“Nothing is foreign parts relate to the whole: One all extending, all preserving soul –connects each being, greatest with the least – made beast in aid of man, and man of beast; all served, all serving – nothing stands alone. Has God, thou fool, worked solely for thy good, thy joy, thy pastime, thy attire, thy food?” – Pope’s Essay on Man.
Elva Thompson – It seems that in today’s world humanity is lurching from one disaster to another. Everywhere we look we see division, hate, environmental degradation; the extinction of species, and a wholesale disregard for life: animal, vegetable and mineral. Madness is exploding exponentially across our tired world and the great machine we call life drags us along in a frantic race for survival – a repetitive, humdrum reality that leaves most of us in a constant state of mental and nervous exhaustion.
Our actions isolate us from the earth. We wear shoes, travel in cars and planes, live in boxes made of brick and glass, and modulate reality with delusion, drugs and stimulants. Our personal energy becomes eclipsed by our mechanical lifestyle with its conflicts and exclusivity.
Life in this fast ‘whirled’ is only valued for what it can produce in terms of profit or gratification of the senses. Little thought is given to the mystery of life or the divine potentialities latent within consciousness. It is only man’s arrogance that leads him to imagine that Source Creator made all things for his sole use. In essence, we have lost our way, lost contact with the awesome power of Source – the unifying divine force that invigorates and informs all creation from the tiniest atom to the highest mountain.