THE VISION OF HARMONY AND THE PROBLEM OF EVIL

Fiddleneck and Popcorn in House Pits near Pounding Stone

POUNDING STONES AND THE PROBLEM OF EVIL

     I have some faith in my feet, so I follow ancient trails in the mountains to wherever they take me, and often, wherever I find the most Edenic places, I also discover pounding stones. More often than not, these places contain a stream that provides a unique kind of freshness, a primeval sublimity. Often when I encounter one of these streams, I feel like I have stepped through an invisible door into an unknown paradise that harbors a primal intelligence, an Over-Soul that hesitates to welcome humanity. Yet I also sense a sympathy dwelling within the spirits of nature, as if they harbor a love of all creation that gives way to tolerance for any soul, even a human soul, that reveals the same reverence.
     These feelings, of course, can be dismissed as mere fantasy. That’s fine: I am going to discuss a topic that probably will not be understood by those who have not seen the sun at midnight.  

Pestles on Pounding Stone

     How do we reconcile the Vision of Harmony with unspeakable evil?
     In the Qabalah, the Vision of Harmony is a spiritual experience assigned on the Tree of Life to Tiphareth, the sphere of Beauty and equilibrium, also known as the Christ-center. The vision consists of recognizing that each life is a field of energy within infinite fields of energy, all connected in a living tapestry. 

Pestle on Pounding Stone

     Evil, on one level, is misplaced energy, or energy operating in a harmful context. Boiling water for food is good. Boiling water with your fingers in it is evil. Wood burning in the fireplace is good. Wood burning on the carpet is evil. Gasoline used to power a vehicle is good. Gasoline used to burn down someone’s home is evil. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries we have experienced misplaced and harmful energy on an unprecedented scale: industrial and technological energy that destroys entire ecosystems and races. 
     Most of us at some point ask how evil can exist in a universe created by a loving God and conclude that a God does not exist or is not at all loving. When I find a pounding stone in a pristine place, I feel the need to re-examine everything I’ve ever known. I sometimes can’t help but wonder how God could allow one race to kill off another. The very fact that I can roam freely in these pristine areas due to their designation as public lands means that the Native American descendents of the survivors of genocide cannot return to live permanently in their ancestral home.
     I have lived just over half a century, the blink of an eye. According to historical records, the last encampments of the Native Americans in these hills occurred in 1917. In some of the more secluded areas of the mountains, where I find house pits as well as pestles still in the mortars of the pounding stones, I begin to suspect that small clans or individuals remained in secluded areas well into the twentieth century. Sometimes, because of the distinctness of the trails and the house pits, I even suspect that the last survivors of genocide disappeared from their home lands not long before I was born.

Pestles on Pounding Stone

     World War II, which included the genocide of over six million people, ended fifteen years before I was born. My father and his brothers served during the great war; two of my uncles survived being shot down by Germans. If you have grown up knowing that you and the rest of the planet can be incinerated at any moment, you do not need to have experienced war or concentration camps to understand evil. Most of us are well aware that humanity is still capable of raining down total destruction upon the planet. 
     How is it possible that one can experience a spiritual emergence and continue to grow as a human being despite this evil? How is it possible that a person can still experience the magnificence, abundance and harmony of the human spirit despite all the suffering and fear and hopelessness? 

Pestle in Mortar

     As I have explained in previous posts, in my early forties, I unexpectedly experienced a spiritual emergence through meditation. Before that, I was a cynical agnostic who scoffed at any manifestation of spirituality. I believed that anyone who claimed to have a spiritual life was naive, deluded, or deceitful. I still occasionally shake my head in disbelief when I think about how much I have changed in the past decade.
     During meditation I was introduced to an ancient spiritual glyph known as the Tree of Life through visions of symbols associated with the Tree, before I ever actually encountered the great composite symbol itself. Used by the Qabalist as a map of spiritual terrain, the Tree of Life reveals on one level the evolution of the dimensions of the cosmos. Within the first dimension, known as Kether, which evolved from the unmanifest, total unity abides.  As the other dimensions evolved, different polarities came into being. For purposes of illustration, imagine a pole with a rainbow spectrum of colors, with white at one end and black at the other. Each sphere on the Tree except for Kether contains such a pole with a spectrum of energy. All of the polarities manifest in the final sphere, the Kingdom, the physical universe.

Pestles on Pounding Stone

     On the Tree there is never any fixed duality of good and evil, just degrees within a spectrum on a pole of energy. A constant battle between God and the devil does not exist, only balance or imbalance within a range of possibilities.
     We have evolved to the point where we can create like gods and destroy like gods, but the God of Creation seems absent. We see evidence of evolution everywhere in the physical universe but rarely entertain the possibility of evolution in other dimensions of the cosmos.
     Operating from first principles, the Qabalist recognizes the God of creation, the prime mover, the fashioner of the egg. God designed the laws of the cosmos and set evolution in motion. The archetypal laws abide throughout the cosmos, no matter the fate of one species. The Earth is but one miniscule planet within a universe containing hundreds of billions of galaxies and trillions of stars, and, as one mystic points out, the entire physical universe itself is merely like foam thrown upon the seashore.  The Qabalist believes that the cosmic energies, including the potential for all of the polarities, also exist within each individual human being. 

Pestle on Pounding Stone

     Life, including human life, as a whole tends towards balance. Throughout the entire cosmos, harmony prevails, or there would be only chaos. At times massive upheavals occur. Stars supernova and galaxies collide. If a species destroys a planet, the cosmos will continue evolving.  Life will eventually continue again on that little planet when conditions are right. 
     The difference between the natural world and humanity is that people can choose whether or not to disrupt the balance of nature or society. Sometimes, of course, upheaval is necessary in oppressive societies where those in power employ harmful energies for their own benefit. Those who fight for greater balance and strive for the highest good are courageous in that context. Those who disrupt for their personal gain merely cause evil to breed.

Pestles in Pounding Stone

    Never has there been a time when a human being can be more distinctly individual while at the same time needing to act as though for the whole society. Because of our technological advances, opportunities for massive injustices and great evil within human society at this stage of evolution always exist. Each individual can only control his or her own personal sphere, but the fate of the whole species seems to rest on each individual’s shoulders: The more each person chooses a path of harmony and balance, the more likely others will do the same. The opposite, of course, is also true.
     As a species, humanity, while creating or destroying, tends to learn slowly from its vices and virtues--a virtue being a harmonious, balanced use of a type of energy, and a vice being an unbalanced use of a type of energy. As I mentioned, polarities from each sphere, or state of being, on the Tree of Life manifest in the Kingdom. Depending on the situation, we can choose to manifest the virtue or vice from any sphere. With the energy of the state of being known as Geburah (Severity), which is associated with Mars, for instance, we can approach a problem with discipline, courage and vitality or with cruelty and destructiveness. With the energy of the state of being known as Hod (Splendor), we can deal truthfully or deceitfully with each other. With the energy of the state of being known as Tiphareth (Beauty), we can be loving and selfless or full of hate and pride. In other words, with the energy of each state of being represented on the Tree of Life, we can choose to manifest the highest good or the worst evil--or something in between.

Grass Growing from Mortar:
San Joaquin River Gorge Special Recreation Management Area

     I had a professor in college who claimed that due to the horrors of the twentieth century we can no longer believe in the magnificence of the human spirit. I have come to conclude that evil and good exist within different contexts and on different scales, but polarities don’t change even if humanity is truly being challenged as never before. The human spirit, which has the potential for great evil, also has the potential for greater magnificence the greater the evil becomes. As individuals, groups, and societies we must always choose either virtue or vice, balance or lack of balance, no matter how desperate the circumstances. 
     The spiritual experience known as the Vision of Harmony establishes an imaginative connection with all life so that we may understand polarities and strive for the highest good. It does not lead to a naive belief that harmony will always prevail in society but to a recognition that we can choose to use energy in a balanced or unbalanced way. Personally I would prefer to preserve the paradises that still exist and honor the magnificence, harmony, and abundance within the human spirit.