A meditation and poem for the ending of the year

Do not wait for the kingdom of God as you would a political or social organisation that comes to impose itself on earth. The kingdom of God is first and foremost a state of consciousness, a way of living and working. That is why it cannot be realised on the physical plane until it is first realised in our thoughts. Once realised in our thoughts it will descend into the heart, into our feelings, and it is then that it can finally be expressed in our actions. For such is the order of manifestation in matter: thought – feeling – action.

One day the kingdom of God will manifest tangibly on earth, but first it must enter the thoughts and feelings of human beings. And we can see that the process has already begun. Thousands of men and women in the world nourish within themselves the ideal and love of the kingdom of God; there are many more than you may think. And in some of them, in their conduct and their way of life, the kingdom of God has in fact already come about; and even if we don’t know them, it is with them that we are working.

Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

The choir I sing with sang a musical version of the poem below for our Christmas concert last year. It is called Ring Out, Wild Bells and was written during the Victorian era by Alfred Lord Tennyson. It seems very relevant to the social and political situations of today. Like the master’s words above, it looks forward to a purer, more loving and just society, one founded on divine law.

As 2017 ends, let’s ring out all racism, prejudice, egotism and mindless complacency from our societies  and ring in larger, nobler hearts and minds-  understanding, peace and love between all people:    (SJJ)

Ring Out, Wild Bells

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
   The flying cloud, the frosty light:
   The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
   Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
   The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind
   For those that here we see no more;
   Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
   And ancient forms of party strife;
   Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
   The faithless coldness of the times;
   Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
   The civic slander and the spite;
   Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
   Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
   Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
   The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
   Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

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