Greetings, What am I doing here? Is our nation imposing suffering due to a potential problem to distract us from dealing with the actual problem? Is this one of the crucifixion’s messages? Are good and evil only symbols applied to human actions when one takes life as something one has the right to judge? I have been taught there is no greater violation than to impose one’s will upon another for only one bit of matter can be present at the same time and place.I invite others to offer their understandings.
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You need to clarify this: which nation? what is the ‘potential problem’? what is the ‘actual problem’? Also, what do you have in mind when you say that it is a violation to ‘impose one’s will upon another’? On an individual basis? On a collective basis? On an institutional basis? These are important questions but it’s difficult to know quite what you’re getting at.
Atempting to clarify.
Andrew, thank you for the great questions. I did some thought and reading. At first nation was the U. S. political institution, but I found the word much richer. Potential and actual problem seem to relate more to the word’s origin, na.tion; “regulations that go along with birth”. In their first written encounter, Genesis 12,(Please read the whole chapter, I abbreviated)”…the Lord said to Abram go…to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation…”.
Of you what? The most common thought is of seed. Yet seed is nothing without land. I often need to remember Hebrew came from an agrarian culture, earthy things. Using that reference, “nation” is grown from land made from “of you”. In other words, why am I imposing on another’s land instead of tending own? All things can become “potential” problems, but isn’t there actual work to be done with my own actual suffering? Jesus’s first written words (Mark 1.15 and I’m abbreviating) were “…God has come near/ or God is at hand… ” So where has God come? That’s the theological question. Not far or away. Near, at hand. Is this clearer? It is for me. I’d like to write on the violation part later. Thanks for the space. I’d enjoy further dialogue.
Later thoughts of violation and polarization
To be honest, I can’t say exactly what I’m getting at. I began my dialogue with huge questions. Perhaps sticking my foot in the waters. I’m questioning the theology behind the measurements of what is good and what is evil, and wondering about how they seems to be playing out in this “age of information”. I have in mind violation starting on an individual level then growing to an institutional level. Start with a seed, which can only grow if there is land. After that I suppose it depends on who does the gardening. Where do the violations start and where do they end? Which is God’s will, which is not? Is there a spectrum of in-between or as with polarity are the forces eternally kept in motion?
Darkness and light, under and above, earth and seas, day and night, creatures and birds, wild and cattle, those things that creep and then humans. Does that polarize us with creeping things? Is that where the concept of good and evil comes in? The price seems to be a history of destruction and rebuilding, death and rebirth. Are we locked into this cycle? Again, only questions.
the dangers of polarised thought
hi renotka,
when i read your notes, i decided to join open source theology.
i have been thinking a lot about polarisation, which means, looking at all things as GOOD or BAD. there is no middle ground. you have to decide, is this GOOD or is this BAD ?
a lot of people say “there are absolutes” and a lot of people say “there are no absolutes”. nothing TOTALLY good or bad.
i think that this connects to a state of mind. if you start to think that everything can be decided, then your mind is highly polarised. and the medical facts are, if you continue to polarise EVERYTHING you become a psychotic lunatic, or obsessed, or maybe a highly-strung evangelical preacher…
basically, i think it is unhealthy to have a GOOD or BAD opinion about EVERYTHING. it’s bad for your own health and it’s bad for the health of your community. why is that ? because you cannot get two people to agree on EVERYTHING. i think blue is best, you think red is best. do we fight about it ? or do we somehow have both red and blue in our life together ?
i have come to realise that community is the most important thing. it’s what jesus wanted us to do : be together somehow. and this may mean, that we have to accept that some people in our community think things that we think are BAD or WRONG. so we have to adapt. we have to work out what things are not actually BLACK or WHITE but sometimes GREY (GRAY for you americanos).
so when a church asks you to sign up for the 12 articles of faith, be careful. they want you to agree with them 100% about a very long list of things, that maybe you don’t actually totally agree with. and when the preacher preaches at you, he will be the one telling you what to think, and you can’t talk back ! where is the creative spirit ? where is the debate ? where is the flexibility ? where is the evolution ? i just find NORMAL church so much like dead concrete.
i’m just listening to a track that has some lyrics on it :-
“it’s a weird church”
well, that’s the church i want to be a member of.
there are some things that are absolute : really important. how to love people in the right way : that’s important. how to treat ideas in the right way : that’s important. how to lead people into a place where they can talk to god : that’s important. how to show people all the helpful stuff in the bible (and not tell them what it really means, but let them read it for themselves). how to listen to people when they have an experience of god’s work in their lives. how to see the positive changes and the fruit that comes from being a part of the tree that god is growing. how to challenge people to live with integrity and truth and trust. how to get people talking, honestly. how to provide help to those who are in need.
when i started to understand how polarised thinking destroys people and communities and countries, i learned that there is no “us” and “them” : there are no enemies, no opposers, no one is to be feared. that’s when i became a pacifist, since everyone is my brother/sister. i can no longer support war of any kind, since there is no reason to attack any other people. they are human beings, children of god, just like i am. they may have polarised thinking about me, but i have to accept them, and be tolerant of their cultural/spiritual beliefs.
from isaiah 40 onwards to the end of the book, the writer(s) make clear that all people will be included in the rescue work of god. everyone is invited to the banquet, a picture jesus gave us.
so how can i belong to a church that says “THEY are WRONG”, or how can i belong to a political movement that says “THEY are WRONG” ? and here comes the challenge to the more traditional thinking folk : how can i belong to a nation that says “THEY are WRONG : THEY are TERRORISTS” ? violence from anyone is the wrong action, surely ?