resolving our dilemma

In accord with age-old terminology, let us call the spiritual forces of the Unseen the realm of the heavens, or the heavenly, and the denser spiritual energies forming into matter and the Seen, the realm of the earth, or the earthly. These realms interpenetrate, interwhirl. Perhaps the Tao sign gives the clearest pictorial representation of this: the eternal mutual chasing of the dark by the light and of the light by the dark while each contains a portion of the other.

As earth beings, we tend to identify with the realm of the Seen, of denser energies. We tend to call the the realm of the Seen the "real world." We say that only matter matters. As heavenly beings, we know that is not so. We know the powers of love, of releasing ourselves from all attachment to the denser energies of matter. When thanked for our lovingkindness, we say no matter.

This is the dilemma of being a human. We can get caught between these two forces (di-lemma means to be stuck between two (di) situations (lemmas). The answer is to not pit them against each other and to feel as if one has to make some sort of forced choice between them (earthly vs. heavenly, worldly vs. saintly, demon vs. daimon, devil vs. angel, material vs. spiritual) but to allow these two forces that we are to inter-spin.

The heavenly energies cry out to be known, seek embodying; the earthly energies call out for nourishment and growth. The flower of the lotus (a plant deeply rooted in muck and darkness) opens when the heavenly body of the sun appears, turns its face to the sun all day, tracking its movement. Both sun and lotus are happy because each is fulfilling its function. The brilliance of the sun is wed to the darkness of the muck. The lotus has resolved its di-lemma.