The Spiritual Economy

All living things depend upon resources to live.  In the material world, as far as we are aware anyway, all living things depend upon energy to survive.  For most life on this planet this comes in the heat and light from the sun, either directly or indirectly.  Plants can convert sunlight directly into energy via photosynthesis, herbivores can consume the sunlight energy by eating the plants, and carnivors can consume the sunlight energy by eating the herbivores.  There are some rare species at the bottom of our oceans that can survive entirely upon the volcanic heat, which in turn is a result of stellar processes set in motion long ago.  There are some creatures in the depths of the ocean that are beyond light and much heat at all.  They are entirely dependent instead upon the detritus of the dead that fall from above.

We are spiritual beings incarnate in the material world, whether we are aware of this fact or not, and regardless of how aware we are of the spiritual world.  This spiritual world is like another coexisting within and beyond our own now, but beyond time and space.  It is another dimension and multi-dimensional.  What happens in the spiritual world can affect the material and vice versa.

In the spiritual world all things depend upon resources to live, just as we do in the material world.  This is the heat and light of the Eternal Sun, which religions may refer to as God or the Great Spirit or any number of other names.  It is One and the same.  It is the Source of all life that nourishes and sustains us.

This river of life is intense, too intense.  It is difficult for one to approach God or even gaze upon God, for the heat and light is too great to withstand.  But the purest of spiritual beings, those created and those risen, can sit in the river of life and feed creation.  This manna, as it has been called, is then passed down generation to generation, handed out as reward to those worthy for their goodness and righteousness.

But like our creatures of earth, there are other ways to acquire energy.  I can be thieved by bandits scheming a system they see as corrupt, and sometimes it is.  Some of them try to deceive the righteous into error so that they can be accused before spiritual court in exchange for settlement.  Spiritual energy can also be consumed by bullies, which our fables call monsters and demons, who devour it directly from others.  They may lure them to back alleys to rob and destroy them.  And some creatures, being unable to acquire energy efficiently themselves, give themselves away, exchanging mutual spiritual pleasure for energy in what becomes an amber trap, a black hole.

Climbing evermore towards the Sun to receive the heat and light directly is like being above water.  To acquire the energy indirectly by other means is like being a shark or octopus or angelfish other creature underwater.  Some religious fables call being above water angels and below water demons.  Neither is entirely true, and our myths have created such polarizing and limited views of what those are.

All creatures need this heat and light energy to survive, either directly or indirectly, even more than we need food and water in the material world.  It is easy for the birds of the air to look down upon the creatures of the deep and judge them, but all must do what they can efficiently to survive.

As one climbs ever higher towards the Sun, it can become too easy for some to be like Icarus, who let his hubris take over.  It is not wrong to get close to God, but it is wrong to judge those who are not.  Likewise, it not wrong to not be close to God, only wrong to judge those who are.

Right and wrong are not dependent upon your closeness to the Source of energy, just as the righteousness of a person on earth is not dependent upon how materially wealthy they are or the kind of career they have.  Some may have unfavorable careers because of circumstances outside their control.  What is right and what is wrong is instead how you treat one another, regardless of whether they are part of your flock or school of fish or not, or even below water (an unbeliever or non-seeker) when you are above (believer and seeker) or above water when you are below.

There are certainly some birds of the air who are corrupt or evil, blinded by their power, just as there are some creatures of the sea who are vicious and will strike any without warning.  Neither is inherently good nor evil.  It is merely a choice of how one wishes to acquire their spiritual energy and treat one another, either with fairness and compassion or not.  However, it is in many ways simpler and more secure to acquire this spiritual energy directly, above water, by approaching the Source.