Greetings and salutations!

I was honored to have a wonderful conversation with a good friend of mine recently, and I felt it was appropriate to share the core ideas that were discussed, as they deal with the core of, not only my identity, but of the nature of existence.

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I'll start with the basic idea; a Supernatural Being (commonly referred to as "God") creates Earth and, more importantly, humanity for a very real purpose and everything is created in a designed balance. Supernatural Being gives humanity dominion over all the earth and all they need to live perfectly in relationship with themselves and Supernatural Being. But a force of opposition to that Being introduces a challenge to the divinely given free will of humanity which results in an act of rebellion against Supernatural Being, destroying not only that relationship but shifting the entire universe out of its designed balance, leaving all existence, including humanity, in a self-sustaining fallen state, apart from each other as well as their Creator.

The Creator has a plan to redeem the relationship between itself and the created but it requires ultimate sacrifice and not only saves humanity but also changes the nature of the universe once again. However, all forms of salvation are bound by the same thing that brought about the Fall - free will. To bridge the gap between Supernatural Being and humanity and, as a consequence, the bridge between each of us, divinity must come to humanity and take on the form of humanity, lowering itself and voluntarily leaving unimaginable glory out of love for its creation. It comes to a broken earth, to a lost humanity, not only to change the course of history while here but to give us a visible image of an invisible Creator and then to take on all the brokenness of all people of all time, be sacrificed by horrific death, directly confront the force of opposition that enslaved humanity in the beginning, conquer death and the Curse, return to life by its own power and, having bridged the universal gap (bridged - not repaired), return to glory to engage in our renewed relationship and to prepare for the final part of the plan - the actual repair of all the original damage.

What repairs am I referring to? The renewal of what we know as mortality, the final destruction of the opposing force and, ultimately, a recreated universe. Nearly every belief group on earth agrees on the idea of the word Apocalypse. There is indeed an end but it is not the Hollywood version and it is not a solely destructive end followed by nothing. It is a campaign, a judgment, a rescue, and a rebirth of all we have come to know. It is important to note that there will be destruction but it will be in the same vein as it always has been, at the hand of humanity. There will be precursor events but, in the end, much of this will happen in the blink of an eye. Time is not a proper framework to consider the nature of the resulting reality.

The final destruction of the opposing force I mentioned was not in relation to something physical on earth, if that's what you thought. Natural disasters have always occurred and the media plays a role in how we view these things but it is true that there seems to be an increasing frequency of events and, for many reasons, that is likely to continue. Some destruction will happen on Earth but not at the hand of Supreme Being, and the final destruction of the opposing force cannot be physical as the opposing force is not flesh and blood. The ultimate sacrifice was made for all people for all time, but yes, not everyone will choose to acknowledge it, even though they have been given chance after chance and unending mercy. Even the "proof" that so many demand, when it is shown, will not change those with hardened hearts. In fact, even when some come to know the truth, and they will, they will choose to oppose it and they will be lost. All of humanity will be brought before the throne of divinity and there will be a judgment but no mortal can pretend to set the standards of that judgment, though we have been given testimony of all of this - to an extent.

But, in the end, the ideas of what we know as Heaven and Hell will become very real, as they always have been, though we cannot claim to understand what either of them truly are. Even without a supernatural element, without any of this, it is an inescapable consequence. Whether we destroy ourselves, or the sun dies, or earth is struck by a comet (back to Hollywood) or we consume every resource, there are endless scenarios naturally of the world as we know it ending. We can be as hearty as we can be but we know that no human life (which is carbon and water based, like Earth) is eternal and it is foolish to think Earth would be.

It's easy to lose focus on the idea that this isn't about saving Earth, or the ongoing state of it, it is about restoring a relationship. It always has been and this is the fulcrum on which the entire cosmos rests. Expiring is the wrong idea as well - everyone will continue to exist, but in one state or the other. Earth will also exist, renewed and as it was supposed to be from the beginning. That same human strength that fuels passion for life fuels passion for death. Humanity is both blessed and cursed but the crux of that whole debate is that it's up to us, that we are in control - when it is not, and we're not - beyond a certain point. Humanity can directly influence all these things in several ways but the eventual outcome is inevitable.

To expand on that, the human spirit IS strong, and it is such by that same design - for a purpose. We ARE in control of a great deal, much more than we realize to be more precise. We do have the power to rise above many of the effects of the Curse but that power is behind the veil of choice. There is a whole spiritual side of this equation but, on a simpler level, each of us can decide what aspects of mortality and the human condition we wish to conform to, how to act out all the previously mentioned relationships while we are here.

The Curse comes from that original rebellion against divinity, the broken relationship that has left all of us incomplete. I am human, of course, and subject to that same Curse to an extent, and I conform to humanity in many ways, both those that are good and those that are evil. I am by no means superior in any conceivable way, but I am empowered through the relationships I've talked about, which allows me to live a certain life in reflection upon the truths I've alluded to. By applying those truths, we can gain access to higher levels of choice which are not available to others and, more importantly, spiritually empowered to act on those choices, where as we might fail alone.

Allow me to be more explicit. Because I have a relationship with divinity, I have access to power that can elevate discernment and self control but, most importantly, love. But, as always, I have to choose to open myself to that relationship and what comes with it. When I do this, I can reflect a small part of that divinity in my relationships (my entire life), but again, I frequently fail to open myself to that. I choose selfishness and lower nature far too often.

The harder choice is almost always to do good. Because of the Curse, we tend to revert to selfishness most of the time. It doesn't have to be a "mean" selfishness, but any time we put ourselves above others, any time we choose not at act in love, any time we become overly protective of ourselves or our resources, anytime we do anything good to press a personal advantage. I don't mean to say that people are always bad, but we are a great deal of the time - not actively, but benignly, because we choose not to sacrifice ourselves, we choose to be comfortable, to be safe, to conform, mostly on an unconscious level.

I have been to several countries and, if there is one thing I have learned, people are the same everywhere. I certainly agree that there is a higher degree of selfishness apparent in NA because there is so much more opportunity/motivation, but that doesn't mean the rest of the world doesn't experience it. In fact, in much of the world outside NA (such as Africa and the Mid East) humans are WAY worse to each other, much more destructive, than we have ever been here. There is no human solution to this problem.

Gandhi once said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." That's the human spirit, and I didn't mean to imply that it is hopeless, but at best, it maintains the status quo. The world cannot last that way. The imbalance is far too great, which is precisely why people like Gandhi are so few, because that is the minority, and that group is not growing. Also, while much of what Gandhi had to say and do was positive, it was ultimately contradictory because he isolated himself from humanity, chose to break that relationship. His example gave us something, but he could have made a much more eternal impact on the lives on individuals, which is what it all comes down to. No human can change the whole world, but one can change the destiny of those around them, and a ripple effect ensues, a positive thing, but limited. However, as discussed previously, hope remains...

With Hope,
Joseph