of its immensity. We can have no ideas of His wisdom, but by knowing the order and manner of which it acts. The principles of science lead to this knowledge; for the Creation of man is the Creator of science, and it through that medium that man can see God, as it were, face to face.
The Almighty is the great mechanic of the Creation; the first philosopher and original teacher of all science. Let us, then, learn to reverence our master, and let us not forget the labors of our ancestors.
With these thoughts in mind, one could conclude that the Divine Plan of God is the constant evolution of the Cosmos. One life pervades the Universe and sustains it. The Universe is not just a place where Nature's forces operate by chance. Every event that has happened from the beginning of time has happened according to certain laws inherent in the Universe. These laws are the expressions of a consciousness of life. Everything that exists, from the electron to the largest star is impregnated with this consciousness.
The phenomenal Universe is the manifestation of an eternal, boundless and immutable principle beyond the range of human understanding. This fundamental Realty is far beyond our grasp, and that is why sages and saints have called it Law, Heaven, the Great Architect, or Evolution. Each individual, according to his/her temperament and experience, must determine how he/she will regard the Consciousness which directs everything.
There are many solar systems of which ours is one. Every solar system is an orderly scheme governed by Laws of Nature that reflect transcendental intelligence. "Deity is Law" said H.P. Blavatsky. The visible planets of the solar system are its densest parts, it also contains invisible worlds of exceedingly tenuous mater interpenetrating the physical. The entire system is the scene of the great scheme of evolution.
Spirit (or consciousness) and matter are the two polar aspects of the Ultimate Realty. These two and the interplay between them comprise the process which proceeds innumerable universes. Universes which come and go in an endless cycle of manifestation and dissolution. All are expressions of the Reality.
The Spirit of Man (often called the Soul) is in essence identical with the Supreme Spirit, all pervasive Consciousness. The Unity as Emerson described it. It is the Oversoul within which every man's particular being is contained and made one with all others. The gradual unfolding of this latent divinity takes place in accordance with the Cyclic Law, seen everywhere in Nature. There are periods of activity alternating with periods of rest and assimilation.
The Nature of God resides in every man and woman, and we are not these bodies which perish; these are only garments which we wear for a while and cast aside. The perfection of God dwells in us also, for we "live and move and have our being" in Him. But we are unconscious of our Divine Nature.
Our birth is as the entrance into a workshop or laboratory. We work slowly to unfold our faculties and realize our true nature. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Each individual can become the master of his/her future by what he/she does in the present. As we live and act, sometimes we succeed, sometimes we fail. We do good and we do evil - guided by our altruism or our selfishness. It is a law of readjustment of forces which a person sets into motion by everyone of his thoughts, words and deeds. Since all the units of consciousness of the souls are divine, all souls are equal. There are young souls and old souls, according to their experiences but all are brothers and sisters. In spite of every difference in birth, capacity, environment, race, creed, sex, caste or color - of goodness or wickedness - all individuals are part of an indivisible fellowship. All of us, high or low, ignorant or wise, make a chain - the stronger grow by helping the weaker. Fellowship is the law of growth for all individuals.
But this fellowship extends to all - animals, birds, fishes, even the planets, mountains, lakes, rivers and seas. We grow by our unity with all things. The Divine Nature, which is latent in them as in us, helps our inherent Divinity to step forth in its beauty.
