Holiday cards.

 

Holiday cards.

Thirty years ago, we used to get, on average, fifty Christmas cards. Some were from people that we only heard from on the holidays and often some notes told us what was new in their lives. Now it’s a week before Christmas and we have six cards. We sent ours some time ago. Holiday wishes on the screen are not the same. They come and go, leaving an empty feeling. Of course, the price of postage plays a role, but it reflects on the relationships between people as well. There is less commitment and less time for each person. We want a superficial relationship that is down to the bones. Like all things, we go for quantity, not quality in our modern life. Some of my Facebook friends have thousands of “friends” and they are lonely.

Out of the six cards, one impressed me the most. It is a painting depicting a couple of homes in the forest by mountains in the light of a full moon. Could have been taken in the Crowsnest Pass. The written message is, “Peace on Earth.” No religious sayings, just one wish. Rick and Joan, who sent it to us, have no children. They are Christians and lived in Calgary most of their lives. Now close to eighty years of age, why is their number one wish for peace on Earth? Don’t they care about prosperity, the sad state of health care, or our deteriorating safety with all the cheating and crime that is going on? Don’t they want fewer taxes and more services? Why did they drop the mention of our Christian heritage? Don’t they worry about other races taking the country over as they used to?

My research shows that Earth at different periods had over twenty-four kinds of humans, some coexisting at the same periods. Some go back hundreds of thousands of years and we have bones and artifacts to prove it. Modern science improved our ability to investigate those past societies and even reconstruct how they lived. The planet changed and the climate also changed. There were floods, earthquakes, and droughts and changes lasted much more than a human’s lifetime. At times, human populations almost vanished, and at other times experienced overpopulation in some areas. Humans of all sorts and sizes adapted and survived much longer than we homo sapiens existed in the current period. However, we are the winners. All the other types of humans disappeared, and we flourished. There were humans with bigger brains and stronger bodies, but we were more adaptable and capable of working together. Now we are approaching eight billion individuals on Earth and risking the collective suicide of human civilization. I pray not to be the last human on Earth.

I had a dream once, where I was a raven flying over a destroyed Earth. There were cities broken down, ships half sunk and trains overturned. I was exhausted looking for a place to land, but there was none. Everything was broken down and there were no people or other living things. I cawed, as ravens do, but an answer never came.

Peace on Earth, or the survival of our species, should be everyone’s top priority and we have had warnings and instructions on how to achieve it for thousands of years now.

If we want to research, using the latest technology available, the information is free. The Earth is full of evidence of past civilizations assumingly of human societies that often surpassed our present. It’s underwater, under the ground, and frozen in ice. Much of it is simply existing in the open, but people are so used to it they do not see it. When I was in Israel, I saw old ruins that were built by ancient technology that we can’t repeat today. Egypt has a lot more.

There is no way to deal with all the available data in a short newspaper column. We are vulnerable to extinction, but also close to perfect existence as described by dreams of heaven. If we look at the world today, we see great danger looming. Wars, natural disasters, and evil people with enormous power at their fingertips. Our weapons can destroy humankind, and so can our personal want of power. Those who are comfortable are under siege by those who have nothing. Look at the borders of most rich countries. When in trouble we say “God help us”, yet we don’t follow His instructions. It’s simple. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Do it and you have peace on Earth as written on the Christmas card.

In the beginning, God or “Holy Spirit” hovered above “Tohu Va-Vohu” or “formless void” in English, and later He created humans in His image. (Genesis.) We are a spirit that can have a material form created from the dirt of the Earth. A spirit is eternal, but bodies are not. To survive in material bodies, we are instructed to function as one body that takes care of all its parts, which are all needed in some way.

Christmas is coming, and I have a wish. I wish that people, regardless of their religious affiliations, will spend time contemplating the spiritual message that all faiths have. Go with your community, thank God for what we have, and figure out how to spread the goodness. Go to your temple and contemplate what the Christian faith is about.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.