What is the greatest need in the world today? There are so many, it would be hard to name them all. And what would be the greatest among them? And on what basis would you pick it?
There are so many things that challenge human health and happiness—so many things that challenge peace and harmony, and a thriving human culture. And given the role that humankind has on planet Earth, those same things challenge all life here.
As I see it, the greatest need—the most significant one—would be one that affects all the other needs. If there was such a need—a need which, if filled, would support us in filling all the others—we would know where to focus our efforts.
At the same time, if there is a need underlying all the others, then it might be true that we could try to fill any of the other needs, only to find that our efforts come to naught. We could find a way to feed the hungry, only to find that a war that had little to do with food undid all our efforts. We could ensure people reach economic sufficiency. But that could be undone by a global pandemic.
In 2015, the United Nations established 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They range from Zero Hunger to Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions. Who could argue against any of the SDGs? But still, what would make any of them possible to achieve? What is behind them all?
We are. Humankind. And our experience of ourselves. Perhaps focusing on the SDGs might change us. And if that change was large enough, perhaps that would be pivotal for the unfoldment of human destiny. But without that change in experience, I have more faith in humanity’s ability to undo the best efforts of an inspired few than I have in human nature as it is to carve out a better world.
Considering this, what is the one need which, if filled, would make possible the filling of all other needs? What is the straw that stirs the drink?
Education might be a leading contender for the most pivotal need. With knowledge, people might figure out a solution to all the other issues. So that sounds promising. But it does not take into account human motivation. It doesn’t guarantee that humankind will want to solve the other problems. It doesn’t guarantee that there will be sufficient collective vision and the will to solve them. It doesn’t ensure that people will care.
The greatest need is a life-changing, world-changing spirituality for today. Or to put it another way, while humanity is behind all the world’s problems, our awakening is behind our future as a prosperous, thriving planet. And the greatest need is for the restoration of the human spirit to a state of Attunement with the powers of love and wisdom within us. The greatest need is for humankind to come to know itself as pure cosmic consciousness embedded in the physical world in a human form—timeless and undefinable, yet fully oneself right here and now. This is the world-changing spirituality that we need.
Here is what we don’t need: religiosity. I am defining that word here as the tendency to take a statement of spiritual truth and nullify it in human experience by turning it into a religious belief devoid of spiritual knowing. It is so easy to do—so easy that virtually every attempt to bring spirituality to people has been sidelined and undermined by many.
And how is it done? It is almost automatic.
For the human mind to create religiosity out of a statement of spiritual reality, all it has to do is interpret that statement as relating to:
- Someone or something other than oneself
- A time other than the present
- A place other than where the person is
Of course, there are people and things other than oneself. There are times and places other than here and now, even though this is the only place we can be. The undoing of ourselves begins with failing to be who we are, in this moment of time in which we live, in precisely the place where we now are. And being ourselves right now, right here, and allowing ourselves to connect to the creative powers available to us, is what renews our spirituality.
As an example of how a statement of spiritual reality can be nullified, consider the statement that was Jesus’ gospel as represented in the King James Version of the Bible:
Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Matthew 4:17
It is a simple, remarkable statement of reality if understood as relating to oneself, here and now. But how subject it has been to religiosity!
At hand means right there with you now. Put it off until tomorrow, or after you die, and heaven is not at hand. It is not with you, and it is not immediately relevant. Your hand isn’t somewhere else, and it is not in tomorrow.
How could Jesus have stated it any more emphatically that the spiritual reality he was pointing to was immediately available—at hand? And think how easily that immediacy can be nullified by placing it out of the here and now.
Heaven. Where is that? Up there. When is that? When you die. Heaven may be up there, and it may exist after you die. But consider the power of the word when used to relate to a spiritual reality that is right there with you, surrounding you, and penetrating you. It is a kingdom—a world in which there is sovereign presence and power. Jesus’ gospel implies that you are not just living in a physical reality. You are living in a spiritual reality.
The word repent was used in the Latin translation of Jesus’ original words when the Latin Vulgate Bible was published at the end of the 4th century A.D. The origin of the word has to do with punishment, such as in penitentiary and penal colony.
The earlier Greek word from which repent was translated was metanoia, referring to a transformative change of heart and mind. Some Aramaic translations use the word thubu, which simply means to turn or return.
Turn, and experience a change of heart and mind. The kingdom of heaven is right here!
Now place yourself in Jesus’ shoes. Imagine knowing a spiritual reality he called the kingdom of heaven. Feel the urgency he must have felt, delivering this message to anyone who would listen. Consider the immediacy of what he was calling people to become aware of.
His passionate call has been turned, by some, into a message that doesn’t relate to the person hearing it. It relates to Jesus. The kingdom of heaven was at hand because he was at hand. And to them, it does not relate to the here and now. It relates to the hereafter. Not right here but up there in heaven.
That is religiosity. It has the ability to nullify any spiritual message in the mind of the person hearing it, no matter how true and real the message is.
If a spirituality for today is the greatest need for humankind, there have to be early adopters—people who are fully present in the here and now as themselves. What is called for from those people? The inspiration of others to do the same. In that sense, they have to be willing to say, Follow me. This doesn’t mean they are inviting others to see the early adopter as the point and purpose of their spirituality. The invitation is not for others to follow around after them. Their invitation is for others to know what they are knowing for themselves. Such people show a way past all the religiosity of the world, and a way through to a knowing of the Divine.
There are people in the world who are bound up in their religiosity. Until they are unbound, they are not likely to accept a liberating spirituality for today. There are people who have rejected spirituality because they have associated it with religiosity. Until they find their way past religiosity, they are unlikely to know spirituality for themselves.
A spirituality for today, is the greatest need for any individual. When a person finds it for themselves, all the other needs are so much more easily addressed. It is life-changing to realize that you are pure cosmic consciousness planted in human form.
A spirituality for today is the greatest need for humankind. It is world-changing. And therefore, there have to be those who can powerfully address the human tendency to nullify it through their religiosity.
May we each find this spirituality for ourselves, and because we do, find it together, know it together, and bring it to the world. This is the greatest human need and the most important human goal. All the other goals depend upon it.
Turn, and experience a change of heart and mind. The kingdom of heaven is right here!
Falsity cannot be maintained. Religiosity remains the “grand deception” – it numbs and nullifies the true spirit of the individual because so much of it relies on the belief of a dogma which has also been employed politically to gain control of people. Humanity has been hijacked into belief systems, affecting both heart and mind, which have underpinned and undermined civilizations through the ages bringing war and fracturing.
It is through spirit that we are united as one; one humanity. Return our hearts and minds to “true north”, and head homeward to our true place in the cosmic design.
Thank you, David, for making such a clear distinction between “religiosity” and genuine spirituality. And also for the compelling invitation to “follow me,” not as a flock of sheep meekly trailing after you but walking beside you as mature spiritual beings who know who they are and what they are here to do.
Thank you David. I seem to recall a statement in the Bible about the necessity for the good news of the gospel to be spread around the world. At that time such a task would have been next to impossible. There were no jet planes. In fact no airplanes of any kind. There were no telephones, no smart phones, no Western Union, no internet…Oh my…
Nowadays we have all of the above, plus YouTube, Facebook. Instagram, radio, TV, the list goes on. Would that your words–the gospel for today–might thus be heralded around the globe. Amen!
What a beautiful ‘opening’ in our hearts to what is needed on our planet – thank you.
The word that kept coming up during the reading is compassion….
Seek first to understand – and then to be understood – Stephen Covey
We are all so ‘in this’ together.
Absolutely, David! Thank you!