Friday, May 5, 2023

Our Choices

This morning as I walked in the drizzling rain looking at the beauty of Spring . . . trees in bloom, fresh green grass and the last two daffodils,  my mind was once again presented with the question, ‘Who or what is God?’  Of course that is beyond my knowing or understanding, but it’s a question that often presents itself, and my consciousness wrestles with the question.  I was praying.  I don’t do a good job of staying focused but the effect is to stimulate thoughts . . . Who or what is God. . . IS God?  I must answer that last question in the affirmative for the world IS, the Universe IS, Life IS, humanity IS . . . it is all ordered and in balance and harmony . . . until MAN, with the gift of reason and free will set about choosing without adhering to God’s advice . . . ‘I lay before you life a death, choose life that your children might live’. . . and God gave us the outline of what was  meant by ‘choose life’.   Life flourishes in following the directive ‘Do unto others what you would have done unto you’.  Some version of that showed up in every civilized religion and was expanded in more detail by what came to be called ‘The Ten Commandments’, once again showing up a bit less clearly defined, in every religion.  Those were God’s directives . . . having given humanity reason and free will, God did not command and demand but rather left ‘choice’ to man.

 

Man invented religion, which became religions.  Early on, humanity was yet without having communications and transportation well defined.  Each group was vastly separated from others so each group structured guidelines for living differently.  Oh yes, and also having evolved from brute ancestors wherein the law of the jungle was ‘might means right’ humanity carried that law forward which came to be interpreted as ‘man’—the one with the ‘might’ had the voice of ‘right’ and silenced the ‘weaker sex’, thereby women had no voice in leadership (leaving out things like compassion, kindness, love etc.) and power became disproportionately important.  Religions (the aspect of keeping-in-touch-with God) also developed with power and control as an important element,  and even here, the voice of half of humanity was left out.

 

With eons of time, man became more and more aware, skills and knowledge expanded, communications and transportation grew to include hitherto unimagined possibilities and then by the 19th century the ‘whole world’ became available to individuals who had the means to pursue it.

 

As humanity gained more and more knowledge over time, it became narcissistic (in love with its own reflection) and God became less and less important.  Man ‘stood alone’ in his power which he protected with weapons.  As humanity became more in control of all aspects of existence, different conclusions and points of view set up clashes.  The fear that ‘his power or point of view might overpower mine’ grew.  Fears escalated, it was necessary to build walls of protection and greater means to resist.  Finally in the 20th century, the power man held was literally the ability to destroy all life on earth! 

 

Meanwhile, the feminine voice began to emerge as mankind evolved in its humanity and made room for compassion, kindness, love, etc.  (Ending slavery, caring for the unenfranchised, etc.)  That is not to say ‘feminine voice’ refers to only and to all women, it is to say the feminine ‘voice’ which exists in both genders as does the masculine voice exist in both genders’ but each gender is more prominently associated with the one than the other. As both the feminine voice as well as women take a place in governance the future may change.  Civilization developed with the masculine voice in control, allowing for a disproportionate emphasis on power and  control.

 

So let’s bring God back into the picture.  We cannot know nor comprehend the vastness of creation, the Universe, or God; we can only be in awe of it.  But now, in the 21st century, as we face the danger we have brought upon ourselves and this planet we need to face what is said to be God’s directive.  It  doesn’t matter so much how you envision or deny ‘A God’, what matters is the wisdom of: ‘choose life over death’, ’do unto to others’ and ‘moral guidelines’ . . . be they from God or very wise men long ago, they are our only hope for continuation of the species.