INTRODUCTION:
Nature is our great human teacher. It is from experiencing Life as fully as possible that we learn and grow and mature into that which we inherently are. Maturing means living is a constant state of becoming, and the gradual self-realization of our true spiritual natures. The process is an endless evolving and expanding of our levels of consciousness. The Ageless Wisdom tells us that life on planet Earth is a "School for Souls." It is a hierarchal system of learning. With each new physical incarnation, we accumulate more and more experience and knowledge so that over time we gain the wisdom necessary for living a life of righteousness; realizing and accepting in our hearts what is Right from what is Wrong, and acting accordingly.
DISCUSSION:
What Nature reveals to us, if we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear, is that there are some basic Principles in Nature, sometimes referred to as "Universal Laws," we must come to know and adhere to. One such basic Principle is that our lives are consistently changing and undergoing an endless series of new experiences. This Principle is known to some as "The Law of Periodicity." In our personal lives these changes are more rapid in our earlier years, but tend to become more stagnant as we gain our middle years. The reason for this is that many of us reach a point where we "nail down" our view of life and the world and believe that we know more or less all the basics we need to know for living a materialistic existence. Society is in many ways static and viewed as "just more of the same old, same old.' Another view is that the whole universe appears to be ceaselessly evolving. Yet, the wise tell us that there is only the Eternal Now; that past, present and future are materialistic plane illusions and do not exist on the higher levels of spirituality or in the Macrocosmic planes of our solar system. At this materialistic level of existence, this is our way of viewing life and the world. To gain a true vision of the Principles of Nature, they say, requires keen internal insight and intuition; considered a higher level of truer comprehension than intelligent reasoning. Intuition is Pure Knowledge, and is always spiritually correct and true. It requires no analyzing or working out intellectually; it is direct insight straight from a higher spiritual level than that needing the mind to reason out. A truism to be gained from this simple insight is that an empirical, mechanistic paradigm science can never discover the Principles of Life. Direct Knowledge requires no symbolic or verbal interpretations.
The wise ones tell us at this materialistic level of existence we need to allow for and go along with Nature's endless metamorphoses in our lives, instead of accepting a world "fixed" for all practical purposes. Fixed lives at a certain point become stagnant, repetitious and crystallized and resist change; fear of the unknown freezes us in place. Our lives become more and more limited instead of open to the fullness of existence. The hippies of the sixties had these sayings: "Go with the flow;" and "Don't paddle the river, it flows by itself."
Another basic Principle of Nature is that every form in Nature is unique unto itself. Nothing is exactly like any other thing in existence. This Principle needs further clarification since it leads to much confusion and ignorance of our true natures. This individuality gives rise to the false belief we each are separate from the Whole. But uniqueness does not equate with separateness. Being different each from the other does not involve our being each separated from the Whole of Life. There is only ONE LIFE, and we each are an inseparable part of that whole, like the waves in the ocean.
Another basic Principle of Nature reveals to us that the universe consists of nothing but Energy, having a positive and a negative duality; the Yin and the Yang of the Orient; or the male and female of our species. From this the wise glean the wisdom that "Harmony can never come from Sameness." This duality of Nature's Energy is what gives life motion and vitality to our existence. Yet, this very duality must be balanced to bring about Harmony.
To create true Harmony in our own lives, we need to live a life of balanced activity; the Golden Mean or the Tao of the Orientals. It means to "go with the flow," and quit unnecessarily interfering with Nature's progress. The great majority of parents violate this basic Principle daily, especially when trying, because of some personal insecurity, to over-control their children in the name of protecting them from all possible forms of harm. Insecurity breeds attempts to the needless over-controlling of others, but usually not of the self. And this is true of our society as well. It was the Austrian philosopher Karl Popper who told us that in an insecure society, such as ours is today, our leaders demand undue interference and the over-controlling of our lives; which means directly interfering with our basic Constitutional Rights. Insecurity and fear of terrorism leads to violating the basic Principles of our American way of life. The Constitution of the United States is what makes us different from every other country on earth. It needs constant protection from infringements regardless of the reason. Our Constitution was penned by men far wiser than our leadership of today.
We need to trust and have faith in the Laws of Nature and learn to cooperate with its ways. Nature provides us the means of gaining truer knowledge of the universe and of ourselves.
Another basic Principle of Nature is the "Law of Attraction and Repulsion." It is this basic Principle which is at the core of our human relationships. We become attracted to and emotionally attached to others because we feel as individuals we are incomplete within ourselves. Again, our idea of individual separateness is relevant here. We are repelled by those we perceive as hostile to us in some way, or because of some hidden fear from our past lives. There is much superstition and ignorance that goes into this repulsion. Tolerance toward all beings is the solution to this repulsion.
Too often one of the parties to a relationship tries to change the other to suit his or her own desires and needs. In other words, to overcome individual differences and bring about sameness, which prevents any harmony being created in that relationship. Harmonious relationships require a constant respect for and acceptance of the individualistic nature of our mates. Mature couples grow together by "going with the flow of life." The Tao speaks of non-resistance. The divorce or dissolution rate in our modern society shows the effects of these attempted controlling activities and the imbalances that arise in relationships lacking real human love and understanding.
Mentioned above were the words, "past lives." If Life is truly a "school for souls," as the wise ones contend, then by necessity we require multiple lives to gain true spiritual wisdom and spiritual advancement, and a continual expansion of our levels of consciousness. Most of the world outside our western civilization automatically accepts reincarnation and its other half, Karma, as a priori, or self-evident. There are far more Orientals than Occidentals on this earth, and the East is much older and in many ways historically wiser than we in the West. All of our Avatars and religious creators were from the East. One reason being they are far less concerned with this materialistic existence than we Occidentals; or were in the past before being contaminated by western ideals. Their beliefs about the "Constitution of Man" and Nature have endured far longer than any western concepts. Even our Biblical Christ comes from the Orient, where He is referred to as the Bodhisattva, and named Lord Maitreya.
CONCLUSION:
There are a visible world of Effects and an invisible world of Causes, so say the wise ones. The whole wisdom of the Ancients is based on this concept, and the modern day occultists, the true seekers of truth, study these hidden or invisible Causes. One of the Master's of the Wisdom has said: "There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who are awake and know, and those who are asleep and do not know."
Another way of saying this is, there are the Wise and there are the Ignorant. Ignorance merely means not knowing those things that exist outside the person's awareness, and remain so until the very moment of discovery. Another saying by a Master is this: "There is a Truth that does exist, and within Humanity hides the potential for its discovery." The Wise ones are awake and are the knower's of the Basic Principles and Laws of Nature. Their wisdom is as old as humanity itself. These wise ones spent many lifetimes in an inner search for this universal Wisdom; of the Causes behind the Effects in an endless pursuit of Truth. "Truth cannot be communicated; only Self-discovered."
We are all "Sons of God," in the sense we were created equally in our essence, but we are not all equal on the evolutionary arc in our ascent back to the "House of The Father," as was the message of Jesus and many other world Avatars who lived as Mentors and Guides to show the rest of us how to live a life of righteousness.
There can be no honest argument that the world today is one of endless strife and chaos and much misery, pain and suffering. The great Gautama Buddha summed it up by saying all this is due to Human Ignorance, defined as endless desires and attachment to things of this materialistic world. which limits our reach for true wisdom. We have to want to know and to have enough dedication for Truth to spend many lives in search of it.
A study of the Basic Principles of Nature show us the way to this Wisdom. It begins with a deep study and observation of ourselves throughout the day since we are each an inseparable part of the Basic Principles of Nature. The Oracle of the Delphi admonished us eons ago, Gnothe Seauton, or "Man, Know Thyself." It is a first step to further wisdom. We need to be consciously aware of all our daily thoughts and decisions and admit to our real motives in all that we do. In lieu of our self-centered concerns and our trivial and petty daily interest, we need to develop and practice Universal Love, Altruism and sense of Brotherhood toward all. The attainment of these aspects of spiritual growth is the real purpose of our existence and the reason we are alive on this planet. These are the means to true spiritual advancement, and a study of the basic Principles of Nature or Universal Laws, is the beginning step to this achievement.