By Lee Van Ham
Walls! Walls everywhere. Egos are busy constructing walls and restoring broken-down ones. But simultaneously, people in Spirit consciousness work to dismantle them. In Spirit consciousness ego’s fears that divide give way to embracing difference. But when ego is in charge, all the fears and insecurities that haunt egos get replicated outside of us. Though I often implore the Spirit to lead us in dismantling these external walls, there are also walls within me that need to come down. Getting to where inside and outside dance together, reveals a Oneness. That Oneness, like the UNIverse, is stronger and more true than division and chaos can ever be.
There are moments that I throw up my hands at the endless work of dismantling walls of division. They seem to be built faster than what all the many powers working for unity can counter. But then I recenter myself and discover that the current wall-building frenzy of hate and exclusion stimulates me to relish the truth that the Divine Spirit called “Holy” or “Whole” is at work. “Wholly Spirit” emphasizes that in my soul-consciousness I experience being One. Walls built by ego come down in Soul. The winds of the Holy Spirit bring an almighty energy that counters the evil spirits of animosity. She knows there is only ONE humanity, ONE Earth. In soul consciousness, no less a power than Wholly, Holy Spirit is our ally.
When I was writing The Liberating Birth of Jesus (2019), my eyes opened to examples of the Spirit’s mighty acts breaking down ego’s divisions. Why does that birth story, I wondered, see great significance in angels, dreams, a star, and the Spirit coming upon people? Through the question, I came to see that Matthew and Luke wrote about these powers because they transcended rationally oriented egos. They experienced first-hand gatherings of people who were contrast societies to the Empire of Rome. The people in these societies lived as ones called out of the ways of superpowers so marred by divisions and domination. These “called-out ones” were followers of The Way, meaning the way of Jesus. Keep in mind that Matthew and Luke were writing at least 55-65 years after the life of Jesus. The Way had staying power. Matthew and Luke saw in action what Paul had described in a letter (50-60 C.E) sent to called-out ones in Galatia (modern Turkey). There Paul wrote that all who are “in Christ,” that is, in a greater consciousness of soul and Spirit than Ego, were breaking down walls that separated Jews and Gentiles, women and men, and slaves and slave-holders. They saw rich people put their money where their mouth was by divesting from private property and offering it for the common good.
I had read these words by Paul many times. They always seemed important, but after my encounter with Carl Jung they became radical. I realized that Christ-consciousness breaks down divisions, and our world is devastated by divisions. With that awareness, the same words thrill me as I know the Spirit can shake and tumble walls between races and ethnicities. She can mess with all the restrictions on women for education, for control of their own wombs and bodies, and for having their work undervalued compared to men. She aims to burst any economic boost dependent on labor slaves and sex slaves. She multiplies those who are divesting from wealth accumulation to empower the common good. Today’s crises multiply when people double down in their ego consciousness; but when people convert to soul or Christ consciousness they want to arrange life to share, not take. Our ego systems take far more from Earth than their share. In response, Earth delivers crises that intensify gradually into extreme patterns of death. Spirit systems, on the other hand, break down the divisions and share. Spirit consciousness cares enough to make sure there is enough for all. And Earth responds with patterns of life.
Photo by Bruno Alves on Unsplash
