Concepts

channeled through the pen of

Marie Fox O’Brien

A List of Books

Marie’s Story - An Extraordinary Odyssey

Channeled Books

Martin’s Original Writings

Revelations

The Divine Nature of Man

Lessons

A New Endeavor

Concepts

Prayers

Past Lives

Moses

Zorah

Rose

Joseph II

Edam the Elder and Saleh

and Inga - Pala - Bana

Peter and Ann

Romulus

Remembrances-The Holy Family

Martin’s Life Remembered

when earth was but a space

Tuesday, 3/8/94 6:52 AM

Before the beginning of time, when earth was but a space, man came to reality in the mind of God and in him God saw beauty. He knew a love for man before he took form, and he said to all those spirits who shared the beauty of eternal existence, "Lo, let us share," and there was agreement among the celestials that there was plenty to be shared in love, wonder, and companionship. To this end, man was fashioned lovingly and meant to live in peace.

In the course of time, many eons, a time ephemeral in eternal measure, man came to an awareness of his divinity. He became aware of his soul. The first dawning of his relationship to forces beyond his comprehension, to being superior and different in many ways, first inspired fear, and he devised methods and beliefs to comfort and appease these forces so as to keep himself from harm. In the course of time he lost his fear in wonder and in fuller awareness of the affinity he felt for these unseen forces, for a sharing of power with them through petition and understanding.

When man began to appreciate the extent of his own power, he felt free to appreciate the link between himself and the divine power as a link of love. He began to know the comfort in this relationship and to be aware of the benevolent nature of these divine spirits whom he could perceive only in their presence, in awareness of their nature. He depicted these spirits in many guises, and in his desire to know more, he came to speak with those around him of this unseen presence, so powerful and yet so seemingly unattainable.

In the course of time there came to be differences and disputations among men as to the nature of this unseen force, the source of all life and all emotion, and in various parts of the universe, ceremonies and ideologies sprang up, and leaders emerged to teach their fellow men what they should believe and how they should act in accordance with these beliefs. In all of this learning and surrender of will, man found comfort in knowing the unknowable and sought in all his ceremonies to establish a relationship with God which would both appease the God they did not fully understand and lend a measure of assurance to the worshiper that in his beliefs and his actions he was establishing a divine relationship which seemed to assure him of his eventual salvation. (7:07 AM)

concept of time

Wednesday, 3/30/94 5:16 AM

It is not a simple matter to comprehend the nature of man's journey through a world torn with strife, beset with difficulties, unpredictable at all times. It is necessary to understand that human existence is by its very nature a trial of man's capacity to survive all challenges to his love and faith. It becomes necessary when one examines the nature of human existence to place it in a larger framework and to accept the ephemeral nature of a single life.

Perhaps the most difficult concept is the concept of time. Human life is measured by the natural order of the universe. Night follows day, spring follows winter, and man depends upon his external world to measure the progress of his life. He comes to put absolute trust in the inevitability of the natural order, and when that natural order is distorted or interrupted he finds himself unable to comprehend. He becomes confused and frightened.

Each day that passes in human existence takes man closer to the necessary transition of death and closer to his reason for existence. Beyond this human existence lies eternity, the very nature of which man yearns to understand. It is not within man's ability to have full comprehension of the nature of a world where time is not measured in increments easily marked and determined by the environment. There is no simple progression from day to day, week to week, month to month, and year to year. Time, if it can be called that, is infinite, stretching in all directions at once. The past is easily accessible, the future discernible, and the present all encompassing. There is a wholeness to eternal existence that relates to earthly time in the essential connectedness between eternal and earthly existence. In other words, there is an awareness in eternal life of the nature of time in human life, but there the similarity ends. (5:35AM)

no striving for dominance

Thursday, 3/31/94 4:54 AM

Before time began to be measured by man with any precision, there was a rhythm in all earthly life that created a harmony between man and natural forces. Man rose with the sun, toiled during the daylight hours, and slept through the darkness to begin another day with the coming of the light. Life was simple and uncomplicated, though not ever without its difficulties and challenges.

In the early history of human existence simple survival was difficult, and man was necessarily concerned almost exclusively with physical survival. His life was dominated by the need to satisfy the needs of his physical being, and there was time for little else. The overwhelming nature of his physical needs led man to band together to more easily satisfy the demands life placed upon him. He learned to work and to live peaceably in groups, and to know the comfort of companionship. There was no striving for dominance in the beginning of socialization, simply the necessary cooperation to maximize chances of survival in a demanding environment.

The beginnings of community life satisfied other needs as well. Man learned of the joys of brotherhood, of loving communication beyond basic communication, and society was born. Geographical proximity and shared needs determined the nature of these groups. Like minded men and women found added ease and comfort in their lives through this physical cooperation in meeting their needs, and from this socialization grew emotional bonds which served to bind them into a community of equals concerned with individual welfare as well as the common good. (5:10AM)

the internal voice

Monday, 4/4/94 5:05 AM

Without any doubt the first stirrings of awareness in early man of his capacity to commune with spirits beyond his understanding marked a giant step in the evolution of the human race. Having accomplished communication and cooperation with his fellow men, primitive man began to be aware of powers within himself beyond his understanding. At first this awareness struck terror in his heart, and he sought to ignore the internal voice that he heard from time to time, but this awareness persisted, and over a period of time man not only found it impossible to ignore this awareness, this recognition of power beyond his understanding, but began to communicate this awareness to those with whom he shared daily existence and to speak of the implications of this spiritual aspect of his life and identity.

With sharing came a lessening of fear and the beginning of rituals designed to both appease and please the spirits perceived but not understood. Great powers were assigned to these spirits who spoke so mysteriously to humans, and man undertook to explain the world about him in a manner that bespoke his new awareness of a world he could not fully perceive but which he found himself incapable of ignoring. Over a period of time, these evolving beliefs led to rituals which man intended as both tribute and petition. He knew that there was much in nature and in the course of human life beyond his control, and he sensed that only through these unseen forces could he hope to achieve a measure of control himself, and so his needs led to common beliefs and to community wide acceptance of the need to acknowledge man's dependence upon those who ruled the universe in ways beyond his understanding. (5:20 AM)

a higher purpose

Thursday, 4/21/94 5:47 AM

In the course of time mankind began to remember his origins. This remembering was not absolute in detail nor was it constant, but rather a fleeting awareness that he was part of a larger community than that he knew in his daily life, that there were stirrings in his soul that he recognized as yearning for a higher purpose in life than mere survival. He began to look within himself for understanding, and his self communing was gradually rewarded. His insights grew in depth and in certainty, and his identification with powers and entities he sensed without seeing led him to a form of communication that took various forms.

At first these efforts at communication were tentative and probing, a reaching out, a questioning. Gradually he began to feel a response to his exploration of the mind within, a dawning awareness of his capacity to know the unknowable, to pierce the curtain that lay between him and the invisible world around him. He began to speak directly to these beings who so dominated his wish to know more than his physical senses perceived.

It was a journey both exhilarating and fearful. Man was not at all persuaded that these forces, these unseen powerful beings, were at all times benevolent. Indeed his first perception was that he had much to fear from the powers he could not control, and his first outward reaction was to seek to appease these powers. To this end, he shaped his life. (6:01)

orderly evolution

Wednesday, 6/29/94

This morning Martin began what he referred to as a "new phase in this holy work." I am not sure if these writings are connected with those recorded earlier in this folder, but for the moment I am including them in this file.

Wednesday, 6/29/94 3:10 AM

There is no scientific way to establish the facts of creation in its entirety. It is certain that science has made great strides in all fields of endeavor and even at the present day is moving forward in its efforts to understand the nature of matter and its original properties.

Let the world now recognize the divine nature of the origin of the universe. Let men recognize that in the eons during which the sun evolved into a solar system there was an order and a plan carefully arranged. It is impossible for the human mind to comprehend the nature of time eternal. It is impossible for the limitations of man to understand and comprehend the nature of divine power. It is enough for him now to understand the intricacies of the forces that resulted from the divine will that earth evolve into a place where man could not only survive but thrive. It is enough for science to understand the steps in this process from the very first particle of matter to the final and still evolving nature of the universe in its present state. The human mind cannot fully grasp the intricacies involved in the evolution of the earth over these billions of years. It can only wonder at the miraculous combination of orderly processes that led to the present state of his world.

You ask if man contributed in any way to this evolutionary process, and the answer is that he has only insofar as he has altered his world. He has attempted to tame the forces of nature, and to some extent has succeeded in his efforts, and to this extent has contributed to the evolution of his environment. These human efforts have not always been beneficial, not always desirable or in the best interest of mankind's welfare.

We will seek here to provide man with a fuller understanding of his world by helping him to understand the divine nature of its beginnings. Man has long felt that divine power and its manifestations were somehow in conflict with his seeking for scientific certainty, that it was necessary to dismiss God from considerations which rested only on proof positive, on observations which denied the unseen and unknowable. It is now time to confirm what many scientists are beginning to suggest, that the unseen forces in man's life and history are perhaps more significant than the world that lends itself to scientific proof.

Let us proceed.

All of matter, as I have said, proceeds in orderly evolution from the first particle of energy to the complexities of the world as it exists today. That first particle of matter can be defined and referred to as the start of the life of the galaxy of which earth is a part. The original particle came from the will of God and represented his wish that the race of man evolve in a way that would fit him for life on a planet hospitable to his needs and nature.

It is of no consequence in divine terms that the evolution of the earth consumed eons of time, a length that science has not fully established in its magnitude. Such a span of time is but a whisper in eternity. It is not significant that man himself evolved during a shorter period.

That evolutionary period too is but a whisper in time. What is significant is that the progression of this evolution was orderly and ordained, that man is a creature preordained to occupy this planet and to adapt it to his needs and bend its nature to his will. Throughout history he has striven to master his environment and in these efforts he has been randomly successful. (3:25)

the divine truth

Sunday, 7/2/94 4:31 AM

In the fullness of time, there was on earth the start of life, and from the very beginning these life forms were the work of God. There was no impatience in creation, as I have said, and no sense of waste. Each of these evolving life forms contributed to the environment in its own way. Always in sight was the final product, a feeling, thinking, sensing human being, both aware of his environment and able to cope with it.

Much has been written about when homo sapiens took his rightful place on this planet, and there have been efforts to date with exactness the time when man as he exists today can be said to have emerged from this evolutionary process. Know now that science has erred in placing its faith in mortal remains, and that man first became the child of God he was intended to from the very beginning, the minute he became capable of feeling that the powers given to him included the capacity to love and to feel love for his fellow man in a way which caused him to put the welfare of another before that of himself. That day is shrouded in history.

Never will it be established with absolute accuracy, nor is it important that it be so established. Long before science dreamed of it, man conquered his environment in a spirit of loving cooperation. Long before science is aware, man assumed the physical attributes that made it possible for God in his infinite wisdom to breathe a soul into each emerging human life and for his spirits to seek to aid man in his earthly endeavors.

Now it can be said by those who seek scientific exactness that this is too vague, too unrelenting in its dependence upon a belief in a Creator, and I say to this that if they have no faith in what I say, let them produce another solution that lends itself to credibility. There has been much written and discussed of errant evolution, of pure chance in the development of the divine creature we know as man. To this I say, there is in your theory still no explanation of where and how the first particle of energy came to be. There is in your theory no recognition of the orderliness of the process that produced man, the steady progression which has been charted by those who have chosen to involve themselves in the study of man's evolution from a single cell. Regard the single cell in its miraculous capabilities. Is this errant?

Others claim that all of evolution can be dismissed in its theoretical nature, that proof positive lies in the account of creation found in holy writings. Such an account is clearly myth, man's suggestion. Had God chosen to create the earth this way, it is within his divine power, but he did not, and all those who deny reason in the evolutionary process deny themselves the truth. Not every step has been charted with absolute exactness. Much remains unknown. But the efforts of those who seek to understand as well as to discover further the nature of the emergence of man into a sensate being with a soul that defies scientific explanation do well in their efforts. It is simply impossible for them to reconcile their efforts with the divine truth I speak of here. They should make that effort and recognize that the spiritual nature of man is what separates him from the rest of the animal kingdom, and they should bend their efforts to discovering the first recorded behavior that spoke of love beyond the instinct to survive. This truly, I tell you, was the beginning of what we call modern man. (4:55)

earthly time

Monday, 7/4/94 5:11 AM

In the interests of accuracy, man should be aware that not only did a divine plan design and control creation both of matter and of man, but that time was of the essence in this creation. I have said that there was no impatience in this process, but I say also that there was a plan carefully conceived that the process would be completed and earth habitable within a certain number of earth years. This is not to say that the date certain was exact to a day, but certainly it was exact within a century, and in the span of time this can be regarded as exact.

Indeed, the creation of planet earth necessarily involved the creation of earthly time. As I have said elsewhere, time as it is known on earth does not exist elsewhere. The rising and setting of the sun, as man regards it, was a necessary aspect of creation, leaving the evolving creatures on earth with a pattern which came to regulate both their activities and their survival. In turn, man's adaptation to his environment and the environment's contribution to man's survival depend upon the energy supplied by the sun during the course of each day. Subtract this energy and survival is impossible.

The natural pacing of life on planet earth is based on factors outside the sphere of influence of earth itself. The rotation of earth defines season and sunlight, and it is within this limitation that man became aware of earthly time and began to calculate his needs within this framework. In time the measurement of time became more sophisticated, but the basic division of time into day and night existed for the benefit of man and all earthly life from the very beginning.

It is incumbent upon man to understand that the complexities of nature are his to comprehend, but he must go beyond the scientific surface to see the power that the creation of the earth with all its inhabitants and all its richness represents. He must be aware that this plan is not complete, that although planet earth has been for millions of years hospitable to man and has responded to man's efforts to mold it to his will, the earth still is incomplete in the sense that evolution continues. It is impossible for man in his single life span to sense this continuing evolution, but the signs are unmistakable. Man has come to regard this evolutionary activity as a series, a continuing series, of natural disasters. They are indeed disasters where the loss of human life is involved, but they are a natural part of the evolutionary process which is not yet completed, and they have come to represent to man a challenge to his instinct for survival.

They are more than that. (5:30)

divine intention

Thursday, 7/7/94 4:16 AM

From the very beginning, it was the divine intention that earth evolve in an orderly way, but from the very beginning as well, earth was intended as a dwelling place for man, concept that he was at that time in the mind of God. Man has always hungered to know the reason for his earthly existence, and it is time for him to be assured that there is a plan and a pattern both in his experiences and in his ultimate destiny.

In all of creation there is a beneficence beyond man's full understanding, but which is often perceived by him. Without question the human experience from start to finish is influenced by the nature of the challenges presented to him by his environment. Early man, as I have said, was primarily and of necessity shaped by the constant challenge of mere physical survival. His reaction to his immediate world was limited, therefore, to the need to protect himself from peril and to nurture his body. His protectiveness toward those dependent upon him was primarily physical in nature. Although he was not incapable of emotion, the very nature of the struggle for survival limited his emotional range and he had scant inclination to go beyond providing for his immediate needs.

This is not to say that he was closer to the animal than to modern man, but his needs and the necessity to survive was paramount from birth to death, and the natural hazards he faced narrowed his perception of the world around him. Nevertheless, he was capable of the emotion we now call love in his relationships. He sought to protect those dependent upon him, and this feeling of protectiveness was fostered steadily by his experiences and his victories over the challenges he faced. Gradually he developed tools and implements which reflected his ingenuity and which increased his mastery over his environment as well as contributing to his physical comforts. (4:34)

evolution of the species

Saturday, 7/9/94 5:02 AM

From the very beginning man's awareness of his origins puzzled him. He sought answers in nature. He looked about him and beheld the wonders of animal creation and identified with these creatures in their power. He chose to believe, for lack of more sophisticated insights, that great power beyond the ordinary and visible belonged to the animal kingdom, and he imbued certain animals with powers that answered the needs of man more than fact. He chose to revere certain of the animal species and to create ceremonies of reverence to them. He created taboos to reflect this reverence, and he strove in many ways to placate the ravages of nature through animal worship. These beliefs varied from place to place and group to group, but they had in common a striving both to explain and to understand the unknown forces which man knew physically and sensed spiritually. At all times there was an element of fear in this placation and at all times it represented man's desire for security in a world that was constantly threatening. It represented further his growing desire to understand more of himself and his origins.

Before man was sophisticated enough to wonder about the purpose of his life, he wondered about its origins, and lacking any scientific capacity or spiritual insight, he created a set of beliefs loosely bound in what he observed and what he experienced. There is little fault to find with early man and his belief system. He functioned in a world he regarded as equally benevolent and threatening. His individual life was a series of challenges to his survival and he met each challenge as capably as he could. He proliferated, and with each advent came additional responsibilities which he met with whatever strength and skills were his. Both sexes played a vital part in this game of survival, and in the process developed a capacity for cooperation and dependence which served as the foundation for the family life which was to develop in generations to come. It was the divine intent that love flourish between man and woman in a way which would insure the evolution of the species into creatures capable of putting love above all other emotions, all other needs. (5:16)

animal worship

Saturday, 7/16/94 6:08AM

In the fullness of time, man achieved a state of awareness that permitted him to know his own superiority over the animal kingdom and to abandon the animal worship which he had felt essential to his survival. Instead he attempted to understand his relationship to the world about him in a spirit of inquiry that foreshadowed later scientific method. He looked about him and sought to explain the vagaries of nature in light of his experiences. He viewed the forces that controlled his life and activities in many ways, but he came in the end to feel a mastery which was to him a new experience. He did not feel able to control natural forces, but he felt able to respond to them in a way which not only permitted him to survive but to achieve a level of security which gave him the freedom to think abstractly.

When man achieved the capacity to think abstractly he clearly separated himself from those creatures he had heretofore both feared and respected, and it became necessary for him to apply this capacity for abstract thought in both useful and creative ways. So was born invention and art. Man found pleasure for the first time in his surroundings, and he began the task of communicating this pleasure to his fellow man and sharing the fruits of his invention. In a short time man progressed in control of himself and his environment to the point of pleasure in the skills granted to him and in his capacity to enjoy the fruits of his labor and of his creativity.

In a sense, this giant step forward was the mainspring of all civilization to come. (6:20)

a solitary individual

Saturday, 7/23/94 3:27 AM

Among the choices early man had to make was the choice of companionship. It is hard to visualize a world without family structure, but indeed there was in the very beginning little or no identification between mother and child and none between father and child. The relationship between the sexes was casual and responsive to sexual need, little more. The child was nurtured by his mother to the age when he was able to survive without her constant care and subsequently was semi-independent. He was dependent upon the care of others only in a limited way, only in case of disaster or unusual need. He was fitted with the skills to survive, skills he had learned from birth by observation and perfected by practice. In the event of extreme need the individual depended upon both chance and his fellow man. He was a solitary individual, content to roam his environment much like his animal cousins, and to respond to his fellow man only in a limited fashion.

Little by little early man began to recognize in himself a need for more than this solitary existence. His capacity for communication, limited though it was, enabled him to seek out others he recognized as fellow creatures and communicate to them his desire for companionship. Primitive though his needs were, this need for companionship quickly grew, and the pleasure man knew in the company of others was the source of great satisfaction to him. In this way man differed from the animals with whom he shared planet earth. He was capable, as they were not, of making the decision to commit himself in friendship to another human being and to find fulfillment in this relationship. He was able to establish a relationship of mutual dependence and the beginnings of affection with another, and from this beginning sprang the love that separates man from the beast.

In time, these interrelationships between humans grew in sophistication and in longevity, and it followed that larger groups sought to be cohesive both for practical and for pleasurable reasons. The development of what we know now as family feeling was generated within these community groups and took many forms. At first these alliances were loosely defined and temporary. As time passed, man chose to codify this relationship with others in the sense that certain relationships demanded certain behavior and that all those within the group were aware of these demands and willing to subscribe to them in their daily lives. Those not willing found it necessary to separate themselves from the group and seek safety and companionship elsewhere. (3:46)

social groups

Monday, 7/25/94 3:28 AM

Within the space of time not yet reckoned, man progressed from simple communication and loosely organized societies to a sophistication theretofore unknown. His efforts to master his environment and assure his own survival resulted in a cooperation and a discipline that was new to this planet. In all endeavors, he realized, his best individual effort was as nothing compared to a united effort. A spirit of cooperation soon became the rule, and in this cooperation the individual good was subject to the common good.

It was not without a struggle that man surrendered the fierce independence, the total individualism, that marked the beginnings of human existence. There was inbred in him a sense of self that was hard to deny, and it took much experience for him to realize that this sense of self must be modified to achieve a common good. As I have indicated, early human groupings were at first casual and undisciplined except in the simplest sense. As time passed a leadership evolved which began to establish ground rules to insure the perpetuation of the group and the greater good of the individual within the group.

Inevitably there were conflicts both within the group and between groups, and man found it necessary to both judge and discipline those within the group threatening its survival, and to face the challenge posed by conflicts between neighboring groups. The solutions to these conflicts tried the ingenuity of early man and varied from group to group and incident to incident, but inevitably man progressed in his efforts to insure his survival and enhance his well being by subjugating individual interests to group interests, and abiding by the rules society imposed upon him, and respecting the rights of his peers even when these rights conflicted with what he regarded as his own self interest.

There is little more that need be said about man's earliest efforts to insure his individual well being by insuring the well being of the group into which he was born. Over a period of time the stability of these earliest of social groups increased, and there was a pattern and a direction in their development that has not to this time been clearly discerned by those who strive to discover man's early history.

social awareness

Wednesday, 7/27/94 4:23 AM

Within a short space of time in relative terms, there were pockets of civilization all over the planet. Man evolved into a social creature more or less the same way in varying locations and climates. The development of social groups naturally was responsive to the environment, and as a consequence individual groups began to vary one from the other in their customs and beliefs. Each group perfected its communication in a way unique in several aspects. There were distinct differences in sophistication, but in each case the communication evolved from the simplest of vocabularies and syntaxes to the more complex.

In the fullness of time, a period not yet recorded, these individual groups acquired characteristics which were to mark them. Physically man responded to his environment in many ways -- in stature, in sturdiness, in pigmentation, and in motor skills. In the most tropical of climates man found his environment most hospitable and encountered far fewer obstacles to survival. Life acquired an ease and pleasantness that allowed development of leisure and pleasurable pursuits. The mildness of the environment and the generous bounty of nature in foodstuffs eased the challenges to survival, though they were never totally eliminated. There was quickly a rare harmony in these tropical societies, and man grew in peace and prosperity.

In settlements where nature provided more of a challenge in climate and food supply, man responded in varying ways. Some sought to utilize the bounty of the seas and based their social groups upon this pursuit. This led in time to creation of sea going vessels, at first simple and small, and to further exploration of their environment. This exploration led in turn to contact with groups strange to the explorers and to a consequent widening of the social awareness they knew. (4:40)

spiritual awareness

Thursday, 7/28/94 3:37 AM

Under all circumstances but with distinct differences from location to location, man progressed in his spiritual awareness. He sought at all times for understanding and awareness. He tried to comprehend his existence both in terms of his environment and in terms of his individuality, and as he grew in sophistication his thoughts turned increasingly to consideration of his role in creation. He had sought from the start, as I have said, to determine his role in relationship to the animal kingdom, and with the passage of time he progressed from the assumption that the beasts of the earth had superior powers to the absolute certainty that despite their powers and strengths, man was the superior creature. His instincts slowly became secondary in motivation, and all of his life each man sought to increase his understanding of his place in the divine pattern of nature.

Such awareness did not progress rapidly. There was no time at the founding of these various social groupings for any man to devote himself fully to philosophical speculation. The demands of his physical being of necessity came first, and only gradually did man achieve the security and leisure in his physical existence and enjoy the privileges of leisurely speculation. At all times there was a striving and an awareness of the fact the the human mind was capable of much that was beyond the animal kingdom, that the capacity for abstract thought was a gift peculiar to man and that it represented the key to human progress, that at all times in the progression of man his mind was his most significant tool.

The development of abstract thinking and philosophical speculation did not occur simultaneously in all social groups. Rather some progressed more rapidly than others. Nor did this striving for awareness result in uniform conclusions. There was from the beginning a sense of individuality in the human species that resulted in widely differing beliefs and conclusions. (4:50)

capacity to love

Friday, 7/29/94 4:20 AM

In the interests of accuracy it should be said that at all times man's progress from the primitive to the sophisticated found its key in love. Man's first awareness of his own capacity to love another enough to place that person's welfare before his own was, as I have said, the achievement that reflected his divine nature. The path to this capacity for love was strewn with difficulties and setbacks, and not all men acquired the capacity to love in exactly the same way or at exactly the same time.

Now it is reasonable to question. If man progressed to this idyllic state where love ruled his every action, why did not the earth become a place of unending peace and love? Why did man not eschew violence and selfishness completely and see in his capacity for love the way of life that would at all times assure his welfare and progress? Indeed in many places this was the case, and in these places man enjoyed the sweet harmony that enabled him to live in peace and love with his neighbor at all times. Generally these groups enjoyed the material prosperity that insured to each individual all that was needed for comfort and security in daily life. There was no need to struggle. In all too many cases, however, man became aware that worldly goods were not either adequate to his needs nor evenly distributed. He allowed envy to enter his soul and he forgot the absolute need for love. He chose to put self interest above all other emotions, and his capacity to love was blunted by selfishness and greed. He began to feel that if his needs were not met as completely as he felt desirable, he was justified in doing whatever was necessary to satisfy his own desires at the expense of another. (4:34)

organized religious practice

Monday, 8/1/94 3:27 AM

In a space of time heretofore unrecorded, man progressed in his spiritual awareness to the point of organized religious practice. This organization took many forms. Seeking to create a deity that satisfied his needs, man sought to create order in the world he knew. He sought to establish a connection between the world he did not fully understand and the world of the spirit which also evaded full understanding. His gods, objects of reverence, answered his need to connect and to partially explain the external and the internal worlds he knew so imperfectly.

In a sense this development of worship and structure foreshadowed the great religious institutions that were to follow, but they had the advantage of being ritualistic without being restrictive. Man sought a very personal relationship with the deities he identified as guiding his life and controlling his interests, and although there was often an element of fear and appeasement in his practices and in his attitudes, he sought primarily to pay tribute to a power which he knew instinctively and understood only partially.

This need to recognize a higher power was universal, although the means devised to recognize this need in practice evolved in dramatically different ways. It should be said that in the beginning there was no harm in these religious beliefs and practices, that man sought simply to please the powers that he knew but did not understand. There was a simplicity about early practice that was pleasing both to man and to God, a direct communication between the seen and the unseen worlds.

In time, inevitably, as societies grew in cohesiveness and complexity, religious beliefs and practices began to be formalized and disciplined, and man responded to this discipline by adopting beliefs not wholly his own but rather imposed upon him by his peers and by his leaders. Certain expectations became so formalized that they were passed from generation to generation within the group, and there came to be little tolerance for individuality and direct communication between man and his God. (3:43)

inner voice

Tuesday, 8/2/94 4:26 AM

It was always within reason that man responded in his spiritual quest when he listened to his inner voice. It was always within the capability of man to hold silent communion with his God and to know the inner peace that came from this mystical relationship. At no time was man required by his God to do more than listen to this inner voice and to live in its light, to hear the message so clearly given. It was his duty, man heard when he listened, to live in love all the days of his life, to live in goodness and giving, and to place his trust in the goodness he found in all those whose lives he shared in his brief journey from birth to death.

There were eras of peace and love heretofore unrecorded in widely scattered spots about the globe where men heeded this inner voice and responded to its urging and knew the full joy that was theirs. These were the halcyon days. Violence was unknown in human relationships. Born in love and nurtured in love, man grew in self contentment and a capacity to share that gave to all of life a beauty. God smiled upon man's goodness, and when He took him to Him in life eternal the full intention of creation knew its fruition.

Myth has held that this perfection on earth was ended when Eve partook of the forbidden fruit and tempted Adam to join her in her defiance. Know that this is indeed simply myth, but that over a period of time and in scattered places around the globe a restlessness grew in man, and he sought at first simply to exercise his latent superiority over his fellow man. From the beginning man had the capability to control his actions for good or for bad, but when he first sought to feel his own superiority by besting his fellow man by controlling him, he threatened the peaceful security of his environment. (4:41)

exploration

Sunday, 10/22/94 7:31AM

Let us proceed with the story of life itself.

There was much chaos and misunderstanding among men when different tribes and nations first encountered each other. Communication was limited and fear of the unknown ruled the minds of both parties. Often the immediate response of the stronger party was aggression, and often this aggression resulted in senseless slaughter. There were times, however, when peaceful overtures met peaceful response, and each group learned much from the other. New relationships were established and all those involved in the exchange of ideas profited by the harmony involved and knew pleasure in the establishment of trust and friendship. Strangers became brothers and a new strengthening of ties came with the intermingling. Children were born who carried the blood of both groups and bound them even more closely together.

This amalgamation of differing culture proceeded through the centuries in a strengthening of the concept of brotherhood and love and at all times resulted in a forward movement in civilization. The richness of cooperation and the ingenuity of the newly born as they matured into adults resulted in increased comfort and security for the entire citizenry.

In time more exploration led to further alliances and to further amalgamation of talents and customs and man profited thereby. In those cases where warfare erupted upon early contact the surviving side determined on a newer approach to strangers and joined the great majority in peaceful assimilation.

Thus civilizations spread in pockets all over planet earth in times heretofore unrecorded, and the resulting improvements in the quality of life and communication led man to a deeper emotional and spiritual life wherein he was able to respond to the stirrings of love in his soul in a way pleasing to both man and God. (7:44)

higher power

Monday, 11/12/95 5:16AM

At all times it was believed by early man that the powers he knew were superseded by the powers he had no knowledge of, powers that were at all times beyond his capacity to understand. This limitation sent him within himself seeking understanding and this seeking led directly to awareness of the fact that higher powers had control over his destiny in many ways.

He was not able, for example, to control or to anticipate the forces of nature that so directly affected his well being. He was not able to control the depredations of animals who seemed natural enemies and whose needs for survival seemed to supersede man's. He suffered for a lack of harmony with the very earth itself, and it became natural for him to consider human existence a life long struggle to over-come the forces he deemed superior.

Little by little and generation by generation man's capacity for conquering all that he found dangerous in his existence grew. He learned to anticipate the depredations of those creatures of the forests and the plains and to defend his possessions by securing them in clever ways which rendered them inaccessible to the roaming herds. He learned furthermore to use animals for his own good and to that extent tamed them. Those who remained predators he learned to avoid, and when avoidance was impossible he learned the arts of self defense. He fashioned implements and weapons with which to secure some degree of self protection.

In all of this, man was learning of his own powers and the powers of nature. In all of this learning here was progress in both understanding and behavior. Man singly sought power over malevolent forces, forces he felt threatened his survival. He had yet to learn that singly his accomplishments could not match the accomplishments that lay ahead when he learned the value of banding together with his fellow men in the pursuit of survival and well being. (5:31

Cornelia Silke dba New Light Publishing © 2010