Sabbath Messages > Sabbath Message: December 17, 2005
Good Sabbath
December 17, 2005
"For we are all formed out of the same matter as the stars and the range of our vision sets the boundaries of our lives." (The Four Dimensions of Paradise.)
"And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit will I put into you. I'll remove the heart of stone from your body and replace it with a heart of flesh." (Ezekiel)
We are so busy with the news that we can hardly digest each item's meaning:
"What men want: Neanderthal TV" (man is so macho that he doesn't pause to ask for directions. One fan of "Lost" says: "Life is hard. Men gotta do what men gotta do and if some die in the process, so be it." So is the male doomed to do what he's gotta do? Or is change possible so that nobility is in the act of kindness and love that he discovers along the pathway to full maturity.
"Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such." (Henry Miller)
We watch as the Sunnis vote as each side that has done battle for thousands of years is expected to discover that their God is the same, who commands forgiveness and justice. How can religions teach conquest and love at the same time? But humans are also given the curse of rationalization which allows them to make "truth" into a circle of repetitive events, pronouncing words without practicing most of them.
"Bush lets U.S. spy on callers without courts". Humankind always balances liberty and the Constitution on a scale calibrated between love and fear, justice and injustice, tolerance and stretching what's being tolerated.
"President backs McCain measure on inmate abuse." Torture is a word unless, you, like McCain--the prisoner of war--have tasted it, felt its intensity, manufactured hope when hopelessness seemed more logical.
"The lunatic leading Iran." Peculiar that anyone can win leadership, for sanity is not one of the criteria; in fact insanity may be the stronger criteria, posing as religious zeal.
We are strange creatures, fearing beasts though abandoning ourselves to clenched teeth just when we need loose and thoughtful minds. "All life on earth needs to be sanctified, that is to say, elevated to higher forms of ethical and spiritual fulfillment." (Samuel Penner)
I teach ethics to college kids and tell them that the word will evolve into personal meaning and definition as the semester approaches its conclusion. In this manner we teach and discover meaning by searching for it rather than opening up a dictionary to copy it. Perhaps to know becomes to be, education means to become; words must be prelude to action or minds remain motionless.
As Greek mythology portrays their gods as immoral, arrogant with their power, and above mistakes, we note that power always corrupts and so we must remain vigilant when we see any demi-god or leader sacrificing truth and honesty for any reason, including war. It becomes more difficult and obtuse when the lack of truth could result in a nuclear or biological catastrophe.
We also are aware that all religions allow the slaughter of "the infidel" or "non-believers", so what's so awful about getting the truth out of torture? Isn't it torture for a father or mother to be sent to war leaving hope and loved ones to fend for themselves under a tone-deaf government?
What do ethics say? To whom do we go for counsel without getting ourselves in trouble with authorities? Does truth disappear in the ugly tsunami of battle? Is the answer within the beauty of golden rule: "Do unto others."
This reality is why we must be attentive to whom our leaders are, how moral they are, what they show us they believe in, and how patient they are with others bearing other truths. The search for truth is a life-long series of events, of learning, of thinking what each means and what experience teaches us as we mature. This is why we are on earth, born as dust and falling to dust as we go from mortal to immortal. Did we exceed the warning that we are half-beast, half angel? Do we allow a man to become angelic or is he always to remain Neanderthal?
I believe that man must be taught to become angelic for no ambush of becoming a sissy does he have to fear. In fact, the beauty and wonder of this evolution may very well spread and become the value system in truth, rather than buried in some book. It will become reality and patriotism will not be buried, for fear is between the ears more often than it is reality.
sandy
