The planetary public health emergency and the new philosophy of living

My friend Christos from Crete asked me a few days ago, “What do you have to say to me about this terrible coronavirus adventure?”

For the audio file . . . .

I will respond to this question simply as a religious philosopher. To access the needed wisdom, I will draw primarily on the last four paragraphs of Paper 2. The first paragraph gives a historical and psychological diagnosis of modern secularism and then goes on to prescribe the cure. 

2:7.9 (43.2) The great mistake of the Hebrew religion was its failure to associate the goodness of God with the factual truths of science and the appealing beauty of art. As civilization progressed, and since religion continued to pursue the same unwise course of overemphasizing the goodness of God to the relative exclusion of truth and neglect of beauty, there developed an increasing tendency for certain types of men to turn away from the abstract and dissociated concept of isolated goodness. The overstressed and isolated morality of modern religion, which fails to hold the devotion and loyalty of many twentieth-century men, would rehabilitate itself if, in addition to its moral mandates, it would give equal consideration to the truths of science, philosophy, and spiritual experience, and to the beauties of the physical creation, the charm of intellectual art, and the grandeur of genuine character achievement.

How does this relate to the coronavirus public health emergency? When things get terrible, many people’s hostility to religion intensifies. Secularism sponsors an atheistic philosophy of science, dystopian arts, and an ethics stripped of the righteous power to contribute in an enduring way to the solution of the public health emergency, with its associated social, economic, and political dislocations. The Divine Counselor’s prescription for the disease of secularism that is not to replace the favorite disciplines of secularism with religion but to put all these disciplines into a fuller context.

            The next paragraph describes the new philosophy of living construction project, what the new philosophy will do for people, and how it will promote evolution in the concept of God.

2:7.10 (43.3) The religious challenge of this age is to those farseeing and forward-looking men and women of spiritual insight who will dare to construct a new and appealing philosophy of living out of the enlarged and exquisitely integrated modern concepts of cosmic truth, universe beauty, and divine goodness. Such a new and righteous vision of morality will attract all that is good in the mind of man and challenge that which is best in the human soul. Truth, beauty, and goodness are divine realities, and as man ascends the scale of spiritual living, these supreme qualities of the Eternal become increasingly co-ordinated and unified in God, who is love.

For now, I will simply note the concept of cosmic truth, which embraces the truths of science, philosophy, and spiritual experience. 

            The next paragraph is packed with teachings relevant to the planetary public health emergency. 

2:7.11 (43.4) All truth—material, philosophic, or spiritual—is both beautiful and good. All real beauty—material art or spiritual symmetry—is both true and good. All genuine goodness—whether personal morality, social equity, or divine ministry—is equally true and beautiful. Health, sanity, and happiness are integrations of truth, beauty, and goodness as they are blended in human experience. Such levels of efficient living come about through the unification of energy systems, idea systems, and spirit systems.

Although facts can be terrible, truth—all truth on all levels—is beautiful and good. But at first glance, the idea that health is an integration of truth, beauty, and goodness does not make a lot of sense. Even when a planet enters into light and life, there is continuing need for “well-appointed hospitals, homes for the care of the sick. There still remain the problems of caring for accidental injuries and the inescapable infirmities attendant upon the decrepitude of old age and the disorders of senility. Disease has not been entirely vanquished . . . .” (55:3.1/624.7). 

Next the paragraph tells how the blessings of the new philosophy will be gained. “Such levels of efficient living come about through the unification of energy systems, idea systems, and spirit systems.” But adding spiritual approaches to healing falls short. “Prayer is not a technique for curing real and organic diseases . . . . ” (91:6.2/999.5) We get some help by adding the truths of philosophy. “Intellectual deficiency or educational poverty unavoidably handicaps higher religious attainment because such an impoverished environment of the spiritual nature robs religion of its chief channel of philosophic contact with the world of scientific knowledge.” (102:3.1/1121.3) And cosmic truth, embracing the truths of science, philosophy, and spiritual experience, includes undiscovered truths, so the progress of science helps explain why health is partly an integration of truth.

The higher wisdom of the cosmic perspective of revelation is tremendously encouraging: things eventually work out—see the amazing first section of Paper 4. If we enlarge the time frame beyond a lifetime, we are all destined for radiant good health. And mastery of the biological realm evolves with the growth of the Supreme. The Apostle Paul did a magnificent job of attaining resilient attitudes in his later life, which was filled with a wide variety of afflictions that he came to regard as “slight and momentary.”

Now I’m starting to feel the exhaustion of my present human capacities to understand health in terms of the progress of truth. I take refuge in “unconquerable faith when confronted with the challenge of the inexplicable. In liaison with God, nothing—absolutely nothing—is impossible.” (26:5.3/291.3) But there may be more resources in truth. “Faith most willingly carries reason along as far as reason can go and then goes on with wisdom to the full philosophic limit; and then it dares to launch out upon the limitless and never-ending universe journey in the sole company of TRUTH.” (103:9.7/1141.5)

One more idea comes to mind. Truth leads beyond itself. Consider the beauty and goodness of truth, and the unification of the three supreme values in love. In this light, a different kind of question arises. How one can respond to the planetary public health emergency? The last paragraph describes the life of persons who are coordinated with supreme values and eternal realities. 

2:7.12 (43.5) Truth is coherent, beauty attractive, goodness stabilizing. And when these values of that which is real are co-ordinated in personality experience, the result is a high order of love conditioned by wisdom and qualified by loyalty. The real purpose of all universe education is to effect the better co-ordination of the isolated child of the worlds with the larger realities of his expanding experience. Reality is finite on the human level, infinite and eternal on the higher and divine levels.

            In an age when health, sanity, and happiness are in short supply on our world, we serve just by being an example of the integration that is lacking. “Of all the supercreations the [Solitary Messengers] most delight to serve in Orvonton because here the need is greatest and the opportunities for heroic effort are greatly multiplied.” (23:2.17. (259.3) The goal is sustainable heroism. In particular, we can become healers to the extent we are able and the Father wills. 

“Prayer . . . has contributed enormously to the enjoyment of abundant health and to the cure of numerous mental, emotional, and nervous ailments. And even in actual bacterial disease, prayer has many times added to the efficacy of other remedial procedures. Prayer has turned many an irritable and complaining invalid into a paragon of patience and made him an inspiration to all other human sufferers.” (91:6.2/999.5)

To pursue this inquiry further, see my document on HEALING that includes two healing meditations that I use with people; the second one was updated today; and about a third of the way into the document, I also added today some inspiring quotes from the apostle Paul regarding affliction.Several years ago I created a video, which, in a moment of twisted humor, I titled “Goodie, we get to serve in a crisis.”