Scripture

Genesis 2:1-3

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.

Day 7 of Creation: No Oneness, No Peace or Justice

by Rev. Cory Bradford-Watts

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Warm greetings! I hope you are well and connecting with the oneness of life in your own diverse expression of Divinity.

Our world is staring down the barrel of a few life-as-we-know-it-ending calamities, from climate change to the rise of fascism in the hearts of many "far-right" politicians and supporters in the U.S. Demagoguery and divisive thinking are the roots of almost-unimaginable cruelty, fear, and pain in this world and indeed, in each of our hearts. And so, personally and socially we must work to uplift their opposites: a compassionate justice from a true acceptance of our interconnected oneness if we are ever to find the Sabbath and the peace that Divinity invites us toward - no matter our religion or lack thereof.

If you've been following our exploration of the seven-day creation story, you'll be well aware that as with many ancient traditions, the mysticism of Swedenborgianism interprets scripture symbolically as invitations toward spiritual health, openness, and growth, like one of Christ's parables. This journey is one of empowering and increasing justice for all, as Christ often emphasized - a justice which can ultimately be characterized as understanding and embodying the truth uplifted in many mystical paths: that we are all essentially one, and should "love others as ourselves."

We see a belief in the opposite of this fundamental truth played out in the deaths of black Americans like George Floyd, as well as the robust and increasingly fascist and divisive attacks on the democratic society and representative government in the U.S. Judging others as "less than" and spurning creative, diverse, and people-centered approaches to governing and life seems to be a hallmark of this blooming movement toward injustice in the States. Where even some of the most hurt by these policies fall in-line due to constant propaganda and a collective manipulation of their worse ideas and affections, all stemming from a long-history of American racism, classism, cruelty, oppression, distorted religiosity, and demagoguery.

The idea that we're all one, and should love others as so, shows up not only in Christ's teachings, but that of Buddhist traditions and others to varying degrees. But we shouldn't overlook how easily we ignore the true implications of this transformative calling, nor underestimate the amount of peace and presence we gain when we truly take the time to allow ourselves to embody and accept it.

Imagining the peace, diverse creativity, and social bliss we might find if our nation or world might accept such a collective calling of oneness and familial love can give us personally a sense of the type of impact it will have on our own minds if we were to truly receive this fundamental awareness. In fact, the symbolic meaning of the creation story seems to emphasize the unimaginable abundance of spirit and Sabbath that we each gain from allowing this to grow. As we've found, the spiritual meaning of this ancient tale seems to speak to and symbolize this transformative process in many ways: ultimately, encouraging our awareness that every and all things express the goodness of Divinity and that our fellow human beings are in the image and likeness of God, no matter their differences. This story tells us that to the extent we can accept this fundamental Oneness, the more we'll find spiritual abundance - and eventually, the peace symbolized by day seven of creation, the Sabbath Day.

We're called to empower the peace of Oneness and spiritual health, this Sabbath, both within and without. Which takes fundamental changes, both personally and socially. When we work to open our eyes to our oneness, we start to see that we behave and think much differently than when we are divisive or centered on others' otherliness and their perceived separation from us. In fact, we're told that when we truly come to accept this interconnectedness, actually viewing all creation as a beloved whole, we no longer fear and enter a space of divine peace - becoming less body-centric knowing that we are eternally one with all things, and less distracted and lustful knowing that we already have everything and are present to our wholeness.

Emanuel Swedenborg believed that coming to know that we all share our existence and being from Divinity was a hallmark of the angels, those that have passed and entered heaven from all faiths and creeds. He believed that the more we accept and love the fundamental life symbolized in all of creation, the more we enter the diversity and oneness of heaven by loving everyone and working to further that love instead of its opposite, just as the angels like George Floyd do in the underlying spiritual realm.

It's unfortunate that we often espouse the teachings of Christ, called the Lord of the Sabbath, while not being willing to accept his just and loving teachings or his peace-filled perspective into our lives. Instead, like all powerful tools, we tend to turn scripture toward destruction and our personal selfish goals, thus striving to further our own limited fascist state. Doing this we become like the Biblical Pharisees, whom God loved and yet was willing to speak truth to and call them toward transformation.

Horrifically, we're starting to see painted large what it means to allow our divisiveness and trumping impulses reign in the guise of someone named Trump himself and those that espouse him as almost a second coming - someone who is currently actively working to undermine the voting system in the U.S. (such as through his recent changes of the U.S. Postal Service), as well as every aspect of life that he has control over beyond his image and his power. This is true because he seems to hold in the highest esteem his own personality, life, and lustful mind, and views all others as much less than worthless to the extent that they do not bow to his self-centered, divisive whim. Even if we don't actively support his politics, we must come to terms that Trump and our tendency to trump and divide are part of the whole and often find embodiment through and within each of our minds, and that these things should be held and healed with the compassion, presence, and feeling of oneness that we would have for ourselves or our child.

Indeed, with no justice there is no peace. To accept our oneness in Divinity and the Sabbath that it brings we have to truly embody and think in line with it, allowing God's divine justice to take root and grow within and without. Our fears, lusts, attachments, reactive aversions, and judgments all stem from our divisive thinking and our lack of compassionate care. In order for us to truly join the angels, to leave a legacy that George Floyd would be proud of, we must drop the last visages of our feelings and thoughts centered on individual selfishness, and come to realize that we are all one, that life doesn't have to be so hard and painful, and that together we are called to the true Sabbath of Divinity and the peace of God's diverse kin-dom.

Peace and blessings,

Rev. Cory