all of creation the vision.
The first time I read the phrase, a world that works for everyone, I both liked it and wondered how it could be possible? I considered what our founder, Dr. Ernest Holmes, wrote in The Science of Mind, "We do not teach that you can get what you want. If we could all get what we want, it might be disastrous, for it is certain that most of us would want things that would interfere with the well-being of someone else."
If we can't get what we want, what can we get, and how can we get it in such a way that it harmonizes with the well-being of all?
My Idea of Happiness and Your Idea of Happiness
My mother wanted everyone to be happy. She had definite ideas of how happiness ought to look. However, her idea of happiness for me, and my idea of happiness were not the same ideas. In my teen years, when I was happy, my mother seemed to be unhappy with my choices and vice-versa. It seemed to me that the way the world worked was that everyone is going to be unhappy some of the time.
My mother's idea for a respectable career choice, for me, filled me with dread. I acknowledge her for her love and patience with me. She was consistently proud of me and always gave me what I needed to thrive. She affirmed me, and supported me; I never doubted her love. And yet, I know that if it were possible, she would have preferred that I was married to a woman. My mother longed for grandchildren. She suggested that I would need a real job to support a family, and according to her, that job was in accounting. She reasoned that accounting skills were transferable to anywhere in the world and that there would always be a need for accountants.
We didn't see eye-to-eye, but we loved each other, and that is what made our world's work. In the presence of our differences, with our disappointments and frustrations, love made our world work.
Can You Have Anything You Want?
"A World That Works for Everyone," ought not to be confused with a world in which we control others, or in which we take what belongs to others, or in which everyone is getting their way all the time. It is something higher than that. The purpose of a vision is to inspire us to reach beyond what we have now, and to do that; it has to be larger than what we have right now. It has to be so audaciously large, that we may not be able to imagine how it will come about. I may not be able to map out the action plan to the realization of the vision, but I can let it saturate my mind so that it changes and grows me.
That is the way of metaphysics. We are to embrace, as clearly as we are able, the highest vision we can, and then trust the creative energy of the Divine to pour Itself through us, guiding us into appropriate action that leads in the direction of the vision. For a vision to be effective, it has to touch some compelling notes in us.
Just Imagine
My mother wanted everyone to be happy. She had definite ideas of how happiness ought to look. However, her idea of happiness for me, and my idea of happiness were not the same ideas. In my teen years, when I was happy, my mother seemed to be unhappy with my choices and vice-versa. It seemed to me that the way the world worked was that everyone is going to be unhappy some of the time.
My mother's idea for a respectable career choice, for me, filled me with dread. I acknowledge her for her love and patience with me. She was consistently proud of me and always gave me what I needed to thrive. She affirmed me, and supported me; I never doubted her love. And yet, I know that if it were possible, she would have preferred that I was married to a woman. My mother longed for grandchildren. She suggested that I would need a real job to support a family, and according to her, that job was in accounting. She reasoned that accounting skills were transferable to anywhere in the world and that there would always be a need for accountants.
We didn't see eye-to-eye, but we loved each other, and that is what made our world's work. In the presence of our differences, with our disappointments and frustrations, love made our world work.
Can You Have Anything You Want?
"A World That Works for Everyone," ought not to be confused with a world in which we control others, or in which we take what belongs to others, or in which everyone is getting their way all the time. It is something higher than that. The purpose of a vision is to inspire us to reach beyond what we have now, and to do that; it has to be larger than what we have right now. It has to be so audaciously large, that we may not be able to imagine how it will come about. I may not be able to map out the action plan to the realization of the vision, but I can let it saturate my mind so that it changes and grows me.
That is the way of metaphysics. We are to embrace, as clearly as we are able, the highest vision we can, and then trust the creative energy of the Divine to pour Itself through us, guiding us into appropriate action that leads in the direction of the vision. For a vision to be effective, it has to touch some compelling notes in us.
Just Imagine
I love the innocence of The Hillside Singers' well-known lyrics, "I'd like to build the world a home and furnish it with love. I'd like to see the world for once, all standing hand in hand." I love John Lennon's sentiment in Imagine of all the people, living life in peace. And I love the prophetic vision in the book of Isaiah of a peaceable kingdom. All of these visions point to something that is so unlike what we have now, that it challenges and stretches me to accept it as the direction in which I wish to grow, mainly because I can't see the pathway to realizing them. Even so, something is exciting in these visions. It touches and resonates with something innocent, an idea that there is a right destination that is large enough for all, even if we don't yet know the way.
The prophetic words of Isaiah describe a vision of a world in which wolves live with lambs, and leopards nap with infant goats and a child leads, and cows and bears eat together, and nursing children play safely near snakes and crocodiles without fear, because they will not hurt or destroy each other because the earth will be full of the knowledge of holiness.
The Global Vision is another way of describing the peaceable kingdom. It's another way of singing Imagine; it is another way of wanting to build a home furnished with love for the world. We are not the first to imagine a world free from homelessness, a world in which we do not let our differences separate us. We are not the first to imagine a world in which there is a renewed emphasis on beauty, nature, and love, a world guided by spiritual wisdom, in which we live and grow as one, diverse, human family. There is a growing community of like-minded souls who have seen some form or another of this vision, and I know that something will have to give way to make room for such an idea to materialize.
My local community offers an annual Christmas Eve candle lighting service. It has an appeal far beyond our membership and draws attendees from different faith communities. We see it as one of our contributions to a world that works for all. We spend a lot of time and resources on this one event. One year, expensive candles outlined the stage in the sanctuary. Then, after the candle lighting service, we noticed that someone had stolen one of the candles. Disappointment flooded us. The thought that someone would take something from the sanctuary outraged us. I told my friends about it to share my sadness. We shared similar stories of being ripped off by conscience-deficient people. I made a point of informing the staff and alerting them to what had happened, asking them to be vigilant in this world where things happen. We began to strategize against such a thing happening again. The problem is that the candle had not been stolen. It had fallen and rolled between the musical equipment on the stage and couldn't bee seen. It appeared to have been taken, and what is truly alarming is how quickly all of our thoughts went to the worst-case scenario.
This event reminds me of a pattern of response that confirms a world that doesn't work. It is a response that has been practiced so well that it is automatic for some.
The Global Vision calls us to practice seeing the world standing hand in hand. It invites you to break the habit of expecting the worst.
After 15 years in my house, I finally decided to replace the old kitchen cabinets. In the newly designed layout, things got moved around a bit. Now the knives and forks are located near the stove. They were no longer near the doorway like they used to be. In the first week or so of the new layout, I still walked over to where the knives and forks lived for so many years, expecting to find them, and they aren't there. Each time, there was this moment of surprise when I realized, oh, the knives and forks don't live here anymore. Even though I knew, I had to train myself to embrace the new awareness until it became a new habit, and with it a new reality.
Get Used to It
The prophetic words of Isaiah describe a vision of a world in which wolves live with lambs, and leopards nap with infant goats and a child leads, and cows and bears eat together, and nursing children play safely near snakes and crocodiles without fear, because they will not hurt or destroy each other because the earth will be full of the knowledge of holiness.
The Global Vision is another way of describing the peaceable kingdom. It's another way of singing Imagine; it is another way of wanting to build a home furnished with love for the world. We are not the first to imagine a world free from homelessness, a world in which we do not let our differences separate us. We are not the first to imagine a world in which there is a renewed emphasis on beauty, nature, and love, a world guided by spiritual wisdom, in which we live and grow as one, diverse, human family. There is a growing community of like-minded souls who have seen some form or another of this vision, and I know that something will have to give way to make room for such an idea to materialize.
"The transformation takes place here. You don't have to wonder if it will take place out there; that world will come when enough of us see through the night into the heavenly light."
Ernest Holmes, The Philosophy of Ernest Holmes
Ernest Holmes and George P. Bendall p. 137
The Lie of the Stolen Candle
This event reminds me of a pattern of response that confirms a world that doesn't work. It is a response that has been practiced so well that it is automatic for some.
The Global Vision calls us to practice seeing the world standing hand in hand. It invites you to break the habit of expecting the worst.
After 15 years in my house, I finally decided to replace the old kitchen cabinets. In the newly designed layout, things got moved around a bit. Now the knives and forks are located near the stove. They were no longer near the doorway like they used to be. In the first week or so of the new layout, I still walked over to where the knives and forks lived for so many years, expecting to find them, and they aren't there. Each time, there was this moment of surprise when I realized, oh, the knives and forks don't live here anymore. Even though I knew, I had to train myself to embrace the new awareness until it became a new habit, and with it a new reality.
Get Used to It
It's not that I don't understand that the cabinets and draws have been changed. It's not that this new layout isn't better. It's that up until now, I have trusted my old habit so much that it displaced my new reality. As I stayed with my vision of a better kitchen, it became part of my new understanding and eventually replaced old habits.
The Global Vision invites us to keep before us the idea of a peaceable kingdom, and I trust that when we do that, eventually, it will displace old habits in a new way. So I'm going to continue the innocent practice of seeing in my mind's eye, the world, standing hand-in-hand, and I trust that when I do that, I'm joining many people across the globe who are doing the same thing, looking through the night, to a heavenly light.
The Global Vision invites us to keep before us the idea of a peaceable kingdom, and I trust that when we do that, eventually, it will displace old habits in a new way. So I'm going to continue the innocent practice of seeing in my mind's eye, the world, standing hand-in-hand, and I trust that when I do that, I'm joining many people across the globe who are doing the same thing, looking through the night, to a heavenly light.
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thank you for this, I prefer the vision of a World view that works for everyone...
ReplyDeleteThank you. The vision can seem impossible at times. The simplest steps help me let go of doubt and a heavy heart. The closest I can get on some challenging days is to apply curiosity...."I wonder how this loving world, this Global Vision, will come into being." I get some breathing room when I open to wondering.
ReplyDeleteSometimes when I chant, I imagine a monk in Bhutan chanting at the same time. I imagine we are connecting with a thread that is part of the web of Love.
ReplyDelete