The Answers have Changed

We are living at a time of massive change and dislocation due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This is a silent plague in that we don’t know immediately when we have caught it, as it takes a while for the symptoms to manifest.

During the Spanish Flu of 1918 there was very little understanding as to what caused the flu and it spread rapidly. Viruses were only discovered in 1935 and were seen for the first time using an electron microscope in 1940. Now we can see vastly enlarged graphic pictures of what the virus looks like while watching the news on TV.

So this time we have a better understanding as to what is happening and take steps to prevent its spread through social distancing, washing of hands and sanitizing.

It took scientists two weeks to sequence the Covid-19 virus in a lab and develop a test method to identify it once it was recognised that this was a new virus that was rapidly spreading illness. It will take longer (up to two years) to develop and test a vaccine. But this represents a major breakthrough in our understanding of disease. No longer is God getting the blame for the pandemic as happened in times past.

Science now understands what the virus is and how it is spreading and very few are disputing the scientists’ interpretation. There is remarkable change in consciousness on how the leaders of the world are taking action, restricting movement even at great financial cost. This has never happened before on such a global scale.

There is a story about Albert Einstein when he lectured students in the 1930’s. After lecturing he gave the students a test. A year later he did more lecturing to the same students and then again gave the students another test. An assistant pointed out that the second test was the same test that Einstein had given a year before. To which Einstein answered “the questions are the same, but the answers have changed”. At that time the study of physics was developing so rapidly that the understanding of the core concepts of physics was changing.

Consider some of the most important questions people have philosophically asked throughout history:

• What is the truth?
• How do I experience love?
• How do I live my life?
• What is the cause of death?

But in this modern era the answers to these fundamental questions are also changing.

In considering these questions it is worth noting that these days we are connected in ways that were never imagined. We have easy access to enlightened thinking and the opportunity to become free from dogma and superstition. We have more access to information, advice on how to be loving, how to live longer and be healthier, than has ever been the case in the past. Access to this abundant information is cheaper than it has ever been, it is almost free.

But we have to recognise that the answers have changed. How we view our lives, our relationships and even our understanding of the truth is changing. It is easier in this time we live in to have an ongoing enquiry into the truth, a love for other people, while also integrating our lives with the experience of divinity. But to have love for divinity is going to take a commitment.

It is not that spirit does all the work and we can’t get away with living a lazy, deceptive and untruthful life. To be aligned with spirit requires honesty, integrity and for us to be trustworthy. Then no matter what we have to face in our lives, we can deal with what comes along in a way that is inspired by divinity. When one has a life with a spiritual orientation in the background one is able to bring the energy of divinity into the circumstance that one finds oneself in and new answers emerge.

Our spiritual experience needs to be authentic, not just a theory or a belief. The authentic experience of divinity requires that I am spiritually trustworthy, that I have integrity and honesty and a commitment to personal growth.

There will be challenges and difficult circumstances as we live in a world that is divided, separated and fragmented. But it is not a lonely life when I am able to express love with confidence and assurance and take risks knowing that it is all going to work out. Then I am not isolated or alone if I am living my spiritual philosophy on an ongoing basis, rather than just believing in it.

Living our divinity has to be sustained over a long period of time. It is not just a once-off experience. It is not enough to say I once  had the experience of divinity, and go back to suffering in a life where everything is against me. Rather, I can continue to be aware to what extent I generate and maintain my spiritual authenticity. Then I am able to make an atmospheric difference in the circumstance I am in and that changes the approach to the fundamental questions.