Before the
beginning, there was nothing but Love. Love, bubbling over with the delight of
being-ness and beauty, could not contain itself. Like a child, spinning
barefoot in the grass, blowing dandelion seeds into the wind, Love blew stars into
being. These heavenly bodies, formed by the breath of Love, threw off sparks of
light to form the planets and their moons. All of these bodies, whirling and
dancing through space, sang praises to their Creator, and on the strains of
this music, the smaller entities came to dwell on some of the planets,
including the one we call Earth. An endless variety of beings were sung
into existence: from one-celled sea creatures, to intricately designed birds
that flew on the winds of love and joy. Of course all this creativity took eons
and eons, but there is no time where Love is concerned, and so the time that
this took, whether seven days, or several billion years, is insignificant. What
matters is that it happened; that every bit of life, from the dandelions on
your lawn, to the trees in the wood; from the ant on a peony bud, to the person
that is YOU -- everyone, since the beginning of it all, was created by Love.
Love
gave all human creatures the gift of freedom to be what they wished to be and
create whatever they desired. Love trusted that every creation would be
composed of love -- how could it be otherwise when love is all there is? Love
is the truth and the foundation of the universe, and Love is the energy that
birthed all beings: angels, humans, gods and goddesses, and nature elementals.
When we, Love's children, were first born, we were in spirit, perfect images of
our perfect Creator. But in pure and perfect form, Love is homogeneous, and we
were very much alike.
For
eons, we watched and marveled at the formation of physical creations in their
infinite variety: snowflakes dancing and laughing as they fell, each one as
unique as it was beautiful; flowers in a vast array of shapes and colors;
butterflies in every hue the light spectrum proffered. Curious and bold, some of
Love’s human children decided to experiment with physical incarnation, so that
they, too, could manifest a multiversity of bodies and personalities. Love
encouraged them to use their imaginations as they took form in a variety of
material forms: after all, the plants and animals of the world increased the
joy of the Divine as they related to one another and their mother planet.
Surely the interrelationships of a diversified humanity would create new and
exciting expressions of Love!
Love assigned humans to be
co-caretakers of the earth. And Love decided that it would be their
responsibility to guide the physical evolution of each plant and creature,
while the elemental spirits directed the evolution of their ethereal bodies.
Among the domains under care of human beings were the microscopic bacteria that
help to maintain the health of everyone’s body. And they were to cooperate with
the weather elementals to ensure the right balance of sun and rain for the
nurture of planetary life. This was easily accomplished as long as they knew
that their thoughts and actions affected the rest of creation of which they
were a part.
For a
little while, perhaps just a few hundred-thousand years, maybe more; humans
managed to do Love's will and live harmoniously in the garden of the world.
Love placed certain laws into motion in order to maintain the integrity of each
species of life, and harmony between them. The law that protected the fish and
other sea creatures allows them to live happily in the sea, but any who leave
the water will die. The law of the sky allowed winged creatures to soar and
fly, but any others who attempt to leap from a cliff, fall to their death. The
law of plant life required flowers and trees to remain rooted in the soil in
order to flourish. The law of the insect and animal kingdoms required these
creatures to care for one another; even as a tiny ant will drop its load in
order to tend to another ant in trouble.
What Love
asked of human children was that they recognize their connection with each
other and the whole cosmos; to love and care for every aspect of it. Love was
so pleased with these children that more of them were allowed to incarnate into
varying sizes, shapes, and hues to increase the beauty of creation. As the
range and number of individual lives grew, they started to notice the
differences between them. And as they noticed the differences that Love found
beautiful, they made comparisons. As the millennia passed, humans
gradually forgot the Law of Oneness that maintained the balance, harmony, and
beauty of their planetary existence.
Eventually
this fragmentation of Love's children became known in some cultures as
"The Fall." A story would be told about how the first humans
tasted a forbidden fruit, which gave them knowledge of good and evil. What they
actually tasted was freedom from the will of their Creator. And just as human
children glory in their freedom when they break away from the parental tethers
that have kept them safe, these humans gloried in the realization that they
could do absolutely anything that they pleased! The storyteller, who referred
to Love as Jehovah, and a male, said that he alone should have knowledge of
good and evil; if humankind knew only good, they could not commit evil deeds.
This interpretation of events was
actually the first sin, because it infers that evil existed in Love's creation
before humanity chose to break the Law of Oneness. This tale placed the blame
for evil's existence on the Creator, and so began the false belief in a god
that exists separately from creation; a god who would punish his children with
eternal damnation if they did not accept his gift of love. Humans have blamed
their source of love and life for the creation of evil, and yet the Creator has
continued to love them with unconditional divine love.
As
human beings became more and more conscious of their differences, and made
comparisons among themselves, the ones whose bodies were protected with soft,
warm fur admired the smooth glossy skin of those whose skin was hairless.
Admiration turned to envy. The bare-skinned people noticed this and decided
that they were superior beings, since after all, the furry people looked a lot
like the animals which, they decided, Love had certainly not created equal to
humans!
The
short, stout people set themselves apart from the tall people, because they
were obviously better fed, with superior abilities to harvest and prepare
delectable meals. But the tall, long-legged humans could run faster, as well as
look down on the short ones . . . so they
knew that they were
the ones Love had ordained to be Lords of the Earth.
Humanity,
who had begun life on Earth with the capacity to love one another and their
planetary home, lost their ability to love everyone and everything
unconditionally. They focused on what they perceived to be their unique
strengths and weaknesses, which made them feel either superior or inferior to
others, depending on the direction of each one’s thoughts. Those who felt
inferior were afraid that their "betters" would conquer and dominate
them. Those who felt superior feared that their "inferiors" would
attack them out of jealous
rage.
While Love continued to enjoy the
differences that made all people fascinating, the sons and daughters of Love
created so much friction among themselves that some of them began to fight and
kill each other. It saddened Love to see brothers and sisters rise up
against each other. Love asked: "Have you become so lost in the depths of
materiality, that you have forgotten the eternalness of life? Do you really
believe that you can rid yourselves of those you call enemies by destroying
their temporary physical bodies?" But Love's children couldn't hear; they
had forgotten how to quiet their minds and listen to Love's voice. And if
they remembered how to love at all, it was only in the exclusive ways of
romantic and familial love.
As
their self-centeredness grew, Love's children lost touch with the Creator, and
they lost their ability and desire to care for the Earth that had been provided
for them to share with each other and all of creation. When humans didn't
care properly for the Earth's creatures, the animals who couldn't find enough
food in the plant kingdom became hunters and ate the slower and weaker
creatures. Sometimes the slower creatures were human, and so humanity grew to
fear some of the animals they had once cared for. As they forgot how to
maintain the proper balance of sun and rain, warm and cold weather, and how to
control the winds with the energy of love, some areas of the earthly garden
which had been lush and green became barren wastelands. The desert dwellers
attacked the garden inhabitants, hoping to take over the fertile parts of the
earth, and so made enemies of those who had once been their brothers and
sisters.
The Creator cried: "Why can't
you share the fertile lands? There is still enough for all of you!" But
Love's children didn't hear these thoughts. What could Love do to restore peace
to the world that had been created to be a dwelling place for beings of love
and beauty?
No comments:
Post a Comment