Articles from the Religious Research Journal

 

The Higher Purpose of Polarization

By Tom Hemphill

 

            Many people have worked for many years in an effort to create greater unity among humanity.  This is especially true among those people who share a religious or spiritual orientation. For example, American Christians have sought for more than 30 years, through a formal working group called the Consultation on Church Union, to identify points of commonality among mainline Protestant denominations.  Like-wise, among Muslims there are those who seek to heal the centuries-old antagonism between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

 

Those of us, including members of Religious Research, who define ourselves more in spiritual terms than in religious terms, have sought to find commonality among all kinds of spiritual seekers and orientations, so that what we share of the Truth might be more broadly informed and more widely known.  Among spiritual people there is usually little interest in starting (yet another!) world religion with the “one right answer,” but rather a desire to create a community of spiritual seekers with common values. We spiritual seekers share not a belief system but a value system.  What we have in common is not agreed-upon conclusions or doctrines, but a sojourn toward greater Truth, regardless of the religious belief structure from which we may individually spring.

 

The search for greater commonality, shared values, and shared commitments among all peoples is surely a good thing.  Dr. John taught that until humanity sees itself as One People, it is not yet ready for meaningful communication with our Elder Brothers and Sisters from other spiritual planes (sometimes identified as “extra-terrestrials” from other planets or star systems).   It is not surprising, therefore, that many of us who seek greater unity, greater wholeness for humanity, are deeply troubled by the increasing polarization in the world today.

 

A key example of this polarization is found in the extreme Muslim fundamentalists, such as those who have supported terrorism against the West.  For such people, there are only two options: their way and the wrong way.  For them, either one adheres to a restrictive fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, or one is evil.  Their world view is black and white.  No shades of gray.  No negotiation.  You are one with us, 100 percent, or you are the enemy.  This narrow-minded and simplistic fundamentalism enables terrorists to con-tinue their aggressive warfare, especially since the “enemy” becomes dehumanized and therefore more plausibly exterminated.

 

Interestingly, another prime exam-ple of this polarity is found in American President George W. Bush.  Mr. Bush is Christian rather than Muslim; however, as pointed out by former President Jimmy Carter (himself an evangelical Christian) in an article in the New York Times, Mr. Bush is an adherent of an extreme fundamentalist viewpoint. Mr. Bush’s world view is both polarized and polarizing. In the war on terrorism, Mr. Bush has taken the rather curious position that, “Either you are with us or you are against us.” He has stuck to that sophomoric and antagonistic worldview ever since.   And, like fundamentalists of other religions, he sees those who disagree with him as evil – not only an enemy but an evil enemy.  This unwarranted use of the concept of “evil” to define one’s detractors legitimizes the use of premeditated violence in destroying the “evil” ones.

 

This artificial dichotomy has estranged the United States from the bulk of the Muslim world – the vast majority of whom are neither fundamentalists nor haters of America.  This attitude and the policies it spawns have also alienated the United States from our long-standing friends and allies.  Relationships, alliances and understandings that took many decades of trust building to accomplish have been scuttled by Mr. Bush and his administration, apparently without a second thought. Even politically unso-phisticated people see this as spiritually immature.  Teenagers through the U.S. see this shallowness for what it is - including the sudden and unfortunate derision of all things French, when the government of France refused to be browbeaten into supporting a misguided war. In the view of much of the world, the United States has become a global pariah, fomenting discord, war and fear by our willingness to engage in acts of war in order to achieve an agenda defined not so much by political or military objectives as it is defined by religious fundamentalism.  In this regard the U.S. is seen by many to be similar to Osama bin Laden and his followers. 

 

I do not offer this observation as Republican or Democrat; I remain an inde-pendent in the American political scene.  However, I state this as a simple fact, clearly understood outside the United States. To see our national leaders take such inflexible, self-serving and polarizing positions is deeply troubling for many Americans.  We know better.  We know that warfare and suffering are minimized through diplomacy, through nations working together and sharing common agendas. In contrast, human misery is maximized when one too readily divides humanity into “us” and “them.”  High-lighting our differences while completely ignoring our commonalities has been the basis for warfare and genocide for centuries.  Whether we define “them” as another tribe, another religion, another nationality, another race, another political system, etc., their difference from us sooner or later becomes a basis for our attacking and annihilating “them.”

 

Difficult though this time is for thinking people around the world, I truly think this polarization is timely, purposeful, and being used for a high spiritual objective.  Those of us who see humanity as One People - sharing more in common than our much-ballyhooed differences would seem to allow – certainly do not need to add to the polarization, the artificial misunderstanding and divisiveness in the world today.  However, we also need not be stressful as we observe it. Christ speaks in the Gospel of a time when the human race will be divided into two groups.  He put it like this: “Two men will be working in a field; one will be taken and the other left behind.  Two women will be grinding at the wheel; one will be taken and the other left behind.”  (Matthew 24:40)

 

Conservative Christians often point to this text as a basis for assuming the “saved” will be “taken up” and sinners left behind to perish.  Dr. John proposed a different interpretation of this theme - that those who apparently disappear are being “zapped out of physical existence” but not killed.  The remaining people, assisted by higher spiritual beings, would then do the challenging work of bringing Planet Earth and the human race into conformity with God’s plan and purpose for us. Then those who were “zapped out” would be gradually brought back into physical expression, and assisted to rejoin the human race.  Thus, those who are today least attuned to God’s way would be given another opportunity to choose to align themselves with goodness.

 

Almost all spiritual thinkers accept that humanity is now on the brink of a major change in our human reality.  There are many theories about the “Dawning of the Age of Aquarius.”  Some say we will be propelled into the fifth dimension.  Some say it is the time of the Coming of the Messiah, and/or the Second Coming of the Christ.  Some believe that Christ will reappear in recognizable physical form; others believe that Christ will come as a profound change in human hearts. Some say that humans and all of Planet Earth will move into a higher vibration.  Some simply observe, as did the ancient Mayans, that we are now, in 2003, in the cusp between “times.”  This is the end of time, as we have known it; we are about to enter a new time.

 

Explicit in all of these under-standings is the anticipation that not all of humanity will join in this quantum leap forward into a higher plane of existence.  (Barbara Marx Hubbard was told that about two-thirds of the human race was ready to move upward.) It is widely accepted (though not similarly defined) by both traditional religionists and new-thought spiritualists that this is a time of dividing.  This is a time of separating between those who have the maturity and spiritual openness to be able to take a significant jump up the spiritual evolutionary spiral, and those who really are not yet ready to take this on. 

Christ spoke of separating the sheep from the goats.”  He did not say separating “the good sheep from the bad sheep.”  He was not condemnatory.  Both sheep and goats had value in His day, as both have value in the world today.  But sheep and goats are not the same animals, not the same beings. Until now, the human race has progressed spiritually as a single group.  That is, as a race of spiritual beings we have matured spiritually only to the extent that the greatest efforts of our spiritual leaders could reach the dullest and most obdurate among us.

 

We are now at the historical moment, according to Dr. John and most spiritual teachers, when the human race will actually be divided into two groups. One way to look at it is as though we are all of us in the sixth grade at school.  However, none of us really belongs in the sixth grade.  Some have worked hard, or are more advanced in their skills, and are now ready for seventh and eighth grade work.  Others have lagged behind, for whatever reason, and cannot really handle sixth grade subjects.  They need more time to work on fourth and fifth grade materials. 

 

It is not that some are “good” and some are “bad,” nor that the good students should be rewarded and the bad students punished.  (This is where I differ sharply with traditional religion.  No one needs to be punished for being faster or slower than another.)  Rather, each of us needs to be in the learning situation that best responds to our needs and that offers us the best opportunities for mastering new learning and progressing on our spiritual path.  Thus, without prejudice, those who belong in fourth grade are better off in a fourth grade classroom, and those who are capable of eighth-grade work would benefit from an eighth grade classroom.  Accordingly, we humans will be divided into two learning groups, each group truly supported by circumstances and life situations which maximize their learning and spiritual growth. Dr. John spoke on this theme many times, and I have written of it previously in this Journal.  While the deepest truth of humanity is that we are One, we are in fact coming to a time of duality, a time of polarity, a time of separating one group of humans from another based on significant differences in spiritual maturity.

 

So what does this say about political terrorism, religious fundamentalism, and the polarizing nature of today’s world – especially President Bush’s extreme polarization?  I believe the energy of polarization is upon us.  I believe we are being called – at the personality level, yes, but much more so at the soul level – to affirm the truth that we understand.    In so doing, we each make key choices that identify us and shape our future.   

 

Those souls who affirm high spirituality – wisdom, love, compassion, self-discipline, humility, joy, abundance, seeking growth, strength in adversity, etc. – will self-select themselves to receive the blessings of greater challenges, and greater opportunities to live, love and grow.  Similarly, those souls who affirm a lesser understanding of spirituality – practicing self-centeredness, laziness, limitation, fearfulness, blindly defending a flawed belief system, promoting one group’s benefit at another group’s loss, abuse of those who are weak, etc. - will self-select themselves to receive the blessings of trying again, facing old lessons anew, engaging challenges at their lower level of understanding, and meeting their own opportunities to live, love and grow as they are able.

 

This polarization is now upon us, upon all souls incarnate as human personalities today.  In the next several years, more than six billion incarnate humans will make this choice for themselves, whether or not they are cognizant of it.  The choice of each may not be obvious to us, for it is the soul – not the person – who is finally deciding.  However, the choice, for those who see and know in spirit, is a clear, unambiguous choosing.  It is black and white, sheep and goats, eighth grade and fourth grade.  However you yourself understand this dichotomy, and whatever metaphor is most useful in describing it, this is what is happening right now, in our lifetimes.

 

Remember, this is not about condemnation, nor about good guys and bad guys. God is committed to assisting us to grow, and will provide each human soul the best opportunities for ongoing growth – opportunities defined by each soul’s current spiritual orientation. So how does it happen that we have a President of the United States (as well as other world leaders) who apparently is committed to polarization?  How can it be that Mr. Bush seems to be creating ill will and divisiveness even where such polarity is artificial, unnecessary and counter-productive to America’s best interests? 

 

I believe that all who are now in leadership are themselves being called to make choices about their spiritual values.  They are called to align themselves with the highest truth they can grasp.  In so doing, they are defining their spiritual orientation, their understanding of the greater spirituality of humanity and Earth.  They are leading all of us in a polarization process that is timely, purposeful, and necessary for our growth, and potentialled with great goodness for all six billion of us, as well as for Earth - Gaia Herself.

 

Perhaps like me, you have sometimes despaired that today, when the world would benefit so greatly from America holding to and promoting its deepest and greatest values, instead we appear to be blindly seeking short-term and transient goals – politically, militarily, economically and socially.  I want America to rise to this need for great leadership and high values.  Instead, she seems to be stuck in a self-defeating mantra of  “If I don't totally get my way in all things, regardless of the impact on others, I will seek to destroy any who stand between me and my self-centered goal.”  It is stressful to be an American when it seems the values of our national leaders are the values of a bully.

 

Detachment is called for.  It is only as I step out of my hunger for America to rise to greatness, my “need” for the American president to be a wise and visionary leader, that I gain the perspective to see our current tribulations as a process of Greater Goodness.  It is only as I accept our political leaders and the political leaders of other nations for being simply who they are that I can detach from my view of goodness for humanity, and accept that God has a view of Goodness far greater than mine. And God is bringing Her Goodness to fruition in our lifetimes.

 

Polarization is hard to accept for those of us who have worked a lifetime to try to build greater harmony, understanding and acceptance among humanity’s diverse religions, races and cultures.  However, I am certain that today God is using polarization to create the very circumstances necessary for humanity to receive a greater gift than any we could have imagined – a gift of renewed and rich opportunities for personal spiritual growth into greater and greater God-likeness.

 

So to all of you who share my concern, I say again: “Relax.  God is still in charge. No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.”  Amen.