by John Gray
Lately, Vladimir Putin’s military invasion of Ukraine dominates global news coverage—except in Russia, that is. A widespread reaction to this from people in the so-called “Free World,” is outrage. The word “rage,” by the way, derives from a Latin root meaning “madness.” Add the prefix, “out,” which means “beyond,” and we see the resulting word, outrage, means beyond madness. Many millions have empathy for Ukrainians’ suffering. It’s important we also keep in mind that the vast majority of Russians are not Putins; they’re people. Some are mothers and fathers whose sons have been sent to fight. In war, all people lose.
To be sure, there are evil people in the world; there have been many before and there are today cruel and supremely self-serving leaders of nations, not to mention corporations. Both human history and current affairs attest to this. It is essential—and especially so for all with any experience of a transcendent personal spiritual identity—that we behold the world from the apex point of identity where all are one. To attitudinally paint Russians as bad and Ukrainians as good in this global situation is neither correct nor helpful to the greater equanimity. It is our nature to care about people of all ilks, and I know we do. But to care doesn’t mean to join people in their troubles. We care like parents or physicians or nurses do. For example: we offer loving enfoldment, healing. But we can only really do this from the place of wholeness, which is the apex place of individual spiritual identity.
We use terms like mountaintop and apex and capstone as metaphoric references to this highest point in consciousness, the point where spiritual identity is experienced and known. This is a “looking up from below” way of seeing things, we may recognize. Many of us are familiar with the concept of a crossover point, a graphic representation of invisible spirit, symbolized by an inverted triangle, emerging into the world of form represented by a mountain triangle which rises to meet it. The mountaintop apex from below, so to speak, and the focus of spiritual expression from above, meet, merge, and are one at this singular point. In an individual human being the focus of Being and the focus of consciousness in the human body, mind and heart, are rightly one. Unfortunately for humanity and for planet Earth, this is a rarely realized theory. In the world as it is, the high point of human identity generally falls well short of union with spirit, with Being, though many wonderful spurts and flashes of inspiration and insight get through.
In most of the world’s spiritual and religious traditions there is acknowledgement of what is called by various terms, “the fall of man.” The fall that’s referred to is the separation of human consciousness from the source and presence of true identity. This separation creates and maintains an illusory identity, a false self. We’re concerned with the rise of man—the restoring or re-joining of human consciousness and true identity. The focus and source of true identity is the individual god being incarnate in human form. This is who we each really and uniquely are. Let’s not forget that no angelic being ever “fell.” It’s man—the image and likeness of God in form, created to manifest God in this place in the cosmic whole—who turns away from the Creator.
In the story of the fall in the book of Genesis the serpent is portrayed as the evil one who enticed Eve, who then got Adam to consume the fruit of a tree in the Garden that was, by design, off limits to them. We may recognize ways the symbolic meanings of this well-known cast of characters may be viewed. Eve, Adam, a couple of trees, and the serpent—are all, and rightly so, in the Garden of Eden. Eden is “earth”—in the individual sense, the human physical body; Adam symbolizes the consciousness of personal identity and Eve the heart realm. The Tree of Life is the incarnate god being; the tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents the creative process and its intricate workings. The serpent in this latter tree represents our means of perception of the material world—the outer mind and its senses. The serpent is described as “more subtil than any beast of the field.” [Gen. 3:1] Why “more subtle?” To me, this suggests that our outer mind’s sensory perception capabilities are properly composed of a finer, subtler substance, certainly far finer than the more densely material “beasts of the field.” Divine men and women were not and are not animals.
Without going into it all, if the fall of human identity began with involvement with the material world—the world over which man was created to have dominion, not to be controlled by—then obviously a reverse process is necessary for restoring the experience of original identity. An essential part of accomplishing this is lifting sensory involvement out of the strictly material and into more subtle ranges of perception. Using our Genesis allegory, this vibrational uplifting frees the serpent from attunement with and subjugation to externals so he can stop tugging on Eve’s heartstrings and so Adam, the consciousness of identity, stays where he belongs. I’m sure we appreciate the theory here, but may also think it’s a whole lot more easily said than done! But we know this is what we’re here to do, like it or lump it. Far better to like it! Then, guess what? It’s discovered to not be hard at all. Difficulty is a prevalent experience of the illusory, separate identity.
I recently read an etymology of the word “devil” which I cannot confirm, but it certainly rings right to me: “he who separates.” As I said earlier, the fall was and is the separation of human consciousness from the experience of true identity. This separation creates and maintains an illusory identity, a false experience of self, or, to put it another way, the experience of a self that is unreal and yet firmly believes itself to be real. Maintaining this state requires a lot of work—a continuous process, repeated and repeated and repeated. The fall didn’t occur just once, or all at once, way back in the past sometime. It takes constant effort to prop up a false identity. And a lifetime of such ardent effort takes its toll until the person expires. What a waste.
You know, good people do the devil’s work more than evil ones—good people who are outraged by “he who separates” divide-and-conquer behavior. We can readily see how outrage actually feeds and supports and plays into the very kinds of activities to which people react in outrage. What a vicious, diabolical circle! This behavior is the very devil itself.
Because “he who separates” operates the minds and hearts of most individual human beings, there is a collective version which runs the human world. I’ve been referring to the story of the fall contained in the first book of the Bible; in the last book, Revelation, in which these present times, now, are symbolically described, we find this: “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world…” [Rev. 12:9] This is happening! The “great dragon” is the collective “he who separates.” Now the dragon is being exposed and cast out of the place of control in humanity. Let’s exercise our subtler sensibilities and see that this is really what’s going on.
So, back to Ukraine, one of innumerable practice opportunities we have at the moment. Does anyone feel outraged by the diabolical atrocities going on? “Did you hear what those evil Russians are doing? Did you see the devastation on TV and feel the good people of Ukraine’s fear and grief?” Of course there’s more than fear and grief; there’s remarkable courage and perseverance and caring in evidence. But, careful! Let’s not internally take sides and slip mindlessly into madness. If I do that, I render myself useless and worse. If I’m just reacting to what I see and hear—the sources of which are often questionable anyway—what have I to offer of any value? I’m contributing to the problem! Our receptive senses like hearing and seeing are vital—they were and are created to be parts of our Edenic mechanisms, after all—but not to be controlled through. They are our means of connection with the whole world. Because we have these, and provided they’re not being constantly beaten up by absorbing sensory bombardment from external sources, our connections with everything and everyone are freed to be conductors through which we give our highest and finest.
Let’s make full use of our subtler sensitivities. Let’s lift up the serpent in the wilderness of the human condition and see from the mountaintop what’s really going on. From here we know ourselves as the One who is coming into the world—I AM come into the world. The One I truly am individually and the One I AM collectively are coming into the world now—and it’s not a second coming; it’s a constant coming! “He who separates” is cast out by the coming of “He who unites.” With clear eyes we see that this divine collective coming is infinitely greater than the illusory state that’s passing away.Let’s not be deceived. Let’s never think we’re “going through a lot” these days. No. A lot is going through us! And everyone’s invited to the big reunion happening now.