(This is Part 24 of a series. Go back to Part 23.)
Another way in which we can use the basic principle of
concentrating strength against weakness is to use the sub-principle of attacking from the sides or rear. And as we have seen, this is often preceded by a "retreat" first to enhance the possibility of such an attack.
So when we come up against a big problem that we seem unable to solve, a very good strategy is to back away from the problem to whatever extent possible and then come at it from a different angle.
As mentioned before, Einstein used this in discovering special and general relativity. It's a procedure we all can use—temporarily take our attention away from the problem, then find some new approach to it.
By coming in from a side angle, we're coming in on the problem at a weaker point, one not so well-defended as the "normal" frontal approach we've been trying so far.
But the real power of this principle, in my opinion, is to interpret it as meaning that the approach that is coming from the rear or sides is one that is coming from a higher level. As Einstein said, we can't solve major problems from the level at which they were created.
Let's take an example: Suppose we have arteries that are increasingly clogged-up—arterioschlerosis. In a word, our arteries are filling up with plaque.
A direct frontal approach would be to take beta-blockers, drugs to lower cholesterol, and/or perhaps an angioplasty or open heart surgury. The former mechanically pushes open the plugged arteries, the latter replaces them. Yet studies have shown that the opened or new arteries soon fill up again, sometimes within as little as six months.
Coming at the problem from a higher level, in this case, would involve looking at the lifestyle that brought this problem into being in the first place. Indigenous tribes uncorrupted by "modern" diets do not have heart disease.
For example, the scientist Robert McCarrison could find no evidence of heart disease among the Hunzas of northern Pakistan. And by an ingenious set of experiments he proved that it was the Hunza diet that made the difference, not some other factor.
Numerous experiments have now been done, by Dean Ornish, John MacDougall and others—showing that a radical reversal of lifestyle brings dramatic recovery from the disease. Nature handles it.
It's been shown that within 48 hours of beginning a low-fat, plant-based, high-fiber, high-natural-nutrient diet, the arteries begin to open. That such diets, within a couple of years, produce a dramatic decrease in the blockage of arteries is a proven fact. When we support nature, she does her magic.
This is a higher approach to the problem, one that comes at it from a more enlightened perspective—an attack on the rear, where the problem is not well-defended. Instead of symptomology—treating the disease's symptoms—we're addressing the causes of the problem, and doing so in a way that can be lasting and very life-enhancing.
In this connection, it's worth remembering Shakespeare's drama of King Lear, often considered his finest play. In the play's three acts, Lear loses almost everything on the physical level. He goes from being an all-powerful king to being a homeless beggar. Two of his daughters desert him and he must bear the death of the third.
Yet all during the play Lear is climbing spiritually. He is reaching levels of awareness and compassion that were simply unavailable to him before, in his blind arrogance. Indeed, his new awareness and compassion were made possible by his decline on the physical level.
In a similar way, the world is now seriously declining on a physical level. Mother Nature's environment—on which all life ultimately depends—is taking a huge hit in areas ranging from the death of species to holes in the ozone.
Financially, the world is about to plunge into a profound depression. Though it may sound quite implausible now, financial markets will fall 90% or more, governments will face bankruptcy and banking systems will fail. It will take the world decades and perhaps much longer to recover from this phenomenon.
Yet on a spiritual level, the world is climbing—can you feel it? People are turning on spiritually, they're becoming more conscious of everything from meditation to unitarian ideas to sufi dances.
This spiritual upward movement is actually made possible by—no, even more, created by—the downward slide on the physical level. As the physical level deteriorates, people are turning inward more, turning to that which is beyond the physical and senior to it.
This in turn is a level from which the planet's problems can indeed be solved. As the human race comes at the planet's problems from a higher, more conscious, more organic perspective, the problem of the planet's decline will prove to be amenable to solution.
This will truly be an "attack on the rear." The problems which seem so intractable and well-defended on the physical level will prove to have points of weakness that can be resolved when approached on a spiritual level.
Indeed, I see the human race as becoming the "heart" of the planet—the planet's core of compassionate love towards all its life and all of existence.
And this pulling-together of the human race, this sublime evolution towards becoming the planet's heart, will be created by, will go hand-in-hand with, our increasing distress on the physical level. Such is nature's divine plan, where even "evil" contributes to the ultimate good.
(This is the end of Part 24. Go to Part 25.)
—jim sloman, 10.4.03 for 1.1.05
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