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FROM SHUMEI MAGAZINE, Vol. 240. JULY/AUGUST 2002 East Meets West at the Confluence To set the scene, my point of entry into this body was in Jamaica, where I spent my formative years and as a young adult, I joined my parents in the UK, where I now live. My physical birth took place within a Christian environment. However, after many years of searching for a spiritual context, which answered most of my questions about my true identity, I now practice a spiritual discipline, which originates from the East. When I reflect on this life experience of crossing different boundaries of race, culture, religious, and spiritual disciplines, I always see myself as a child of the universe. This comes from an inner knowing that throughout my past lives I have lived in the four corners of the earth crossing diverse boundaries of even greater depths: I have lived in different bodies in all five continents many times over, therefore, I was European, Asian, African, and North and South American. It is this inner knowing that informs me that I have practiced some of the main religious disciplines, and continued down those branches as the disciplines changed throughout the centuries. It is also this inner knowing which leads me back to my starting point of many centuries ago - to my soul's purpose, to God. Sometime ago, at the beginning of the world cycle, we lived together as spiritual beings in a context where our eternal religion was peace and in that state of happiness, differences had no place. Our original eternal identity was that of being souls with innate qualities of unconditional love, peace, happiness, truth, and purity. These being the basis of a divine mind and intellect. We were truly peaceful and powerful beings and existed only in the consciousness of being souls. Differences leading to conflicts and wars, disturbances of the elements, and physical diseases had no place in this experience. The duration of this period lasted for half the world cycle and is referred to as the Age of Day, and in other contexts, the Golden and Silver Ages, or Heaven. This period is hardly documented in any religious scriptures. We existed on a landmass, and the West, as we know it today, did not exist. Sometime during the confluence between this period (end of Day and beginning of Night) and the next, a pole shift occurred, causing the geographical continental division to create the world as we know it today. Civilization during the Age of Day and the early part of the Age of Night was centered in this one geographical location. Then the Age of Night began to fall: we began to separate from ourselves and God, lose awareness of our original eternal identity, go in different religious directions and wander off to different lands. During this period, the great prophet souls, Buddha, Mohammed, Abraham, and Jesus Christ, each came to share a message to guide us back to the path of truth. These scriptures became the basis of the different branches of religious paths such as Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity, setting the scene for further fragmentation, as these original messages were reinterpreted down the centuries. So, we moved away from our eternal original form, from God our father, and from each other spiritually, physically, and geographically. The notion of reincarnation and rebirth provides much insight into how the Age of Night began. It points to a journey of many different births, races, cultures, and religions throughout the four corners of the earth, as we progressed around the cycle only to find ourselves reuniting at the confluence to begin a new experience. This means that during our journey, we have all experienced traditional Eastern religions and many others, including sects, and cults in some shape or form. As old souls, some of us will today see statues (of idols in temples, museums, and other public institutions) we once were a long time ago. We journeyed down a tree of life with an array of different branches of ideologies, religious, and spiritual disciplines ranging from worship of gods, deities, to nature and the elements. Whereas down the generations, our biological ancestry loses its significance, our status as eternal souls means we are the spiritual ancestors for each other. It is the soul that perpetuates as it continues to shed a body only to take another, sometimes into another race, culture, religion, and gender. This type of ancestry is perpetual, it cannot become lost in the spiritual genealogical tree. We are children of the one supreme Father and we began our journey at the same place and there we will return. True ancestral healing lies in the heart of spiritual healing where the result is world transformation. As we begin to converge at the Confluence, we bring together an abundance of spiritual knowledge about how to achieve balance in returning to a state of wholesomeness. (Note: the convergence is also a confluence between East and West!). Not surprisingly, at a time when the focus is on world peace for those of us who are aware, there is much emphasis on developing inner peace as the primary solution for world transformation. Indeed the East/West paradox is evident in the respective cultural, spiritual, and institutional norms and values. That is, the East is ruled by the heart and the West by the head. Indeed, a significant contribution from the East to this 'spiritual melting pot' is how to connect to the heart and soul, whereas the value base in the West is governed by the use of the mind and intellect. In the West, we intellectualize values such as integrity, honesty, silence, humility, respect, compassion, dignity, and cooperation to such an extent that we lose the essence of BEING. The East reminds us that these qualities and values are innately a part of our identity. We have spent so much time in action (proving ourselves) that we have forgotten how to BE. Dadi Janki, Administrative Head of the Brahma Kumaris, World Spiritual University sums it up in the following statement: "Most often, what the world calls
humility is not what humility is really about. The world would have
us be impressed by humble speech and polite behaviors. However,
humility is more an internal aspect, connected to a humble state
of mind." In the East, there is a strong tendency to place the needs of the group over and above the needs of the individual, whereas in many Western countries, the converse is true. When both aspects of heart and soul, and mind and intellect are working in harmony there is tremendous healing potential for everyone involved. The saying, "As I transform myself, I transform the world," suggests that it is the "being" that transforms the world and not the "action." That is, self-realization and transformation must occur before an individual is able to contribute effectively to the whole. On the other hand, the practice of placing emphasis on the group, especially in the contexts of the spiritual organizations and the extended family, has much to offer the West. Essential to these practices is a Godly message of unconditional love, selflessness, compassion, unity, and co-operation. It would seem that together with a strong faith in God, this value system enabled the Seagulls of Shinji Shumeikai to travel to other parts of the world under extremely challenging circumstances to share Meishusama's philosophy and the practice of Jyorei. Despite their very young ages, they had a commitment to doing spiritual service that far outweighed their own individual needs. The focus on East meeting West at the Confluence revolves around the work of interfaith and world peace as being intrinsic to world transformation. Given the history of the world drama, at the darkest point of Night, just before the dawn of Day, our role is to change matter through changing our consciousness. The process of giving and receiving presents us with the opportunity for healing and transformation. Having moved away from each other and fought physical and intellectual battles based on differences of everything related to our physical reality, the convergence is about acknowledging that what we held dear was only an illusion. For some of us, world peace becomes the truth when compared with religious, spiritual, cultural, national, and racial pride. At the London Shumei Center, it is heartwarming to see the commitment of a strong multi-cultural, multiracial, and multi-religious spiritual family who have tremendous unconditional love and respect for each other despite our different belief systems. The Seagulls have provided an environment that fosters values based on building a universal spiritual family where individuals only see the goodness and similarities in each other, rather than differences. In such a context, differences can be utilized to determine how the whole group can derive benefit. We are aware that there is much to be done during the Confluence when destruction of Night and reconstruction of the Age of Day must occur. In other words, purification and transformation of consciousness (soul and intellect, mind) and matter (body, earth, and its infra-structure) is now taking place. In order for this to happen, souls from different parts of the world who have a significant role to play at this stage in the world drama are converging together to bring it about. This rebirthing process occurs through our collective consciousness in our different forms of spiritual disciplines, but there is also a physical convergence. We bring different skills, knowledge, and experiences from our different cultural, religious, spiritual, and racial perspectives, which compliment and further the fulfillment of our goal to reclaim our spiritual identity and show the paths to others. One important facet of reconstruction is to create heaven here on earth: transforming our consciousness to that of angels and deities who will be the inhabitants of the Age of Day. As we continue to reflect these values, virtues, and qualities in living together as a universal spiritual family, our environment is also transformed to depict heaven on earth. Misono and Miho Museum (Shinji Shumeikai) and Mount Abu (Brahma Kumaris) are typical examples. In summary, the significance of East meeting West at the Confluence is applicable to the function of the world cycle: without the actors and the stage, the cycle would not spin. A cycle revolves in the same way as a clock does - turning Night into Day and Day into Night. As the hands of the clock move around the circle, our circumstances change according to the stated time. As souls, many of us (especially those meeting at this time) have been around the clock almost full circle. We have met before, done these things before. Therefore, we have an inner knowing about where to position ourselves at this very important time of the Confluence. We bring with us from our different contexts, different knowledge, and experiences we have gained in this and in other lifetimes, in an atmosphere of giving and receiving. This convergence is one of remembering who we truly are and as we remember, we are re-constructing the reality of truth about ourselves that we left so long ago.
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