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ISSN 0969-1049 INCORPORATING THE SWEDENBORG MOVEMENT NEWSLETTER
- Levitas
- WB Yeats and Swedenborg
- Books that might have been
- A town built on a hill
- Keeping the score
- The Big Bang
- Jesus, man or God ? the Easter Question
- Promise of Spring
- Science and truth
- The Millennium
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A town built on a hill
Ian Johnson
As Jesus remarked to the crowds (while seated on a hill - or mount - to teach them) such a hill cannot be hidden. So we may well be glad, since many such towns make beautiful sights, but Jesus, though surely appreciative of physical beauty, was thinking more deeply.
Buildings are an obvious symbol of things we human beings put together, especially for shelter, protection, comfort, storage, and so on. At an inner level we build theories, explanations and belief-systems, in which to feel sheltered from the hardships and uncertainties of life, protected from the assault of alien ideas and interests. Housed within them we can also store our memories and develop our plans for the future.
It's best if we 'build on a hill' - raise our thinking to the level of true good-will, aspiration and compassion. In that way we'll get a fuller view of the world around us and (in the context of Jesus's time) be safer from attack. Besides, other people will then be able to see our beliefs, and hopefully learn something to their benefit. A truly heavenly character and belief, however humble, can-not really be hidden but will be seen in some way.
To put it another way, as Jesus promptly did, "Let your light shine among people, so that they may see the good you do, and thank your father in heaven."
