<i>Generation of Fine Substance</i>

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Generation of Fine Substance - A Modern Day Parable

    Volker Brendel:  I extend my welcome to everyone. Participation in this hour on this day will make you rich. How is that for a promise? For many people the world around this would be a welcome promise. We like the idea of being rich, or at least a little bit richer than we are currently. I will be talking about treasures in heaven. The idea of becoming rich relative to the treasures in heaven apparently has less appeal the world around, as witnessed by the current state of affairs.

    There is a phrase that we have used liberally in several different versions, referring to "generating substance." Sometimes we say we need to generate "fine substance." Sometimes we speak of "vibrational substance." This is quite an interesting phrase, and it is related to the topic of being rich. We know the expression personal substance. The expression may conjure up different realms of substance. For example, personal substance may indeed refer to a materially rich person. We can think of a rich merchant in times past when maybe the class distinctions were more prominent, when such personal substance would be recognized by the entourage, the person's way of dress, their grooming. In the best case, they would be representing richly deserved substance acquired through work and wisdom. We also speak of personal substance with regards to a realm of knowledge. When someone makes a substantial comment, this would refer to knowledge and wisdom with respect to the topic being discussed.

    Still, this word substance is somewhat unfamiliar and nebulous. In spiritual conversation we use analogies, and in the Christian tradition, parables. Jesus would include in His teachings examples derived from His knowledge from His time on Earth, as well as from the experiences of the people He was interacting with. Such parables would feature sheep, vineyards, and sparrows-examples appropriate to that particular time. The analogies and parables are not the real thing, but the reality is no less tangible and accessible through consideration of such analogies and parables.

    Frequently in our conversations of late we refer to scientific paradigms, and from time to time to the current thinking in the realm of science. This is not because science itself is the real thing, but because, for those of us on the phone lines with our particular upbringing in high school and secondary education and our living experiences mostly in the western world, scientific analogies and parables are accessible and familiar to us.

    We've mentioned gravity, for example. We may look at this briefly again this morning. If we think of our own experience on Earth, we know that we are most stable physically on even ground. Few of us like to walk on roofs, for example, and very few on steep roofs. If there is an incline, we all experience sliding down. We have experience of that force that we call gravity. We walk on the ground and not on the ceiling of a room. Derived from that experience, it makes total sense to assume a flat Earth on which we are walking-a mountain here and there, but basically a flat surface. Why? Based on our day-to-day experience, if we were not on a flat surface, then it would seem that we'd have quite a task to stay on this slab of Earth in space on the bottom side. We would expect to fall down! However, now none of us think of the world as flat anymore. I don't know when you were last concerned about falling off the face of the Earth and floating into outer space, but in all likelihood if you ever had that fear it would have been as a young, curious child when you first thought about these things. We all are quite happy to view the Earth as a globe, and to rely on this force we call gravity to firmly glue us to the ground.

    Similarly, think about electromagnetism. We use this concept and the effects of its reality all the time. As I speak right now, my voice is being transmitted electromagnetically to about a quarter of the globe through the invention of the telephone. In this particular case, a wireless telephone to boot! Nonetheless, there is nobody who really knows what electromagnetism is. It is a concept that some clever people can write equations about that help us predict certain behaviors and invent technologies, starting with the light switch, that everybody is quite comfortable using. So in reality, we all have plenty of experience of parables-analogies that speak to a reality and make that reality tangible. When I referred earlier to the "real thing," again I am referring to something I cannot define any better in the English language. But that limitation doesn't make this reality any less tangible, predictable and reliable.

    In this consideration let's go back to the phrases we've been using-generating fine substance, generating vibrational substance. Yes, these are somewhat esoteric and nebulous phrases and yet, as I have alluded to, they point to a reality that has (to the same degree as scientific reality) the hallmark of predictability, and reliability. As we consider this matter this morning, we might say that we are, in fact, generating substance. And that substance represents a treasure in heaven. Now if we accept this way of thinking, then we must accept some consequences. These consequences could be described as follows: According to your substance of heaven and your generation of the substance of heaven, so is your experience on Earth. Cause and effect. A more practical consequence of this could be formulated as follows: Consider that your experience on Earth is largely self-inflicted. So if you don't like your experience (to put it bluntly), then generate the substance that will change your experience. There is a caveat to this because the substance we are talking about is generated both individually and collectively. And while you have responsibility for your individual generation of heavenly substance, you are also experiencing the consequences of collective generation of substance.

    Some examples came to mind in reviewing world affairs and my personal life over the last couple of weeks. These are examples, and each one can look at their own examples. In each case, that individual will have to determine what experience is self-inflicted by the individual generation of substance, and what experience is part of the larger picture. As I say, there is always a mixture.

    To start with, let's look at flooding in large parts of the world in recent weeks and months. Most prominently we hear and see reports about the flooding in Pakistan, although there is large flooding also in India and China and other places in the world. The flooding in Pakistan probably stands out because of the scale of the disaster. Some twenty to twenty-five million people are directly affected by this. And a large part of the arable land, from the mountains in the north of that country all the way down and following the Indus River, is impacted. While we look at examples of individual villages, families and people, we feel empathy and seek to help. We can also take a larger view of things and look at this disaster in a more historic and global context. From that viewpoint it is clear that there is a contributing factor to the disaster being felt by so many people through somewhat unbridled population growth in the last fifty years. I think the average number of children per woman in Pakistan exceeds six. With that type of population growth it is difficult to have a commensurate growth in infrastructure. Thus, a lot of settlements are in regions that would be natural flood zones. Of course there is an even larger view of things when you look at the evidence of global warming that is playing havoc with the climate in many parts of the world.

    We can see the interplay of collective generation of substance and individual generation of substance, and the experiences of individuals and society in accordance with their generation of substance. One of the most inappropriate and misleading turns of phrase refers to natural disasters as Acts of God. What a cop-out! If we can't blame somebody else, we blame God. I'm saying, Not So. Let's look at the factors that we have control over first. There has been flooding here in Ames over the past couple of weeks too, and it is rather striking that even here very similar factors are at play. Some of the housing complexes and businesses most affected by the flooding were built in areas clearly designated as flood plains. But because of desirability of the location and lack of foresight, developers and city planners decided to build in these places anyway. The miscalculation was that the previous record floods were thought to be more or less the limit of what would be experienced here. And then they were proven wrong.

    Last weekend my family and I went to visit the Iowa State Fair. This fair is listed in the "1000 things you need to see in your lifetime." I don't know who came up with that list. It is nice to have something close to home that made the list, but I would like to say here quite clearly that I am not endorsing that particular entry on the list! Anyway, to do it once was a good experience of sorts. But in terms of our discussion this morning, it was rather striking to watch the attending population at this particular event. I think it would be fair to say that roughly seventy percent to three quarters of the people attending were what anyone with common sense or any medical doctor would consider unhealthily overweight, or obese-in many cases, to an extent that their ability to move was quite severely restricted. Mind you, this is a particularly biased section of the population. But in the western world and particularly America and the Midwest, obesity is now considered an epidemic, affecting, most disturbingly, many children. For young adults, almost fifty percent of young people at age do not fit the military standard of fitness for service.

    If you look at the food stands at this fair, I think the jump from such viewing to saying "as you generate substance, so is your experience" is a very small, logical jump. The fair prides itself on deep-frying everything, from vegetables, to chocolates-to you name it. By all standards that food substance is bad for anyone. So here is one more example of our responsibility. According to the substance we eat so is, to a large extent, our health. According to the substance we generate, so is our experience. Again, I am not advocating any guilt-ridden changes in direction. Each individual has factors that include the collective hereditary factors and so forth, but I think the general principle is undeniable.

    If we want a richer experience, we must generate richer substance, and we need to consider how. Jesus taught in terms of His well-known parables, and before Him and in other cultures, others spoke, their examples drawn from their circumstances. As we noted before, the voice of God was heard through those circumstances at that time. Now I am saying that the voice of God is heard no less these days, but probably not through shepherds or burning bushes. There is a little bit of a catch here because hearing that voice also requires generating substance. So in a sense, we have to take some steps in the right direction to gain a larger and larger range of audible alacrity and vision.

    I will tell you about the voice of God in something that you may never have thought of in that way, and yet is increasingly common. I am saying that every time you listen to your GPS navigation system in your own car or in a rental car, consider hearing the voice of God. Well, what does that have to do with anything? The navigation system gives you direction. And the most remarkable spiritual maturity and wisdom of this system is that in any given situation the voice holds no grudges. At least that is true for all the systems that I have had experience with. Not once does the voice say, "You dimwit, I told you to turn left, and you ignored me, and now look what a mess you are in!" No, you miss a turn, and the voice patiently and without missing a beat will keep your destination in mind and give you directions from your current starting point. To me, that is the voice of God. It is one of the many voices of God. In fact through every noble act and every uplifting thought, God is present. Through this particular example of the GPS system, you may have a reminder of lessons taught by your teachers and mentors. At least in my experience, the men and women who have provided examples for me have had that very quality I was describing for the GPS. I generate some substance in some area, I get distracted, substance gets a little thinner, and what does the mentor say? "Keep your destination in mind. Generate new substance right here and now."

    Every analogy has some caveats, so we keep in mind that we need to type in the directions, and we are not following navigation systems blindly. (We recall Larry's example of individual scrutiny and wisdom in the moment when finding car washing places!) But be that as it may, here is a modern day parable. Let's generate fine spiritual substance moment by moment from any given starting point without much concern for the past. Whatever we learned from the past, yes, it influences our present choices. We learn. But if we miss a turn here or there, that is of little consequence for our next step now. Just keep generating fine spiritual substance. Individually we are completely in charge of that process. Everything we do-the way we eat, the way we behave, the way we conduct ourselves generates this substance. And according to the richness of its generation, so is our experience.

    All of that merges with the collective generation of substance. And yes, we suffer consequences of what you might call the fallen state and fallen consciousness. But once again, no need to judge. No need to lament. Simply acknowledge the current starting point and generate the substance that uplifts your own, and others' experience in that new situation. I thank you for a very rich hour, certainly in my experience, and to me a very tangible generation of substance through our collective speaking and listening.