by Janice Dolley
‘Both the Old and New Testament speak of the collapse of the existing world order and the arising of a new heaven, and new earth. We need to understand that heaven is not a location but refers to the inner realm of consciousness. This is the esoteric meaning of the word and this is also the meaning in the teachings of Jesus. Earth is the outer manifestation in form which is always a reflection of the inner. Collective human consciousness and life on our planet are intrinsically connected. A new heaven is the emergence of a transformed state of human consciousness and a new earth is its reflection in the physical realm.’ Eckhart Tolle (1)
This is a profound insight for us to ponder on in general, and in particular at the present time in relation to the much needed shift in how we perceive the natural world, or Gaia as the term coined by James Lovelock for Planet Earth. Science is now evidencing what the mystics have always said, that it is consciousness not matter that is primary and that ‘consciousness is not something that we have but what we and the whole world are’. (2)
It is now dawning on us that the source and sustainer of all life, that we term God, is not an old man in the sky as portrayed by Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, but rather is the consciousness that manifests in all life forms in a rich diversity that is deeply interconnected and, as we now begin to realise, interdependent.
This reality is emerging into our awareness at the present time as resistance is growing to the unscrupulous methods of big corporations which seek profit at all costs, even the cost of human life. In India there have been 400 suicides of small farmers driven to financial despair by the profiteering of a major pharmaceutical corporation. In a recent programme for Humanity Rising the mystic and Indian activist Vandana Shiva explained how small farmers are told by salesmen that a seed is an empty case and can only germinate and grow if it is filled with fertilisers and that so many predators are out to attack that pesticides must be liberally used. (3) Is that following the laws of goodness, beauty and truth? In the 21st century we are all on a journey of awakening awareness that it is necessary to bring about a new heaven and a new earth because in its present state our contemporary western civilisation, based on materialistic ideals and the power of consumerism, has reached the end of its reign. This brings us to a momentous time of choice.
This shift in awareness has many implications for each of us:
1) Above all we begin to understand and feel within us that love is the connecting link between all life – human and nonhuman – so that we are called to care for all our neighbours just as instructed in the Golden Rule held by all faith traditions.(4)
Satish Kumar, the long standing former editor of Resurgence Magazine, sees that we have moved from a shallow ecology in which we make small changes, followed by deep ecology in which a relationship with the whole begins to get established within us and now needs to add another dimension of reverential ecology by considering nature to be sacred. ‘Life is sacred so humans need to cultivate a sense of gratitude to nature… For Christians the Patron Saint of ecology is St. Francis. He communed with the chickens and the wolf’. He suggests that ‘Reverence for life is a religious imperative’ and that there is a new awareness among many religious groups to consider it their sacred duty to plant trees, take care of the land, be compassionate in farming and not put animals in factory farms with cruel conditions. (5) This reverential approach was first postulated by Albert Schweitzer and an institute has been set up to further this understanding. (6)
2) Also, in Christian terms, we begin to deepen our understanding of the ‘I am’ as not only within every cell of our own bodies but also in every blade of grass and wriggling worm. This leads to the deep reverence and care of all beings and the first stirring of the importance of right relations rather than careless exploitation of other forms of life. We begin to see nature as a primary revelation of God so that in some ways our exploitative treatment of it/her is a second crucifixion. Once we grasp that the ‘I am’ is present in all life and begin to realise that when Jesus at the Last Supper said ‘Eat this in remembrance of me’ he did not mean me, the human Jesus, but the Christ, the deep knowing that all life was fully embedded in him.
3) In more mundane terms we then begin to shift our habits at the pace that resources of time and money permit. We switch from chemical products, that through the drainage systems pollute the land and rivers, to ecological products that are less harmful. We begin to seek out foods that are grown organically rather than chemically sprayed and grown locally rather than transported great distances. We begin to cook with love for the food and eat with gratitude and joy. New habits can be slow to settle within us but think how our recycling systems have moved on a pace. It was in the early 1970s that one of my students at the Open University who worked for United Glass began to introduce the concept of recycling glass bottles. That was 50 years ago and now it has been adopted as policy and practice by all local authorities in the UK.
4) However, we now realise that in terms of climate change, species extinction, oceanic pollution, air quality diminishment, in fact the whole wellbeing of Gaia’s biosphere is in need of urgent restoration and that we are now required to shift direction as a species if we are to survive. This is not to be alarmist but to question whether the focus of religions on organisation, on orthodox beliefs and practices, on funding for church roofs, or on providing services to diminishing congregations could in some measure be switched to ‘radical collaboration and radical regeneration’ of our planetary home.
5) If all religious and spiritual groupings could come together then they could provide a collective leadership towards a much needed new direction for western society. If like the indigenous communities we could establish a daily practise to live in harmony with the natural world then we might co-operate in our efforts to restore awareness of the reality of the dimension of Spirit, and generate love and kindness as the basis for all relationships.
If, as in Don McGregor’s article in this e-letter makes clear, we always remember that Gaia is also a living being seeking to co-evolve with us then, we too, could take our next evolutionary step and act as co-creators of the ‘new heaven and the new earth’.
References
1 Eckhart Tolle “A New Earth”
2 Jude Currivan “The Cosmic Hologram”
3 Humanity Rising February 2022
4 “Do unto others as you would be done by”
5 Satish Kumar Resurgence and Ecologist Magazine