Inspired by the sermon yesterday by Mark's pastor Micheal Norton in his discussion about "Faith and Works".
I have a long-held philosophy about the arguments that get bantered around between the existence of the spiritual realm and the physical world we are so tied to.
In fact, these two worlds are mentioned often in the most key passages of the Bible such as "The Lord's Prayer." ..."Thy will be done...on earth...as it is...in heaven." Jesus also said, "Give to Ceasar what is Ceasar's, and to God what is God's." "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
What is actually happening is the concept of 2 parallel realms, if you will. The "Spiritual" realm, and the "Worldly" realm. The worldly realm is the "valley of the shadow of death" and the spiritual realm is "the house of the Lord" borrowing from Psalm 23. They exist at the same time in the same space but in different realms.
Symbolically seen, when Adam and Eve broke their covenant with God in the "Garden of Eden", the spiritual realm, they were banished to dwell in the "World" where pain and suffering reside. As my college professor said many moons ago, "...and mankind has been trying to get back to the Garden of Eden ever since." How is that done? By the creation of new Covenants between Mankind and God. It has been coming in stages..."The Ten Commandments"...the Life of Jesus..." the profession of faith as a contract you sign to help you reenter "The Garden of Eden" while still on earth, to be able to handle the suffering the world throws at us.
So, I asked AI about it...this is what it said about Parallel Realms...
"Parallel realms refer to alternate areas of reality where the laws of physics are different than in the world as we know it. They may be physical universes, metaphysical domains or mystical planes of existence. As the name implies, these realms are seen as being parallel to our own reality and can be accessed through special means such as meditation, astral projection, dream recall, and ritual magic."...and/or prayer.
When "Works" are used in the Bible, it isn't really very specific to what those "Works" are meant to be. One could deduce that feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, healing the sick, caring for the frail and so on. But really, I think what "Works" means is a more general thing called "service to others" which includes the aforementioned but also consists of the work we do for a living, which is usually some sort of service to others. Just because one gets paid for it doesn't mean that it isn't as meaningful or valuable as "volunteer" work. What it means is that we do our work in good faith of service to others.
In the words of the Shakers the saying, "Put your hands to work and lift your hearts to God" represents the idea of the works and faith combination very well.