The Children Of This World
Another Bible quote that seems to have perplexed the sages for a long time has come to us through St. Luke 16:8+11: ‘For the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. Wherefore make unto yourselves friends out of the mammon of iniquity, so that – when you die – they may receive you into everlasting dwellings.’ James Joyce, in his short story ‘Grace’ from the collection ‘The Dubliners’, came to the conclusion that this is the most difficult Scripture text to interpret properly. Yet, from the evolutionary level our race has reached by now, finding the hidden truths in such quotes is no longer difficult. I believe that teachings of this nature found their way into the scriptures because humankind – when the Christ Spirit spoke to our world through the legend of the Master Jesus – was still unready to grasp the higher meaning behind words like many of those of the Bible and other spiritual guide books.
Finding them would come soon enough when our race had moved further along the evolutionary road. This is much simpler than anyone could have imagined at the time the teachings were first given. Yet, if humankind’s mental contortions – see the chapter ‘Women and the Goddess’ – of past ages led us down ever darker alleyways of corruption and abuse of power, even this took place for wise reasons and served a higher purpose. Undoubtedly, the suffering caused by sheer ignorance contributed significantly to the growth of every individual soul and that of our world. At all times the great wisdom of the Divine knew that with every experience, especially those that are considered to be bad, humankind’s consciousness would expand. At the same time, our longing and yearning for finding truth and peace in our world would grow ever stronger. As a result, when both finally came to us and our world, we would not only be good and ready for them but we would appreciate them and guard and protect them as the precious gifts they truly are.
By the way, the text of the second verse again shows a marked difference between the copy of the Bible James Joyce used and Lamsa’s translation, which reads: ‘If, therefore, you are not faithful with the wealth of iniquity, who will believe that there is any faith in you?’ My own interpretation of this is: ‘If, therefore, you are dishonest in your dealings with the material world, who will believe you when you say that you are trustworthy in matters of faith?’ Mammon was the Syrian God of earthly riches; in the New Testament he stands as a symbolism for earthly wealth and greed, as opposed to the human soul’s hunger for spiritual wealth and understanding. The concept of Mammon was in those days presented to us as if it was in opposition to God and therefore evil. Yet, earthly wealth is not inherently evil; nothing in the whole of Creation is. Our motivations and intentions of how to use something on the Earth plane alone decides whether in our minds and hands it turns into something good or evil.
Who are the children of this world and those of the light? The way I see it, every soul that is on the Earth plane at any given time is one of the children of this world. The children of the light are those who can be found in the world of spirit, behind the veil of consciousness that separates our two worlds, recovering from the strains and stresses of their latest sojourn into physicality. Once we shed our physical bodies, to enable us to move over the threshold into our true home, the world of light, we know that we are children of the Great Light that illuminates and brings forth all life. In that state it is easy for all of us to recognise that in truth God’s children on both sides of the veil are children of the light. On that level of life we make conscious contact with the wise ones who are in charge of us, our Masters and Angels. Whilst resting in that world, there eventually comes the moment when every soul becomes restless for more earthly learning and growth that will enrich and expand its consciousness.
I see the generation mentioned in the Bible as a symbol for every one of our Earth lives that provides our soul with fresh learning and growing experiences that helps us to grow up from spiritual infancy and childhood into mature adulthood. It stands to reason that in each generation, i.e. with every new lifetime spent in physicality, the soul becomes more understanding of life in general and of spiritual concepts in particular, than it was during all its previous earthly sojourns. That is why I do not share the belief that we come into this life without anything and that we pass out of it again with nothing. This is only true for to the physical aspects of life.
For as long as its spiritual/karmic balance sheet still shows too many entries on the debit side, a soul on the inner spiritual level can be immensely rich and at the same time very poor. To me, the discussion of nature versus nurture is a futile one. I believe that about 95% of our character traces have been developed in previous lifetimes and that only 5% is acquired during this one. That is certainly the case for old souls, i.e. experienced ones who have been recycled a great many times, of which there are at present quite a few in our midst.
Without exception, we have been created from love and to love each one of us eventually returns. To love and act with gentleness and kindness in all our encounters that alone is our true natural state. Everything else is part of our earthly learning experiences only and, therefore part of the illusion of Earth and a temporary development phase only. The core of everybody’s being is spirit and pure consciousness that requires a great many lifetimes of studying – each must do this through their own first hand experiences – until our soul finally finds its own way back home into our true nature again. The way I see it, possession and possessiveness are earthly things; in truth we do not possess anything or anyone. Even the physical bodies we walk around in do not belong to us; they have to be handed back to Mother Earth, at the end of each lifetime.
As the human soul progresses on its evolutionary pathway, each through its own experiences steadily gathers knowledge and finds wisdom that help its consciousness to expand. Slowly, it moves forwards and upwards on the evolutionary spiral of life, and the only thing that truly ever belongs to it is its consciousness; whatever we add to it in understanding through our learning experiences is ours to keep in all eternity. That is why no child that was ever born on this plane of life entered into a new lifetime with nothing. Accompanying each new tiny body is always a fully formed soul and spirit, at whichever evolutionary level it may have reached up to then. The soul is the vehicle in which we bring the consciousness we have gained thus far in other lifetimes with us. Makes you think, doesn’t it? Any fresh learning we find during each lifetime we take with us into our other world, in preparation for all coming ones – and way beyond, when we have finally reached the evolutionary level that Earth life can no longer teach us anything.
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This article is a chapter from ‘Healers And Healing’.
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‘Healers And Healing’
