Dawning
The world seems to be changing. For many people these are distressing times. The future seems uncertain. People today don’t seem to ever have enough. They want new and improved. We seek more and more. But is it material goods we seek or is it something else? Is it in truth more spirituality we seek?
There seems to be a trend for an increased disconnect between people. We interact more and more on social media. We stay home and order just about anything online and have it delivered. More and more people are feeling empty, alone, lost. We turn to gadgets to fill the need.
We see the darkness and seek the light. But the light is there. Look at it this way. When you turn on a light in your home during daylight hours, you hardly notice. But as the evening falls and the sun goes down, we notice the light more. It has been on the whole time, but it is not noticed until the darkness came. What we need is a dawning.
I would like to introduce you to Hlidskjalf. This is the throne of Odin, chief of the Norse Gods. It was the throne from which he could see all the world at once. As such, it is a very high place. It is a place worth visiting.
If you have ever viewed the dawn from a very high place you know that the night first resists the dawn seemingly unwilling to allow the light to expose the world. As it first peers over the horizon, the sun seems to shine directly on you, brightening a narrow band of the world before you. As the sun rises, more and more of what lies on either side of that band is illuminated. And the dawn becomes a day. Becoming spiritually lifted is like a dawning. In the beginning everyone mires around in darkness. Then through the labor of spiritual study, a rush of insight brightens a field of knowledge.
You will become spiritually lifted only if you force the dawning. But to do that you need the help of certain teachers.
How are you to identify these teachers? They are not found in any one place. They are sprinkled everywhere. They are not those who entertain, though some are entertaining. They are not those who present well organized speeches, though some of them do. You will not identify these teachers by their lifestyle. Rather, you will identify them by what and how they get you to learn. These are teachers who are interested in more than their field of expertise. These are teachers who demand you theorize, that you create understanding, and these are teachers who will show you how to do all that.
Becoming spiritually lifted is a difficult task. This kind of learning is difficult to teach, but you must demand it of your teachers. This kind of learning is difficult to attain, but you must demand it of yourself. It requires great effort from all; it is demanding and exacting.
Your knowledge will expand, but it will become less certain; you will become restless, inquiring. Easy assumptions and comfortable prejudices will be challenged by doubt and concern. Conformist opinion will begin to be replaced by unpopular belief, apathy by principled action.
I urge each of you to make the climb to Hlidskjalf. The climb to Hlidskjalf is long and arduous. The risks of the climb are many. But the climb is exhilarating, and the view is spectacular.