Spiritual Transcendence

But Moses supposes erroneously ...

(Gene Kelly, Singing in the Rain)

When Moses went to Mount Sinai to receive God's commandments, it took him a long time to come back. The Israelis were afraid and wanted guidance from Moses' brother Aaron. Aaron asked all Israelis to melt their jewelry into one big golden calf. They worshiped the calf, they celebrated and "made merry", as it is said in the Bible. You probably also remember from Sunday School that this story didn't end so well. When Moses finally came down from Mont Sinai, he broke the tablets that he had received from God on the floor and had many Israelis executed. From his perspective the Israelis performed idolatry, though all they really did was to reconnect with their pagan roots. They weren't quite ready for the more abstract notion of God, "I Am That I Am", while Moses felt they had to be dragged by their hair to the next spiritual level.

Every activity, no matter how loving and pious its intention, is always somewhat tainted by the human touch. But there are certainly degrees of spirituality. Killing a cow for consumption purposes is less pure than harvesting ripe apples from a tree that would have fallen on the ground anyway. Teaching children or helping homeless people in a shelter is more spiritual than making money on Wall Street, or putting criminals behind bars.There is no wrong or right, however. There is only a behavior that is right for our soul development. Who knows why stuff happens the way it does anyway. Seeing the suffering of animals on commercial farms may make us convinced vegetarians as it happened to me. Or experiencing the madness of an inhumane work environment may stir the yearning for a more spiritually fulfilling professional life.

There is no wrong or right, there is only the stuff that happens to us to help us in our awakening process. Who knows what will happen to humanity and societies in the aggregate. Maybe there will be a day when humanity embraces vegetarianism en mass to protect our animals. Maybe one day all societies voluntarily interact professionally within in a commonly accepted socialistic mindset. There are sometimes trigger points in history when societies are ready to move to a new, more spiritual life expression. It would be nice if 2016 is such a point in time. However, gone are the days - as in Moses' times - when some leaders make these decisions for us. Let's leave the evolution of societies, ecologies and economies up to the grassroots movement, and ultimately to God. What we personally can and should do is to find our idiosyncratic God connection, and  history will thank us for it.

Be Aware of Your Idol - Don't Fall under its Spell, and Don't Fight it Either

Seek not outside yourself. For it will fail, and you will weep each time an idol falls.
(A Course in Miracles)

When Moses returned with the 10 Commandments after a 40 day retreat on Mount Sinai, his people had lost faith and built an idol - a golden calf - and were busily engaging in some pagen festival in celebration of life and fertility. Moses was so distraught by what he saw that he shattered the stone tablets with the 10 Commandment on the floor; he also had 3000 Israelis executed as punishment.

What an irony that the First Commandment states "Thou shall have no idols before Me" and the first thing Moses' people did was to worship an idol of power and fertility. Your idol can be everywhere, money, looks, fame, degrees, professions, important friends or colleagues, sex, etc. I am sure you know who or what your personal idol is. The trick is to be aware of its charm and to be able to feel the dark energy it bestows on you. It is as if a cloud hangs over you whenever it touches you.  If you fight it, you are not getting rid of its influence, you are just re-distributing the dark cloud to your perceived holy part. Just recognize the idol for what it stands for, acknowledge its appeal and then choose to step out of its dark shadow into the sun.

Moses didn't help his divine cause by killing his brothers and sisters. He also didn't help our spiritual journey by making a taboo out of idol worship. What you fear and detest, you only attract. The only way to deal with an idol is to understand that you can do much better by keeping its sphere of influence at arms' length. Moses did what he was capable of 5000 years ago, but we have come a long way since. Today it is very much in our power to move past the idol's spell without condemning it and without being afraid of it either.