Ukraine - A Wider Dimension
It is always a tragedy when innocent people are killed by violent aggressors and that a country’s culture and way of life are subject to a catastrophic assault on their existence. It is also a tragedy that violence and aggression are still seen as a legitimate way to achieve an objective when history has shown the long-lasting problems and negative consequences arising from similar conflicts in the past.
So, it is right that we pray for a speedy and a just end to the war in the Ukraine, and I am sure that most of you reading this will be doing just that. But, however well-intentioned, is this all we should be considering in terms of offering spiritual support?
It is certainly right that we invoke light, love and blessings for refugees, the dispossessed and homeless, the bereaved and the suffering, and it is certainly right that we seek to invoke guidance for all the participants involved in the conflict to ensure that they make wise decisions, and sometimes inspired decisions, at the right time, at each stage of the conflict.
But should this be the whole response? There may be wider aspects to the spiritual dimension that we should perhaps consider. In his book, The Story of My Life, H T Hamblin wrote: ‘The real war was interior, not exterior. The only way to win this war was by the use of spiritual powers – the Forces of Light against the Powers of Darkness. The war is still on. The battle still proceeds. There will be no real peace on earth, until this spiritual warfare is accomplished’.
This tends to indicate that the war in Ukraine is just one more manifestation of a wider and more fundamental planetary spiritual conflict that we need to consider.
A similar view was expressed in an article I read some time ago called ‘Times of Tribulation’ in the magazine of the Companions of the Chalice Well at Glastonbury. The author, Wellesley Tudor Pole, stated:
“What is not realised generally is the fact that the main arena for this struggle between the forces of light and darkness is not situated in our outer world of life and being at all. Fundamentally, this great battle is being fought out on a Cosmic level and what we are experiencing on earth is a 'reflection' of this immense struggle and the repercussions flowing from it. This does not mean that we play no part in what is going on 'elsewhere'. On the contrary, our every thought, word and deed can help to tip the scales in one direction or the other, because the battleground is on a mental level to which all our thinking and feeling processes have access.”
Whilst seeking to offer a spiritual approach to a resolution of the issues arising from the war in Ukraine, we may be missing a much wider and fundamental issue requiring active spiritual support: the need for a new, regenerated humanity built on light, love and harmony.
We know that, by focusing on something we give it power so, at the very least, we should avoid focusing on the detailed nature of the war as much as possible but, more importantly, we should focus our prayers and meditations on a speedy and just outcome infused with light. Taking note of HT Hamblin and Wellesley Tudor Pole’s comments above, though, we should perhaps raise our sights and pray for and visualise not only a speedy and just outcome in the Ukraine, but a regenerated humanity operating on spiritual principles and a planet infused with light.
We need to leave behind the old ways of thinking and living and focus on what is really needed. The best way to change the old, is to focus on the new. As the saying goes:
“There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.” (Victor Hugo)
There is one other matter that we should also consider. HT Hamblin wrote:
“… in order to think rightly, we have to think of ourselves constantly as sons of God and inheritors of all the promises. We have to think of ourselves as spiritual beings, living in a spiritual universe, governed by spiritual laws, upheld by Angelic Powers and ministered to by Divine Forces.”
(From Hamblin’s book, The Psychology of Prayer)
In the routine of daily living, we tend to unconsciously condition our minds to see ourselves as individual human beings with limited power. Hamblin’s words above indicate how untrue that is, that we are, to use a well-known and more recent expression, ‘powerful beyond measure’. But what if we were not just individuals operating alone? Hamblin’s words also point us to the presence of Angelic Powers and Divine Forces. To work with these higher powers successfully, we need, firstly, to recognise their existence and, secondly, invite their assistance. The latter is very important because, as Hamblin wrote,
“Man is bound to the wheel, yet at the same time, he has free will…”
(From Hamblin’s book, Within You is the Power)
As we have free will, the higher spiritual forces cannot assist us without our permission. Hamblin has been described as a spiritual warrior as well as a practical mystic. It is good to think that there are legions of other spiritual warriors operating on the higher planes. Let us invite their assistance now.
And let us invite their assistance every day until we have brought ‘a profound inner peace into the world through respecting the rights of the whole: of humanity and other life forms’
(Beautiful words by Patricia Godden in a recent astrological update)
Love and blessings to you all.
Noel Raine
Chair
The Hamblin Trust
Noel recorded his article in this short video
If you feel moved to do so, please listen to these short meditations related to the theme of this article.
