'Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world!' Jn. 16:33 : SpiritualFamily.Net

'Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world!' Jn. 16:33 Economically speaking, the West occupies a prosperous First World state. However, spiritually speaking, it languishes in Third World squalor. The spiritual poverty of the West, more specifically western Christendom, is at the root of much of the worlds suffering. The challenge lies then not so much in the fact that the West dominates the world's purse as in the fact that her children are still charmed by the lure of 'shiny things,' the pursuit of materialistic goals, to the exclusion of other, more noble aspirations eg.: the riches inherent in actualising the divine self. Its children are, in real terms, still quite immature. And so it is that, 'Only when man has become sufficiently disillusioned by the sorrowful disappointments attendant upon the foolish and deceptive pursuits of selfishness, and subsequent to the discovery of the barrenness of formalized religion, will he be disposed to turn wholeheartedly to the gospel of the kingdom, the religion of Jesus of Nazareth.'i

True poverty is not simply a case of empty pockets but a heart empty of spiritual ideals, values, dreams and vision, a life bereft of values, meaning and purpose.

The Christian scriptures teaches 'out of the heart come the issues of life, murder, theft, adultery' Mat. 15:19 or 'as a man thinketh in his heart so is he' Prov. 23:7. The social and cultural realities of this world are reflections of our inner realities. Culture, in all its multitudinous hues – dark or delightful, is simply the shadow cast by the human heart. Consequently, all lasting transformation must occur on an inner level and all such transformations are a matter of personal attainment, personal growth – spiritual growth. Any effort not specifically focused on facilitating personal growth, spiritual regeneration and inner transformation, is an effort focused on the effect and not the cause of our social ills; it is to attack the branch yet leave the root untouched

ii . It was for this reason that Jesus enjoined his followers to pray that God 'create in me a clean heart.' As a result of these insights it can be seen that the first goal of any transformational effort should begin with education, spiritual education - education on ideals and idealism, and the nobility of service.

The ills that plague the nations of the Third World will never be solved with mere money. Were we to hand over a trillion dollars to uneducated peoples, the money would be squandered as a direct result of the fact that their cultural experience would unlikely have furnished them with the intellectual tools required to manage such a resource nor would they likely have acquired the skills of personal restraint and self-discipline necessary to manage such wealth. Merely throwing money at a problem, without adequate vision and support, would not only be of no practical use, it would undoubtedly make things worse. It might be wise to make note that though the West presently dominates this wealth it certainly has a ways to go in the wise and magnanimous management of it.

Challenging the oppressive structures of this world, while significant, is not the 'final solution' to the ills that assail us. Utopian civil structures demand first an ideal type of citizen; only thereafter may such illuminated individuals safely employ the civil structures and social institutions that govern such a society. Unless the lives and the action/decisions of the citizens of any hypothesised Utopian state are founded upon some transcendent Ideal then the structures are of no import. Corruption is a cancer to any system but it begins in the human heart. Consequently, perfect social systems without similarly perfection oriented individuals are doomed. Changing the system, without also inculcating the ideals of perfection within the cultural experience of that society's same citizens would be akin to putting a plaster on a bomb. Such social shortsightedness can only lead to tragedy on an epic scale. This is the insight alluded to within Jesus' parable of the Foolish Builders, Matthew 7:24-27. Without sound foundations, no project can stand the test of time. Our greatest foe is never the cultural milieu and structures into which we are born but the evil tendencies that ever spring from the soil of the imperfect corrupt human heart.

iii Pointing out that:

'Without an adequate vision of human life, it is easy to lose sight of our interconnection with each other and become vulnerable to an inner slavery that not only ignores human need but even rewards human greed. Structural reform is certainly needed, but politics and economics alone are insufficient to bring about the renewal and reordering of society. Nor can they map out the contours of a liberating human anthropology. Fundamental structural reform must be accompanied by a more fundamental inner change that originates in the human heart.

iv While the value of the observations made by Liberation Theologies that 'many of the problems and disorders of the modern world... have their roots in structural and systemic issues that create and perpetuate global injustices,'v cannot be discounted, Groody is concerned that the deeper issues at hand have gone relatively unexplored. Pointing out that 'these disorders on a more fundamental level are related to what happens within people.'vi Stressing that, 'Our inability to deliver ourselves from inner discord not only contributes to global disorder but also distorts our understanding of how we come to realize our identity as human beings. This problem, at root, is not simply a political, economic, or social one but a spiritual one.' vii

Thus can we more clearly appreciate the depth of insight implicit in the teachings of Jesus. When he declares, 'the kingdom is within' – it wasn't simply a figurative statement. By giving preeminence to inner realities, he was laying emphasis on the fact that it is our hopes and dreams or lack of them, our passions and ambitions idealistic or craven, above all – our loving devotion to one another or its absence, that shapes our realities; while circumstances merely offer the context for their extemporisation.

'Fear not little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.' Luke 12:32 The radical nature of the Gospel Jesus lived and died preaching, is – to a degree – eclipsed by the tremendous social transformations that have been realised in His name since last he walked the earth. His prayer was always that all his followers, both present and to come, should be one – that they enjoy the same unity and communion that he shares with the Father among each other and with the Father, Jn 17: 20 - 22 . This facet of his teachings was taken up by Paul in Galatians 3:28 when he declared that: 'There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.' This teaching is implicitly opposed to any forms of oppression, any form of inequality, and challenges his followers to establish a radical equality, among one another and throughout the world. However, it should be borne in mind that the Master understood the delusion of 'equity' for he pointed out that 'the poor ye shall always have with ye.' It should be realised that the prayer's Jesus uttered have a formative influence on this world and have not gone unanswered. In the eyes of the Eternal Father the unity for which His Son so ardently prayed, and died to establish, has already been granted and so already 'IS', at least in terms of the experiential consciousness of Deity. We, however, occupy a temporal frame of reference and therefore consciously experience it as a relatively endless series of transformations. Consequently, those of us that strive to bring about the unity of the world and that endeavour to vanquish oppression KNOW that the long sought after day will come. We know that the days of darkness and struggle are numbered and can draw succor from that; while concurrently strength can drawn from the truth that every effort, weak or strong, every success or failure, brings the day of victory over oppressive forms that bit closer. It was during that fateful dialogue with Peter that Jesus made another instructive statement. Having finally led his apostle's to the point where they were now capable of recognising his true identity, he then said that he would commit to their keeping the 'keys of the kingdom'. Thereby establishing the Christian community as an instrument of G*d on earth. It is their G*d given right to organise themselves as they see fit, and according to purposes envisioned by themselves, that is perhaps their greatest strength. It is this 'spirit led' community that is thus endowed with the necessary wisdom, personal fortitude, and devoted commitment to kin-dom values that is destined to bring the world into balance. This community can, has, and will continue to grow and nothing can stop it, not 'all the forces of evil' nor 'the hosts of sin'. From this study it should be plain that the concept of kingdom as taught by Jesus sought to co-ordinate many dynamic realities. While it is significant that many of the metaphors that Jesus used to exemplify the nature of the kingdom shared a common element, namely 'growth', it should be pointed out that the multifaceted nature of the expositions of Jesus regarding this subject served to highlight the many varying dimensions of kingdom, thus offsetting any inclination to limit conceptual range – while at the same time facilitating the elucidation of some of the more instructive elements. However, the repeated references to 'growth' indicates that Jesus envisioned the kin-dom growing, much as a seed will through the seasons, until the time of the harvest. Harvest, in the context outlined in this essay, can be nothing other than the day referenced in the words uttered by the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah, 'and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD. Jer. 31: 34. "And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." Is. 2:4 Jesus was introducing humanity to eternity and to the means of engaging with it in time, as has been established by the Source of Time and Eternity, Deity, i.e.: the will of God, the mechanism through which the children of time find their way into the presence of the Eternal and the means whereby the Eternal can both commune with and positively guide the children of time. It was by means of commitment to the doing of God's will that Jesus was empowered to 'overcome the world' and thus if his followers similarly wish to 'overcome the world' then to them Jesus has only one thing to say: If you dare to believe in me and wholeheartedly proceed to follow after me, you shall most certainly by so doing enter upon the sure pathway to trouble. I do not promise to deliver you from the waters of adversity, but I do promise to go with you through all of them.

viii i The Urantia Book 195:9.7

ii This idea is found as theme within the works of the author James Allen, undoubtedly among many others. Three titles reflecting this are 'As a man thinketh', 'The Byways of Blessedness' and 'Above Life's Turmoils'. All these works can be downloaded freely from The James Allen Free Library.

http://james-allen.in1woord.nl/

iii Groody, Daniel G.; 'Globalizing solidarity: Christian anthropology and the challenge of human

liberation. Theological Studies, Vol. 62, No. 2., Section: Pg. 250(19) 2008

viii The Urantia Book, The Urantia Foundation, 1955. [159:3.13]