What Makes It So Bad?

“Things” generally in the world, at least according to the commercial media, are not going well. I’m not convinced that things are as bad as they seem. I believe that communication has improved to the point that we are bombarded with so much more sensationalized information drawn from so much wider an area …and so much more quickly that it seems worse than it really is. I have little or no confidence in the news media as they are profit motivated. That compromises their objectivity as far as I’m concerned. The worse they paint the picture the more it draws their viewers morbid interest and the more they can charge for their commercial time. I know, cynical, but I think true none-the-less.

Here is the Truth as far as I can see it. I cannot in this present moment stop someone in a remote province of Africa from being caused to suffer unjustly. Or stop a tsunami from washing away lives in Asia. Or stop a totalitarian regime from killing its people.  Or stop a famine or mudslide. Yet the ‘News’ is constantly bombarding us with these tragic events. As we sit back detached and un-invested in what we see we find it all reinforcing our sense of helplessness and defeat. Only in modern times have we had our sight, heart and will pulled so far from our skin and been so overwhelmed by suffering on such a scale. Is it any wonder we feel powerless, faithless and defeated?

Even the localized violence gets national attention. A brutal murder in California is a lead story in New York. A missing plane in Indonesia, tragic as it most certainly is, is made the center of conversation at every dinner table in America. The glut of ‘bad news’ that fills our lives also fills us with the dark foreboding that evil is shrouding our world and we are destined for darkness.

These are not the worst of times. Not for most of us. Not when we are sitting comfortably in our easy chair watching High Def obscenely large TV’s with Surround Sound display the tragedies of the world for us . Yet, somewhere there IS someone who is actually facing the absolute worst time of their life. First hand, up close and personal. But that is a dirty, bloody place with smells and terrors that we choose not to attend.

Human history is filled with dark times and the examples of humanity’s barbaric cruelty are too many to recount, too many to want to recount. Yet those dark times recorded in our histories are unparalleled in our current times. We are still capable of great evil. Kim Jong-il’s Korea, Cambodia’s Khmir Rouge, Bosnia-Herzogivina’s ethnic cleansing come to mind.  There is still darkness but strangely it seems worse than it is because we are allowed to see it all at once and that continually. Numbed and stunned and defeated by the sheer volume of darkness that we are exposed to we sit in silence, watching the world, believing we are helpless against such a tide.

Our helplessness is an illusion. The total darkness we see in the world is an illusion. Belief in what we are being sold plants the seeds for a self-fulfilling prophecy. Edmund Burke once wrote, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Believing there is nothing we can do, we do nothing.

We really need to unplug from the media blitz of overwhelming evil and take a step back. We need to find where we are actually standing, find who we are and what is important to us. To stem the tide and show compassion to the suffering in our world we need to once again get up close and personal. We need to find the true strength of love and compassion in our heart and then do what is ours to do in the world we can touch. We cannot wave a magic wand and change the entire world en mass but we can take responsibility for what we CAN do and change the parts that have been given to us.

I would encourage you to break your addiction to drama and go cold turkey. Don’t watch the news. You will worry for a while that the darkness may take you unawares but it wont. Eventually you will find that there is an actual world where YOU live with people and situations that you can touch and in doing so produce some light. If we were all more concerned with being a source of light rather than shrinking from the darkness the world would be a different, a brighter place.

If we stopped watching the bad news maybe the Powers-that-be might decide there is more profit in showing the good stuff. That would be profitable for us all.

 

Faith and Science

It is the nature of spiritual notions that they are intangible. Much of human existence falls under that category. (Thoughts, concepts, emotions, perceptions, etc) If we only look outward then yeah, conclusions as to what is real and true are based on the tangible, repeatable processes and phenomena. Looking inward the criteria is different. Repeatable and discernible phenomena of the spirit do not show up in a petri dish. But they do show up.

With this writing I am trying to share my premise that you cannot judge the spiritual search for truth by the empirical standards of scientific inquiry. That a scientist has not seen God in a telescope does not disprove His existence.  The spiritual simply does not lend itself to the static, mundane arena of physical observation. Yet there must be a criteria by which we can make our spiritual search and not be lost in the ‘Whoo whoo” anything-goes-if-it-goes-with-goose-bumps kind of living.

There has been a lot I have studied of late that has forced me to take this more realistic view of my life. I think I can center that on a quote from the Buddha:

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.” 

I cannot ignore this instruction. It might be said that it is the original statement of the ‘scientific method’ only applied to matters of life rather than just physical phenomena. His words have helped me to cut through the religious chatter to discern the difference between ‘As it is’ (Truth) and ‘As I see it’ (Belief).

Whenever any of us are approaching any element of life on the basis of ‘As I see it’ we are acting on belief. There’s nothing wrong with that. As humans that’s how we roll. Faith* assumes that there is an ‘As it is’ even if we do not see it clearly, completely or understand it. My faith is in truth as is every scientist’s who may be actively seeking answers in his or her field. If there were not faith that truth is there, just out of sight, there would be no hopeful motivation for looking. As I seek truth I see this much, then that, then a little more and from what I see a belief is formed based on ‘As I see it’. I know I see in part, through a glass darkly as it were, so I must remain open. New understanding will shift what I see and how I see it and my belief will adjust accordingly. As I grow, I change, as do all living things. Truth on the other hand, known or not, will not change and thus my faith remains constant as well.

That is the foundation and character of my Path: Faith in the answers being there whether I know them all or not and a guiding system of belief that is formed by what I have seen thus far and has proven reliable.

Can I prove the existence of God in a laboratory? No. No more than anyone can disprove His existence there. Can I demonstrate His presence in my life? Yes, but you will not be swayed until you are able to know His presence in your own. That will require a decision to look, to taste, to do some knocking, to seek. I can look at creation and see His fingerprints, His footprints, the presence of His expressive beauty. You can overlook it. The spiritual is always personal whether we think it should be or not.

Where does that leave us? I believe it leaves us with the joy of the spiritual aspects of life. That joy is found in the willingness to embrace the unknowable along with the well-known. Both Science and Faith can open a door but it will always open to a room with more doors. For each question we learn to ask (regardless as to whether we actually figure out the answer) there will be a myriad of other questions raised. The lack of final answers cannot prove or disprove  the existence of God but the infinity of the unknown certainly leaves room for Him. A heart that lives by faith will find the eyes to see Him. Peace comes in trusting that even though He may or may not appear as we think He should …the Truth will still be Truth.

If the uncertainty or intangible quality of all this disturbs you then take comfort in this: The bottom line is that we each will one day run out of physical rope to hold onto. Even Science agrees with that. On that day, in that moment, when only the spiritual remains we will all see the Truth. One way or the other.

*Hebrews 11:1

Ties that Bind

I remember as a kid watching Jacob Marley’s ghost talking to Scrooge. “These are the chains I forged in life!” he groaned. He looked dreadfully miserable. My childhood assessment was that his must have been an extreme case. No sane person would burden themselves so. But we all do. Although my sanity assessment of the process still stands.

As an adult I have come to the conclusion that the main problem with us putting ourselves in a bind with our feverish attachments to the things of this world is shortsightedness. I’ll come back to that. For now let’s just review the fact that we are told by every great teacher and spiritual leader the world has known that we need to …let go. Yet with blind intent we constantly, repeatedly grasp and cling to everything in life like it is eternal and changeless. We desperately need everything to be permanent. There is a driving need inside of us that clamors to stand on solid ground. We hunger for assurance that permanence is possible. We look at a mortal world with eyes hungry for the eternal and cry out, “Hold me!”

And the World answers, “Sure Baby, come over here and …SQUIRREL!” You might say that the Universe has the worst case of ADHD …ever!

Whether we like it or not we are all facing the abyss. All around us, despite herculean efforts of denial by the entire human race, we are faced with the reality that The End is inevitable. Everything changes. Whatever state of existence we find anything in, that state will end and morph into something else. NOTHING that we see, hear, taste, smell, touch or conceive with our mind is permanent. Everything changes. Everything. We look for solid ground but earthquakes happen. We settle into our lifeboat but boats leak. We think we find a spot where we are high and dry and the rains and floods sweep in. The one we love is close and warm and all is well with …the world … and then it isn’t. Something changes, something moves, something (or someone) dies.

We keep setting ourselves up. We are Charlie Brown with the football convincing ourselves this time it will be different. This time Lucy wont snatch the ball away. This time for SURE! We keep tying our hearts to fickle things, holding fast to our desires and expectations only to suffer loss, over and over. These are the chains we forge in life and they are how we bring continuous pain and suffering into our lives.

I remember reading once how the greatest trauma that is experienced by survivors of a major earthquake is loss of trust. I mean, is there any aspect of life that we take more for granted than that the ground is dependable? Solid ground is the metaphor for security and safety. If we can depend on anything its the ground. Right? We believe that when we take a step the ground will be there, safe and secure, to meet us. Right? And then one day it isn’t. It moves. It groans and cracks and shakes and betrays. And where does that leave us? Where will we stand? Where is our security? Our peace?

How foolish is it for a kid to cry over the loss of his pet caterpillar when the little worm is changing into a butterfly? The kid cries because he wants what he had. He doesn’t want change. That great Human Need is speaking to his heart and he’s convinced that Ending is his enemy. We need ‘things’ not to end.

Is it hopeless? Are we cursed to face a mortal existence with eternal hopes?

This is where we come back to the idea of our shortsightedness. It is not what we see but how we see it. Do we see life and each of the things around us ‘as it is’? Do we have that courage? The most difficult aspects of my studies in Buddhism are the lessons on Groundlessness. This isn’t a commercial for Buddhism but I will say they have great teachings for helping anyone face life on the terms of ‘As it is’ rather than ‘As I see it’ or more accurately, ‘As I want it to be’. Finding that place where you can accept the fact that nothing in the observable universe is unchanging is a frightening thing. Our desire, our need, as humans for solid ground simply cannot be met. Ever. Not in this universe. We don’t want to be mortal and we demand that this mortal, mutable universe provide something, something, to which we can attach ourselves and breath the sigh of relief, “Ahh. Safe at last.”

But the Universe answers, “No.”

We cannot make the world keep us safe. Any time it seems like we are secure and safe its an illusion. When we begin to realize this our fear of ending sends chills into our hearts. We try to raise our umbrella and say God has a plan that will keep us safe. But then lightning strikes the umbrella and the hail begins to fall. We are fragile in a world of dangers. We want it to be different. We eventually find we have a choice: Live in denial and walk blindly through the pitfalls or open our eyes to life ‘As it is.”

So, what happens when we accept that our place is actually here, among the fires of change? What happens when we accept the truth that it’s okay for water to flow? It’s okay for mountains to rise and fall? It’s okay for sunrise to move to midday and pass into twilight and for the stars to whirl above us? It’s okay for Spring to become Summer and then Fall and then Winter snows to fall and for Spring to come again? It’s okay for babies to be born, to grow and laugh and love to grow old and to pass away? What happens when Change becomes the ground we stand on and the Fires of Change become the furnace of life itself. What happens when we stop trying to painfully cling to the flames and simply dance within them instead?

You know nothing ever, ever, really dies. In this amazing kaleidoscopic Universe things …just …change. It is the very nature of existence. It is the way it is, was, and always will be. The Pattern of Creation. The Pleasure of God. To resist is to stand in rebellion. To refuse to accept the truth ‘as it is’ is to shout into the face of God and demand He change. But really, is that what you would want? Only when the old ends can the new begin. New is isn’t a bad thing. Beginnings are good.

Take the long view. Become farsighted. Take in ‘The Big Picture’ and then stand amazed that you are such a wonderful part of it. It really is an amazing, glorious dance and when your personal music finally takes a pause you can look out with wide-eyed wonder and ask, “What will this become?”

But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and upon the heart of man has not come up that which God has prepared for those who love him.”
1 Corinthians 2:9 Aramaic Bible in Plain English