There was once a country that did not have firefighters. Although they had many fires and many lives were lost, they were too afraid of getting hurt. When one of their wooden houses or buildings caught fire everyone fled. Those who were caught unaware or who were unable to escape died in these periodic conflagrations. Usually they were the most vulnerable: the sick, elderly and very young.
Different solutions were implemented: A few instituted an early warning system; watchmen who rang bells to alert people of danger. Others created laws to identify how a fire started and strict punishments for those responsible. And many built shrines to appease the gods who they felt were condemning their society. Yet, neither the piety of the people, nor the number of watchtowers, nor the threat of imprisonment slowed the death toll.
There was much despair and frustration, but what could they do? It was the way of the world.
One day a young man passed a burning building. (The fires were so frequent it was common for pedestrians to merely cross the street and continue on with their business.) He heard the cries of a child and unable to ignore it, rushed into the building. The crowd was shocked at this act of apparent suicide. 'He has gone mad with grief, perhaps it was his own child.' But they were stunned when he returned several minutes later with the child in his arms. They were even more amazed when he said the child was no relation to him.
Many praised him, others mocked him, and a few dismissed him as a lunatic.
Both he and the child recovered and at first many praised him as a hero. Until he did it again.
'You will anger the gods. They will destroy you,' many warned him, agitated.
Others counseled him, 'This is the established order. Don't be reckless. Come we will give you work that is safe and you still be helping the people.
And a few scorned him, whispering, 'He is only doing it for the attention. He does not care about anyone but himself. He makes us look like cowards.' This group were the watchmen.
When asked what made him act so foolishly, he replied, 'I can no longer stand by and watch as people burn.' His use of the word watch, enraged the watchmen. They felt he was mocking them directly.
For the next several days they publicly denounced him and his motivations. They were very persuasive because it was easy to portray the young man as arrogant. A town meeting was called to cast him out of their community. During the debates he said nothing, and indeed very few voices spoke out in his defense. The trial ended and it seemed the next day the young man would be exiled.
But in the middle of the night he woke up surrounded by flames. His entire building was sure to collapse at any minute. He ran through the flames to the nearest exit. Miraculously, he made it downstairs and out to the street.
Just then he heard the cries of his elderly neighbors from the third floor. Still wrapped in his blanket he ran to the gathering crowd. Giving five of them the blanket and quick instructions he ran back into the building, all but naked. With amazing speed he appeared in the window next to the old couple. He ordered the five to hold the blanket taut, but they were too afraid to even approach the building as it was about to collapse. Despite all his urgency, they were still frozen in place when the supports finally gave way.
Many were silent, some were ashamed and a few were secretly glad he was gone.
Despite the tragedy or perhaps because of it, the people never spoke of it again. To this very day they live in the fear of fire.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
Know thyself
And God, the creator and sustainer of life, urged the Prince to perform his duty as a warrior. But the Prince cried out, 'How can you, the protector of the living, tell me to go forth and kill?' And when the Prince looked up the life giver changed form and appearance. God spoke then, 'Behold now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' -From the Bhagavad-Gita
It is hard to read the Bible passages where God commands the Israelites to go out and kill, to commit acts of genocide. How do we reconcile the God who claims to be love, with the God who at best condones and at worst causes wholesale destruction to happen?
Even if we have an answer to that, there is the problem of suffering. How does a loving God allow suffering and injustice to exist? Job and Jonah, in the Old Testament, ask similar questions and the only response they receive is: Who are you to question me? Do you know what my plans are for you? Can you even imagine all that I am doing?
It is intriguing to remember that humanity is made in the image of this particularly mysterious and unpredictable God. The above passage from the Bhagavad Gita seem to re-enforce this contradiction. How can we can be at the same time a lover, a Father, a Mother, a protector, and also be a liar, a thief, a destroyer, a killer?
The Old Testament ecclesiastical writer also notes this apparent contradiction in ourselves in the verses which say: there is a time to plant and a time to uproot, there is a time to kill and a time to heal.
Where is the comfort here? Ecclesiastes is full of mourning and despair. And when we think about the atrocities that occur daily between people, we ask where is justice?
If God is an unfathomable, chaotic god, then nothing matters, everything is meaningless. If we are made in the image of chaos then morality, good and evil, right and wrong, law and order has no foundation.
Except we are always given a choice. We have the freedom to choose who we are and how we act. We are not predestined to be good or evil, to create or destroy, to heal or to kill. We might go through periods where we do good or evil, where we plant or pull up, where we build or tear down. But ultimately those ups and downs, those cycles do not limit us, unless we resign ourselves to our fate, unless we give up. But even giving up is a choice. We can choose to fight or to surrender. Nothing we do is without choice.
The Prince in the Bhagavad Gita is struggling with his choice to be a warrior. On the eve of a great battle, where he must go and kill, he is chickening out. Perhaps he enjoyed the life of luxury of being a Prince, perhaps he liked the prestige of giving orders and leading men. But when faced with the reality of war, he cries out: This is wrong! We can't know why he is having a sudden awakening of conscience. And why God orders him to go and kill is a mystery. Why doesn't the life giving God, who first approaches him, validate the Prince's moral objections? Why does this God later reveal himself to also be the taker of life?
The mystery is that God is urging him to make a choice which makes no sense to the Prince. God, if we assume God has supreme control over events, put the Prince on this path. The Prince is free to depart the battle, God is not forcing him to take part, nevertheless God is urging him not to turn back from his duty, no matter how repulsive. (The reverse is also true; God does tell a killer to go out and heal. I think specifically of God calling Saul of Tarsus to stop persecuting and executing Christians. Saul later changed his name to Paul, and became the famous 1st century Christian saint.)
The question then is a matter of faith. Can I, the Prince, have faith that God is leading me in the best possible direction? Am I sure that my actions are the healthiest and most proper? How can I tell when it is the time to kill and when is the time to heal? Do I have faith that the path I am on is the most beneficial path?
These are questions that can't be answered hypothetically or in a vacuum. The can only be engaged in the moment, and through conversations with others, with ourselves, and with God.
Ultimately, we can never know what is good or evil. Even Jesus, in two different accounts, corrected a follower who called him good, saying: No one is good except God alone.
We can only choose a path and walk it boldly. Faith says that God is in control and that even when we make mistakes they are not final.
I titled this entry know thyself, because ultimately knowing thyself is not about discovering a concrete identity. It is about being infinitely complex, ultimately unknowable, and continually flexible. Know thyself in this context means to know thy actions. And to accept the consequences of those actions irregardless of the outcome.
And no matter what that outcome is, we believe God has the last word and that word is and always has been good.
It is hard to read the Bible passages where God commands the Israelites to go out and kill, to commit acts of genocide. How do we reconcile the God who claims to be love, with the God who at best condones and at worst causes wholesale destruction to happen?
Even if we have an answer to that, there is the problem of suffering. How does a loving God allow suffering and injustice to exist? Job and Jonah, in the Old Testament, ask similar questions and the only response they receive is: Who are you to question me? Do you know what my plans are for you? Can you even imagine all that I am doing?
It is intriguing to remember that humanity is made in the image of this particularly mysterious and unpredictable God. The above passage from the Bhagavad Gita seem to re-enforce this contradiction. How can we can be at the same time a lover, a Father, a Mother, a protector, and also be a liar, a thief, a destroyer, a killer?
The Old Testament ecclesiastical writer also notes this apparent contradiction in ourselves in the verses which say: there is a time to plant and a time to uproot, there is a time to kill and a time to heal.
Where is the comfort here? Ecclesiastes is full of mourning and despair. And when we think about the atrocities that occur daily between people, we ask where is justice?
If God is an unfathomable, chaotic god, then nothing matters, everything is meaningless. If we are made in the image of chaos then morality, good and evil, right and wrong, law and order has no foundation.
Except we are always given a choice. We have the freedom to choose who we are and how we act. We are not predestined to be good or evil, to create or destroy, to heal or to kill. We might go through periods where we do good or evil, where we plant or pull up, where we build or tear down. But ultimately those ups and downs, those cycles do not limit us, unless we resign ourselves to our fate, unless we give up. But even giving up is a choice. We can choose to fight or to surrender. Nothing we do is without choice.
The Prince in the Bhagavad Gita is struggling with his choice to be a warrior. On the eve of a great battle, where he must go and kill, he is chickening out. Perhaps he enjoyed the life of luxury of being a Prince, perhaps he liked the prestige of giving orders and leading men. But when faced with the reality of war, he cries out: This is wrong! We can't know why he is having a sudden awakening of conscience. And why God orders him to go and kill is a mystery. Why doesn't the life giving God, who first approaches him, validate the Prince's moral objections? Why does this God later reveal himself to also be the taker of life?
The mystery is that God is urging him to make a choice which makes no sense to the Prince. God, if we assume God has supreme control over events, put the Prince on this path. The Prince is free to depart the battle, God is not forcing him to take part, nevertheless God is urging him not to turn back from his duty, no matter how repulsive. (The reverse is also true; God does tell a killer to go out and heal. I think specifically of God calling Saul of Tarsus to stop persecuting and executing Christians. Saul later changed his name to Paul, and became the famous 1st century Christian saint.)
The question then is a matter of faith. Can I, the Prince, have faith that God is leading me in the best possible direction? Am I sure that my actions are the healthiest and most proper? How can I tell when it is the time to kill and when is the time to heal? Do I have faith that the path I am on is the most beneficial path?
These are questions that can't be answered hypothetically or in a vacuum. The can only be engaged in the moment, and through conversations with others, with ourselves, and with God.
Ultimately, we can never know what is good or evil. Even Jesus, in two different accounts, corrected a follower who called him good, saying: No one is good except God alone.
We can only choose a path and walk it boldly. Faith says that God is in control and that even when we make mistakes they are not final.
I titled this entry know thyself, because ultimately knowing thyself is not about discovering a concrete identity. It is about being infinitely complex, ultimately unknowable, and continually flexible. Know thyself in this context means to know thy actions. And to accept the consequences of those actions irregardless of the outcome.
And no matter what that outcome is, we believe God has the last word and that word is and always has been good.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Return to the Beginning
Since I started this blog, nearly 3 years ago, I haven't voted for, believed in, nor put much energy into anything that came out of the US federal government. (I do support, listen to and challenge, when necessary, local and state governments.) I refuse to participate in something that is so profoundly broken. I didn't trust the whole '08 election frenzy of change and promise, sounded too much like false prophecy to me.
This entry isn't to pat myself on the back now that the economy is faltering and times are scary uncertain. I have no interest in saying I told you so. My desire is to state that I've found, and am still discovering, what I was looking for all those years ago.
I've learned what true allies and friends look like.
In short, know your community: when the recession deepens, when the depression gets at you, when you are wholly disillusioned, when your plans fail, when there seem to be no viable choices, when there are no options, when there is no way out, put away your pride and your quest for independance. Find the true community. True friends will give you work that satisfies, food that is filling and love that will quench your thirst.
Now you don't have to wait until rock bottom, although many will hold onto this dying system for as long as possible. Which is too bad, because the communities I'm describing are living now, partying now and are creating heaven on Earth for everyone they encounter. They are all around us; in every city and town and rural area.
There is no healing to be found anywhere else in this world or the next. My prayer is that you seek them out sooner rather than later and find the kind of freedom and liberation that is your birthright.
This entry isn't to pat myself on the back now that the economy is faltering and times are scary uncertain. I have no interest in saying I told you so. My desire is to state that I've found, and am still discovering, what I was looking for all those years ago.
I've learned what true allies and friends look like.
In short, know your community: when the recession deepens, when the depression gets at you, when you are wholly disillusioned, when your plans fail, when there seem to be no viable choices, when there are no options, when there is no way out, put away your pride and your quest for independance. Find the true community. True friends will give you work that satisfies, food that is filling and love that will quench your thirst.
Now you don't have to wait until rock bottom, although many will hold onto this dying system for as long as possible. Which is too bad, because the communities I'm describing are living now, partying now and are creating heaven on Earth for everyone they encounter. They are all around us; in every city and town and rural area.
There is no healing to be found anywhere else in this world or the next. My prayer is that you seek them out sooner rather than later and find the kind of freedom and liberation that is your birthright.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Arc
She came to the gate.
The old man on the other side did not acknowledge her. Behind the bars, behind him stood the Temple no one entered and where only he worshipped.
He coughed.
She cleared her throat, 'You know it is time.'
She sat down in the dust and waited; directly in front of him, the gate, the temple.
She neither drank nor ate as the days passed. But she was neither still nor silent. She paced and urged the old gatekeeper to let her pass.
On the 7th day, she died.
He left her lie there just as a street sweeper leaves debris behind.
His eyes flickered on the morning of the 8th... when she rose again.
Scowling, accusatory, vindicated she sat there for another week.
Again she died and rose.
And again the next week.
'Women suffer for the mistakes men make!' she cried out.
Still he did not move.
Finally, near the end of the 6th week he unlocked the gate and beckoned her into the Temple; where no one entered and where only he worshipped.
In the nave they waited.
Three days later, the old man fell asleep and would not wake.
As was custom, she took his robes and laid him in a tomb.
Alone then she approached the darkened shrine, the Holy of Holies; where no light shined and where only she could see.
The old man on the other side did not acknowledge her. Behind the bars, behind him stood the Temple no one entered and where only he worshipped.
He coughed.
She cleared her throat, 'You know it is time.'
She sat down in the dust and waited; directly in front of him, the gate, the temple.
She neither drank nor ate as the days passed. But she was neither still nor silent. She paced and urged the old gatekeeper to let her pass.
On the 7th day, she died.
He left her lie there just as a street sweeper leaves debris behind.
His eyes flickered on the morning of the 8th... when she rose again.
Scowling, accusatory, vindicated she sat there for another week.
Again she died and rose.
And again the next week.
'Women suffer for the mistakes men make!' she cried out.
Still he did not move.
Finally, near the end of the 6th week he unlocked the gate and beckoned her into the Temple; where no one entered and where only he worshipped.
In the nave they waited.
Three days later, the old man fell asleep and would not wake.
As was custom, she took his robes and laid him in a tomb.
Alone then she approached the darkened shrine, the Holy of Holies; where no light shined and where only she could see.
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