Would it be that we live in caves?
Yet the caves were life, safety, warmth, home.

Would it be that we live in lean-to tents?
Yet the tents were private, mobile and given to status.

Would it be that we live in huts?
Yet the huts were community establishers, decorative and family.

Would it be that we live in wooden houses?
Yet the houses are warm, rainproof and large enough to store our possessions.

Even so in time the cave became a trap
And the tents fell away
And the huts would burn
And the houses do fall to the weather

And in progress do we construct a better home
As also we must construct a better spiritual house.

Should it be that we abandon our traditions, customs, paths, ideas, principles, ethics, morals and spiritual beliefs?

Some would speak with the tongue of a rebel and say yes!
Some would speak with the tongue of fear and say no.

So I ask:

If you found a toy you played with 20 years ago as a child,
Would you condemn it?
Would you rebel and throw it away?
Would you fear to ever let it go?
Would it not instead be that you revere it and celebrate it,
Even though you have matured beyond it?

And also if you found a picture you drew as a child
Would you say it is archaic and should be burned?
Would you say it is the only picture anyone should live by?
Or would you revere it, smile and simply love it
Even though you have matured beyond it?

Again… if you found an essay you wrote in school when you were ten
Would you speak against it as trash, never to be seen by anyone?
Would you hold it up as the only principle you will obey even today?
Or would you read and see your own growth now from your thoughts then?

Yet when it comes to any form of Spiritual Evolution
All that is heard is rebellious roaring or fearful proclaiming
Of ANCIENT ideas… ideas before our own lives.

Oh yes, some will say that they do evolve to a higher plain, to a lighter realm, to a greater wisdom. Some will say they have discovered a new truth.

I say this.

How can there be a new toy when all the parts of that toy are the same as the old parts?
How can there be a new picture, when all the instruments are still crayons?
How can there be a new essay, when all the words are still speaking either pro or con to the same old ideas?

None of my toys today resemble my toys as a boy in any way.
None of my pictures today resemble any of my pictures as a boy in any way.
None of my words today resemble any of the ideas I had as a boy in any way.
All these things are so dissimilar now they can hardly be compared.
Yet it is understood why they are.

And I do not dismiss the Spirituality of the past, for it is beautiful and wonderful
And I do not hang onto the interpretations of the past religions,
Though they are beautiful and wonderful.
The ancient books are as profound today as they have always been
So too is it profound to see a baby picture of me, yet I am not as I was.

And though more can be revealed from ancient ideas as I myself change
So too is more revealed about me when I see the drawings of my past.
Yet those drawings I can never do so immaturely anymore.

All of these things are loved, revered, and honored. All of these things will always be studied and witnessed and enjoyed.

With that being established:

It is time for those who wish to evolve, to evolve.

Our customs, traditions, principles, morals, ethics and especially spirituality
Are all the same foundational essences
As my childhood drawings.

They are the foundation for which my art improved and evolved to new mediums, new methods, new concepts, new ideas and new acceptance of things I could not fathom as a boy. I built upon them.

None shall fathom evolution while still drawing with crayons
None shall fathom evolution while still arguing to abandon the past
Or arguing to live by it.

Spiritual evolution requires that the boundaries of the mind
Shatter
And that the boundaries of the will
Be released.

I cannot discover the secrets of the universe
Using my own ideas.
Just as I cannot discover the wonders of photography
Using my crayon.

I would not find the world in my cave, survive the world in my tent, have eternal security in my hut, or grow a generational family all within the confines of my house.

We must move on. We must grow. We must evolve. We must accept what we fear. We must accept what we lack. We must accept what we already know. We must allow our inner world to crumble in order to be filled with a new inner world.

We must experience what we would not do before. We must express what we dare not express now. We must give what we did not give before. We must embrace what we have not seen. We must accept what we cannot understand.

I did not understand a film camera. All I was told is that it would make me a picture. Then I used it and it made me a new picture. Then I embraced it and learned about it.

Most of the world will never leave the paradigm of what they have been told to be.
They too must be as they are and they are also our brothers and sisters. Would you kill your brother? Would you harm your sister? Would you disown your family when you see them color with crayons? Would you not instead love them, revere them and celebrate the pictures they drew for you to see?

It is they who cannot grow that go to war, starve one another, steal from one another, and harm one another. Though it is ghastly, is it not unlike a fit of rage expressed by a 2 year old trying to control every toy?

Can we see the stagnation of the world around us?

Some on earth are simply finished with the old ideas.
These men and women I wish to know.
As the ancient texts have much to reveal
If we can see it with new eyes, and hear with new ears
And most especially with open hearts to God’s wisdom.

We are already more than we are; we have not known it yet
We are already able to evolve into an unconquerable love.
We are already a voice in a chorus made up of life far larger than we could ever imagine.

My spiritual house is not what it once was
And there is another home being discussed in the walls of this life.

I have loved all that I have been
As I too accept also all that is given to me now

Ryan o0o