In times of uncertainty, such as today, it is quite natural and not uncommon to turn to familiar writings. Familiar writings seen through the perspective of potential bring new understanding that is relevant to the work of today. Today, more and more of us have a growing sense of certainty about the necessity of our moving towards wholeness and away from that which divides in a way that works for all children of the world, now and into the future.
“Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit,
because without me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
Two thousand years have passed since these words were spoken by Jesus of Nazareth on the night before his death, years during which the processes put in place at his time have been surrounded by structures, years during which capacities for reason have developed in humankind, reason used to advance conditions of life and living, and as well, reason used to translate the meaning of Christ’s words. And so, today, the mind of reason reading these words tends to read them through the structure of religion and see them through the eyes of reason when working to understand not only earth and life on earth, but also when working to understand revelation – that which we are given intended to reveal the relatedness between God and man, between the Source and instrument. Reason has placed itself in a position of power, “lording over” wisdom.
Reflecting on these few words of Christ, from the perspective of wisdom – the wisdom of intent – we begin to see them in a new way. Wisdom of intent seeks essence versus existence, sees life, including humankind, as not a problem to solve but potential to unfold, looks from the perspective of wholeness not part, seeks to reach oneness, not divisiveness, seeks the harmonious ongoing unfolding of life on this earth versus the segmented extraction by some for their own self-serving and aggrandizement.
Without love – the love of the Source – flowing into, through and out from us, we can do nothing.
Certainly there is nothing inherently wrong with the gift of reason; the hazard is, left on its own, without conscious attention to guidance of wisdom, the influence of the Source becomes increasingly diminished. As it drifts away from conscious attention to wisdom, the gift of reason inevitably moves away from intended instrumentality and more and more towards acting as if we are the source. Our minds, beginning from reason unguided by wisdom, tell us we can do anything: If we think it, we can do it. Yet, just as true as is gravity is the truth, “Where we start our thinking from determines the path we take, and the direction we move in, what we move towards, what we move away from,” and if we start from reason alone, there will be outcomes. But these words of Jesus on which we are reflecting tell us without love we can do nothing… reminding us of another truth… “If love is not present in the process, love will not be present in the outcomes.”
Without love – the love of the Source – we may be doing, but we are unable to bear fruit, we are doing nothing. Reflecting on the bee may be of help here. The bee may be producing honey – food for the family, so to speak – but without pollination, without being an instrument serving the larger whole of life, the bee is doing nothing.
Which brings us to another truth: “One Source; all else instruments. We are not the source.”
One need only reflect on our life and culture in this country today to see we are in the throws of divisiveness; love is not present in our processes. Reason guiding our ways of living and working devoid of wisdom being its guide is tearing us down as a people. Certainly examples of such are unnecessary.
Seeing all of this, we come to realizing…
NOW IS THE TIME OF POTENTIAL… a time of moving towards wholeness, away from that which divides… a time for working for all children – all children on this earth… a time for taking up the soul building work of bringing the world of our making into congruence with the world of intent… a time that requires the calling upon and utilization of the intuition of wholeness – that which is required to gain access to the wisdom of intent, the wisdom required to guide reason.
Sandra Maslow Smith, Philosopher of Potential
