Learning to Love by Embracing
the Gift of Our Inner Wisdom


     The primary focus of humankind is ensuring physical material survival and secondly finding ways in which to learn from and enjoy the gift of life. Science is continually illuminating how we are a fragment of the evolution of the universe and in diverse ways we seek to align philosophical and religious views with the findings of science. Those who choose to seek the pathway for enabling the evolution of humankind have come to clearly recognize that any strategy for fostering human evolution is unlikely to be embraced if it does not also sustain and potentially improve the prosperity of our society. I sincerely believe that humankind’s primary challenge is to identify and elucidate a theory (W Edwards Deming said that without a theory you're just messing about) that enables society to concurrently achieve and sustain prosperity and foster a happier, healthier and just society.

    A commonly accepted view is that “God is love.” I, and many others, have the belief that the force that facilitates the evolution of humankind is what we refer to as love. I believe the foundation for good relationships (and happiness) is both being good partners and partnering together with love in our hearts for the well-being of all. My conclusion is that if we want to establish a purpose that inspires people to identify and pursue a theory that can help envolve a happier, healthier and more just world, it is simply to work on becoming better partners and learning how to love each other and all of nature.

    Love is not only a foundation for Christianity, it is also a foundation for many of the world's 4200 religions. The following are some examples from the world religion news.com:

    • Buddhism is known to be the path of freedom, and love nourishes spiritual freedom, Buddhism could be called a religion of love.

    • Love is considered to be one of the main purposes of life in the theology of Hinduism.

    • Islam teaches that love has to be enlightened and a sacred love.

    • In Judaism the Torah says "love thy neighbor as thyself”.

    It is my view that religions do not become well-established around the world, or would not have done so, unless they were based on concepts that made sense to the inner wisdom of those who chose to participate. I was raised in a society that is predominantly Christian and thus I am better able to draw on examples from that religion that seem valid to me.

    It is widely recognized in Christianity that in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus provided his basic guidance on how to build heaven on earth. These are known as the Beatitudes. I believe that Jesus was communicating a learning system to enable humankind to build, in an evolutionary way, heaven on earth.I emphasize that the guidance was to build something that had not yet been realized. It is reasonable to view this as a call for us to evolve. When my wife and I were running a retreat center in the United Kingdom I was given a document in which a Welsh minister sought to explain to his congregation the meaning of the Beatitudes. I was inspired, after reading this document to write a description of the Beatitudes using modern language.

    My answer to the question on how we move forward to create a happier and healthier and just world for all is learning how to love oneself and each other. We don't learn to love when all is in harmony, we learn to love when there is disharmony, and we chose to seek a solution in which we sense harmony and learn in the process of identifying it. Thus, the fundamental key to both prosperity and facilitating evolution of humankind is our ability to draw on both our mind and our inner wisdom in overcoming disharmony as we address the challenges we face individually, and in co-creating with others to achieve a common purpose.


Embracing the gift of our inner wisdom


     The mental wisdom of humankind has given us science and an understanding of the physical world we live in and the universe we are a part of. It has enabled us to develop positive ways of ensuring physical material survival and have joy on our life’s journey. Meaningful survival has given us increased opportunities to reflect on the deeper question of our purpose as a part of evolution. Religion has played a role in defining this purpose and today there are 4200 established religions on the planet. There are many different perspectives on what our purpose is, however, there is a common theme of learning to love each other and our planet.

    It is not my intention to try and advocate any religious beliefs but rather share an evolutionary concept I believe has validity. That concept is that we are spiritual human beings and are called to learn, from our life experiences how to love each other and the world we live in. I also choose to believe it is our spirit or soul that is learning to be an expression of a loving life. I see a duality, firstly that artistry is an expression of our inner spirit and in doing so enriches our world and secondly that our inner spirit has the opportunity to learn when disharmony is experienced on our life’s journey. There are two alternative perspectives at the deeper religious level on what we are. One is that in a deeper nature we already are perfect and in harmony with the symphony of the universe and in our life, we are learning how to live that harmony. I call this state of harmony a state of oneness. The other perspective is that our life gives us the opportunity to learn from our life experiences how to achieve oneness. Whichever perspective is correct is open to debate. I believe our opportunity is both to find joy in our harmonious experiences and learn and grow as spiritual beings from overcoming experiences which are not.

    I admit that my research and study of the work of others on defining what inner wisdom is limited. However, one of the resources I find of value is the work of G Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Russians who developed a concept they referred to as “The Fourth Way,” which was published in 1957 by his students after Ouspensky’s. death. The Fourth Way combines and harmonizes what Ouspensky saw as the three established traditional schools, those being the body, the emotions and the mind. He saw these three as being permanent forms which have survived throughout history. The Fourth Way teaches that a human soul gets trapped by personality and we are called to free our soul to learn to be who we truly are. The Fourth Way differs in that it has no specific forms or institutions. It addresses the question of humanity’s place in the universe and the possibilities of human development. It emphasizes that many people live in the state of “a waking sleep,” while higher levels of consciousness are possible. Ouspensky suggests that this development of a higher level of consciousness is a process of change towards achieving the transformation of humankind into what we ought to be. Being awake involves being able to listen to one’s inner wisdom. Being in nature is a resource to help enliven ones’ ability to hear one’s inner wisdom. Many people choose a form of recreation that allows them to be immersed in nature. Meditation is another pathway in which one stills the mind and facilitates our ability to hear our inner wisdom.

    W. Edwards Deming stresses the importance of having a theory for achieving the purpose we seek. The theory I seek to share is that the foundation for learning to love ourselves and each other is having the capability to listen to and be guided by our inner wisdom in the process of overcoming disharmony. It is in this process of learning the together we can build a happy and healthy and just world for ourselves and future generations.


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