Newsflash: Only 11 countries are not presently at war. More countries are engaged in war today than World War I and II combined. [1]
You have been feeling it in your bones, especially if you have been working for success your whole life. Something leaves you feeling empty. You think it is the marriage, or the spouse, the partner, the children, the job or the profession, or the neighborhood; you have itched about changing your life, but to what course you don’t know.
Our conversations have become transactional, lifeless, pointless, meaningless discourses on clashes of prescriptions pointing to the same values for life, well-being, and harmony. The world is in transformation, this you know in your bones. You have trouble sleeping, are you depressed? Are you simply afraid to love again? Are you wracked with fear of the uncertain? Are you just bored? Maybe lonely? If only you had the right question, perhaps you would find the answers.
A life force is presenting itself but people cannot just ride out the wave or they will be swept away when change comes. This life force demands full participation and personal investment. It is the life force of the soul. Whether God exists and thus, life, or is there simply a system longing to preserve and promote energy conservation throughout the vastness of the universe, you feel that it is an intelligent force. Is the universe self-aware? If it weren’t, then why are we,meager beings, able to become self-aware? What can this whole universe hold in its being and presence?
Religion is dying. Churches in Europe have been converted to pubs. Spirituality, on the other, hand is growing. People are talking about Spiritual Intelligence even as a business imperative. Google has hired Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Buddhist master to create a better work environment and workforce. Alive indeed is the universe offering us its soul, reminding us we are souls --- that working our soul, can materialize great successes and practical rewards.
Eschatology is the study of end of time scenarios. In many religions, eschatology is about cyclical renewal after every long period of human history, marked by reincarnations. There is always a promise of the new at the end of each world.
And perhaps that is the thought we need to focus on. Those of us who can feel it in our bones, are we being called to build a new world? Most religions have banked on fear of the end, of damnation, and of retribution to bring adherents to itself. Spirituality, on the other hand, has a different approach: It promises us peace of mind and wholeness. You may not believe in either, but may consider yourself a gifted person. You will find that gifts are better when they come from your heart or your soul, creating a feeling of coherence in your words and actions, making you feel whole. Initiators, entrepreneurs, creators, producers recognize that component in themselves that expresses itself in their creations.
"Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one." Stella AdlerYou don’t start something without the faith or at least the hope that it adds value to someone or something. Why would a person do that without the need to express, protect, or communicate the soul?
‘Our ultimate concern is that which determines our being or not-being.’ Paul Tillich
But humankind today feels empty because it fails to recognize how to fill itself, because it fails to align with its ultimate concern, unable to recognize the four clashes of the spirit going on in the world.
A lot of us would rather deny that we are on the brink of the new. It is simply too much to shift human evolution to a different path of thoughts, actions, and energies; many of us would rather bury our head in the sand and pat ourselves on the back when we align with our old dreams of becoming better versions of Mom and Dad. But that affirmation we seek from our parents may only be the handicap that is keeping us from recognizing the truth. Truth is self-evident. It is like gravity; one does not need to believe in it for it to pull us back to earth, but the sooner we recognize it, the sooner we can learn to use our wings to fly.
The spirit clashes on four realms today. Interestingly enough, they resonate with all end-of-the-world scenarios in many religions. There being four is parallel to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse mentioned in Christianity. Islam, states a “great battle”, which could be interpreted as the battle for the soul, notwithstanding that the battle could still be on four realms. It may delight you to know that good is on our side. There are enough kind people in the world to eventually save it from annihilation. Eschatology will tell you, there will always be the survival of the good people. Recognizing these four spiritual clashes will help you side with good. These clashes may not have started at the same time, but they will all end at the same time. The conflicts will need to be resolved in one blow.
The first horseman: Conquest. Powerful Vs. Powerless
In 2008, a global recesssion shook nations and markets, which have not been blamed on illegal practices, but on practices protected by law, particularly laws in finance and banking. Before that, a few companies were exposed for breach of anti-trust laws, for insider trading, and for various forms of corruption. On the other hands, government corruption has also been exposed in many parts of the world. These two developments clash with the maturing notions of democracy and equitability in the consciousness of citizens everywhere. Organizations are challenged in their existing notions of privilege and other vestiges of empire. When people began to learn to organize, they only learned to organize around centralized forms of power. Thus, power hoarding became confused with thriving. Power distribution has yet to be learned by humankind. Because we are only beginning to understand that powerlessness was never the hallmark of justice. Thus, surging notions of public accountability clashed with abuses of power everywhere.
The second horseman: War. Human Unification Vs. Human Division
Today a culture emerges in the internet that has the potential to erase race, religion, and gender as bases for friendships. Instead, the ability to express and be affirmed by others is all the rage. But powerful entities continue to promote division with inflaming rhetoric about discrimination based on human categories. The truth of the matter is discrimination today is indiscriminate. One can be discriminated based on height, nose structure, location, education, and all other categories that transcend religion, race, and gender. How to address the division is not through creation of armies to “defend” these human categories, but to teach people how to be human first.
“Before becoming a muslim, a hindu, a sikh, or a christian, let’s become human first.” Guru Nanak Dev Ji
We have not been taught to collaborate. The human skill for collaboration has been crippled by empires’ rule of divide and conquer. Our conversations need to change; our way of thinking about where to find wisdom has to expand, not just from the divine and mighty, but also from our equals. Indeed dissent is important in coming to a practical wisdom on how to collaborate. Dissent is not the cause of human division but is its most precious jewel. The cause of human division is organizing against one another. The purpose of organization should be to create space big enough for a person's success or failure; we organize to be big enough to include.
The third horseman: Famine. Soul Fulfillment vs. Material Success
The hunger of soul is not unfamiliar. There is a feeling of want everywhere. There is physical want, spiritual want, material want, and famine of every kind. On the other hand, companies are getting more and more efficient with producing more with less, calling it efficiency. The factory model has proven – that one person can create clothing for many, can produce food for many, can build for many. So where is the lack coming from, but from the inhibition to access the earth and its resources, the inhibition to freely build from them and put resources to good use. We are inhibitted by both governments and corporations to freely touch the earth to produce an abundance in service of others. Material success has been guarded by interests defending the structures that make money survive. This has created our sense of alienation from the earth and alienation from our soul. Without the work of keeping souls nourished, we ourselves starve. And souls are nourished by allowing it to freely create what is good for others. This is why the first task of faith is to liberate souls from the shackles that prevent it from co-creating a good earth.
The fourth horseman: Death. Lifeless Vs. Lives
Today, we have all been practically reduced to batteries that feed the soul of organizations. Instead of our communities nourishing us, life is wrung from our veins in a game called competition. Race competes with race, organizations compete with each other, governments compete, and corporations compete in a race where human beings are the easiest to sacrifice to promote the interest of lifeless entities. Corporations are given bailout packages while college students are all spent trying to pay their tuition fees. We have rewarded competitive ferocity of organizations and punished the human striving to thrive.
I would invite you to look at these clashes and see where human beings need to act for the team of humankind. See where you stand on these clashes and be guided by what is good. Blessed be.
