Editorial December 17, 1979 Issue

The chain of being

NATHAN A. TALBOT

In many ways life may seem to be a kind of chain. We might think of hours or weeks or even years as links of the chain. On some occasions events themselves stand out vividly as the links. A period of youthfulness, stretches of employment, the leisure of retirement. We may even think of our entire life as merely a link, a connection, between ancestors and descendants.

But none of this is the real chain of being. While some aspects of everyday living may hint at true existence, mortal life itself is essentially a counterfeit of reality. Whether we realize it or not, man experiences the endless chain of being—he lives the continuity of existence that Spirit designs and perpetuates. The sooner we realize this, and pursue the links that constitute true identity, the freer we will be of the supposed mortal chain of materiality with its links of lack and sorrow, illness and ignorance.

Spirit, not matter, forges the chain that makes up true being, that gives the individual perpetuity. What is this line of thought that gives us insight into genuine identity? It is the continuing, the uninterrupted, unfolding of fresh perceptions of reality; spiritual ideas dawning; pure inspirations impelling consciousness. Wisdom and purity, harmony and grace, are the marrow of divine links.

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