(Part 1)
A real change comes to pass through insight, mindfulness and compassion
G. F.: In occidental thinking, the idea played a major role that there is a “bashing and stabbing” in nature and that man is also a natural being. From this it was quite clear that man – just like nature – must be brought under control. Even today, new laws are always being enacted to curb the driving forces of man and to create order for the smoothest possible coexistence. How do you see this idea of control?
D. U.: History has shown, especially in the Occident, that forced cooperation has caused a lot of suffering. This was particularly blatant in totalitarian systems. And it is also very clear today what we are doing to this planet with our economic systems and our control of nature.
In order to maintain our systems and ways of life, we emit 180 million tonnes of CO2 globally every day, we exterminate 150 plant and animal species every day, we lose 50,000 tonnes of fertile soil every day and we increase the size of deserts by about 80,000 hectares every day. Our greed for meat, to mention just one aspect, is increasingly destroying the rainforests. Politics and the greed of Homo sapiens demand growth, growth, growth.
We will not get real change with fear, violence and control, but with insight, mindfulness and compassion.
G. F.: Can we also cooperate with nature? Nature serves us in many ways. It gives us the basis for life. Can we also give it something? Does nature also have an inner life?
We can understand the signatures of nature in an imaginative way
D. U.: Certainly we can cooperate with nature and its wisdom of self-regulation. But to do so, we must be prepared to observe its rhythms, its terrain and the symbioses with which it is interconnected and which give it its basis for life.
We can learn to understand its signature in an imaginative way so that we can find a synergy again with the creative force through which it arises and nurture it in a responsible way without exploiting it. Fortunately, there are many approaches in agriculture and nature conservation today that are selfless in this regard. This gives us some hope.
G. F.: One characteristic of our development is the unfolding of the ego. Everyone feels like a subject and takes care of himself and his own. The world and the plants and animals – perhaps apart from individual pets – are seen as objects. Common medicine also sees the body as an object on which something can be repaired and which must be controlled. The ego asserts itself in its existence, it wants to and must be a ruler. What is it about this ego?
D. U.: The ego is an expression of the self-reflexive capacity of our subjective consciousness. It gains its knowledge from sensory perceptions and their interpretation by the rational mind.
In order to be able to perceive oneself as an I-conscious being, a separation must take place from everything that is not me. This separating consciousness, which the causal-analytical mind uses for its insights, easily leads into a dual thinking of irreconcilable opposites, excludes the invisible spirit and orients itself towards visible matter.
The mind can be the servant of intuition
In his newly developed self-importance, man has forgotten that his perfection into a complete human being is only achieved when there is perfect synchronisation between the rational mind and the indwelling spirit. Then the rational thoughts no longer function as narcissistic troublemakers, but they become helpful co-workers in the order of creation. Then the mind has again become the servant of the divine gift of intuition, as Einstein recognised. This is the highest form of voluntary cooperation.
G. F.: Is the ego, as which we show ourselves daily, the core of our existence?
D. U.: The core of our existence is our eternal spirit-soul identity, the Son of Heaven, as it were, who in this incarnation has united with the child of earth, our mortal personality.
The I in our personality is a temporal manifestation with the help of which we gain experiences and knowledge that serve as a growth of consciousness, so that through self-knowledge we can discover the meaningfulness of our life and correspond to our life tasks.
If you seek the eternal in you with your whole heart, you will find it.
G. F.: What about the spiritual paths? Can they cooperate with each other?
A spiritual cooperation of people from different religions
D. U.: I am sure that there will be a spiritual cooperation that is carried out by people who have freed themselves from all dogmatism and all consciousness of separation that has led to the apparent incompatibility of the monotheistic religions in particular. People from all religions will take their place in this communal effort and add their experiential contribution and spiritual power.
Spiritual paths all ultimately have the same goal. Truth is unchanging in itself. It changes its forms and its garments, but in the end all living beings are on their way to this one goal. Therefore, the possibility of cooperation is always given.
Cooperative interaction is certainly the most effective model for a higher complexity of consciousness, as the diversity of different experiential harvests is integrated into one commonality.
G. F.: Can the human organism grow beyond itself through cooperation?
D. U.: I believe that the only possibility for humanity in the present critical situation on its planet is to manage, through spiritually oriented cooperation, the ascent into a transpersonal consciousness in which the oneness of all living things can be experienced.
Peace is possible, love is possible, justice is possible
The transformation of our consciousness is due and possible. It is best achieved through genuine altruistic cooperation.
All problems caused by human beings can also be solved by them: Peace is possible, love is possible, justice is possible, nature conservation is possible, ethics in the economy is possible, and a better world is possible!
We only have to find ourselves willing to help bring about the progress of evolution in this sense. It is no longer about personal progress, no longer about one’s own enlightenment, it is about the elevation of human consciousness to a new stage of evolution.
G. F.: Thank you very much for this interview, Dr. Uecker.
