Saturday, May 19, 2018

Hopeful Thinking - Saturday, May 19, 2018 - Nothing is Inconvenient to God

Is there a plan for all this? Is this normal? Is the seemingly-tumultuous state of our world a typical part of the learning curve of an ultimately civilized planet? If we could look at the histories of civilizations on other planets far more advanced than we, would we see a similar pattern?
If we could read about another world in a book, would we see the birth of agriculture in their history, and with it, war? Would we see a deep pattern of atrocities against one another over territory and resources slowly ebbing over generations? What about race? Could it be that race is part of this long lesson in how to get along? Are we alone in this or is there really a plan?
We are faced with contrast every day. Preferences, dislikes, affections, revulsions. Fighting and loving, both. We see war in the exact same space as compassion. Where one kills, another heals. Because love is more real than war. Where disaster strikes, relief increasingly comes. When relief does not come for them, we cry out in rage on their behalf. We always empathize with humanity once we have seen them. Once we see ourselves in them. We share our stories with one another for this very reason. Might that tradition be contributing to our future peace one moral story at a time?
What inspires that intent? Which part of us cries “injustice!” when someone else suffers? Does this happen more now than a hundred years ago? A thousand years ago? Is this part of the plan, too? Is this the increasing volume of our Jiminy Cricket? Is conscience the divine spark? The part of us which remembers exactly who—and whose—we are? Could it be that the spark is real and we as a species increase our awareness of it incrementally over time through our better actions? Does mercy snowball?
The term “mercy” is an interesting one. It implies the withholding of suffering or punishment otherwise deserved. In religion it refers to a God which has the right to punish us, but through Its so-called mercy chooses to withhold that punishment.
There’s a fancy word called anthropomorphisation which means taking something non-human and giving it human characteristics, human thoughts and human biases. An entirely unfair practice. But it’s the reason we attribute the concept of mercy to God. In reality it’s really humans who have the power of mercy. God has no need of mercy. It already understands and loves us anyway. Only humans have the capacity to choose to withhold suffering and punishment from others which our unchecked rage believes is just. Our spark tells us mercy is called for, even when our fists are still clenched. That exact moment is the crux, the intersection of spirit and biology, the devil and angel on our shoulder whispering competing thoughts into our ears. The moment of truth.
Each time one of us makes a correct and merciful choice, something happens. A ripple. A bell in the universe. A fairy gets its wings. However you choose to think about the effect which occurs as a result of something positive you caused. Let that thought germinate in you. Turn up the volume in your divine spark. Allow it to have the greater voice. Ring the bell more loudly and more often.
We believe God must be disappointed by what It sees has become of Its creation. We believe we know when God hates someone or is willing to punish us for all eternity. Because we anthropomorphize God, because we insist that God must think as we do, we fear we have been a disappointment. Because we are disappointed in ourselves. The irony is it’s love which informs that disappointment. Inside we already know better and because of that we don’t like what we see.
How could humanity be a disappointment to the God in which we have taught ourselves to believe? There is so much love in the world. Love is the reason we are fighting so profoundly right now. The battle of good vs. evil rages as we speak. The difference is in the reasons for the uprisings worldwide compared to only a century ago. The voice crying out today is over injustice, inequality, undeserved hostility and tyranny. Only love can both recognize and give voice to that contrast. A doomed world has no such voice.
Notice what we are fighting about in this generation. It is the natural reaction of a people who have begun to recognize their inherent worth and dignity. Their divine spark. We are not an inconvenience to God’s plan for humanity. We may very well be right on track.
If God is all we have described It to be, It would know exactly where we are on the learning curve and what we have yet to see. It would know the difference between real and fake news. It would not be looking at us with disgust, even through our atrocities. It would know that we, over time, are increasingly hearing the divine voice from within each of us. God would have more faith in us than we of It. Fear not.

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