In the latest elections, we saw a broad shift to the Republicans in the midst of Obama's second term - just as we saw the same shift to the Democrats in the 2006 elections during Bush's second term. And so the see-saw goes. But, for better or for worse, little real change is or has been heralded by the assumption of one party over the other. We are America - we have a way of life and a sense of government that is slow to change in even minor ways, and almost impossible to change in major ways. We are, then, what we are and we get what we fully deserve, again for better and for worse.
While this is easy to see in democracies, it is harder to see in autocratic governments like, say, Iran or North Korea. Still, there is a mindset in those nations that make the current regimes, under the historical circumstances, almost inevitable. In Korea, they have long been used to rulers being crowned as the "Sons of Heaven." In Iran, autocracy with a powerful patriarch has been the norm for as long as history has been written. We all, it seems, get what we deserve (there are caveats for certain groups, to be sure, and unusual shifts. I speak here in terms of very broad strokes).
And so it seems for human reality itself. It is not quite clear to me yet, but lately I have gotten the notion that our fundamental laws of living, if not actual physical laws, are determined by a prescribed view of things, a prescription that we may have brought on ourselves. Christianity calls it "original sin," and this has been only vaguely understood. Sin, by most deep accounts, is separation from the Ground of Being, or God, and in the Biblical version, this separation is brought about by a conscious decision - to make oneself, rather than God, the arbiter of all things. Many ask, "if God is all-knowing, why did He make it in our nature to sin?" But this may be the wrong outlook. Giving humans near god-like powers, it may have been a gamble that had to be made. And - this is where it gets hazy - may have been a gamble in which others, perhaps human like ourselves, paid off - that is, who chose co-living with The Force rather than dualistic animosity. In other words, we are the progeny, by our individual natures, of those who first separated from God, and thus reap willingly, as it is in our wills, to be separate, to be our own arbiters. And we get what we deserve.
If we go back to government again, we read from people like Merton, and from prophets like Jesus, just what human society should look like: primitive communism, where all is willingly shared and all are treated with equal respect. This, however, cannot be dictated - it must come from the heart and the soul of every individual involved. It this were the case, our physical laws would be the same, but our social life would be entirely different, as would our relationship with our natural surroundings. But instead, this "divine government" never came into existence naturally (as far as history knows) and was an utter failure every where it was imposed. This shows us that we are "naturally" on the wrong side of the cosmic game - that we, as a collective, just don't get it.
In fact, it may well be that any creative force that emanates from the Ground of Being with our traits of obstinance and ignorance coalesces in a universe such as ours - with laws of nature that stress the struggle for survival, the survival of the fit, painful death, fear, gravity and so on. So it may well be that not only our social life but our physical life is dictated by our essence - and thus we are born into this life and not another.
In other words, we get what we deserve. The prophets and holy men may find this out, and then preach to us with alarm that we can get out of this, this struggle of pain and disappointment and death. They tell us how - love your neighbor as yourself and live with absolute humility to find the will of God and to follow it. From this perspective, the old fades away, becomes unimportant. From this perspective, if we wish to speak in terms of reincarnation, we are freed from the attractors of this world. Until then, perhaps never; perhaps our essence does indeed return again and again to a world such as ours until it finally sees and is free.
Perhaps, then, we all truly get what we deserve and our complaining is like the whining of a kid with a bad stomach from eating too much candy. Mommy told him not too - and now he is sick. Now, maybe he even blames Mommy. But unless he learns from it, he will get sick again. Like our politics and our world in general, he will get what he deserves - no judgement, no punishment from on high, just a reaction to how the cosmos works. Like the kid, then, perhaps we can avoid the bad stomach if we think beyond our immediate desires and become open to learning - and with that, become open to a different universe. FK
While this is easy to see in democracies, it is harder to see in autocratic governments like, say, Iran or North Korea. Still, there is a mindset in those nations that make the current regimes, under the historical circumstances, almost inevitable. In Korea, they have long been used to rulers being crowned as the "Sons of Heaven." In Iran, autocracy with a powerful patriarch has been the norm for as long as history has been written. We all, it seems, get what we deserve (there are caveats for certain groups, to be sure, and unusual shifts. I speak here in terms of very broad strokes).
And so it seems for human reality itself. It is not quite clear to me yet, but lately I have gotten the notion that our fundamental laws of living, if not actual physical laws, are determined by a prescribed view of things, a prescription that we may have brought on ourselves. Christianity calls it "original sin," and this has been only vaguely understood. Sin, by most deep accounts, is separation from the Ground of Being, or God, and in the Biblical version, this separation is brought about by a conscious decision - to make oneself, rather than God, the arbiter of all things. Many ask, "if God is all-knowing, why did He make it in our nature to sin?" But this may be the wrong outlook. Giving humans near god-like powers, it may have been a gamble that had to be made. And - this is where it gets hazy - may have been a gamble in which others, perhaps human like ourselves, paid off - that is, who chose co-living with The Force rather than dualistic animosity. In other words, we are the progeny, by our individual natures, of those who first separated from God, and thus reap willingly, as it is in our wills, to be separate, to be our own arbiters. And we get what we deserve.
If we go back to government again, we read from people like Merton, and from prophets like Jesus, just what human society should look like: primitive communism, where all is willingly shared and all are treated with equal respect. This, however, cannot be dictated - it must come from the heart and the soul of every individual involved. It this were the case, our physical laws would be the same, but our social life would be entirely different, as would our relationship with our natural surroundings. But instead, this "divine government" never came into existence naturally (as far as history knows) and was an utter failure every where it was imposed. This shows us that we are "naturally" on the wrong side of the cosmic game - that we, as a collective, just don't get it.
In fact, it may well be that any creative force that emanates from the Ground of Being with our traits of obstinance and ignorance coalesces in a universe such as ours - with laws of nature that stress the struggle for survival, the survival of the fit, painful death, fear, gravity and so on. So it may well be that not only our social life but our physical life is dictated by our essence - and thus we are born into this life and not another.
In other words, we get what we deserve. The prophets and holy men may find this out, and then preach to us with alarm that we can get out of this, this struggle of pain and disappointment and death. They tell us how - love your neighbor as yourself and live with absolute humility to find the will of God and to follow it. From this perspective, the old fades away, becomes unimportant. From this perspective, if we wish to speak in terms of reincarnation, we are freed from the attractors of this world. Until then, perhaps never; perhaps our essence does indeed return again and again to a world such as ours until it finally sees and is free.
Perhaps, then, we all truly get what we deserve and our complaining is like the whining of a kid with a bad stomach from eating too much candy. Mommy told him not too - and now he is sick. Now, maybe he even blames Mommy. But unless he learns from it, he will get sick again. Like our politics and our world in general, he will get what he deserves - no judgement, no punishment from on high, just a reaction to how the cosmos works. Like the kid, then, perhaps we can avoid the bad stomach if we think beyond our immediate desires and become open to learning - and with that, become open to a different universe. FK
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