Often, ideas as rusty and old as time itself come to me with a personal freshness, which is, for life philosophy, probably for the better. New ideas for such a thing would probably be superficial or even damaging, if possible at all, for one thing all of humanity has had time to do is think about its existential condition. New technologies may come and go, and new experiments in government, too - but the 'meaning of life' question has always been with us, and treated with genius beyond the average mind. So here, I add only my own two cents:
In the book I am finishing, "After the Light," we get the phrase common to new-age type books: we are here to learn. Why this is necessary at all has always puzzled me, but I can't claim to be able to know all things - and this belief simply rings true. The old Christian religions had a different bent on it - we were here as a test, of faith and of charity - but still, in the catharsis of absolution, what was bought (as it is put) "with the blood of the lamb," learning becomes key. We act from selfishness or instinct, only to feel the pang of conscience later; whereupon we beg for forgiveness and vow not to act that way again. We do, of course, but we try - and with trying get it better - that is, we learn from our mistakes.
"Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do." Thus Christ's plea for his murderers, and his understanding that we do not know. We live, as the author of the above book and I both understand, in a Flatland - where perception and thought are dismally shallow. We do not understand, and the idea, with both the old and new ways, is to learn what we do not understand.
Thus we come to the old wine - that we are like children. It's not for nothing that we are called "children of God," for with our ignorance of reality, we are like children with their ignorance of adult reality. And so it has occurred to me - an old idea as if fresh - that what we long for, what we pray for, and what we think we need, is often like the child who "needs" candy, or a pony, or to skip school. Adults know better - candy rots the teeth, a pony is expensive and sometimes dangerous, and school is essential (nowadays) to earn a decent living. Good parents exhort their children to follow their sage advice - and it they don't, they have some way, often painful, of MAKING them follow the advice.
The comparison with ourselves and children is obvious once we admit that we are ignorant - that we live in a Flatland, or, as Paul put it, we "see through a glass darkly." And thus the advice given by religions around the world: be humble, just as children are humble before their parents. Understand that you do not understand, and pray for guidance - to whomever or whatever you may call the source of guidance. We must understand that what we consider important is not so in the grand scheme - not success, money - all that stuff we have been told already but often don't believe. This is a product of Flatland thinking, and like the candy for the child, the objects of desire are often bad for us in the long run. And on top of everything, getting what we think we want on the superficial level can make us think we have it all together, and solved - thus the teaching, "it is more difficult for a rich man to pass into heaven than a camel through the eye of a needle (but with God, all things are possible)." It is not necessarily the wealth itself, if it is not taken by foul means, but rather what wealth does to close our developing perception. Poverty can do the same, I know, but poverty for the greedy man its own punishment.
Personally, I had something of a Rock Star personality in my early adulthood. I would have thought myself complete and sitting pretty if I had a fortune, a gaggle of beautiful women at my service, and a great stash of weed, or whatever other drug was considered cool at the time. Rock stars got it - and rock stars failed, miserably, over time. From the Alman Brothers to Jim Morrison to Keith Richards, getting everything they wanted killed or nearly killed them, as it would have me. Failure to reach my goals of the time, then, was a blessing. But what have I learned? I still have my desires (not drugs and a harem anymore - or candy or a new BB gun) and sometimes rail against the lack of their fulfillment. But should I? It seems the lesson is to listen for the wisdom of adult - spiritual - guidance. It is harder to hear now than as a child, but perhaps it is because we lack the openness. It may well be that we hear anyway, but don't want to admit it - that we are getting the adult version of "no more candy, and study for that test!" and have pushed it away, to listen for the numbers that will give us the winning lottery numbers. I bet that a lot of us hear them, too - made up by ourselves because we want to believe - when what we really would probably hear if we listened is "do your homework. You're here to learn." Oh, it can be tough being a child! FK
In the book I am finishing, "After the Light," we get the phrase common to new-age type books: we are here to learn. Why this is necessary at all has always puzzled me, but I can't claim to be able to know all things - and this belief simply rings true. The old Christian religions had a different bent on it - we were here as a test, of faith and of charity - but still, in the catharsis of absolution, what was bought (as it is put) "with the blood of the lamb," learning becomes key. We act from selfishness or instinct, only to feel the pang of conscience later; whereupon we beg for forgiveness and vow not to act that way again. We do, of course, but we try - and with trying get it better - that is, we learn from our mistakes.
"Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do." Thus Christ's plea for his murderers, and his understanding that we do not know. We live, as the author of the above book and I both understand, in a Flatland - where perception and thought are dismally shallow. We do not understand, and the idea, with both the old and new ways, is to learn what we do not understand.
Thus we come to the old wine - that we are like children. It's not for nothing that we are called "children of God," for with our ignorance of reality, we are like children with their ignorance of adult reality. And so it has occurred to me - an old idea as if fresh - that what we long for, what we pray for, and what we think we need, is often like the child who "needs" candy, or a pony, or to skip school. Adults know better - candy rots the teeth, a pony is expensive and sometimes dangerous, and school is essential (nowadays) to earn a decent living. Good parents exhort their children to follow their sage advice - and it they don't, they have some way, often painful, of MAKING them follow the advice.
The comparison with ourselves and children is obvious once we admit that we are ignorant - that we live in a Flatland, or, as Paul put it, we "see through a glass darkly." And thus the advice given by religions around the world: be humble, just as children are humble before their parents. Understand that you do not understand, and pray for guidance - to whomever or whatever you may call the source of guidance. We must understand that what we consider important is not so in the grand scheme - not success, money - all that stuff we have been told already but often don't believe. This is a product of Flatland thinking, and like the candy for the child, the objects of desire are often bad for us in the long run. And on top of everything, getting what we think we want on the superficial level can make us think we have it all together, and solved - thus the teaching, "it is more difficult for a rich man to pass into heaven than a camel through the eye of a needle (but with God, all things are possible)." It is not necessarily the wealth itself, if it is not taken by foul means, but rather what wealth does to close our developing perception. Poverty can do the same, I know, but poverty for the greedy man its own punishment.
Personally, I had something of a Rock Star personality in my early adulthood. I would have thought myself complete and sitting pretty if I had a fortune, a gaggle of beautiful women at my service, and a great stash of weed, or whatever other drug was considered cool at the time. Rock stars got it - and rock stars failed, miserably, over time. From the Alman Brothers to Jim Morrison to Keith Richards, getting everything they wanted killed or nearly killed them, as it would have me. Failure to reach my goals of the time, then, was a blessing. But what have I learned? I still have my desires (not drugs and a harem anymore - or candy or a new BB gun) and sometimes rail against the lack of their fulfillment. But should I? It seems the lesson is to listen for the wisdom of adult - spiritual - guidance. It is harder to hear now than as a child, but perhaps it is because we lack the openness. It may well be that we hear anyway, but don't want to admit it - that we are getting the adult version of "no more candy, and study for that test!" and have pushed it away, to listen for the numbers that will give us the winning lottery numbers. I bet that a lot of us hear them, too - made up by ourselves because we want to believe - when what we really would probably hear if we listened is "do your homework. You're here to learn." Oh, it can be tough being a child! FK
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