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World-famous biologist
Elisabet Sahtouris and I are on
the same wavelength. Both of us
see an evolutionary process
(which I call the God-process) on
the cosmic level and in
absolutely every aspect of life.
Elisabet was one of the speakers
at the IONS' conference, July
11-16, 2001. Her talk is adapted
for article form in the Noetic
Sciences Review, December 2001 -
February 2002. Here is a
significant quote:
"We now know that
life is not a thing, it's a
process--and a living entity
that continually creates and
maintains itself is engaged in
a process known in physiology
as metabolism."
She explains that metabolism
concerns life's ubiquitous
process of constructing/breaking
down/constructing, etc. But, as I
firmly believe also, she devotes
her presentation to the point of
view that this process is
evolutionary, developing,
progressive. I would add that it
is not difficult to detect
purpose and betterment in the
process!
I have, in preparation for
this month's writing, been going
over the voluminous journal
entries I have made about the
God-process. Two ideas
dominate:
- There IS a
God-process.
- Our part is to trust
it.
In addition to identifying the
God-process as cosmological, I
have been devoting my time to
thinking about how it can be
perceived in our world, on our
planet, in your life and mine.
Basically I have been thinking of
the God-process in terms of
EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY. What I
am getting at here in the main is
to help us get beyond our "self"
and our own attempts to become
God's instrument for fixing our
own and the world's problems. God
as EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY takes
in our own self plus all human
beings and all life! The effect
of this for me is the gradual
development of trust. At this
point I will remind you of the
affirmation I gave you in
December:
IN EVERY MOVE I MAKE,
I RELAX AND TUNE INTO AND
FOLLOW THE GUIDANCE OF GOD,
TRUSTING THE RESULTS AND THE
GOD-PROCESS THAT PRODUCES
THEM.
In re-reading what I have been
journaling on this subject it is
very interesting how subtle the
process has been in the
development of this trust that
has become so strong in me now.
The development is equal in
focusing on the God-process and
our trust in it as our
participation.
As I compose these ideas, I
have an experience from this very
week as (at least) anecdotal
evidence of the efficacy of what
I am discussing. I was
experiencing some symptoms that
were painful and (to me at the
time) frightening. As I continued
to be prayerful concerning this
situation, I began to think about
homeostasis, the nature of
organisms "to maintain a uniform
and beneficial physiological
stability within and between its
parts" or, in my words, the
nature of God-life in my body to
restore its normal healthy state.
I could see (as a result of my
whole life spent in Unity
thinking about and practicing
spiritual healing) that we human
beings often block this natural
healing process by
- trying too hard to bring
about the healing, and
- fearing that it won't
happen.
The key is to be, in this
instance, a passive (meaning
receptive) participant. This
surely is Jesus' point in His
parable of the Sower (God). The
good soil doesn't have to do
anything except to let God's good
seed grow. The other kinds of
soil (soul?) are examples of
blocking and fearing! What a
gratifying experience it was for
me when, all of a sudden, the
symptoms had disappeared - and
I'm back to normal now.
It is also interesting and
helpful to note that Elisabet
writes that evolution is born out
of conflict, that is, the need
for change, negotiation. This you
and I can surely make use of in
our lives and relationships! If,
instead of giving up to symptoms,
threats, specters, we relax and
let go, and let God, life can and
will restore to the healthy
normalcy. And, I insist, to the
HEALTHY normal because health is
God's norm.
This business of the
God-process is tricky (a very
human way of perceiving it!)
because the fact is that we human
beings are probably not often
aware (when we're in the middle
of it) that the process is going
on. One of my journal entries was
about how much time is involved
when we are "waiting" for the
process to work. Time really is
not of the essence. If anything,
our consciousness (are we good
soil yet?) is what is involved.
But so often we don't have a clue
why something we're praying about
works out or when and how. Most
of us have learned by this time
that, when some specific desire
doesn't work out, oft-times we
sigh relief because afterwards we
can see it was better this
way!
It was in my first tour of
duty at Unity School in the 30's
and 40's that I read Gardner
Hunting's book WORKING WITH GOD.
He wrote something that you and I
can agree is absolutely true (and
this is a major point of what I
mean by the God-process): he
wrote that about eight out of ten
answered prayers come to us
through other people! This
is what I mean by EVERYTHING and
EVERYBODY. It isn't all up to us,
you and me, as individuals.
Trusting God in daily practice
FEATURES trusting God in and as
people and everything else we
call life.
What I wrote above about the
middle of the process can be
applied to the consciousness and
behaviors of others (of course in
addition to our-self). An 18
year-old can look upon a 12
year-old sibling with despair,
not remembering what it was like
to be 12. Recently I read an
article by a scholar who said the
Western world needs to realize
the nations of the Muslim world
are not even in the middle of
establishing themselves as
democratic, secular, and "modern"
states. She made a telling point:
the Western world is definitely
part of the problem and the
contributing cause to many.
So indeed there is great need for
God's children to trust each
other and the great evolutionary
process universally at
work!
Don
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