The Winds of Change

When I walked outside this afternoon, I was nearly blown off my feet by the heavy winds blowing across the area. And yes, dear Reader, it got me thinking.

Have you ever considered the wind? What is it, exactly?

Well, as I'm sure you know, the winds are caused by differences in air pressure, which are caused by the warming rays of the sun. As the sun shines on one side of the planet, the air is warmed and tends to move upward. Hot air, you may recall, rises. (As opposed to heat, which radiates, but that's another story.) The other half of the planet, which is in the darkness of night, experiences a cooling effect, which tends to make the air masses move downwards. Up and down: cycles occur and presto, we have the wind. (A simplified version, to be sure, but still relatively accurate.)

Another thing that I'm sure you are aware of is how I love to find the spiritual point of learning in any physical thing. I have referred to it before as my metaphor game. Anything can be seen as a metaphor for a spiritual truth, and I love to see if I can find at least one truth in anything.

So, how about the wind?

Well, the first thing that comes to mind is the way that the wind is formed. The sun heats up one part of the planet, and everything, even the air way on the other side, responds. You can be in the middle of the arctic during winter, when you don't see the light of the sun for months, and you will still feel its effects in the wind. That's kind of cool, especially in the arctic.

Most analogies like this, I've noticed, tend to have the sun representative of God. Given that as a starting point, what would that make the wind? I haven't really thought this one through, but I would think of it as the Word of God.

When God shines His light upon the planet, the whole world responds. It is sort of like when Baha'u'llah says, "through the rise of these Luminaries of God the world is made new", not just the part that receives His light at that moment.

If the light is the divine inspiration from the realms on high, then it only makes sense to me to think of the winds as the Word of God, which draws its strength from that Source of sources. But what good does it do us to think of it in this way?

Again, I'm not really sure, but let's look at the wind throughout human history.

At first, I believe that the wind was seen as a way to cool us off. Of course, we had to be careful, for it also carried our scent to those animals that we may have been hunting, or who were hunting us. Later, we probably discovered that it made the fire burn brighter. Next we learned how to harness that wind so that we could sail further in our boats. But today we seem to be going even further. We have made the wind to blow in our homes, providing comfort with either heat or air conditioning. We have generated power from the wind, through wind turbines. We sail our airplanes upon its currents. And we even carry it with us beyond the confines of our own atmosphere.

In other words, looking at this a little bit at a time, the Word of God can be seen as a comfort. (Oh, and please remember, this is only my own opinion here, and nothing official. I thought I should put that standard disclaimer here, just in case.) It provides the structure of our society, through its laws, and gives us reassurances about life after this world.

But there is a problem at the same time for some people: It carries the scent of our true selves to others. If we are not pure of heart and sincere, then others can tell. There is no hiding it, unless we are downwind, but even that stands out to those who are aware.

The winds of divine teachings also fan the flame of our faith, allowing it to burn ever stronger and brighter. We are suddenly able to do more, and others are more aware of it.

Early on in our development, we could use the Word of God to go places we never could have gone before. We could use it to explore far beyond our own limited borders. A whole world opened up to our eyes. We could, in a sense, sail to the distant shores of other cultures.

Today, even that has changed. Not only have we explored the boundaries of this world, but we are now beginning to explore even further afield. What used to take weeks or months to reach now takes only a few hours. The whole planet is, in effect, our neighbourhood. Beyond that, new planets are waiting, beckoning us to come forth. Nothing is the same any more. The Word of God is carrying us much further than we ever suspected was possible.

And we even see new potentials for releasing the power latent within the sacred texts. The training institute, often referred to as the engine that drives the process of entry by troops, is, in many ways, like the turbine, giving its energy to those who are tapped into it.

Wow.

I don't think I'll ever think of walking in the wind the same way again.

Oh, and just in case we think that this is all under our control, I'll lovingly point out the tornadoes and hurricanes.

Good night!