A preview of the unpublished book A CIVILIZATION WITHOUT A VISION WILL PERISH: AN INDEPENDENT SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH by David Willis
LESSONS LEARNED BY THE AUTHOR (Part 6)
SOME OTHER THINGS I HAVE LEARNED
The long-term well-being of the planet and future generations
My primary interest is in the long-term, in the well-being of the planet and future generations, in civilization – building a civilization that will last thousands of years and longer than any prior attempts by humanity to build a sustainable civilization. What are the foundations that will allow a society to be truly sustainable? This is probably the most important topic facing humanity after ensuring that basic needs have been taken care of. The chapter on Civilization explores these issues.
The busy modern man is likely to discount the importance of the spiritual life
In Men Who Have Walked With God: Being the Story of Mysticism Through the Ages Told in the Biographies of Representative Seers and Saints With Excerpts From Their Writings and Sayings Sheldon Cheney tells us that “in the final analysis there is only one subject of permanent interest, the soul. It is a truth easily forgotten in the press of practical undertakings. The busy modern man, sped on his way by machines, ambitious, social, political, is likely to discount the importance of the spiritual life, if he does not overlook its existence. There are nevertheless a great many men who believe that the apprehension of spiritual values in mortal things is the real substance of living. Many of them go on to believe that there is an experience open to the soul, in the nature of divine communion or mystical union with God, which is the highest boon that can be bestowed upon a mortal being.”
You can be spiritual without abandoning your obligations
“Some men, among them the greatest spiritual prophets, have forsaken all else to seek entry into God’s presence. But far greater is the number of those who have remained within the community life, not permitting their inclination to God to disturb unduly their obligations to family or fellow men, or it may be their students or their churches. Participation in the mystic life is a matter of degree – certainly not a plunge out of the richness of life, and certainly not retreat into cult. To attain to the first degree of vision and belief is to gain rewards beyond calculation.”
Return from a joyous voyage
“All of us speak at times of the mystic life as a refuge. But that is because we have rendered the world so untenable for the soul. The truer image is that of the mystic wanderer returning from a joyous voyage, to illuminate everyday living with the light of divine understanding. Mystic living is not an absolute thing, demanding detachment from all else. We are all to a certain degree mystics; that is, partakers of the Divine Life.”
The Era of the Fighting States in China
Today we live in a world somewhat similar to that prevailing in the period known as the Era of the Fighting States in China when two of the world’s greatest philosophers, Lao-Tse the mystic seer, and Confucius the ethical sage lived in the 6th century B.C. Sheldon Cheney goes on to tell us that both were humane, tolerant, and considerate, and both, in a turbulent and degenerate time, visioned salvation for man in a return to the conditions of the Golden Age. There the resemblance ended.
Lao-Tse the mystic seer, and Confucius the ethical sage
Confucius saw the Golden Age as a time of good manners, noble actions, of a science of etiquette and a just code of law. Lao-Tse visioned a time when man lived in communion with the Spirit, in natural innocence; when he was in tune with the harmony of the universe, and thus required no instruction to make him act nobly. Confucius looked back to a period when rulers were benevolent and virtuous and subjects law-abiding and loyal. Lao-Tse to an age before rulers were necessary. In short, one sage was a practical reformer, busying himself with laws, regulations, proprieties, and conventions; the other possessed the Golden Age in his heart.