Over time I find only three states or feelings can build something, guide us well, keep societies and neighborhoods growing and ensure a life with progress. Lasting satisfaction and even a desire to work for the peace and wellbeing of others are the result of these three. Children can easily understand them, adults can grow into them, everyone, regardless of culture, race, gender has them: 1. Unconditional love for Life and for our fellow man, 2. forgiveness and 3. gratitude. These three qualities orient us gently and mightily towards Life and lead over time to a practice of Love. I learned this recently from a friend who mentioned these three qualities in a meeting I attended. He is working as a facilitator for large organizations, and he mentioned, that these three qualities or states are generally regarded as key qualities. Period. I appreciated his comments.
I would like to add a fourth quality: 4. A keen and intentional interest in the universe.
The three qualities “unconditional love”, “forgiveness” and “gratitude” receive a fresh impulse when I can see the bigger picture. Is there life in the universe, a noted astronomer working for Nasa/Esa on the Webb mission, was recently asked: Of course there is, she replied. We are here. What will we think when we encounter individuals who come from other worlds, other solar systems, other galaxies? Will we be inspired? Will we be improved? What will this tell us? It has been obvious for many spiritual thinkers, for theologians, writers, visionaries, that the discovery of life on other planets will change the rules for humanity. and set our perspectives straight in a many ways. Interestingly enough, the three qualities “unconditional love”, “forgiveness”, and “gratitude” don’t specify, where they are expressed.
By definition our concepts of religion and worship will expand even more. For can God be a God only for our planet – or our solar system? Is He/She truly represented by carbon-based life forms with legs and arms? Is there a universal God that has created beautifully, elegantly, and nobly the whole universe, comprised of billions of galaxies – billions? To go where no one has gone before is still a quest…. In 2014 a book appeared by two astronomers, one of them directing the Vatican’s observatory (yes, that is a thing): “Would you baptize an extraterrestrial?” As funny as this sounds, the questions are going deeper and in a way reach into our time, into the skies of our thinking and exploring. When we find it already hard to see the humanity in people not from our nationality or color of skin, how will we respond to the inhabitants of other worlds? As “Disclosure Day” by Steven Spielberg deals with some of these questions, the books by Stanislaw Lem and others have taken up this topic decades ago.
Are 1. unconditional love, 2. forgiveness, and 3. gratitude able to inspire us for 4. the interest in our universe? How are the four linked? Well, you can open the Bible and read in Hebrews: “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” (Heb. 11:3) Plural, not singular. Worlds, not world. The Psalmist says that God is numbering the stars and call each one by name. It insists that everything in the heavens belongs to God and comes from God. It describes in beautiful, poetic words that the worlds are made and guided and guarded by God. And how many there are, according to calculations by scientists. In the December 16, 1954, issue of the Christian Science Monitor, the Harvard astronomer Dr. Shapley mused “that there must be at least 100 million other planets with a long history of high-life forms.” What would their life source be if not the one universal Mind, God?
To truly embrace the possibility and presence of other worlds, all under the stupendous and miraculous and wonderful reign of one infinite Mind, changes the rules of the game. It encourages humility while at the same time inspiring fresh thoughts and courageous acts. It lets us see the bigger picture and pray that we are ready to see this picture growing bigger still. Do we have resources to build for the future and to built better? The resources we have are flowing from Mind to us and honor Mind as nothing can. We can “boldly go where no one has gone before”, because we all have the most precious substance of all: Spiritual understanding.
I remember a prayer from a Christian Science lecture given by Paul Stark Seeley, in which he in essence said: Pray daily that you may become increasingly conscious of your divine purpose, to image the multiplying activity of eternal Love, to evidence the limitless unfolding riches of Life, wisdom, beauty, good will, and the far-reaching service for our God and your fellow man. “Far-reaching”, isn’t it interesting?
Unconditional love shows us our spirituality and essence, I find, forgiveness determines how we live with each other, and gratitude is the beautiful ribbon that holds it all together. Our horizon is growing when we realize that there are many other worlds out there. We have neighbors on distant worlds. There are neighbors everywhere. Who knew.
