Beyond our natural reality, there is a spiritual or heavenly reality which is also subjected to the conflicts of two Kingdoms, the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Darkness. Yet this takes places with order and a set of rules. We will define these as natural laws and spiritual laws and give some basic observations about them.
A Case Study: Law of Gravity
The Law of Gravity was first discovered by Sir Isaac Newton, and is an example of a law that has no affect on spiritual beings. An angel, who enjoys every benefit of a spiritual body, is not subject to the influence of the Law of Gravity, as with many other laws of nature. In this post and upcoming ones, we’ll study the way we learn to live with the diverse laws that confine us: naturally, morally and spiritually. Ideally, studying the Law of Gravity will help reveal some of the ways in which we gain freedom by disciplining ourselves in abiding by, consciously or unconsciously, laws that regulate our lives, in the natural realm as well as in the spiritual.
Man has always been under the Law of Gravity, and intuitively learned this law when He was created. But he also misunderstood it for a long time. For example, from the time of Aristotle, it was believed that a heavier object would fall faster than a lighter one – until Galileo performed his famous experiment on the Tower of Pisa, which proved that this is not the case.
As well, Newton revealed gravity’s nature in a mathematical equation and made the case for its accuracy in calculating the orbit of planetary bodies. Until he was again proved wrong and superseded by Albert Einstein with his Law of Relativity.
Yet, we still use gravity in everyday life to explain some basic phenomena of cause and effect in our world. It would be foolish to argue with a person who refused to jump from a 10th floor window. We don’t need a mind like Newton’s or Einstein’s to gain discipline and obedience to the Law of Gravity.
When we first learn to walk, we all fell and got hurt. Then we learned to run and jump. We learn through these activities that there is something that confines us – something that has consequences.
We learn, intuitively, to comply with these “rules” even before our minds detect their existence and give thought to them. We call this experiential knowledge.
We observe, study, learn and practice. Then we develop a sense of discipline under such “rules”: we will jump down to the ground from the first floor, but never from the 10th floor; we will leap to catch something higher, but never imagine we can fly; we throw a ball in a game and aim at the goal without ever thinking it will shoot to the moon, etc.
At the same time, we’ve become creative and have overcome our fear and passivity about such a law. We’ve created ideas to utilize this force to our own advantage: we use it to transfer things from a higher place to a lower place; we use it to generate power; we use it to create a sudden impact on things below, etc.
In this we can see a pattern with our relationship with natural laws: We are delivered into a reality that is confined and governed by such laws. But as we grow with our senses and faculties of intelligence and wisdom, we learn to be disciplined by them and, to some degree, overcome and utilize them.
This capacity and process is not only given to us as natural man to cope with the natural reality; it is also granted to us as a spiritual man to cope with the spiritual reality.
This post is _Part 1_ in the series Natural Laws and Spiritual Laws. To use this as a growth tool to better understand your own calling, you might start by reading the explanation of this series.
Photo credit: Kaat Van Tiggel