Dear Editor:
Some posts back, in which I proclaimed my hate for "our society's emphasis on money," I found myself, in response to a friend's email taking me to task for (1) hating and (2) my absurd stance since I am on the Social Security dole, quoting Jesus.
"If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26)
In this context, "hate" is taken to mean by some theologians as a disinterested detachment. Somehow I see Jesus as more passionate than the bowl of cold congealed oatmeal that this interpretation brings to mind.
I see this hate as an active spurning. If you are clinging to the side of the pool, you can't push off into the deep water without actively spurning the side of the pool. If you are all caught up in money, you cannot grow spiritually without actively spurning money.
As to the absurdity of my stance, of course! I also highly value and often speak of being naked in the universe. (One whole section of my forthcoming book, Radical Openness, is entitled "Clothes.") But I generally go around in pants and shirt (and often even shoes!) As my friend would say, How absurd!
My friend likes a public forum similar to the Letters to the Editor section of newspapers. I think I have given him enough raw material in this posting to give a poignant and pointed response. I hope so. All you other editor-letter writers, please jump in with your two cents. Let's see what your money is worth!
Sincerely,
George Breed
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think Douglas Adams stated the case succinctly:
ReplyDelete"Many people were unhappy. The cause of their unhappiness had to do with little bits of paper which was odd because the little bits of paper weren't unhappy at all."
Jesus lived on the handouts of others. Buddhist monks do as well. Zen Buddhists have a saying, "No work, no eat." Money is only a problem if you make it a problem. By that, I mean, if you get upset over a small sum, are you being conscious or unconscious? Judging someone by their wealth or lack of it isn't very enlightened, is it?, but we are all guilty of judging others, or at least being grateful that we aren't like someone less fortunate or financially worse off. Our society's emphasis on money is getting kicked in the worst spot. Possibly we will all be broke and thus be equal in the eyes of one another. We are already equal in the eyes of God.
I received permission to post this comment sent to me --
ReplyDeleteGood morning, George!
Nice to see you’re stirring the waters again...
: )
I went back to re-read the whole passage from Luke (in several Biblical versions).
I think our contemporary interpretation of ‘hate’ is more emotion-packed these days...with a hefty helping of ill-intent built into it. I think a lot of people think of ‘hate’ as being the opposite of ‘love’...when really the opposite of love is just the absence of love or, perhaps, indifference. But when this passage is read in the context of Jesus saying ‘this is what’s involved if you choose to become my disciple’, a looser interpretation of ‘hate’ is necessary. After all, Jesus’ message was mostly about love: active love and passionate compassion. Basically (I think) he was saying something like: “If you’re going to believe whatever your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters and even what your own mind will tell you, you’re going to have a tough time being my disciple as this journey takes a more dedicated and mature focus”.
I would agree with your interpretation of ‘spurning’ or ‘pushing away’...it’s about focus and intention, rather than the absence of love.
So, there’s my two cents (and keep the change)...
My friend mentioned in this posting replied by email and said I could post his reply --
ReplyDeleteGeorge, George ( I say with a shy smile), you gotta quit taking that silly old book so literally. (Years ago I used to sometimes quote the Bible to a younger business associate who was a northern Louisiana from-birth pale pentecostal and he, painfully aware of my unchurchedness and thus skeptical of any of my non-business ideas, would cleverly, so he thought, complain that my citations were "out of" the Bible, rather than properly in it. Oh, boy. He died recently as a passenger in a highway accident and is no doubt "in" Heaven.) Ah, if we only knew Jesus and what he really said, and meant. The tyranny of words -- hate is after all only a word, not a crime. I guess I misoverestimated you.
Digging my whole a little deeper ..... a quick plug for Absurdity -- it tends to eliminate hatred, except, of course, for the hatred of we poor Absurdists. Liars, er, lions hungry for Christians, you know.
Wasn't it Twain that said that the lack of money was the root of all evil? Of course, lack now lacks common agreement. Or, I could add that the concentration of most of the money in a few, imperfect hands is the primary money problem..
Dear Ted, Taking the Bible literally is something I have long overcome. Taking it metaphorically is a different matter. I love that "silly old book's" myth, metaphor, and story. Similarly, I love the profoundly metaphorical writings of Hafiz and Rumi, of Chuang Tzu, of the Zohar, of the Kabbalah, and of the Qur'an.
ReplyDeleteI know you dwell within the paradigm of Absurdity, but so far I have found no richness there. I am open to learning however and look forward to having coffee.
My view is that hate is neither "only a word" nor a crime. It is a palpable energy that directly affects the hater and the hated. I also feel there are some things it is necessary to hate, to actively spurn, sometimes at the cost of one's life.
I think it was George Bernard Shaw who made the lack of money quote. Andrew Leckey may have led you astray.
Post Script. My use of the words "metaphor" and "myth" and "story" may be different from conventional use, which regards those three as "unreal." Au contraire.
ReplyDelete