Can it take 44-46 together? In the end love is doing the impossible. Sure, being in love, natural kindness, solidarity, all helps. But in the end it’s an act of will. Ich muss, darauf ich kann, said Kant. If we must, we ask for help. This is where the love of God is given, in my experience. God is a surpriser, a beggar in the mystical tradition, who begs us to let ourselves be loved. He comes in the most unlikely people. To ask to see God in the other is to begin to see people how they are, loveable even in their quirkiness. Then we becomes icons, radiating the divine light of love. Yours for the asking.

47.Are there “other worlds,” invisible, or maybe just barely visible? If these worlds exist, are they “spiritual” or just different? Who or what, if anything, lives there? And does any of this really matter to how I live my life?

In my experience, we become aware of them when we learn to be present. Seven Heavens, according to early Christianity – see Irenaeus, Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, 9. Seven layers of reality. Dance is a great school of becoming aware of these levels, which are in everything – spirit in matter.

I believe the devil is out there AND within us, working usually at the level of our unconscious. In owning our unconscious we can allow our shadow side to become enlightened and integrated. For me this happens through Christ, who is the Divine All-Light, and as man is the exemplar of the perfectly integrated human being. The very real existence of black magic and a few cases of possession suggest to me that the devil is a real external force.

15.Is it good or bad to be passionate? I hear conflicting opinions.
It’s great to be passionate. Let the passion be integrated with our reasoning/wisdom and passion will help us put that wisdom into action. Like a focussed flame. Unintegrated passion is as spectacular and potentially destructive as a bushfire.

16.Am I nothing but a character in a “cosmic dream”? What am I then? Where am I? Am I anyone at all?

Hey come on. You’re yourself AND you’re part of the cosmos. Let the light shine in the darkness of your confusion, and you’re getting empowered to be an agent for cosmic good.

17.Is it good to suffer? How so? And why do I suffer? I always try to do the right thing! And what exactly am I supposed to learn from suffering? Am I “undergoing purification” or “screwing up” or just hurting for no particular reason? Are the apparently happy people actually enlightened saints? Successful fulfillers of our common human desires? Lucky bastards? Mindless idiots?

I don’t know any truly happy people who don’t have some suffering in their lives. I really recommend Miriam Greenspan’s book “Healing Through the Dark Emotions: the Wisdom of Grief, Fear and Despair” (Shambhala, 2003).

And as for q80. I refer you to the conference of the birds….

…sometimes a good answer is better than the right one.

Creation is the depths and origins of place.

2. Was or is there a Creator? Or a Big Bang? Or, in some way or other, has everything always been here?

Creation is always going on, it is what underlies and sustains the physical processes of coming to be and passing away. When we are creative we link in with this and come to understand it better.

3. Are things getting better or are they getting worse? Both? Can’t tell without seeing the future!

We’re just in a time of change. We need prophetic wisdom – and prophets, according to Aquinas, are not people who see the future, but who see the depths of the present.

4. Is epidemic depression and bipolar misery caused by chemical imbalance or by residence in some kind of baffling hell?

I suspect it’s always been there. But we are at a shift in history – like the end of the Roman Empire or the Renaissance – and at times of shift things hidden are revealed – “shouted from the rooftops”, to use the words of Jesus. This isn’t a bad thing – it’s an opportunity for healing.

6 & 7. How can I ever hope to cope with the colossal aggravating Problem of Good and Evil?
Is virtue rewarded and vice punished? How can we identify virtue and vice? Do bad people get away with it – as it often seems – and good innocent people get screwed – as it seems even more often?

To ask those questions is to be invited to journey. When Sergii Bulgakov’ s young son died, and he was at his funeral in the beautiful liturgy of the Russian Orthodox Church,, Bulgakov received a deep sense that his son lived and would rise again. Soon after he became a priest.

8. If there is a God, does He or She really care about us? Even know about us? It really doesn’t seem that way! An “Infinite Benevolence”? Convince me.

Try some movement/dance (yes you can, and you don’t need to know steps) – it will heighten your sensitivity to what is. Then pray.

Thanks for these great questions. Will come back soon and try answering some more.

Charles your help is required here.

4.Is epidemic depression and bipolar misery caused by chemical imbalance or by residence in some kind of baffling hell?

I recentley have had a major change in my life situation and one of the things to crop up was that I am bi-polar. It is not misery and it is not hell. It makes life more challenging because sometimes it is so hard to get going, and at others you can’t stop moving. To give you an idea, last weekend I spent my entire months salary in one night, it was because I was manic, it never entered my head once that I might need this money for the rest of the month. Not once. But when I woke up two days later the depressive side would not stop reminding me. Yet with experience you learn to give things time, I say silly things like the universe told me to do it or it is a sign from the whole chaotic mix of things…but the truth is that ill or not I was aware the entire time, as I am now. So in answer to this question I would say it is the same for everyone. You just have to remember, chin up and walk tall…pretend you know what you are doing and be confident in it. No one knows, that is why we keep on asking, as if someone is going to stand up and say,”Hi, yeah I know what is going on”. I like the Quaranic verse, I don’t remember it outright but the Lord says, “I was a hidden treasure and I wished to know myself so I created the universe”. How wonderful is that, It is like saying , “Know thyself”. So no, depression, bi-polar or whatever is just as it is, some people suffer with it, some people fight it, and others just get on with it. I, just keep playing hide and seek, look and find and pretend I have any idea what is going on. I suppose what I am saying is tonight I’ve watched some good TV, I’ve had a few too many Bourbon and Cokes, I’ve eaten a lovely pizza and yet I’m still bi-polar and I am good with that…..there is nothing hellish, diabolical or anything sinister with it…that reminds me I must water the plants. Life goes on….I personally think there is nothing but God, so it doesn’t really bother me, yet I have a friend who is a classic alien abductee, he’s in his late 50′s and has no idea. He says, without reading stuff what you hear on every website. I tried to tell him to consider the metaphysical aspect but all I got because his memories were so clear and vivd was this was the course he is taking. I mean I have had experience with these things but if I was in the business he would be Gold dust. You see for a lot of people things have to be real. Verifiable. This is such a new phenomena it should be enblazoned accross the Royal Society’s coat of arms. Now I am mainic at the moment and a little drunk but does what I say seem like baffling hell or misery…I don’t think so. That said I told my boss straight up what was going on, it turns out that if you give people an inch they will GIVE a yard. best thoughts and sorry for the rant.

I’ve thought some more since I responded to those first 20 questions, and I wanted to add something. In Sufism, the way to illumination, according to Laleh Bakhtiar in her book ‘Sufism – Expressions of the Mystic Quest’ is often “described as consisting of three attainments: The Knowledge of Certainty, The Eye of Certainty and the Truth of Certainty. The distinction may be understood by taking fire as the symbol of truth. To attain the knowledge of Certainty is to know fire after having heard it described. To attain the Eye of Certainty is to know fire from seeing the light of its flames. The highest attainment the Truth of Certainty, belongs to those who know fire from having been consumed in it.”

When I re-read my post I felt a debt of gratitude to writers like Frithjof Schuon and S.H Nasr, because I would not have had a clue about Truth if I hadn’t been pointed the way in their books, and I certainly would not have seen the light of its flames. I don’t think what I wrote is good or even accurate but I’m a little astonished that in this day and age I wrote anything at all.