posted on Dec, 17 2004 @ 07:36 AM
I'm going to speak to your post based on my set of beliefs, so please understand that.
I believe there are exactly two avenues that if we concentrate on we can become the fulfillment of what we could be spiritually.
1. The Vertical Path
The relationship with the Creator, the Father, the Divine One. If we put this path first, the second path becomes so much easier. Our relationship -
i.e. our spiritual growth according to the will of the Creator - empowers us to be the human that we need to be.
2. The Horizontal Path
Empowered by the vertical path, we become the steward to all that is around us. We show the spirit of God through our relationship with fellow human
beings and through our stewardship of the natural resources around us. We become the image of God's mercy, love and grace by the way we treat our
fellow humans. And our path horizontally can spark another human's vertical path.
Interestingly enough, for me, I find that the union of the vertical and the horizontal creates the sign of the cross - and for me, Christ is the
combiner - via the example of his life and his sacrifice - that helps me take the vertical path's power and apply it to my horizontal path.
Irrespective of your belief system, you can see when studying the atrocities of history, that had people apply the power and knowledge and FAITH form
the vertical path, the wrong-doings committed in the horizontal could never have been allowed to happen.