Faith. For me that is a loaded word. For me it means relinquishing control. It means to trust without knowing all the details. It means to believe, whole-heartedly, without a back-up plan.
As loaded as the concept may be I suppose we humans are programmed to have faith. Or perhaps in the grand scheme of things we eventually have the opportunity to see just how small and helpless we are that we are forced to give in to the idea of faith. But then we begin to have fun with the idea of faith.
We begin to say we have faith in God. OK. For some God is the invisible man in the sky, for others a spirit within, for others some great unknown. Although many people have many meanings for God there are a few things that seem to be pretty common throughout. Whatever the meaning people have assigned to God, they have "faith" that their meaning is correct. They also have "faith" that their God is there to serve them and to answer their prayers. I personally find it interesting how we go from small and helpless to beings that the almighty God is willing to serve. Or how about this one, God has a reason for the things that happen in our life. With that we have given up all accountability and laid it on God.
Please forgive me if this post offends anyone. I have been working quite a bit lately while watching various documentaries and there comes a time when I just have to let it out.
So, the other night - perhaps last night, I lose track sometimes, I was watching a documentary about Armageddon, otherwise known as the end of the world. But it gets better. Not just the end of the world, but the torture of those who do not find the right things to believe in. AND it even gets better than that, the rapture of the righteous. Here is the thing the pisses me off. The complete lack of accountability by many who call themselves the saved or the righteous.
The documentary discussed the warming temperatures of the planet and how there is hope if we were to change our ways...the people who were going to be saved by the rapture, they said there is nothing we can do about the natural disasters and such, it was prophesied and we are at the time of the end of the world. So, basically, I am a righteous person, I am saved, I do not have to worry about this planet because I go to the right church and I will be saved leaving this hellish planet to the sinners. Alright, fine. I have learned to accept that this is the belief of others and I need to honor the path that others tread is the right path for them. See how wonderful my Buddhist teaching can be. Oh don't think I let Buddhist off the hook. What in the hell are those Zen Buddhist in CA trying to prove by not evacuating when the forest fire is threatening. I mean HELLO! There is Zen and then there is reality and that is what I call balance.
Alright so I think all that ranting leads me to my point which is the balance of the Universe. This is a concept I think I have personally embraced for a good majority of my life. I actually verbalized it for the first time a couple of weeks ago at the Zen Buddhist center.I explained it as a visual, because I am a visual person, that we are all standing on a large platform that is delicately balanced on a pole. Whenever we make a move it affects the balance of the platform and everyone else will need to adjust to keep the platform balanced, just as we have to figure out the right move to maintain balance as others on the platform move. We are all in this integrated dance, and we are all accountable. Very accountable. My analogy was well received.
Alright, understanding this concept is much easier than living it. When shit happens it is much easier to say it is God's will than to say, "oh shit I need to re-balance." When we want something it is much easier to pray for it than to work for it. Oh, and please do not misunderstand me on that point. I am a HUGE believer in prayer. I see prayer as focused energy. Energy that is wasted if not converted into some type of action or appropriate re-action.
Anyway, faith in the Universe. Do you have it? Do you have faith that the Sun will rise tomorrow morning, whether it is by the hand of God or the interactions of all universal beings? If you have faith does it really matter how it will happen? I personally think it does, because I think our faith will ultimately decide our actions and from that the re-actions we all will have to respond to.
Basically I am now at the point in my life that although I believe and respect that we all have the right to walk our own paths, I think we all need to start taking more responsibility for the consequences of our chosen path.
Many actions of today have caused the re-action that you are reading on this blog. Specifically the idea that we need to start seeing things globally, or if possible, even universally. We need to stop thinking of ourselves and our own little worlds, because our little worlds don't matter in the bigger scheme of things. We are small and helpless but we can have a huge impact.
Think about it.
