Post by rmcdra on Aug 27, 2015 23:15:48 GMT -5
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” - Luke 10:25-37
4 For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him in our dealing with you.
5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? 6 And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. 7 Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong—not so that people will see that we have stood the test but so that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is that you may be fully restored. 10 This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority—the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down. - 2 Corinthians 13:4-10
I am the one who is disgraced and the great one.
Give heed to my poverty and my wealth.
Do not be arrogant to me when I am cast out upon the earth,
and you will find me in those that are to come.
And do not look upon me on the dung-heap
nor go and leave me cast out,
and you will find me in the kingdoms.
And do not look upon me when I am cast out among those who
are disgraced and in the least places,
nor laugh at me.
And do not cast me out among those who are slain in violence. - Thunder, The Perfect Mind
What is power? I'm sure we all have ideas about what power is but what is it? Who has it? What does it mean to have power? To answer these questions we have first identify what power is and what is meant by power. I'm sure some of our first thoughts are unlimited resources or ability to manipulate those resources, but is that what power is, the ability to shape and craft resources in accordance to one's will? Let's say that this crafts-person creates something that can also craft and does a better job then it's creator. Would we still say that the creator has power? Yes but the power that crafts-person has is limited. If the ability to shape and manipulate resources is limited, then how can we say that it is powerful, but this is often regarded as being all powerful. Then is power the ability to have others under your submission, everything being completely controlled by a cosmic puppet master? If this were the case than how about all the grave misfortunes that happen to us in life. I will not go into detail of these misfortunes because I know there are some of my readers who might find certain tragedies triggering. If we believe that power is having everything under one's submission then we come to the troubling conclusion that there is no evil in the world but that is completely absurd. Try telling someone who had a misfortune that it's God's will and see how comforting that is to them. Even if you acknowledge concepts such as free-will, you have set another restriction which means having total submission is not possible which means that it's not power.
Power, I believe to be, is truth. By truth, I mean something that happens whether you are aware of it or not. It isn't dependent on one's beliefs or how one views the world. It does not require anyone to control it nor can it be controlled. It exists everywhere and is in everything but is not possessed by any one person. It even exists in those who we may regard as outcasts, unwelcome, and even our enemies. The mystery of the resurrection is about explaining what power is. Take Jesus's parable about the good Samaritan. We're conditioned to think that the one that is God in this is the person who was attacked, but the person who is God, is the Samaritan. How Samaritans were viewed during Jesus's time is like how Latin Americans in the US are typically viewed and portrayed. The Samaritan is our “God in the gutter”. This is person was a good neighbor even though he was completely reviled by the people he lived with. We often think of God as a great king or a General but how counter intuitive it is to see God as a being who's going to “take ur' job” or “won't learn English”. It shouldn't be so counter intuitive since Jesus was convicted blasphemer according to the law but we seem to ignore this and miss seeing God the other times s/he appears in the gutter to us.
I don't understand it myself but we don't like thinking of a God who is not completely sterile. We don't like thinking of a God who doesn't conform to our ways and understanding. I suspect its because we see our own weakness in life and can't fathom a God who would willingly go through all the trials we go through. A God who would sacrifice their divinity to live with and among us. It would be like a Wall Street Banker who willingly gave up all their fortunes to live on the streets as a homeless person in New York. It sounds completely insane but this is how truth works. It is powerful in that it does not conform to our expectations. It does what it does, in the background, often completely unseen and unrecorded. Like the Demiurge, we like to think we have all things figured out, that we know everything about reality and that we are all powerful in it but the fact is that we are not. We are bound by natural laws that are known and unknown to us. We live in a gutter that we often times fail to acknowledge and its hard at times. Some gutters are really really nice, so nice we don't recognize them as such.
Truth is power and it's not something we can possess because it is a part of us, everyone. It is something we can access. We can use that truth to be merciful like the foreign God that Jesus tried to show us, or we can use that truth to make the gutter even more miserable. How you use that truth is up to you and you will not be judged by God either way for it. Our Father-Mother is in the gutter with us. But do remember truth is elusive. Once you think you have it in your grasp, it's no longer there. You're not the only one in the gutter who can access truth. All illusions will be seen through at the end since illusions depend on lack of truth to exist. Truth like filth, is always growing. Like filth, though some particularly nasty things live in it, some beautiful gardens can come of it. I leave you with this question to reflect on. What do you want to grow? Will you make your gutter a garden or will keep others from building a garden because it goes against your sensibilities? The answer is within you.
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” - Luke 10:25-37
4 For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him in our dealing with you.
5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? 6 And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. 7 Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong—not so that people will see that we have stood the test but so that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is that you may be fully restored. 10 This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority—the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down. - 2 Corinthians 13:4-10
I am the one who is disgraced and the great one.
Give heed to my poverty and my wealth.
Do not be arrogant to me when I am cast out upon the earth,
and you will find me in those that are to come.
And do not look upon me on the dung-heap
nor go and leave me cast out,
and you will find me in the kingdoms.
And do not look upon me when I am cast out among those who
are disgraced and in the least places,
nor laugh at me.
And do not cast me out among those who are slain in violence. - Thunder, The Perfect Mind
What is power? I'm sure we all have ideas about what power is but what is it? Who has it? What does it mean to have power? To answer these questions we have first identify what power is and what is meant by power. I'm sure some of our first thoughts are unlimited resources or ability to manipulate those resources, but is that what power is, the ability to shape and craft resources in accordance to one's will? Let's say that this crafts-person creates something that can also craft and does a better job then it's creator. Would we still say that the creator has power? Yes but the power that crafts-person has is limited. If the ability to shape and manipulate resources is limited, then how can we say that it is powerful, but this is often regarded as being all powerful. Then is power the ability to have others under your submission, everything being completely controlled by a cosmic puppet master? If this were the case than how about all the grave misfortunes that happen to us in life. I will not go into detail of these misfortunes because I know there are some of my readers who might find certain tragedies triggering. If we believe that power is having everything under one's submission then we come to the troubling conclusion that there is no evil in the world but that is completely absurd. Try telling someone who had a misfortune that it's God's will and see how comforting that is to them. Even if you acknowledge concepts such as free-will, you have set another restriction which means having total submission is not possible which means that it's not power.
Power, I believe to be, is truth. By truth, I mean something that happens whether you are aware of it or not. It isn't dependent on one's beliefs or how one views the world. It does not require anyone to control it nor can it be controlled. It exists everywhere and is in everything but is not possessed by any one person. It even exists in those who we may regard as outcasts, unwelcome, and even our enemies. The mystery of the resurrection is about explaining what power is. Take Jesus's parable about the good Samaritan. We're conditioned to think that the one that is God in this is the person who was attacked, but the person who is God, is the Samaritan. How Samaritans were viewed during Jesus's time is like how Latin Americans in the US are typically viewed and portrayed. The Samaritan is our “God in the gutter”. This is person was a good neighbor even though he was completely reviled by the people he lived with. We often think of God as a great king or a General but how counter intuitive it is to see God as a being who's going to “take ur' job” or “won't learn English”. It shouldn't be so counter intuitive since Jesus was convicted blasphemer according to the law but we seem to ignore this and miss seeing God the other times s/he appears in the gutter to us.
I don't understand it myself but we don't like thinking of a God who is not completely sterile. We don't like thinking of a God who doesn't conform to our ways and understanding. I suspect its because we see our own weakness in life and can't fathom a God who would willingly go through all the trials we go through. A God who would sacrifice their divinity to live with and among us. It would be like a Wall Street Banker who willingly gave up all their fortunes to live on the streets as a homeless person in New York. It sounds completely insane but this is how truth works. It is powerful in that it does not conform to our expectations. It does what it does, in the background, often completely unseen and unrecorded. Like the Demiurge, we like to think we have all things figured out, that we know everything about reality and that we are all powerful in it but the fact is that we are not. We are bound by natural laws that are known and unknown to us. We live in a gutter that we often times fail to acknowledge and its hard at times. Some gutters are really really nice, so nice we don't recognize them as such.
Truth is power and it's not something we can possess because it is a part of us, everyone. It is something we can access. We can use that truth to be merciful like the foreign God that Jesus tried to show us, or we can use that truth to make the gutter even more miserable. How you use that truth is up to you and you will not be judged by God either way for it. Our Father-Mother is in the gutter with us. But do remember truth is elusive. Once you think you have it in your grasp, it's no longer there. You're not the only one in the gutter who can access truth. All illusions will be seen through at the end since illusions depend on lack of truth to exist. Truth like filth, is always growing. Like filth, though some particularly nasty things live in it, some beautiful gardens can come of it. I leave you with this question to reflect on. What do you want to grow? Will you make your gutter a garden or will keep others from building a garden because it goes against your sensibilities? The answer is within you.
