As we sit and watch the sun rise and glimmer over a beautiful bay, we realize the blessings of a life filled with awareness and appreciation of both the word and the works. Through revelation of the word, we are given guidance that surely would be slow in coming were our only source the contemplation of the working of the life processes of earth and the universe. For one, we would perhaps never “see” there is one and only one Creator, the direct and immediate implication being that each and all have integrated purposes – purposes that emanate from the intent of the one Creator, and unfold through seeing, embracing and manifesting the Creator’s intended ways of working. Common purpose of life on earth, purpose that encompasses each of us – each human being – and all of us – all of humankind – tells us there are roles to fill and work to be done in perfect harmony and in service of the larger whole of earth itself… one Creator… one integrated whole purpose with all parts having unique and essential roles to fill within that purpose.
Given our tendencies – the tendency to be reactive, defensive and protective, and the tendency to place the position of each in a hierarchy of all (unfortunately with installed at the top of the hierarchy, yet another human being) – without the word, without revelation, we might fail to see that we are all one family; we, the human race, are one body; we are all brothers and sisters with a Common Creator; there is only one true hierarchy which is the Creator, and then there is all else. We, humankind, are not a pyramid of power, but a line of equal persons, each with unique potential and dignity, each with a role in fulfilling the ongoing creation of life of the whole.
The works of the Creator provide for us a second route to the truths of the Creator. We have been given the gifts of reflection and contemplation, gifts through which that which is taken in through the senses may be again brought together into one singular integrated living whole of which we are a part. For through contemplating for example, the awe of a sunrise over the bay with the beginning of another dependable cycle of day to night, with all the splendor of nature manifesting itself, with fish jumping, birds soaring and singing, clouds breaking, dew glistening… through the true experiencing of the works of the Creator, true in the sense of taking them into ourselves for reflection, we come to see the truth of the intended wholeness of life on earth, a truth that calls upon us to find and fill our roles here, roles that surely expect we will join with the working of the life processes themselves such that they will continue in their ongoing creation and advancement. We are potential and intended instruments of the Creator in the work and working of life on earth. We have choice; we can choose to serve only humankind and the comforts and pleasures of humankind’s existence, or we can choose to become vessels of love, vessels through which the purposes of the Creator may be fulfilled… purposes of humankind relative to earth and purposes of earth relative to the whole of creation… and the irony is, that only by a resounding “yes,” only by accepting and embracing our instrumentality – our work as vessels of love – do we become truly free, do we fulfill our enfolded potential, do we manifest the dignity of the human being… only by embracing our instrumentality, do we play an active role in our becoming fully and truly human. Yes, the word and the works are the means by which the Creator touches us, the gifts of the Creator that lead us to the unfolding of the enfolded potential – not only our potential, but the potential of life itself.
